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  2. [Amel Yacht Owners] Re: Tricolor & Anchor light still not working...

Re: [Amel Yacht Owners] Re: Tricolor & Anchor light still not working...

Bill & Judy Rouse <yahoogroups@...>
 

Gary,

In about 2006 I decided to change the anchor light to LED. About the only place I could get a bulb was from a company in New Zealand. When i first installed the LED, it did not work. I contacted the company who told me that LED's required reverse polarity. The early LED bulbs did not have integrated circuitry which solved this issue and/or regulated voltage.

To answer your questions, when I installed a LED anchor light in the Series 40 AquaSignal fixture I had to swap wires at the bulb socket. I did not originally install a LED tricolor because it was not available. The bayonet was designed with the two bulb pins offset from one another making the socket polarity sensitive. I had to do this at the socket because the two bulbs (anchor and Tricolor) in the fixture shared a negative in the 3 wire cable. BTW, I did not have the voltage regulator that has been discussed here.

The reversing of polarity is something that was an issue in the early years of marine LED bulbs. Considering the age of Alex's Super Maramu and the fact that he did not originally install the LED's, my first suggestion was to check to see if the polarity was reversed.

Best,

Bill
BeBe 387

On Sun, Feb 1, 2015 at 11:21 AM, amelliahona <no_reply@...> wrote:
 

Hi Bill:


When you changed the polarity at the masthead as you installed your LED lamps, did you have to swap wires to the bulb sockets or were you just able to insert the bulbs in a different orientation (i.e. 180 degrees of rotation in the socket)?

I don't recall what type of bayonet pin configuration there is in these sockets (it has been years since I last change a bulb).  Looking at the AquaSignal Web site it appears they are Series 40 fixtures and as best as I can make out from the AS literature, the socket pin configuration has the pins offset from one another making the socket polarity sensitive.  An incandescent bulb isn't polarity sensitive (obviously) and some sockets are polarity sensitive and others aren't, (e.g. pins on the lamp base directly across from each other and two identical contacts on the bottom of the bulb vs o ffset pins).  Then again even if the socket is polarity sensitive (due to pin or contact orientation), it doesn't mean the wiring was installed based on a particular polarity.  

As I have researched these LED lamps it appears that most have a IC (integrated circuit) voltage regulator as part of their circuity.  I can conceive of a scenario where this component is faulty and not providing current blocking and or shorted in some manner yielding the symptoms.

Thanks for your input. 

Gary Silver
s/v Liahona
Amel SM 335
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