ANOTHER IMPROVEMENT IN ENERGY SAVINGS

When I first bough BIANKA in the fall of 1995 she had two clip on lamp fixtures each with a 60 watt incandescent bulbs. I used them for the cabin  illumination when I was tied up to the dock as they used 120 volts AC. They worked well as long as you did not drop them when they were on as the hot filaments were very fragile. I replaced them a number of times. Then a few years ago along came compact florescent lights. They only used about 16 watts for the same amount of light as the delicate 60 watt incandescent they replaced. They were not as susceptible to damage but, I still did manage to break one in the cabin when it fell. Since these lamps also contain mercury it is a good idea to clean it up ASAP. This spring in order to avoid another accidental mercury spill this spring I bought some new TCP LED 60 Watt Equivalent Light Bulbs. These bulbs are even more efficient than the compact florescent bulbs they are replacing.  The TCP bulbs use only 9.5 watts compared to the compact florescent 16 watts. An energy savings of 40%. The bulb cover seems to be made of a high strength plastic not glass too. So there is no chance of filament and glass breakage like the incandescent technology or glass breakage and Mercury leakage like with the compact florescent bulbs.  Since I am also using my Ames 48 volt inverter more and taping into the electric propulsion battery bank the low wattage of the LED bulbs also means I'll be using  less power for the same illumination.  In short it is a big improvement in illumination and safety on board the boat .