Change For A Kuaka

Installing a Masina Festoon LED Light Replacement Into An Aqua-Signal Series 40 Stern Running Light


Copyright © 2006-2010 by Bebi Electronics, Ltd.



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Of all of the LED running light replacements that we sell, the Masina Kuaka* festoon (looks like a fuse) light bulb had to be the easiest to install. Although I 'cheated' and used the grub screws within the fixture, the installation took less than 15 minutes, including the photographing, but excluding digging my caulking gun out of the tool locker. I'd image that a port or starboard running light would mount in a similar manner.

A-S Series 40 Festoon Light Before Installing an LED Replacement-Click to Enlarge   Unchanged Stern Light Showing Us It's Stern.

For those curious about the PV panel mounts, the panels were first attached to aluminium hinges with aluminium rivets along the center wooden rail to allow a limited of aiming. The other edge of the panels are held by sacrificial strips in the event of getting pooped by a wave.
The theory (born out, by the way) is that the strips will break, preventing the force of the water from either breaking the panels or tearing the davits loose from their mountings.

Removing Screws From An Aqua-Signal Stern Light From Base Before Removing Lens-Click to Enlarge Removing Aqua-Signal Stern Light From Its Base Before Installing LED Replacement Festoon Bulb-Click to Enlarge
Although not strictly necessary, I chose to remove the light from the base. On this light, that amounted to removing 2 #10x3/4" sheet metal screws and lifting straight up.

Removing the Lens of AS Stern Light Before Installing an L.E.D. Replacement-Click to Enlarge   Lens of a Stern Light With a Festoon (looks like a fuse) LED Bulb-Click to Enlarge
Next, loosen the two #6 lens mounting screws and pull the lens off. The lens crazing is after only six years in the tropics!   Lens removed. Please note that the burned out festoon bulb in the picture is a problem that you will never see again with an LED product!

Kia Island in Fawn Harbour, Cakadrove, Vanua Levu, Fiji Islands-Click to Enlarge Kia Island off our stern.

When we have a day off, we'll have a picnic and go fishing there. Remember, you're doing all this work so you can see this off your stern also!

Close Up of Stern Navigation Light Festoon Bulb Fixture Before Installing LED Replacement Light-Click to Enlarge   Close up of LED Replacement In a Navigation Light That Looks Like a Fuse-Click to Enlarge
I cheated here and just pushed the wires under the grub screws. A MUCH better attachment would have been to sweat the wires together, then put them under the grub screw for mechanical strength.

Sa Oti (English=all finished)

A big dollop of Selley's, a rubber band as a temporary clamp, and a few hours to cure completes the job. I've been asked about Selley's, so I've shown a picture of it in the tube for those outside of Oceania. A much more benign product than RTV silicone, as it does not require acetic acid to cure.		    Aqua Signal 40 Stern Light with Bebi Electronics Replacement LED Light Installed-Click to Enlarge



*Kuaka is the Samoan 'borrowed' word for quarter: The number, not the currency. A 25 cent piece, which an American would call a quarter, is a seleni in modern venacular Samoan. Seleni is also borrowed from English, but from the word shilling, whose size the American 25 cent coin closely approximated! Masina Kuaka, of course, is a quarter moon.