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I want to replace the masthead light on my MKIII. I bought a Perko incandescent fixture that seems to bolt up to the little stand that
sits on top of the masthead. Planning on using marine 16/2, but wonder about taking the weight of that wire off the fixture's pigtails.
Might try to support the wire with a hanger of some sort, or halfway down the mast at the foredeck light. Not worth worrying about?
Anybody have experience with this project? LEDs an alternative?
thanks,
tom
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I think it's a reasonable concern; you don't want the wire's weight dependent on the electrical connection. I put heat-shrink tubing on the last foot or so of my masthead harness then secured that where it exited the top of the casting with a nylon wire-tie. There is no strain at all on the electrical connections.
LED "bulbs" are a nice option, but the ones I saw last season cost more than the fitting they were designed for. Unless you do a lot of anchoring out, I'd fit a conventional bulb until the prices come down, as they surely will (and that may already have happened, so I'd check).
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
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Something I saw somewhere recently, but can't remember where, was an LED Masthead light that was a tri-light (Red, Green, White) when used with one polarity and an anchoring light (solid white, 360 deg.) when used with the opposite polarity. Apparently (and I don't pretend to know anything about this) some of the new LED's can be made to light a differant colour by reversing polarity. By doing this you can have both lights (they are never needed together) and run one fewer wires up the mast.
This sounds rather improbable. This site - http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_lighting_leds.html - says that LED's simply will not pass power if the polarity is reversed (makes sense - diodes are basically one-way gates), and a search for "LED polarity" leads only to discussions about ways to protect LED circuits from high levels of reverse-polarity power.
Also turned up a marine site that says that retro-fitting LED's into older fixtures voids the fixture's approved status. This makes sense because LED "bulbs" are clusters of the little beasties, whereas COLREGS style lights are designed for a single filament, so as to give a very precise cut-off between one sector and another. I can't imagine any enforcement type ever checking, but I suppose if you get run over by a freighter, they can say it's all your fault.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Offline
I still haven't found the masthead light I spoke of earlier, and I really don't pretend to understand how anything electronic works, but I was sure I wasn't crazy. So I googled multi-coloured LED and found lots of reference to them, including the following from Wikipedia;
<H4>Multicolor LEDs</SPAN></H4>
Bicolor LEDs contain 2 dice of different colors connected back to back, and can produce any of 3 colors. Current flow in one direction produces one color, current in the other direction produces the other color, and bidirectional current produces both colors mixed together.
Tricolor LEDs contain 2 dice of different colors with a 3 wire connection, available in common anode or common cathode configurations. The most common form of both the bicolor and tricolor LEDs is red/green, producing orange when both colors are powered.
RGB LEDs contain red, green and blue emitters, generally using a 4 wire connection with one common (anode or cathode).
It may all be a load of bunk, as I don't believe everything I find on the internet... but it all sounds plausable.
Okay - you got me, Chris. I googled it again (I didn't find anything for some reason, perhaps because I was being too specific) and came up with a raft of hits, including Wikipedia and those nice folks who make nuclear weapons in Los Alamos (it's nice to know they have hobbies).
Couldn't find the masthead light, either, but the multicolour technology sounds trial-production new, so I'll bet it costs a bomb.
BTW - I believe everything I read on the Internet. Some of it may seem a little whacko, but short of the out-and-out flying saucer stuff, most of it is at least as plausible as any pronouncement from the present government.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
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