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Festoon bulb rant

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islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3992 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/05/2015 : 14:25:44

Just venting but I just lost an hour and a half of my life driving over to WM and back for nothing. I need a festoon dimpled bulb for my steaming light (Aqua Signal 25 #904-00200) and thought I would throw the brick and mortar some business. I get there and guess what, No bulb. Salesman comes over and says 'Can I help you' I say 'You don't have this bulb and you don't even have an empty hook for it. He looks and says Hmmm, I could order it for you. I say If I wanted to order it I wouldn't have left my house, I would have ordered it online. I then asked him why they don't carry it anymore and he says that Aqua Signal after 2010 uses a pointed end festoon bulb and that is what they have. Then he says, Do you want to buy the whole fixture? I said ,No He says do you want a LED replacement? I say, No, Not for a steaming light, The motor will be on...He says, Sorry... I left. Looks like Defender gets the business. Just re-enforces my dislike for WM.

Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688
Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound

Davy J
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1511 Posts

Response Posted - 05/05/2015 : 16:41:21

See my thread about this subject from a few years ago........

http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=22721

Davy J

2005 Gemini 105Mc
PO 1987 C25 #5509 SR/SK
Tampa Bay

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5231 Posts

Response Posted - 05/05/2015 : 19:43:42

Scott, I've got several in the drawer for you buddy. I can mail them over, just ping me on my email with your snailmail address.
Or maybe its time for a replacement fixture. I found out that sometimes the fixtures can be less expensive than the light bulbs.

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain � Milford, CT

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3754 Posts

Response Posted - 05/05/2015 : 22:18:36

It does seem like something that should be in stock, but I often call first. I can no longer count on them to have a low volume part in stock, I know they will match price, but I would rather pay the guy who offered it at that price upfront. It has definitely changed from the old Boat/US days. Hey, they always have plenty of clothes and shoes!

Dave B. aboard Pearl
1982 TR/SK/Trad. #3399
Lake Erie/Florida Panhandle

islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 05/06/2015 : 05:31:17

Davy, Great story so you know just what I encountered with the bulb change up and if it were the light on the bow I would just remove it and with a punch reverse the dimples on the copper tangs but its the steaming light so working on it isn't so easy. No problem with the screws, They came right out.
Bruce, Thanks for the offer but I already ordered them from Defender, $21 with shipping. Pack of two. Ridiculous for a lousy light bulb. A new fixture was something like $75 and would have me dropping the mast to install. You better hang onto those bulbs, I think they are going to become harder to find in the future.
Dave, Yea I hear ya on the clothes and shoes, I'm surprised he didn't offer me that option too. I could strap a deck shoe to the mast.

Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688
Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound

keithsinger
1st Mate

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USA
29 Posts

Response Posted - 05/07/2015 : 18:29:38

F.Y.I., you can now get LED bulbs to replace pretty much all the bulbs on the Catalina 25, including the bulbs in the original square interior fixtures. The bulbs that replace the interior fixtures are just as yellow and amd warm and pleasant as the original light. I have replaced all of the interior light bulbs and the maat head light with LED. As a result, I can put on all those lights at the same time for roughly the electricity that it took to light just the old incandescent masthead light. Between my solar panel, the two car batteries and the charging i get when i run the engine I never go below 12 volts anymore, even if I need to keep a fan on all night. LED is totally worth it. Technology has come so far. I used to have a Honda 200o watt.generator aboard, but it was also powering an ice machine as I crossed the Baja for the first.time.

Boker Tov 1987 Catalina 25 Wing Standard Rig http://www.sailblogs.com/member/lemmonsway/

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4275 Posts

Response Posted - 05/07/2015 : 20:32:31

quote:
Originally posted by keithsinger

F.Y.I., you can now get LED bulbs to replace pretty much all the bulbs on the Catalina 25, including the bulbs in the original square interior fixtures. The bulbs that replace the interior fixtures are just as yellow and amd warm and pleasant as the original light. I have replaced all of the interior light bulbs and the maat head light with LED. As a result, I can put on all those lights at the same time for roughly the electricity that it took to light just the old incandescent masthead light. Between my solar panel, the two car batteries and the charging i get when i run the engine I never go below 12 volts anymore, even if I need to keep a fan on all night. LED is totally worth it. Technology has come so far. I used to have a Honda 200o watt.generator aboard, but it was also powering an ice machine as I crossed the Baja for the first.time.

Got some part numbers for the various fixtures? Where did you purchase?

Also, does Aqua Signal (or anyone else) make a direct replacement LED fixture for the running lights?

Association Member

GaryB
Andiamo
'89 SR/WK #5862
Kemah,TX

Edited by - GaryB on 05/07/2015 20:33:19

shnool
Former Capri-25 Tech Editor

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USA
1032 Posts

Response Posted - 05/08/2015 : 03:29:53

There are direct replacement light bulbs in LED for every bulb in your boat.. you need to scour catalinadirect.com for all of them. Just found one on CD for my S2 anchor light (works great, right color, and proper broadcast (360 degrees).

The festoon LEDs are all over the place, but CD has them too.
This is their option...
http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm/product/2575/led-upgrade-for-white-navigation-light.cfm

Also check Dr. LED for similar bulb replacements for less money.

C&C 32 Smith Mountain Lake Virginia

islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 05/08/2015 : 12:34:35

So the saga continues...Go to the boat today to install the light bulb. Really how hard can that be. Get everything together and up the mast I go to the steaming light. I unscrew the cover and its a little sticky so a little more force and pop it comes off and slips out of my hand. I watch it fall to the deck all the while I'm saying Nooooooooooo. It hits the deck and like everything bounces once and then splash. So down the mast I go mumbling all the bad words thinking that the guy at WM is now going to sell me the entire fixture after all and a simple bulb change was now becoming a real project and cost $80 plus the hour drive over there. Next to my slip is a powerboat with a fish net. I think why not give it a try but not putting much faith in it I take the net and start dragging the bottom in the vicinity where the cover was last seen sinking into the dark. Well the Gods were with me because on my 6th try it came up in the net with the screws still in it. I cannot believe my luck in finding the cover in all the muck that resides on the bottom under my boat. So up the mast again and pop the new bulb in then oh so carefully screw the cover back on and done. P.S all my lights are now working so bring on the complementary safety inspection the Marina offers.

Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688
Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4275 Posts

Response Posted - 05/09/2015 : 05:21:25

A couple of years ago I dropped a brand new set of Crescent needle nose pliers over the side. Later on I remembered I'd bought a strong magnet at Harbor Freight a few years earlier.

Went done to the boat the next weekend and moved the magnet along the bottom a few times in the area where they went over the side and in 2 or 3 minutes I felt the line bump when the magnet grabbed the pliers.

Six days in brackish (almost fresh water) and these pliers had turned jet black in the muck under the boat. I was shocked. One that I had even found the pliers and two that they had turned black! No telling what is in that muck.

Reminded of the time I anchored out in Galveston Bay one afternoon. When I pulled up the anchor it was covered in mud so I started dipping it in the water to wash off the mud. By the time I 'd gotten the majority of the mud off the anchor it looked like someone had poured a gallon of gasoline in the water. There was about a 10' diameter sheen on the surface of the water. I decided that day I would NEVER swim in Galveston Bay! Any to think we eat fish, oysters, and shrimp from those waters!

Association Member

GaryB
Andiamo
'89 SR/WK #5862
Kemah,TX

JanS48
Navigator

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USA
141 Posts

Response Posted - 05/13/2015 : 19:52:23

Greetings, I too was disappointed to find no replacement bulb but came up with a good solution. I carefully drilled thru the dimples in the tabs that held the original bulb, I then purchased an Led replacement for the 10w original bulb which only draws 1.5w. The Led bulb fit nicely into the holes I drilled in the original tabs. Since Led bulbs are supposed to last 10+ years I decided to not take any chances and carefully soldier the bulb ends to the copper tabs. You need to be careful with polarity as Led's only work in one direction. So far this worked well for me. The Led replacement bulb was 13.50
This was an easy fix since the mast was down.

All the best
Jan

82 C25 SR FK
Sailing out of Newport Harbor.

islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 05/14/2015 : 04:46:38

Jan, Good idea. By drilling the dimple out and creating a hole you can use the pointed end festoon bulbs.

Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688
Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5231 Posts

Response Posted - 05/14/2015 : 09:46:35

OK. Now I recall why I removed the Dr LED Festoon Star bulb from my Red/Green nav light. RADIO HASH RF interference. Festoon Star
My FM radio sounds like WHOOOOOOSH on all but the strongest local stations when the nav light is on.
Seems the bulb has an built-in DC to DC voltage converter ~ probably to reduce 12V @ 150mA to 3VDC at 600 mA. These devices typically switch the DC power with a chopper circuit creating a square wave signal that propagates throughout the DC wiring on the boat. To make matters worse, the wire runs the entire 25 foot length of the boat from stem to stern - a perfect antenna! I added a parallel capacitor (.1 + 100 uF) and a series inductor to the circuit but to no avail.... The Festoon Star single LED design necessitates a DC converter while other bulbs use multiple LEDs in series, each getting ~ 2.5 - 3VDC apiece.
For me, an avid radio head, the bulb is useless. It doesn't affect my iPod or MP3 audio, but I like the live aspect of radio, or what passes for live (don't get me started on CentralCasting!)

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain � Milford, CT

Edited by - Voyager on 05/16/2015 08:42:47

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