Masthead navigation light: Are lights conforming to COLREGS Rule 25(c) disallowed?

[brianb]

Hello PBryant,

Our wording, shown below, should be altered to accommodate the vertical red/green lamp that you use and is in compliance with COLREGS. I am going to propose this change to our rules team.

4.30 Navigation lights as required by the COLREGS, except COLREGS Rule 25(d) shall not apply (vessels less than 7 meters in length). Navigation lights shall be mounted so that sails or the heeling of the yacht will not mask them, and they shall not be mounted below deck level. All yachts shall have a masthead tricolor light or a strobe capable of being hoisted to the masthead.

"tricolor light" above, should probably be worded to state something like, "a mast head light COLREG compliant, examples: tricolor, veritcal green/red". We will consider this as an addendum to the rule set.

Brian

 

[pbryant]

Hello PBryant,

Our wording, shown below, should be altered to accommodate the vertical red/green lamp that you use and is in compliance with COLREGS. I am going to propose this change to our rules team.

4.30 Navigation lights as required by the COLREGS, except COLREGS Rule 25(d) shall not apply (vessels less than 7 meters in length). Navigation lights shall be mounted so that sails or the heeling of the yacht will not mask them, and they shall not be mounted below deck level. All yachts shall have a masthead tricolor light or a strobe capable of being hoisted to the masthead.

"tricolor light" above, should probably be worded to state something like, "a mast head light COLREG compliant, examples: tricolor, veritcal green/red". We will consider this as an addendum to the rule set.

Brian

Thanks Brian. I have both red-over-green and a strobe permanently installed at the masthead, so I should be good to go!

 

[WBChristie]

In Pac Cup 2014, while drifting around the first night, west of the Farralones, I could see almost all of the boats that started the same day as us. 15 or so. Every boat had a tri-color and were easily visible. Luna Sea brand seem to be the brightest.

Personally, I don't like the light pollution of deck level running lights.

I'm in the market for a tri-color ...did you actually ask the different boats which brand of tri-color they were using?
Thanks

 

[BobJ]

Get one that doesn't put a bunch of static into your VHF receiver - the masthead antenna is mounted next to the LED tri-color on most boats. I'm on my second OGM because of this and it still does it. Makes it fun at night: "Let's see, do I want the ship to see me or do I want to be able to hear them on my VHF?"

Funny story (well NOW it is): The replacement OGM included a photodiode that shuts it off during the day if you forget. I hoisted myself up the rig and installed it - got the masthead plug all properly sealed, etc. Lowered myself back down and turned it on - no workee. Damn. Hoisted myself back up and took it off, lowered myself back down and took it home to test. A couple days later it dawned on me . . .

 

[Gamayun]

Ha, ha! I would do something like that.

So, is it the LED generally or the OGM fixture specifically that is causing interference? I have the mast down and am installing the Aqua Signal Series 40 tricolor. It does not currently have an LED. I'm wondering if the power savings versus having a radio that transmits well with nav lights on is worth making the change?

 

[pogen]

I put in an Aqua Signal tricolor + anchor LED unit some time ago, no problems. Also , much lower current draw.

I think the issue with LEDs is that some have DC/DC converters built in that are not well filtered/shielded. One would hope that since LEDs have been out for so long now that this issue would have been solved.

 

[BobJ]

I think most manufacturers have resolved the static problem. Some of their ads specifically mention it.

I'd install an LED fixture if you can. Changing the bulb later to an LED would probably make it non-CG approved.

 

[WBChristie]

Get one that doesn't put a bunch of static into your VHF receiver - the masthead antenna is mounted next to the LED tri-color on most boats. I'm on my second OGM because of this and it still does it. Makes it fun at night: "Let's see, do I want the ship to see me or do I want to be able to hear them on my VHF?"

Funny story (well NOW it is): The replacement OGM included a photodiode that shuts it off during the day if you forget. I hoisted myself up the rig and installed it - got the masthead plug all properly sealed, etc. Lowered myself back down and turned it on - no workee. Damn. Hoisted myself back up and took it off, lowered myself back down and took it home to test. A couple days later it dawned on me . . .

haha ... thanks...

 

[The Smokester]

I have the LunaSea LED tricolor/anchor/flasher. So far no RF interference. And, I like the name.

 

[pbryant]

Get one that doesn't put a bunch of static into your VHF receiver - the masthead antenna is mounted next to the LED tri-color on most boats. I'm on my second OGM because of this and it still does it. Makes it fun at night: "Let's see, do I want the ship to see me or do I want to be able to hear them on my VHF?"

Funny story (well NOW it is): The replacement OGM included a photodiode that shuts it off during the day if you forget. I hoisted myself up the rig and installed it - got the masthead plug all properly sealed, etc. Lowered myself back down and turned it on - no workee. Damn. Hoisted myself back up and took it off, lowered myself back down and took it home to test. A couple days later it dawned on me . . .

I tried the OGM too: it wiped out ALL my radios - even my AIS and FM broadcast receivers. I replaced it with a Signal Mate (all around red) -- no problems. This sparked my curiosity, so since I'm a radio geek, I ordered several LEDs on the promise that they were "quiet" - and returned the ones that weren't. I have the advantage of having a radio frequency screen room (Faraday cage) and a $20K spectrum analyzer at my disposal. I found several LEDs that will clobber your radio - especially if placed at the masthead near the antenna. "Dr. LED" lamps were some of the worst offenders. I have some spectagrams of those here: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f124/problems-with-dr-led-lights-36083-5.html#post1383757. There's more about LEDs and RFI in that thread. Aqua Signal and Hella Marine also passed my tests.

My advice is to look for the "CE" (European Community) symbol on the product. The Europeans require lab testing of LED nav lights for radio frequency interference (RFI). Here in the States, our regulation-phobic politicians allow manufacturers to "self certify." That policy will probably cost someone their life someday (if it hasn't already) when their LED lights obliterate their VHF radio reception. "Just let 'market forces' determine the quality", right? Sure, and every sailor owns a spectrum analyzer!

There is a very non-scientific test you can perform yourself: Listen to the weakest NOAA weather station, then turn on your lights. If the station vanishes or is replaced by static -- you have a problem. Noisy LEDs don't discriminate much by frequency -- they splatter noise across the entire VHF band, so what wipes out NOAA will wipe out channel 16. If you have noisy LEDs, you can also watch distant AIS targets slowly time out and disappear on your AIS display.

The LED emitters themselves aren't producing the noise, they're quantum-state devices that produce almost no noise, it's the cheap switching voltage regulators that are built into the lamps that's the source. They make square waves of varying duty cycle that are full of radio frequency harmonics - that require a 10 cent capacitor to filter out. The cheap regulators in LEDs that I tested acted like "all band transmitters" (like little long-illegal spark-gap transmitters, for you radio geeks) that made noise all the way from the HF band through the UHF band. Most of the ones I tested that were made in the U.S. were pure crap. I suppose making a good-but-slightly-more-expensive product isn't "competitive."

 

[pbryant]

I know this discussion on red-over-green mast lights is pretty well wrapped up, but I wanted to add a comment from someone else who's stood watch on a freighter. His opinion echoes mine.

Excerpted from www.sailnet.com > > Skills and Seamanship:

10.23.2013 posted by capta:
I was on watch steaming south through the Anegada Passage one night some years back, wide awake and sober by the way, on a freighter. Bridge height about 60 feet. From the port bridge wing I saw a red or green light (I don't remember which) ahead, and it appeared to be a mile or more away. I walked into the bridge to check the radar and out of the corner of my eye saw that light pass close to the port bridge wing.

I ran out and saw about a 40' sailing boat under full sail sliding aft no more than 10 feet from the ship! I had already completed a circumnavigation under sail and numerous transAts and transPacs before this, so I was an experienced sailor and would not ignore a sailboat's lights or take them lightly. Ever since that night I have been passionately against masthead tricolor and consider them to be incredibly dangerous. A single colored or white disembodied light gives absolutely No depth/distance perception and no light at all shines on the water, boat or sails. Several times on Long Island Sound, I have had other boats masthead running lights obscured by my bimini and thought the guy an idiot, sailing unlit!

You can do as you please, but nothing on earth would ever convince me to sail under one.
​

I sailed into the Gate about a week ago, and while in the channel just west of the GG bridge, I saw a single white light hanging in space. I thought: "He's in shallow water. That must be an anchor light." Then, as I passed the sailboat (I actually pass boats on rare occasions), the light turned green. "Nope! He's underway, and it's another one of those confusing tri-colors!" Viewed from astern, there is no way to distinguish an anchor light from a stern light.