Bedazzled

[Peter-Bullfinch]

Today, wending our way towards Braunston at Weedon, Bridge 21 on the Grand Union we paused at Bedazzled. Our boat Bullfinch is an elderly Colecraft with a variety of light fittings throughout. I wasn't sure which LED bulbs would do. What a lovely welcome we got. They came three times down to the boat, fitted bulbs in until we were happy the light levels were just right in each area. The old round brass bulkhead lights in the boatmans cabin and engine room still have that warm cosy yellow light. The two reading lights above our bed are a little brighter now. We replaced festoon bulbs, single point contact bulbs and even a few halogen bulbs. Am very happy with their friendly service. Sixteen bulbs for 106 pounds seemed good value too.
Plus they sell eggs and vegetables. Presume the carrots are popular with those of you who travel in the dark!

[BargeeSpud]

Should've got you to buy mine! Just paid them £135 for 16 bulbs & 2 adaptors. I'm not grumbling really, I'm more than happy in fact, as the prices for their similar bulbs do vary & mine just might've been a quid or 2 more expensive than yours.

Unlike your good fortune to have a personal service, I had to go by the info on their web site which is very good & I selected my bulbs by their connector & the stated equivalent to my existing incandescents. The only mistake I made was not to contact them & clarify the difference between warm white & cool white. I bought all warms & they seem a bit too white to me, maybe I should have selected some cool whites for certain fixtures?

Anyway, with a reduction between 8 - 10 times the wattage of my old incandescents, I'm very happy!

Edited September 4, 2012 by Spuds

[bottle]

I bought all warms & they seem a bit too white to me, maybe I should have selected some cool whites for certain fixtures?

 

If you think 'warm white' is to white then 'cool whites' would be worse.

 

warm white is as near as possible the same colour as 'standard' lighting.

 

cool white is the same as those LED torches, a blue white. (clinical)

[colin stone]

If you think 'warm white' is to white then 'cool whites' would be worse.

 

warm white is as near as possible the same colour as 'standard' lighting.

 

cool white is the same as those LED torches, a blue white. (clinical)

 

The eye is more sensitive to yellow than blue - so often with cool white, being a blue, everything looks too dark. With warm white, with more yellow, we can see better.

[BargeeSpud]

If you think 'warm white' is to white then 'cool whites' would be worse.

 

warm white is as near as possible the same colour as 'standard' lighting.

 

cool white is the same as those LED torches, a blue white. (clinical)

Phew! Looks like I got it right, albeit inadvertently.

 

Thanks.

 

[Canalfreak]

We also received excellent, friendly, service and are extremely pleased with the result of replacing all our internal bulbs with their LED's last Autumn.

 

Good eggs for sale, as well as vegetables.

 

Bob.

[spannerman]

Replaced my internal bulbs coming up 2 years ago - still going strong with no problems. Knowledgeable guy and great customer service

[Psycloud]

Thinking of replacing all our 20w halogens with the LED lights. Perhaps Warm White in the lounge & cabins and cool white in the kitchen and toilets (1 has already been done in this area and seems very bright). They seem to be use about 1/20th of the power of the halogens. We have about 10 halogens so that would be quite a saving on the batteries I think.

 

Is everyone still happy with their choice? I've looked at Bedazzled and also other sites where I could save between £30 and £50 (over Bedazzled) depending which bulbs I go for. Of course Bedazzled say their's are the only ones that have circuit protection built in but it does seem odd that others could sell dangerous bulbs.

 

Thanks

 

David

[furnessvale]

Thinking of replacing all our 20w halogens with the LED lights. Perhaps Warm White in the lounge & cabins and cool white in the kitchen and toilets (1 has already been done in this area and seems very bright). They seem to be use about 1/20th of the power of the halogens. We have about 10 halogens so that would be quite a saving on the batteries I think.

 

Is everyone still happy with their choice? I've looked at Bedazzled and also other sites where I could save between £30 and £50 (over Bedazzled) depending which bulbs I go for. Of course Bedazzled say their's are the only ones that have circuit protection built in but it does seem odd that others could sell dangerous bulbs.

 

Thanks

 

David

 

AIUI you have to be careful of cheap LEDs. Some are manufactured to work off household mains via a 12v transformer and require a near enough certain 12v. A boat setup can deliver between 10.5v and 14.4v depending whether you are stood, engine off and running the batteries down, or running with the alternator delivering 14.4v. LEDs suitable for boats can handle this difference but cost more.

 

Of course, I may be talking gonads and someone will be along in a minute with the correct version.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

[jelunga]

We also had good service fron Bedazzled. I chose warm white initially for the saloon's imitation oil kamps but due to my visual probkens changed to the brighter to me cool white. Kitchen and bath room also cool white. Saving stacks of leccy.

Bedazzleds are afaik have a voltage range of 9 - 32v. Our have been fine even when giving batteries equalisation charge which I believe is over 15v.

[GoodGurl]

Thinking of replacing all our 20w halogens with the LED lights. Perhaps Warm White in the lounge & cabins and cool white in the kitchen and toilets (1 has already been done in this area and seems very bright). They seem to be use about 1/20th of the power of the halogens. We have about 10 halogens so that would be quite a saving on the batteries I think.

 

Is everyone still happy with their choice? I've looked at Bedazzled and also other sites where I could save between £30 and £50 (over Bedazzled) depending which bulbs I go for. Of course Bedazzled say their's are the only ones that have circuit protection built in but it does seem odd that others could sell dangerous bulbs.

 

Thanks

 

David

you may be able to buy bulbs from elsewhere that do not have circuit protection but they won't last as long,we have bought from elsewhere and been very disappointed with how long they have lasted ( sometimes only 2 months ) Bedazzled = good value for money and excellent after service.

[Keeping Up]

... it does seem odd that others could sell dangerous bulbs.

 

The others aren't dangerous - they just suddenly stop giving out any light

[Peter-Bullfinch]

Still very happy with both the service and the bulbs from Bedazzled. On reflection the price was also fair considering the service we received. All the bulbs still working happily. We have kept one on during the evening as a small extra security addition whilst we have been out which seems a bonus now to me.

[Ex- Member]

Most standard 12 v led's don't like voltages that exceed 13 volts, anything over that and heir life span is greatly shortened.

 

We fitted 12v regulators to each pair of led's, when I got them they were a fiver each, bit dearer now though.

 

http://www.reuk.co.uk/buy-12-VOLT-REGULATOR-WITH-FUSE.htm

 

we originally bought most our LED's from the u'k about 7 years ago, they mostly blew which is when we found out about the voltage problem. we then fitted the regulators and bought warm white 48 LED's from China for under 3 quid each, they have 42 individual led's and have been running 3 years now without a single failure and plenty bright enough.

 

We also bought some MR16's last year with 60 individual led's from a UK seller on e-bay which are much brighter than 20 watt halogens, these also have been ok on the regulators with no failures. Think they were a couple of quid each.

[roggie]

Just sent them a email to check I've read their website correctly... if I did then I may well start swopping bulbs over for LED's. Saying that we don't normally have more than a couple on at each time - I keep trying to get people to turn off anything when its not needed (we don't live onboard).

[Tiggers]

Richard from Bedazzled is a really lovely guy, always get great service from him. He even swapped some bulbs that I had bought previously for some updated ones for free when I went in there the next time as he remembered which ones I had had.

[jonathanA]

AIUI you have to be careful of cheap LEDs. Some are manufactured to work off household mains via a 12v transformer and require a near enough certain 12v. A boat setup can deliver between 10.5v and 14.4v depending whether you are stood, engine off and running the batteries down, or running with the alternator delivering 14.4v. LEDs suitable for boats can handle this difference but cost more.

 

Of course, I may be talking gonads and someone will be along in a minute with the correct version.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

 

Thats the crux of the debate- cheaper (usually chinese) led replacements are supposed to work off a nominal 12v supply and the more expensive ones with a regulator in, areable to cope with a wider supply voltage. you pays your money and takes your choice... I'm currently using a mix cheap far east and reputable UK sourced items. I've not had any problems with any so far.

 

Personally I think the issue of voltage is overstated but if you are really worried a sensible may be approach is to put a regulator in the supply not in each lamp, then you can use the cheap ones.

 

I've gone for the best lamps where I need the best light (e.g to read by) and used cheaper far east units where its less important and to keep as spares.

 

it seems to me that the prices of LED lamps of all sorts is coming down as the output seems to be increasing. I'm not sure about service life, but I run a number of Mains LEDs at home and so far they seem to leasting longer than the CFL's I replaced them with.

[Psycloud]

Thats the crux of the debate- cheaper (usually chinese) led replacements are supposed to work off a nominal 12v supply and the more expensive ones with a regulator in, areable to cope with a wider supply voltage. you pays your money and takes your choice... I'm currently using a mix cheap far east and reputable UK sourced items. I've not had any problems with any so far.

 

Personally I think the issue of voltage is overstated but if you are really worried a sensible may be approach is to put a regulator in the supply not in each lamp, then you can use the cheap ones.

 

I've gone for the best lamps where I need the best light (e.g to read by) and used cheaper far east units where its less important and to keep as spares.

 

it seems to me that the prices of LED lamps of all sorts is coming down as the output seems to be increasing. I'm not sure about service life, but I run a number of Mains LEDs at home and so far they seem to leasting longer than the CFL's I replaced them with.

 

I think I may need to put a regulator into the 12v system anyway because we have a "cigarette lighter" socket on the boat and it's (like all the 12v) showing between 14.5v and 13v on my meter but yet the 12v iphone chargers we plug into it refuse to work. I suspect they have voltage protection built in.

 

David

[bottle]

Any item sold to used in the auto market should work OK on a boat.

[Psycloud]

Any item sold to used in the auto market should work OK on a boat.

 

Well i did think that yet we've got 2 different iphone chargers and neither of them work. One of them has lights on it to tell you it's charging (2 USB outlets) and when you plug it in it light for a split second then goes out. If I leave it for a minute or so and try again it does the same thing. It's like something is tripping out. I did wonder if maybe there wasn't enough current (requires 1amp at 12v) but if I hook up a 20w bulb (almost 2amp) it glows like the sun so I'm doubtful that is the issue. Very confusing.

 

David

[bottle]

Try them in a car with the engine running, it ill prove whether the fault is them or your boat wiring.

[bizzard]

Well i did think that yet we've got 2 different iphone chargers and neither of them work. One of them has lights on it to tell you it's charging (2 USB outlets) and when you plug it in it light for a split second then goes out. If I leave it for a minute or so and try again it does the same thing. It's like something is tripping out. I did wonder if maybe there wasn't enough current (requires 1amp at 12v) but if I hook up a 20w bulb (almost 2amp) it glows like the sun so I'm doubtful that is the issue. Very confusing.

 

David

Is the socket where you plug it in wired correctly, those chargers might be polar sensitive.

[Psycloud]

Is the socket where you plug it in wired correctly, those chargers might be polar sensitive.

 

Centre terminal is +, outer ring is -. Is that correct?

 

David

[jonathanA]

Well i did think that yet we've got 2 different iphone chargers and neither of them work. One of them has lights on it to tell you it's charging (2 USB outlets) and when you plug it in it light for a split second then goes out. If I leave it for a minute or so and try again it does the same thing. It's like something is tripping out. I did wonder if maybe there wasn't enough current (requires 1amp at 12v) but if I hook up a 20w bulb (almost 2amp) it glows like the sun so I'm doubtful that is the issue. Very confusing.

 

David

 

your in the world of Apple where nothing is quite as it seems... (in my opinion)

 

do they work in your car - if yes problem on boat if no problem with car charger, or the phone/ipod your connecting them to.

 

I would suggest that they may be non apple / cheaper alternatives and my experience with usb/Iphone leads and chargers is that the model of phone and/or version of IOS can be make a difference and some of the cheaper leads/adaptors are just not very good...

[bizzard]

Centre terminal is +, outer ring is -. Is that correct?

 

David

That's correct, are you sure the wall cig lighter socket is wired like that?

And as Bottle says, try it in a car. Lots of cars haven't got fag lighters anymore nor ashtrays.