FWIW

Tursiops has quite a few 12 volt lights throughout the cabin. The problem with using them is that they pull from the battery bank. The battery master must be left on all night so that the lights can be clicked on when needed.

I can't remember if it was on this site but someone recommended using the battery operated, stick on, LED puck lights found at Menards and such.

So far we are very happy with the ones we picked up. If I remember correctly, a pack of 3 was under 10 bucks. The batteries (regular AAA) last a long, long, time. We find that the on/off via a push on the light face works great.

The best part is leaving the battery master OFF but still having nice, cheap, independent lights throughout the cabin.

We now have one in the head, one in the galley, and one in each bunk area.

Hope this helps.

Thanks. Sounds like a really good idea to me. Add a solar battery recharger and you've got a nice system going.

I use to actually have a kerosene cabin light on an earlier vessel (and sailed on a boat that used a kerosene anchor light). Stinky, but nice warm glow on chilly evenings.

Thanks Todd,

I hadn't thought of using rechargeable batteries and a solar recharger. I will be trying that setup. Self contained with minimal wasted resources. Cool!

A warm kerosene light would have been appreciated Saturday night. It was COLD outside and INSIDE the boat.

We have one above the galley counter. Used it for countless hours in the house till we decided what under-cabinet 120v light to use. It sat on the bench for a week or two till it dawned on me that I could stick it in the boat.

Great idea on the solar re-charger.

Fair winds~EV

A few years ago I saw a small solar powered 'AA' recharger unit. Paperback book sized. Self contained, it would charge four (4) AA batteries at a time. Thought it was ideal, as 'AA' batteries are likely the far most common used batteries, and you'd always have 4 batteries topped off, simply being left in the solar charger, then swap 'em out for the drained ones. If I still used 'AA' batteries like I did a few years ago, I'd get me two of those units. Stick 'em in, toss it in the cockpit sun after a sail, drive home, charged up next time you go sailing.

Never noticed them for the larger 'C' and 'D' batteries, but suspect they probably have them, too.

I got a trio of stick-on LED pucks on clearance at West Marine last year and they are still burning bright using last years batteries (the AAA batteries spent the winter in place on the boat). They are great. I read that LED uses less power because it s only producing light across a narrow spectrum. More light-less wasted and unwanted heat.



P.S.
Having the master battery switch turned to on (or 1 or 2 if you have multiple batteries) doesnt put a draw on the boat batteries unless something is turned on.

If you have separate switches/breakers for cabin lights, anchor light, etc. and the cabin light breaker is set to "on" it still doesn't draw power until you turn on one of the cabin lights.(except for the power to illuminate the switch itself).

If your battery is in good shape you should be able to accidently leave a couple of cabin light on all night and still start the boat in the morning. They only draw about 6-10 watts I think. Ever go your car in the morning and realize you left the door open or trunk open all night?

Now, a week with accidental cabin lights on.....different story.

I turn off all the breakers as a safety precaution when not using anything. Most people leave the master switch turned to 1 when they are away (or if they are using power for an extended period of time (like lights and laptop for hours and hours) so that if something happens they still have battery 2 fully charged to start the engine.

I was extra paranoid and connected my bilge pump directly to the battery (with in-line fuse). So even if I turn off all the breakers and turn off the master switch the auto bilge pump will still run.

Water outside boat-good. Water inside boat-bad.

I've converted most of the lights on my boat to LEDs in an attempt to conserve power. Eventualy all my lights will be LEDs. I moor out on the lake and have no access to power other then the 2 solar panels on my companion way hood. LEDs are much more efficient then incandecent lights.

A few things I have picked up through the years. When I'm doing some extended cruising, say Canada for 7 - 10 days, conservation of my battery power is a must. The solar panel I added helps... but I still conserve power any way I can. I have the two-bulb rechargeable Coleman lantern that I use on the boat; after all, what is an extended cruise, other than camping on a boat? I typically use only the one bulb, lower setting (conserve the battery), to read by at night. It generally will last the better part of a week, say 4-5 days minimum, and when I do pull into a port, I simply plug it in and recharge it while at a transient slip.

Those hockey puck stick on lights already mentioned.

Another thing I do is use a couple of those cheap LAWN solar powered lanterns. Rather than leaving the (non-LED) masthead light on all night to indicate anchorage, I can either hoist one up the 'yard arms', or generally just place two of them, port and starboard, on the outboard side of the cockpit or bow. They provide more than enough light for the duty. Of course, when I have a secluded cove to myself, and am run well up close to, or even onto, the beach, I don't use lights at all. Don't know why I am such a power miser... never drained a battery... but just want to make sure I HAVE the electrical power in case of future need during the cruise.

I also (cruising, not when local) throw a small battery charger into the boat. Same thing, battery charging if needed, while at a transient slip (had to do this several years ago on Beaver Island). Of course, those of you with ship-to-shore power lines wouldn't need this.

I also have a few of those 'shake' powered LED flashlights on board. They ARE worth having, though are not as good as you'd think.

A question for you guys: does any of you have the flashlight that is powered, rather than by shaking... instead by turning the crank handle? I'd like to know, as it seems like they might be a better choice than the shaker lights. How well does it work, would you recommend, etc.

???

I've got a crank/solar powered "emergency device" am/fm/weather radio, flashlight, red flasher. Cheap thing, and less light than my shaker lights.