12V CFL Bulbs for Engine Room?

[OnanHater]

My father has a 46' SF with four 12V fixtures at the corners of the engine room. The bulbs are a pain to change, and they blow about ten days after you install new ones. I am thinking I should replace them with CFL bulbs, which have a longer lifespan.

Has anyone here tried this? Is there a size bulb you would recommend?

[thoward]

Yep, tried it(cfl) and it does not work. I also tried 120v heavy duty bulbs and they just were not bright enough. Are you sure they are 12v? I have 32v bulbs and they last quite a while but you need to match the right bulb as they are touchy. I would check the manual to be sure of the correct bulb.

[captddis]

The bulbs last longest when mounted vertically. I do not know why yours blow so soon. I have not changed a bulb in the ER of my 46 in 5 years.

[egaito]

I have changed one in Misty (4 fixtures) in 5 years....there has to be a vibration or wiring issue going on here.

[TedZ]

My 12 VDC CFL works great...been three years.

Ted

[Traveler 45C]

What is CFL?

[hattitude]

I do not know why yours blow so soon. I have not changed a bulb in the ER of my 46 in 5 years.

Ditto...........

[egaito]

Ditto...........

CFL is the answer to global warming......Compact Flourecent Lights. We'll all go blind using them if lawmakers have their way and outlaw incandecant light bulbs.

On the plus side, they do use less power (putting out less light), run cooler, and last longer, so in the right application, they actually make sense.

[spartonboat1]

Are there any 12v LED's on the market you could use as yet, i.e. is the base a std. home light bulb configuration? I would think almost certainly there are LED's you could use, as there are many marine application 12v LED's on the market and many automakers are running LED's for brake lights, etc. I have purchased LED flashlights.

LED's are predicted to have 100k hours lives.

[SeaEric]

I just replaced an ER 12v. light bulb with a CFL. I like it so far. It's been there a week. That is the first bulb I have replaced since I bought the boat 3 1/2 years ago. This particular new bulb does not have that eerie blue/white flourecent color light. It's the color of a normal bulb. Got it at WM.