LED Lights Can Save Boaters Money Over Time
IMTRA announced back in February its new line of dimmable marine LED lights. Other companies are pushing them as well (see Yachtlights.com). LEDS are gaining increasing traction with boat builders and owners alike for their benefits, despite the higher initial cost. I recently called IMTRA for an explanation of the benefits of LED lights on boats. [...]
IMTRA announced back in February its new line of dimmable marine LED lights. Other companies are pushing them as well (see Yachtlights.com). LEDS are gaining increasing traction with boat builders and owners alike for their benefits, despite the higher initial cost.
I recently called IMTRA for an explanation of the benefits of LED lights on boats. Here’s the jist of my conversation with Kinder Woodcock of IMTRA: LED lights are more expensive than traditional halogen or incandescent bulbs, but over the long term they can pay you back.
The numbers are hard to quantify on small boat applications, unlike in your home or on a large yacht where they are easily measured. But the efficiency gain is still an advantage.
“They’re good for boaters whose main objective is to save power,” said Woodcock. LED lights are around 60-80 percent more efficient than traditional bulbs and will put far less strain on your power supply. If you refit your boat with all LED fixtures you may be able to get away with a smaller battery bank, genset, or inverter. Just swapping out the bulbs could make a difference. A typical halogen bulb that sells for $3 might last for 500 hours on your boat. But a $20 quality “current regulated” LED bulb could last for 50,000 hours. That’s 100 times the product life for seven times the cost.
This comes from IMTRA, but third party sources and builders I’ve talked to have advocated for LEDS, so going LED could be a good long term investment. At the very least, LEDS will cut down on power usage on the water or overnighting on the hook. That’s worth something.
