# Shore power and lights



## Dave_E (Aug 7, 2013)

Hi All,

As the wife and I were having dinner on the boat last night, I looked around to see 4 of the boat's lights (12V) on and one AC plug in lamp. The shore power is plugged in, the charger is on, and we're using almost all 12V battery power for the lighting. What do you all use while hooked up to shore power... 12V lighting or plug in AC? Why?

Dave


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

Exclusively 12V lighting.. if we're plugged in we'll turn the charger on to 'keep up' if necessary.


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## ScuzzMonkey (Jun 26, 2006)

Entirely the built-in 12v lighting system, here. Not for any special reason; just because it's already there, and bringing in a bunch of AC lamps instead would just take up space that's already tight and use outlets that are already limited. Our 12v are mostly LED at this point, so fairly efficient, and on those rare days we see sunshine, they're charged by the solar panel and not the shorepower charger.

Out of long habit from being off the dock, we tend to not leave very many lights on anyway. We'll often have candles lit during the winter instead. It's warmer and cheerier!


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## Philzy3985 (Oct 20, 2012)

When plugged in at the dock I just use the AC plugged-in lamp. 

Reason: That bulb will be easier and cheaper to replace when it burns out than the built-in 12v bulbs that are not made anymore.


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## JimMcGee (Jun 23, 2005)

All 12v lights and all have been swapped over to warm white LEDs, so even away from the dock we don't use much juice.

I've upgraded all the original lights and added quite a few more so we have the choice of warm and cozy or as bright as at home.

The only place we use the oil lamp anymore is in the cockpit for mood lighting at night. Just seems right with a glass of wine...


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

I use my 12v lights. I've swapped in warm white LED bulbs so lighting is pleasant and plentiful without adding a bunch of clip-on AC lights or running additional circuits for fixed mount AC fixtures.


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## RobGallagher (Aug 22, 2001)

LED 12volt. 

I'm considering adding one 12v fluorescent fixture over the galley as I like lots of light when I'm cooking.


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## Dave_E (Aug 7, 2013)

JimMcGee said:


> All 12v lights and all have been swapped over to warm white LEDs, so even away from the dock we don't use much juice.
> 
> I've upgraded all the original lights and added quite a few more so we have the choice of warm and cozy or as bright as at home.


Do the "warm white LEDs give off more light, same, less?


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## boatpoker (Jul 21, 2008)

Dave_E said:


> Hi All,
> 
> As the wife and I were having dinner on the boat last night, I looked around to see 4 of the boat's lights (12V) on and one AC plug in lamp. The shore power is plugged in, the charger is on, and we're using almost all 12V battery power for the lighting. What do you all use while hooked up to shore power... 12V lighting or plug in AC? Why?
> 
> Dave


If you are using almost all your battery power for four 12v lights you have a smaller 12v battery than I have ever seen or something else is way out of whack.


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## T37Chef (Oct 9, 2006)

I have one AC light that is used in the main salon when hooked to shore power, its mounted on a bulkhead and has a folding arm so its easily put away It lights the cabin better than several 12V we have, mostly because the 12V are not mounted in the best places. You could say its also easier to just turn on/off one switch (wow that makes me sound really lazy, or maybe efficient?  )


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

RobGallagher said:


> LED 12volt.
> 
> I'm considering adding one 12v fluorescent fixture over the galley as I like lots of light when I'm cooking.


Look into the Alpenglow fixtures... they are a low-draw fluorescent usually with two brightness settings.. we have a couple and quite like them.


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## MarkSF (Feb 21, 2011)

Dave_E said:


> Do the "warm white LEDs give off more light, same, less?


Terms like "warm white" are pretty meaningless - I've seen them applied to a huge variety of colour temperatures.

However, if the LED manufacturer quotes actual specs, they are usually correct.

An incandescent is about 2700K and those 21W bulbs are about 200 lumens. I replaced my incandescents with LEDs of 3000K, and 200 lumens, and they look very similar. Go much over 3000K though, and they start to look cold and blue.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Dave_E said:


> Do the "warm white LEDs give off more light, same, less?





MarkSF said:


> Terms like "warm white" are pretty meaningless - I've seen them applied to a huge variety of colour temperatures. However, if the LED manufacturer quotes actual specs, they are usually correct.
> An incandescent is about 2700K and those 21W bulbs are about 200 lumens. I replaced my incandescents with LEDs of 3000K, and 200 lumens, and they look very similar. Go much over 3000K though, and they start to look cold and blue.


While 2700K is what was once though of as Warm White, reality is that almost all halogen, fluorescent and LED lamps call 3000K Warm White. How this effects you is a matter of personal taste.

3000K does give out more light than 2700K per watt but we also tend to see whiter light as brighter than yellower light.

Me I prefer 2700 for mood lighting and 3000 for work and/or reading. YMMV.

Oh yes and btw , if you dim halogen or incandescent lamps the colour temp goes down as you dim. This is not the case with LED or fluorescent.

On board we use a mixture of LED and halogen for reading but gradually changing over to all LED though these days most of my on board reading is being done off a tablet with backlit screen. Even when plugged into shore power (very rare for us) we still only use 12v lighting, indeed we don't have any mains voltage lights to use even if we wanted to. Candles and Oil Lamp are popular in the cooler months.


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## kentobin (Mar 31, 2007)

I was using Xeon bulbs that I liked a lot and switched to some type of highly reviewed 'warm' led. 

The led's don't illuminate as large an area. They do seem brighter if you look directly at them due to the fact the area of an led that emits the light is much smaller than the 12v Xeon bulb. This brightness also is uncomfortable to directly look at and I ended up training myself never to look directly at the light. Remember you have a low and small ceiling area so it's easy to accidentally look directly at them.

The light isn't nearly as relaxing or 'warm' as the Xeons.

You do get used to them and they do use a lot less power and that is my primary concern as I run off of batteries and use solar as the primary charger.

I did keep one small bulkhead mounted kerosene lamp for those nights I just want to kick back and relax.


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## Dave_E (Aug 7, 2013)

boatpoker said:


> If you are using almost all your battery power for four 12v lights you have a smaller 12v battery than I have ever seen or something else is way out of whack.


No-No... nothing wrong with batteries, no drain. Just wondering about using 12V battery power for lights while the batteries are being charged from shore power, versus just using 120V lights off shore power. Thanks.


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

Dave_E said:


> Do the "warm white LEDs give off more light, same, less?


It's just a reference to the light frequency (color). LED's and flourescent bulbs were known for giving off harsh, blue lighting that many people find objectionable.

As others have stated, getting LEDs that emit light around 2700k is a color comparable to the color of incandescent bulbs. Lumens is the rating for the QUANTITY of light being given off by a bulb.

The LEDs I bought at the boat show are rated to give off 270 lumens which is slightly better than the incandescent bulbs they replaced, for a fraction of the energy cost. My cabin is noticably brighter with the LEDs and now I can afford to burn them all at once, really lighting up the boat!

In fact, I'm installing an additional, overhead fixture with the RED/WHITE/OFF settings. The red lighting will be nice for night races and sailing. It's installed over my chart table.


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## deltaten (Oct 10, 2012)

I use 12v LED (strips. mounted in OEM fixtures) most of the time. I have a few multi-head, battery fed (soon to be converted to 12v) track lites I recently installed and ONE 120vAC "Tensor" lite that I use for specific tasks; like close work, reading and occasional use over the stove when I need non-color shifted views. THe 12v, LEd worklites see quite a bit of use, too; either on the wall-warts or on the battery. I sometimes bring one or more of the "deck/patio' LEDs below for "mood" lighting.

I have a pair of Alladin kero mantle lites that I'd love to use; but they are too damm'd big !


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

Dave_e, some of us only have 12-volt lighting on board. Carrying 120VAC lighting as well takes up more space, needs more wiring and breakers, violates the "KISS" rule. So unless you're planning to spend lots of time on shore power, it makes no sense to have it installed.

By all means if you've got AC lighting, use it.

Figure 4? 6? lights at 10-20 watts each if you're DC and not LED, that could be a fast 100W load on the batteries for three hours, 300WA, 24AH of power. Might just be a trickle for your battery bank but if you can keep that load on the charger instead of the batteries, that's still 24AH more power they'll have the next morning. Or, it could mean three or four times that much if someone goes to sleep and forgets to turn out the lights. Or tv or whatever.

OTOH if I was being charged extra for a shorepower hookup, I'd probably just say no thanks, don't need it for that.

Whatever floats your boat.


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## redline (Feb 15, 2010)

We don't have any AC lights aboard Redline (ok, except for one CFL "trouble light" in my toolbox, typically only used during on-the-hard-projects), so it's exclusively 12V lighting. Most fixtures have been converted to LED, with some additional LED reading lights added. 

We have a couple of "under-cabinet" halogen fixtures for which I haven't yet found appropriate LED replacements, but I hope to soon. Oh, and the forward steaming light on the mast is still halogen, mainly since it's only used when... motoring anyway.


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## chucklesR (Sep 17, 2007)

I use AC light for working only - and seldom then.


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## wingNwing (Apr 28, 2008)

We seem to be evolving a consensus here, and we are another example. Our cabin lighting is all LED except for one Alpenglo - in other words, all 12V, and it never occurred to us to add the storage space and inconvenience of a separate AC lighting system. One super-bright 12V halogen at the nav station for those times when you really need to see detail.

Chuckles -- I so gotta ask which you do "seldom" -- work? or use AC light? (sorry, can't help it, its just the way your answer was worded.  )


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## Dave_E (Aug 7, 2013)

Bought one of those LED bulbs that just replace in the 12v sockets... they might be "warm" but they're just not bright enough for me. Decided to stay with the old style and we have an AC lamp when we need it.

Dave


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## T37Chef (Oct 9, 2006)

wingNwing said:


> We seem to be evolving a consensus here, and we are another example. Our cabin lighting is all LED except for one Alpenglo - in other words, all 12V, and it never occurred to us to add the storage space and inconvenience of a separate AC lighting system. One super-bright 12V halogen at the nav station for those times when you really need to see detail.
> 
> Chuckles -- I so gotta ask which you do "seldom" -- work? or use AC light? (sorry, can't help it, its just the way your answer was worded.  )


Great to see you posting again, we miss you around here!


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## n8kraft (Dec 31, 2009)

12V lighting only. Well, other than flashlights and headlamps.


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## Tim R. (Mar 23, 2003)

We do have one set of 120v lights that we use at the dock. It is a string of white Christmas lights woven through a string of fake Ivy for mood lighting. Everything else is 12v LED. Will be replacing the 120v lights with 12v soon. Already have them, just need to be wired. They give a much warmer feeling in the cabin than using dome or reading lights.

These are their 12v replacements. http://www.environmentallights.com/13364-150393r.html


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