32 volt LED or florescent bulbs

[davidwigler]

I would like to change out the incandescent bulbs as they burn out. Any ideas?

What happens to a 110 volt ac bulb in a 32 volt dc fixture? Come on, I bet someone has tried it.

[Dustoff44]

It just glows very dimly

[SKYCHENEY]

Very, very dimly

[Angela]

And a 12v bulb in a 110v socket goes POOF!!!! and blows the big breaker! Ahh...back in the day when I had a little boat...a lesson learned.

I've been converting over to those funny-looking florescent bulbs as my incadescent bulb burn out just because they last so much longer. I'm not a fan of florescent lighting in the least bit, but if you choose the right "color", they're OK. They are better than having to keep changing the regular bulbs - they just never seem to last long on the boat for me.

The florescent bulbs do need to "warm up" for a few minutes to reach their brightest potential, especially in a cold room. So far, I've never had one burn out. Where I've been using these new style bulbs, you cannot tell they are the florescent bulbs.

[aquacraig@shaw.ca]

A friend of mine had some 32 volt LED's made up by a supplier in Nanaimo BC (Ithink they got them from China) The quality was lacking but the ones that didn't blow work great! Very bright and just miliamps to run. Theoretically they'll last for years and are a true battery saver.

[Trojan]

If you wanted to mess with it you could series a couple of clusters and add a resistor and use them on your 32VDC. The more diodes in a cluster the smaller the resistor.

BILL

[aquacraig@shaw.ca]

I suppose that was the set-up. They wired about 20 diodes onto a tube type bulb. The ones that were wired correctly worked great! The other ones blew in seconds.

[MikeP]

OK...I've heard about how led lights are "better." But I've been in San Antonio, TX for the past two weeks and there are an amazing amount of LED stoplights with most of the LEDs not functioning. Several green lights nearby have only a little "slice" of green showing - literally like a tiny slice of pie - with the rest of the "light" missing. Doesn't look very impressive to me re all this talk about how long LEDs last. I think I'll stick with regular old light bulbs - I've only had one 32v bulb burn out in the 6 years we've owned the boat...

[SKYCHENEY]

OK...I've heard about how led lights are "better." But I've been in San Antonio, TX for the past two weeks and there are an amazing amount of LED stoplights with most of the LEDs not functioning. Several green lights nearby have only a little "slice" of green showing - literally like a tiny slice of pie - with the rest of the "light" missing. Doesn't look very impressive to me re all this talk about how long LEDs last. I think I'll stick with regular old light bulbs - I've only had one 32v bulb burn out in the 6 years we've owned the boat...

Sticking with the Edison light bulb is going to become more difficult as the phase out occurs in the US. I think the 100 watt bulbs have to be off of the shelves within the next few months. I noticed HD had them marked down to 97 cents for a 4 pack because they have to get rid of their inventory before the ban. I stocked up on every size that I have in the house. I'm not sure I want those curly fry mercury bulbs or the LED's.

[Boatsb]

There are two issues with LED's no one here addressed.

LED lamps run off of a power regulator that can have an input voltage range as narrow as a few volts and as large as 20 or more. There are some that will take 32 volts DC but you need to find them. Also they DO NOT take to heat well. They produce heat and if in a ceiling fixture or a sealed fixture like in an engine room they will not last.