LED boat lights being made now feature more mature LED technology

When LEDs were first getting noticed by boaters, the available aftermarket LED boat lights were far and few between. With few options, boaters began experimenting with retrofitting LEDs into their existing fixtures. While this was a good idea, the unique characteristics of LEDs and their then still moderate power and light quality made it a hit or miss prospect. Boaters were finding the light from LEDs too cold in appearance, poorly distributed, and output below their expectations. Making matters worse, the voltage sensitivity of LEDs meant it was often necessary to add resistors into the wiring circuit in order to prevent voltage spikes and fluctuations from causing premature failure and poor performance.

A final problem boaters encountered with this do it yourself approach involved the directional nature of LEDs and the basic design of the fixtures they attempted to retrofit them into. Unlike incandescent bulbs which radiate their light over their entire surface, LEDs produce light over the top of their surface, resulting in a much tighter beam spread. Fixtures designed for incandescent bulbs just were not effective at distributing the light from LEDs well, resulting in fixtures that while fairly bright, did not spread light very far or evenly. These early problems with do it yourself LED conversion had a lot to do with the early poor impression boaters formed with LEDs. It was later when boat lighting manufacturers began producing fixtures designed specifically with LEDs that the technology really began to take hold among boaters. LED boat lights being made now feature more mature LED technology, with LEDs producing much better light quality and much higher output.

These LED fixtures can produce light output that visually looks "warmer" like and incandescent, and the output has increased to the point where LEDs are now up to 50% more efficient that they were ten years ago. Even better, the dedicated LED boat lights now available are designed to take into account the directional nature of LEDs, resulting in fixtures that radiate light more effectively and over a much larger area, similar to the way an incandescent fixture would.

Probably the best advantage to be had with dedicated LED boat lights is the simplicity of installation. Whereas before the do it yourselfer had to wire, solder, and modify their old incandescent fixtures in order to accommodate LEDs, these new fixtures are direct replacement for old incandescent units that require little more than attaching their wiring and securing the fixture with screws.led garden light While an entirely new LED fixture may indeed cost more than a do it yourself retrofit, the savings in time, durability, reliability, and increased performance, really more than make up for the simple savings of a one time cash outlay. Add in that the excellent efficiency and long life of the LED will reduce your fuel and maintenance costs, as well as increase the overall enjoyment of your boat, and there really is little reason for boaters to continue trying to retrofit old fixtures to accept new LED lighting technology.