OceanLED makes a full line of LED products for superyachts and ships.
LIET CORP is the commercial division of OceanLED specializing in energy efficient lighting solutons.
FAQs
Very simply put, LED lights provided they are designed and specified right, will last longer than any other light source, use a minimal amount of power, have much less heat exposure and withstand the rigors of spiking electronics, humidity, water ingress and vibration on a boat. Bulbs use huge amount of power, are fragile and don’t last long in a marine environment.
OceanLED is by far the most popular and most widely distributed marine lighting in the world. The company has a highly skilled team pushing the technological boundaries of LED lighting and the electronics to run them, with all products being designed and produced in-house.
It all depends on size of your vessel and desired final lighting effect.
Check out our new 'How to Light Your Boat' video series to learn more about product selection, mounting suggestions, color options and more.
Download our 'Which Series is Right for Your Boat' for recommendations.
Or go to our 'Applications' section to learn more about individual lighting setups. This is one example, there are several to choose from.
This is like asking who makes the fastest car – i.e. it’s not always about brightness. The real question comes down to design, technology and size. OceanLED lights are brighter than most products available; those that seem brighter tend to be to the detriment to longevity and safety.
OceanLED lights are designed to use less power, maintain much longer life spans and with far better colour retention and clarity.
Think of it like this - What works best? – One 1000 watt speaker under your TV; or 6 individual speakers around the room? Surround sound is the answer to clever sound and clever lighting design can be done by using more individual lights; it’s like surround lighting!
Absolutely, LEDs are a solid state light source, therefore are vibration proof. All lights are fitted with thermal cut out protection, so if the light does overheat it will turn itself off as a precaution. Running with traditional lights will put the bulbs at risk, so do at your own.
For underwater, blue is by far the most popular. For interiors and on deck the Warm white/ 3000k is the preferred choice.
Blue and green light have shorter wavelengths than white light, and can penetrate through the water more efficiently making them look brighter. The human eye is more sensitive to blue and greens also which helps to make the lights look brighter.
However, if you do your boating in crystal clear waters we recommend White, as this simply enhances the natural beauty. OceanLED white LEDs are whiter than any other underwater light on the market so when you want a white light, you do truly get a white light opposed to the ‘yellow’ variety.
All blue are great for slightly murkier waters such as the Florida coastline or the Mediterranean.
Green which is great for attracting fish is the best colour for penetration in fresh water. If you do your boating in intercostal waterways or very bad visibility areas, green helps make the water look cleaner but is not always the most aesthetically pleasing.
For the same reason divers goggles are not made from plastic or polycarbonate lenses. From results of extensive long term testing we have found that although it does offer great strength, plastic or non protected lenses cloud/yellow overtime and can be very easily scratched quickly diminishing the light output. It is impossible to polish the surface back to new, unless a flame is applied which should only be done by a plastics specialist. The new Trailer Boat series from OceanLED are specifically designed for boats that are not left in the water for extended periods of time, therefore reducing the risk of diminishing light output.
An example of a competitors plastic underwater light after only 1 year in use. This scratching on the lens reduced the light output by 40%.
All OceanLED lights are treated with the Unique Tritonium coating. This basically forms a non stick layer making it virtually impossible for barnacles and so on to stick to the lens. If you find they do however it is very easy to clean them off. If in the water a soft bristle brush should do the trick, and if the boat is out of the water then make sure the lens is soaked with water and then using an ice scraper or something similar it is very easy to bring it back to new again as shown in the video here.
The Trailer Boat Series do not have Tritonium protection instead they are supplied with lens protection tear off strips that can be removed and re-applied as and when needed.
There are a number of factors regulating how far the lights will shine out, #1 being how big/bright the light is? #2 What colour are you using? #3 How clean is the water?
In dirty water we have seen light reach as little as 3’ / 1 meter but in perfect conditions the same lights reach out beyond 100’ / 30 meters. In the picture the largest boat is 70', therefore the lights being shown reach out way beyond 100'.
You don’t. LEDs are extremely reliable and OceanLED over engineer headroom in all products adding to their reliability. An LED rarely fails instead they gradually die over time. Problems in other competitors products tend to be with poor or cheap electronics. If there is a problem there will never be a catastrophic failure as with traditional bulbs where they just go out. In the rare circumstance there is a fault, the entire fixture needs to be replaced. OceanLED designs lights with this in mind making reliability the main concern when designing products.
All OceanLED lights have thermal protection cut out as a precaution. If the light overheats due to whatever reason, the light will turn off. Once the unit has cooled down the light will turn back on or depending on the switching system on board, it may be necessary to recycle the power. Most competitor products do not have this feature.
The running temperature of any light from OceanLED is designed to run within 40 – 60 degrees centigrade (104 - 140 degrees Fahrenheit) depending on the which size of light and the ambient conditions. If the light overheats due to whatever reason, the light will turn off. Once the unit has cooled down the light will turn back on or depending on the switching system on board, it may be necessary to recycle the power. Most competitor products do not have this feature.
Example of a competitors bulb underwater light without thermal protection, severely damaging a fiberglass/grp hull.
Yes, all lights have reverse polarity protection. Red is always positive, black is always negative. Surprisingly most competitor products aren’t, which can cause an installation and warranty replacement nightmare.
The standard lens allows the light to penetrate the farthest out into the water i.e. if you want the biggest effect, the standard lens gives a cone shaped beam in the water. This lens is the best option for when a swim platform will obstruct the view of the initial light beam.
The wide lens is an exclusive to OceanLED giving the light a diffused flood effect. When putting these lights together on a boat the light beams from light to light combine eliminating dark spots. This lens is perfect for use on a transom where the lights are not hidden by a swim platform, and perfect for use down the sides of a boat. The ultimate goal is to achieve a perfect halo of light around a boat. Many setups use the standard lenses on the transom, and wide angle lenses on the sides. Speak with you local OceanLED representative for specific requirements for your boat.
The picture below shows M/Y Island Time, a 110' Broward with 5 standard lens lights on the transom and 26 wide lens lights up both port and starboard - the result ' a perfect unbroken halo of light'
One of the best LED manufacturer in the world, CREE recommends we can advise 100,000+ hours on our products. However we limit this to 40,000 hours for underwater due to the operational conditions and 80,000+ for the out of water LIET products. We are extremely confident in this also due to our policy of half and double e.g. if a component we use states a rating of 20 we assume it is only 10. If a component needs to be made at a rating of 10 we make it 20, just so every part does not run on its maximum limits. The LEDs are run at half the recommended maximum temperature and run at half the input voltage.
The human eye can only perceive a 30% drop in light and when an LED has reached this stage it is assumed the products useful light has ended, i.e. the L70 line. However you can expect the fixture to last for at least as long again but at ever diminishing output.
12/24vDC as standard on all models (with the exception of the Amphibian 3 product which is 12vDC only) On 2010 and 3010 series lights mains/AC LED drivers are available to accommodate line voltage of 110 - 240vAC.
The Driver Cabinet contains all the electronics in one area of the boat, and the cabling runs off to the lights. This greatly speeds installation and annual inspection. For DC power units, we now offer a Junction box which results in a quicker installation as one power feed can be split effortlessly between 2 to 4 lights. Check our accessories page for further details.
Like a normal diode, an LED consists of a chip of semiconducting material impregnated, or doped, with impurities to create a positive-negative (p-n) junction. As in other diodes, current flows easily from the p-side, or anode, to the n-side, or cathode, but not in the reverse direction. Charge-carriers—electrons and holes—flow into the junction from electrodes with different voltages. When an electron meets a hole, it falls into a lower energy level, and releases energy in the form of a photon, i.e. Light. LED development began with infrared and red devices made with gallium arsenide. Advances in materials science have made possible the production of devices with ever-shorter wavelengths, producing light in a variety of colors.
No. Other underwater bulb lighting companies are doing their best to keep up with the coloured underwater lights produced from OceanLED by placing crude filters over the lens, this not only dramatically reduces the light output as it blocks out the colours not wanted (white light is a mixture of all colours) but will make the fixture run much hotter, resulting in shorter bulb lives and increased safety concerns.
Tritonium Optical Technologies is a small research laboratory located in England specialising in optical systems mainly for the Military and the Aerospace industries. 12 months of research and development between OceanLED and Tritonium has resulted in a world beating optical lensing system, not only for underwater lighting but indeed lighting in general. See our Technology page for more information.
Some conventional lights are cheaper, but by the time you have replaced a few Xenon or HID bulbs, and one or two ballasts, conventional lights can turn out to be a lot more expensive than OceanLED lights. Typical life expectancy of bulbs are as follows: Halogen = approx.500 - 1000 hours Xenon = approx. 1000 - 3000 hours HID = approx. 3000 - 5000 hours OceanLED = approx. 40,000 - 60,000 hours The longest life of a Xenon or HID lamp can only achieved when left on for more than 10 hours at a time in a cool environment. The more they are used for shorter periods, the less time they will last. On average, Xenon and HID will have lost 50% of their light output, by the time they have reached their half life. If there are Xenon or HID lights on a boat and one bulb blows, all bulbs will need to be changed in every light to maintain a matching colour temperature and brightness.
Competitors bulb colour inconsistancy on a superyacht on the front cover of Dock Walk summary
Some facts taken from a Xenon and HID bulb manufacturer. According to Osram (www.osram.co.uk), H.I.D lamps need to be run for at least 10 hours at a time to reach their estimated lamp life. The more times they are switched on and off, the shorter the lamp life. In addition, if the bulb is turned on for less than 15 minutes from switch off, its life is yet again shortened. If the light is only used for: 5 hours at a time then the bulb life is shortened by 25%. 2.5 hours at a time then the bulb life is shortened by 45%. 1.25 hours at a time then the bulb life is shortened by 60%! This last figure would give an H.I.D lamp life of only 2400 hours. By half the bulbs life, the H.I.D lamp (and Xenon technology) has lost half its light output. OceanLED lights can be turned on and off for any length of time with no harm to any part of the light, there is no cool down period and no reduction of life expectancy.
No, you can turn the lights on and off a million times an hour with absolutely no effect to the LEDs . OceanLED lights have no warm up time and no startup power surges unlike HID, which take at least 2 minutes to achieve full brightness and up to 20 minutes cooling time if the light is switched off and needs turning back on. This is a major advantage when integrating underwater lighting with an onboard security system.
OceanLED does now give exact Fixture Lumen outputs of our fixtures, but you must be aware of the differences when comparing LED to conventional bulb technologies and other lesser LED products. At present, the total lumen output of LED's will be considerably lower than some bulbs. This however does NOT mean though the total light output is less. The term 'Lumen' refers to the total amount of light produced at the source i.e. the bulb or the LED. Our LED products, whilst lower in Lumen value, use patented optical lenses placed over each LED to focus and magnify the light produced by up to 500%. Therefore, by emitting a lower value of Lumens, the product still emits a very high value of LUX. LUX is the total amount of light falling on a surface at a set distance from the light. However, LUX can be measured in a multitude of ways making some light appear brighter on paper than others, when they are not.
The most professional way of measuring light output is FIXTURE LUMENS, i.e. the actual light output from a completed fixture. Therefore this is what we consider the USEFUL light output. Unfortunately our competitors blindly quote the bulb or LED manufacturers figures rather than testing their own fixtures and this does not help when trying to accurately compare like for like. To give an example of how Lumen figures can be mis-interpreted; a bulb rated to 10000 Lumens, is placed in a fixture, and the lens is then painted black so no light exits the fixture at all. The fixture is still rated to 10000 Lumens, even though no light is being produced from the fixture!!!
Fixture Lumens for lighting products although expensive to obtain via independent test houses is the best way of comparing like for like. In 2009 OceanLED invested heavily into its own optical laboratory to conduct and measure to know for sure what was what. When comparing always ask the manufacturer to confirm where their data has been derived from.
All OceanLED lights are EMC tested, i.e. they emit no radio frequencies. From our observations all the other underwater lighting products on the market have not gone through this essential testing and approval process.
Yes, we have extension cables available in 2, 4, 6 and 9 meter lengths. It is possible to centrally locate all electronic drivers in one location and run off to the lights up to 500 meters away! For custom installations we provide cabling on a drum which can be laid and custom lengths can then be terminated. We also offer a Driver Cabinet which centrally locates all electronic drivers in one location for Super Yachts, and we also now offer a custom made Junction box allowing 1 feed to power up to 4 separate lights, reducing installation times.
All OceanLED lights incorporate inline fuse kits which are recommended to be installed with every light. The inline fuse is designed to protect the wiring. It does not negate the need to run all of the lights through the boats DC breaker panel .
As all OceanLED lights are totally factory sealed and essentially only consist of 1 or 3 components (light only or light; driver; connection cable) the installation is effortless and designed to be fool proof with illustrated installation instructions and clear ‘on product’ labeling.
Under ideal circumstances OceanLED would recommend the following installation depths to achieve the best lighting effect: - 200-250mm (8-10") to the top of the fixture. However provided the product is underwater during normal operation the effects can still be good.
With our LEDs you will gain increased safety as a result of lower operating voltages and on average 50 percent less heat exposure. All connections are made with sealed, over molded plugs which comply with ABYC, E11 regulations. All lights have thermal protection cut outs as a precaution. All lights are totally resin sealed as the technology does not need to facilitate bulb change, including the electronic drivers, to IP68 water ingress protection offering the ultimate in protection. Competitors bulb style fixtures are vulnerable to leaking at the rear seals where bulb changing is necessary especially when a lens has been broken, as the fixture is essentially hollow. All OceanLED lights are solid, resulting in a quadruple protection barrier.
Yes, where applicable all OceanLED lights have passed the internationally recognised approvals Lloyds Type Approval, RINA and ABS. In addition to this all lights have passed USGC Ignition Protection standards meaning the electronics can be safely mounted in the engine room with complete peace of mind. Having this approval is essential for OEMs to conform with boat building standards which in turn validate insurance. All OceanLED lights have also passed the ABYC H-27 Side load test compulsory for all through hull units on boats. All components that penetrate a hull should have been tested to the H-27 standard. Essentially this test is a 500lb force applied to the end of the fixture for 1 hour. This ensures that if someone for instance steps on the light in the bulge or engine room, it will not break and therefore make the boat sink. OceanLED light are the only underwater lights with this approval, which make OceanLED the most approved underwater lighting company in the world. See individual products for test and approval documentation.
See individual products for test adn approval documentation.
Yes 100%, all lights from the smallest to the largest, DC or AC powered are totally resin sealed, meaning they can operate underwater – this includes the electronic driver. For permanent installation however always mount the electronics in a dry location.
Unlike traditional high powered underwater lights which can take up to 2 minutes to reach full brightness, OceanLED lights are instantly at full brightness with no power surges, which on some lights can be as high as 18 Amps, creating a huge strain on batteries and generators.
Yes, it is highly recommended to anti-foul the entire bronze flange of the light that is exposed to the water. All OceanLED lights are now supplied with a Lens Masking Discs to help prevent anti fouling paint sticking to the lens whilst painting - this innovation was developed from customers feedback received over the past year. All metal parts on the exterior of a hull should be connected to the vessels cathodic protection system. A bonding point is available on every model. The new X-520 however is made from polyacetal which does not require antifouling or bonding.
Props and propellers are made from the same material for a very good reason – it is one of the most robust metals underwater. Stainless Steel is very good out of water as its top layer oxidizes, however underwater this does not occur and therefore will corrode. Aluminium Bronze, is expensive but has great resilience to salt water corrosion as well as having great thermal characteristics to help keep the light and LEDs cool.
You can read the OceanLED warranty by clicking here.
Check our Dealer Locator on this site for a dealer in your area. We are currently expanding worldwide to be able to offer a next day service globally.
Both the Thru Hull and Flush Mount models are available with delrin isolating sleeves to separate the dissimilar metals. See our accessories page for further details.
No, an LED driver maintains a constant power to the LEDs, the input voltage makes no difference to this. For competitors products this is true, high powered lights can only work off of mains/AC power as the power consumption would be excessive and dangerous.
This is a silca bag to absorb excess moisture. As the lights are supplied as a factory sealed unit, there is a certain amount of trapped air inside the fixture. When the light is on the water molecules evaporate, when the light is turned off the water molecules cool and condensation can occur. The silca bag absorbs all of this within the first few operations. Previous models without the silca bag can appear to have 'water' inside the light, however this is only condensation and will not effect the operation of the light itself - it is purely an aesthetic feature that we introduced the silca pack.
In well under a decade, LEDs have expanded their role from little red spots which tell you the HiFi is on, to include brilliant white light sources capable of illuminating a room or lighting the road ahead. Production quality LEDs are now capable of efficiencies of around 70 lm/W, compared with 12 lm/W for incandescent light bulbs, and single die devices are producing over 100 lm. History of LEDS Practical white LEDs were made possible by work with GaN semiconductor materials in the 1990s by Dr Shuji Nakamura at Nichia Corporation in Japan. There has been heated argument as to where the actual credit lies, but it is certain that: the company, the man, and the previous research were all necessary. Nichia initially concentrated on making white LEDs in the classic 5mm and 3mm LED packages, as well as small surface-mount variants. The Philips-owned Californian company Lumileds introduced the first successful high-power white LEDs, using larger die (1x1mm) for intensity and complex packages to extract the heat generated. Cree of North Carolina has joined, or even surpassed, Lumileds as the producer of the brightest and most efficient LED die, and Far Eastern companies are not far behind. How White LEDs work The 'white' of white LEDs comes from the narrow-band blue naturally emitted by GaN LEDs, plus a broad spectrum yellow generated by a phosphor coating on the die which absorbs a proportion of the blue and converts it to yellow. 'GaN' die are actually InGaN heterostructures, which can produce operational wavelengths from green to ultra-violet by varying the relative amounts of indium and gallium during production. Although this blue die + yellow phosphor approach yields light which appears white, it has little green and almost no red content leading to inferior colour rendering compared with incandescent bulbs and even 'tri-phosphor' florescent tubes. 'Warm white' LEDs, which include a red-producing phosphor, are an attempt to improve this situation as well as make LEDs illumination more acceptable in living spaces. LEDs for lighting? White LED versions of traditional luminaires are already available from several manufacturers, particularly in the MR11 spotlight style. LED headlights for cars are in the pipeline, notably through the work of Germany's Osram, which is producing a range of multi-die packages that are close to producing enough light for road illumination. LED bicycle headlights are already available. Reality checking Firstly, firms which claim 90 per cent efficiency from LED light sources are making it up. Even the latest ones convert far more electricity to heat than they do to light. Next, according lighting industry experts, LEDs will remain expensive compared with light bulbs and florescent tubes. And whilst they will increasingly appear in homes and offices, they will almost certainly will not replace florescent tubes in office lighting. Florescent tubes, at 100 lm/W for the best fittings, are equal in electrical efficiency to the best LEDs. In the future, large area sheet emitters based on organic LED or AC electroluminescent technology are likely match LEDs in efficiency and to cost far less per lumen to manufacture. One of these two will probably end up replacing florescent tubes in office lighting and eventually most light bulbs in the home. In their favour, LEDs are the only real alterative if colour-tuneable accent lighting or colour-tuneable whole-room lighting is required.
No but if you are looking to have a custom name board made we would recommend a company called YachtSign whose product we feel is one of the best on the market. Check out their website for previous examples and to get a quote. www.YachtSign.com.
See our Bracketing Accessories, these allow any Amphibian to be clamped onto a bar or surface mounted.
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