Now here is a nifty little tool that I have been having fun with. It's an infrared thermometer that measures temperatures very accurately. I am sure that there are other makes, well I know there are but this one is from Fluke and since borrowing it I have found all sorts of uses for it around the boat. As it is a non contact tool I only have to point it at whatever it is that I want to measure the surface temperature of, pull the trigger and hey presto an instant readout.
But the point of me telling you all this is that I have had the chance to take accurate readings from the old and new cabin lights fitted to a 38 foot sailboat. It has to be said that the illumination left much to be desired there were many dark spots in the cabin and reading a book or chart was difficult unless you sat directly under one of the original dome lights. As an upgrade we removed the old lights and installed new Imtra Hatteras LED lights. Not only has this provided much needed extra illumination but they also look great. I have been totally sold on the use of LED lights on boats for some time and use them everywhere on my own boats including navigation lights. LED's don't burn out and use far less electricity than incandescent bulbs. However one thing that is often overlooked is that they also produce significantly less heat.
This is a roundabout way of me telling you that I checked the heat output firstly from one of the old dome lights that we removed and compared that against the heat generated from one of the new LED units we installed.
After connecting up the old dome light the temperature shot up to 114 degrees almost immediately.
The LED on the other hand registered a much lower 73. When you factor in that it is not uncommon for there to be 6 or 7 lights on at one time the heat generated and introduced into the cabin from the old style dome lights becomes significant. Less heat means that the air conditioner has to run less in hot climates which with the cost savings that entails becomes a win win all around I would say.
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