Nearly a fire :o(

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marlinmikea

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The admiral and I were on the hook this last weekend on our house bank, relaxing, watching TV and I was up on the bridge of our 1997 350 Mariner when all of a sudden I hear her hollering "I smell smoke - where's the fire???". We quickly determined the undercounter flourescent fixture over the galley area had quite a lot of smoke coming out of it. She reached up and flipped off the rocker switch and that was the end of that - whew!!! I was surprised it didn't trip a breaker but there was no visible overheating of the wire. All the overheating was in the ballast of the fixture. If you have one of these I would suggest you put your hand of the unit to see if it seems normal.
I disconncted the wires and capped them off for now as they are always hot (not switched). Now, I'd like to find an LED strip replacement about 18" long (a little longer and a little brighter). Any ideas.
 
If you have some ideas or figure something out, please share. I would like to do the same, but more from a saving on battery power.
 
Superbrightleds has a few items that might be of use. ( I have NO connection with the company. ) Items may or may not be officially "marine rated". But they do carry 12 items that should suit your needs.

For "saving energy" with navigation lighting, I would recommend only marine rated fixtures and light elements. For interior, I would be perfectly happy w/ R/V or auto/truck equipment.
 
Yeow thats scary!!! Anything that causes smoke in the cabin of a boat is certainly a disconcerting thing! Glad it ended okay - hope you get the replacement fixture soon!
 
quote:
Yeow thats scary
Click to expand...

Yes it was and I must say the Admiral handled it admirably :o) She was more concerned about getting the smell out of the cabin than trying to determine the cause and making sure it wasn't going to re-ignite.

After doing a lot of research about fluorescents, halogens, xenon and LED's I've decided to replace the fixture with a Talormade fluorescent - same type of light as before, just bigger and brighter. It is due to arrive this Friday and going in this weekend. Power isn't that big of an issue with me and I've read there is a difference in the quality of lighting with the LED's. As far as my "puck" lights (Halo's), I've decided to put those bulbs on a replacement maintenance schedule because of the heat they generate. Again, quality of lighting is different between the halogen, LED and Xenon (or so I've read). I'm not sure how often they're going to have to be replaced, but I'm going to replace them all now and keep an eye on them. I've noticed the older bulbs on the boat now have black spotting on the inside of the bulb, that may be some indication of deterioration???
 
I have replaced my cabin incandescent light bulbs with LED's and there is a difference, but more in the type of light rather than the brightness. They work well actually and use way less power than the incandescent. I know fluorescent is a good energy saver, but thinking the LED's might even be better. I have 2 strips about the galley and trying to determine if worth replacing or leaving alone.

As for navigation lights, haven't got that far yet, just working on the interior right now.
 
Very timely. Thanks for posting.
About the time the original message in the is thread was posted my under-cabinet florescent light in the galley mysteriously quit putting out full brightness. The ends of the bulb would glow orange, and I assumed it was just a bad bulb (which it may be). Last night I turned it on out of habit. It never fully lit, but I got distracted and forgot to turn it off right away. However, I remembered this thread and came back to it 15 min later to find the light very hot. I took the fixture down and could not touch the back of the fixture... the side against the wood... it was too hot.
No smoking wires (yet), no fire... but who knows. this thread may have prevented a disaster.
I deposited my fixture in the trash this morning and will replace with LEDs soon.
Jeff
 
Jeff,

Glad you got it before it did some damage. As previously posted I stayed with the flourscent and am very happy it (in lieu of LED). The fixture and tubes run very cool.

I never did have any fried wires or wood with the old fixture. The balast within the fixtue is what started smoking.

Moral of the story - old fixtures need to be looked at closely.

Marlin
 
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