Originally Posted by PinHead
Ah well, they say that old rockers never die. They just go deaf. :grin:
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Timddo, that does look similar, though I bought from a different seller and it was a lot cheaper.
I've got 4 x 72cm white, 3 x 72cm red and 1 x 5m white strip installed on my boat so I think I can offer an opinion of what I find best and how they compare. The 72 led strips might be a fraction brighter but the 5m strip is a better product (and still very bright on it's own). If I was doing it again I'd just go a couple of 5m strips.
In post #88 here, I described making up a clip-on light thingy with a short strip of blue LEDs to give me some top light above whatever task that I might be doing that needed top light. This was the prototype ...
Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch
Well, I used it in very dark conditions at Peel Island last night and I have to say that it was not a success.
There are three problems with it:-
1. The first is a simple one in the holes that I drilled, through which the LED strip is lashed with cable ties, simply allow too much escaped light to shine into one's eyes. That would be easily solved by using double sided tape rather than cable ties.
2. The second problem is more serious and that is that the blue LEDs light up every bit of white surface as though it was a night club with UV lights. ie boats are full of white surfaces and the blue lights on those surfaces creates blinding reflections. Blue is not the colour to use!
3. Whilst the white LED strip lights are stunningly successful when mounted under the gunwales, I found that the strip lights were giving me far too much light when used as an overhead light in a boat. The glare was overpowering at times. I had used the clip-on blue LED gismo in several places on the boat - on the side rails, on the rear bait board above where I sit, and clipped onto the overhead canopy frame, and the light was just too much. I actually found it more convenient to use my less intense three-LED cap light for general baiting and replacing hooks etc. The exception was when I held the task just below the gunwale level so that I was getting the white light from under there onto where there are no white surfaces for the light to reflect off - just the grey carpet on the floor. That was not so bad.
So its back to the "drawing board" for me. I shall get some red ones to try or alternatively some white overhead ones with something to dim them a bit.
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come on greg thats not loud, thats just right
ian
I just got delivery of 4 strips from the Ebayer reccomended in here originally and found that 2 of the strips only have the first 1/4 of the strip working and presume the card must be cracked within as it comes on halfway on one of the strips if you wiggle it ever so gently..........
Seems like Cheap rubbish to me,,,, but I am used to working on expensive LED street lights ... will just have to wait and see what Ebayer says about my request for 2 new ones at no cost and make decision after I install
OK guys its about time i set you all straight on the LEDs BEING SOLD ON ebay
One very important thing to remember is that Buying LEDs is like buying a light bulb
you get what you pay for!!!!
The only reason i have not put anything on this web site before is that these people copy the info and it shows up on theyre (yes Murray i'm talking about you)e bay web sites the next day
But here goes any way
1. All led chips are graded when they leave the factorys in china
commercial grade , domestic grade and christmas tree grade for want of a better word
They all shine 25-35 % brighter for about 150 hrs and then will maintaine that light intencity for the next 50,000 hours
the guys on e bay are getting christmas tree lights and putting them in the same packaging as ours and selling them as a copy of the original boat light
We have tested numerous LEDs from e bay not one has passed the light test
a quick way to find out is ask them what certification they have on them and im not talking about CE and ROS approvals
I bet they dont even know what your talking about
As for the pirana LEDs they are absolute crap
The major companys stopped making them 3 years ago due to high failure rates.Then people in china buy the old technology and sell it on e bay
Pirrana leds use a taiwan chip which uses 3 x the power for 1/3 the light out put our leds produce (they look almost as bright to look at, but cant push the light out
they have a 100 deg light radius, ours have 160 deg , thats why they put them on the side of the boat instead of underneath the top of the gunnel
This causes them to blind you every time you put your head below the gunnel
And of course the typical e bayer is here one day gone the next
do they have an address and a phone number you can ring if you need information
try getting warranty claims from these six months from now off these guys
they dont pay import tax,or gst on there lights, they dont have to put marine switches, silicone ,connectors ,joiners and every thing else that goes into our boat light kits
They dont have to pay for proffesional boxing
They also dont have to sell to the retail stores at 50% discount
They dont give tax invoices
Theres plenty more but i need a beer
regards kirk
Boatlight fishing
If you have problems with the seller regarding replacement and you paid Paypal put in a claim.
Steeler
DoNotFeedTheTrollsAandBelligerent
You are probably right in what you say, albeit some specific numbers might help win the argument for you if you have them. As they say, we don't treasure what we don't measure.
Nonetheless, I wired my boat with cheap eBay LEDs and six months later, I remain delighted with the result.
If the el cheapos produce 1/3 of the light of the goodies as you assert, I suspect that people will soon identify that just means that a greater number need to be used. It is only if the cost of doing that is comparable to the premium product, does the exercise favour the premium product.
However, I suspect that the average mug boatie is still likely to try the cheapies simply because in the vast majority of cases they seem to work.
The problem is that there is no standardised definition of quality for the LEDs so it becomes a Holden versus Falcon debate. ie no substantive arguments to sway the popular opinion decidedly in either direction are possible so the debate becomes one of desperation name calling or the use of standard fear, uncertainty and doubt tactics.
....and who would want to buy from someone who uses those tactics? After all, if something went bad with the installation, what might we expect in customer service from someone who uses those tactics?
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Hi Kirk,
I'm really looking forward to getting my "Boatlight" kit (order placed). I looked into ebay, but your pricing (boat show) was pretty good value.
Cheers,
Leigh (Kero).
Whilst i'm not doubting your intent to market what you consider to be a higher quality product, this "you only get what you pay for" has been the catchcry of anything to do with the marine business in this country since Captain Cook came ashore looking for a well priced chandlery. The other catchcry "preserve our jobs" seems to also come out regularly as guilt trip marketing.
As boaties we have long supported what the rest of the world would consider ridiculous pricing for basic equipment....being an isolated and small to medium marketplace we have always accepted a premium for anything with the word "marine" tagged to it, to the point of paying more for less quality thinking there is no option. My experience as a long time consumer of the word "marine" is that paying more is no guarantee of getting a better product here.
We (as the end consumer and the only truly essential cog in the wheel) have also have supported our government through the high indirect taxation applied to both locally manufactured and imported items by the time they get to us. On top of that we have supported the classically Australian layer cake of multiple layers of handling, usually due simply to a seeming inability or desire of local retailers to directly source knowing we seem only too happy to pay over the top prices....we have supported many thousands of ancillary businesses all attempting to carve out a living by adding that magic margin at various points.
As boaties we have also blindly accepted excuses for terrible service in the past and are a nation of very forgiving and patient people. We try not to whinge but dont really want that to be abused. Basic quality control at a manufacturing level is something we havent really expected until more recent times...but already most manufacturers in the marine business assume we now wish to pay an added margin for it, rather than being an essential part of their own cost of production. Quality control in manufacturing should not be thought of as a luxury item the consumer should be paying extra for...it should be an integral part of manufacturing process in this country. As consumers we are partly to blame for this by being forgiving tolerant souls unwilling to kick up a stink in general. We have all experienced the "doesnt exist" or "you wont be able to get it and should buy this" or "not our fault due to the exchange rate", but then we understand we are talking to businesses unwilling to part the money to carry and house essential inventory...when you have a naive and tolerant consumer its best to simply pass these costs along the chain and make excuses for ones own business practice.
We now have at our disposal a worldwide marketplace...we can comfortably shop from home and save enormous amounts of hard earnt in the process. It may seem cruel to be kind, but in essence unless we shop worldwide we will commit our own local manufacturing base to death through lack of competitiveness....that desire to find a niche in a market with cashed up clients too lazy to shop around will remain...but our experience is that paying more doesnt get us more.
It is not as simple as telling us (as part of your hopeful client base you wish to access for free) that other people charging less produce garbage. Its not that easy to justify charging double or triple the price whilst relying upon customer ignorance.
If you have a product that is worth double, triple and quadruple the price it is up to you to PROVE it is worth it.
Just saying so isnt enough...saying "not one has passed the light test" aint enough because it sounds like a cynical and shallow marketing exercise assuming we are ignorant gibbons. What YOUR "light test" is really isnt important unless we know what it is right ? We may not not care one iota whether things are boxed correctly, or have a tax invoice, or have silicone connectors, have your problem with retailers, or even want a warranty on a budget product we are happy to run a small risk with.
We are happy to support local businesses, but its really up to you to do the work and prove your product out there over time for the price you want us to pay. How you do that is up to you. Otherwise we will continue to seek out a similar item that does the same thing for a fraction of the price.
Treat us as difficult clients to convince...we have a much bigger shop these days and for small ticket items are often happy to run a small basis risk. We would like nothing more than to believe your product is far far superior and support another local business but you are asking what seems a lot of money for something that we can access at a fraction of the price...convince us that we are TRULY getting three times the product for three times the price.
Ain't that the truth?!!!
The greatest testimony to that always seems to me to be in the cost of downriggers.
I could accept a price penalty of maybe 20 - 30% for buying a north American manufactured product from a local tackle retailer but when the penalty is 200 - 300% over importing the exact same thing directly from a US retailer, and that same pricing exists across all Aussie retailers, then it is evident that something is desperately wrong with the business model.
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Only time will prove me right or wrong
But at the end of the day can you ring him if its not working?
go on a few led forums and see for your self
True.
If however, any local business is not price competitive then it won't survive and so its warranties and back-up service will amount to nil as well.
It is indeed a "Catch 22".
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Guys I have only read the last page here, but I put a set of boatlights on the Gale Force that I bought at the Toowoomba camping and leisure show. They are simply fantastic. The light is soft and doesnt wreck your night vision, very easy to install (all the gear supplied).
I paid for quality, as you need that with electrics on a boat. I have had enough electronics fail me in the past.
Perhaps its not so important for house or car purposes. But for a boat, I wouldnt use anything of less quality personally.
Steve
i ran the led rope lighting ,which is priced from 20 dollars a meter to 75 per meter depending where you buy it from . it works great easy to install and you can hose it etc as its fully sealed and water proof.
the first pic shows you what it looks like hanging over the shelf .
the second pis show it on under the shelves in the cabin ,that is the soft white colour
the third pic is the cockpit ,i went blue colour and i have 2 white led down lights in the rear corners,you can also get red and bright white as well ,i fitted this to my mates pontoon with an converter and it lights up 2meters around the pontoon,looks really cool for a couple of hundred bucks
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