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Fautasi 18 LED |
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Samoan Fautasi* | Samoan Fautasi* |
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We ALWAYS listen to our customers, and we always enjoy getting requests for making unique lights. When Bill in Malaysia contacted us with a request for an attractive light to replace the (broken) fluoresent lights on his cruising yacht, he very much caught our interest. | |
| Fiji has many beautiful indiginous woods, and we chose to use dakua salusalu (Decussocarpus vitiensis) for it's beauty. Since this light is hand-crafted by our employee's from a renewable resource, each one is slightly different from another in it's appearance, but will still enhance the beauty of your yacht's saloon |
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As this light was to be a replace for a fluoro fixture, we were challenged with the question of length. What we finally settled on was to make each unit 150mm in length, so they could replace into the space of a 12, 18 or 24 inch fixture, without having to build and stock multiple sizes. Having the 150mm (6") length also made it a perfect interiour light for small 'trailer-sailers', who have to watch not just their power consumption, but whether the light will fit at all! | |
| We also spent quite a bit of time considering if the unit should have a switch or not (relative, switches are expensive). What we decided was to produce a three varients; unswitched, toggle switched, and magnetically actuated switched units. The toggle switched units have a switched 'hot pigtail', so you can control multiple unswitched units from a single switched one, not only saving you a bit of money, but it makes 'ganging' the lights together easier (don't worry, we have instructions with all of our lights, as well as in our 'Hints and Suggestions' web page!) |
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Knowing that Baskin-Robbins has 31 flavours for a reason, you may order your Fautasi lights in either Warm White, or Pure White, colours. (in the photo to the left, the warm white strip LED strip light is on the top, pure white LED strip light is on the bottom). | |
| The ink wasn't even dry on our design paper before we came up with a thought for the toggle switched Fautasi LED fluorescent light replacement. We added a three way switch and a small, yellow, indicator LED. You can now choose (on the toggle switch light only) between 'light on', 'light off', and 'indicator', so as you can find the light switch in the dark! The indicator LED only draws 0.005 amps, so it really won't break the electrical budget! |
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Our next improvement was the addition of a three position dimmer switch for night vision. Contrary to folklore, not only does red have almost no influence on retaining night vision, but it is slightly inferiour to blue-green. The real 'key' to improving night vision is to reduce the volume of light to the retina. Although we differ on the origins of the myth, for an excellent piece of scholarship on the issue, please reference this site (link used with kind permission). | |
| We did have some concerns that the most dim level was too bright, but a racing sailor, Steve J. of Austrailia, was kind enough to independently evaluate the light. As you can see by his review here, he was very pleased with the results. | ||
| As is usual for us, we tested one of the proto-types in the galley of our own boat (which
we also live aboard on), a Downeaster 38, with a U-Shaped galley. Perfect!
With the thought that a picture is worth a thousand words, we took a series of photo's of lights within our galley for comparison between the types. The pictures were taken with a Casio Exilim, with settings of ISO 800, F3.4, 1/13 second shutter speed at a distance of 1.8 meters (6'). The spacing between the light and the stove top located straight down from the light is 91 cm (36") (The warm white LED comparison photos were taken on a different night, so the composition is slightly different). Besides resizing for faster downloading, there has been no other enhancements (not even cropping). Thus, to compare, please look at the work area which is illuminated, not the light itself! The 10 watt halogen and the Kalokalo were placed in an 110mm ABI brass fixture. The 8 watt, 12" fluorescent is a Guest brand lamp. |
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| 8 Watt Fluoro With Lens (~0.6 amps) |
8 Watt Fluoro No Lens (~0.6 amps) |
Kalokalo, ~3/4 Watt (0.06 amps) No Lens |
10 Watt Halogen No Lens |
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| Pure White Fautasi ~7/8 Watt (0.07 amps) |
Warm White Fautasi ~7/8 Watt (0.07 amps) |
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| Warm White Fautasi Medium Dimmed ~7/16 Watt (0.04 amps) |
Warm White Fautasi Fully Dimmed ~7/32 Watt (0.02 amps) |
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| Some items of interest to us: First, the amount of light that was lost from the fluoro light from the lens. In our case, that particular fluoro light has been above the galley cooker, which is used twice a day, for 10 years. Even with the lens removed, the white electronics cover dramatically attenuated the light towards the left of the light. Second, even though the halogen lamp was only on for a matter of a few minutes, it was hot enough to scorch my fingertips off when I went to plug in the Kalokalo! | |||
Specifications & Pricing
18 Click to learn more why we use
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| 11-16vdc at rated light output | ||||
| 7.5 volts | ||||
| <0.100 amps (0.078 typical) (undimmed) | ||||
| 0.039 amps typical (medium dimmed) | ||||
| 0.020 amps typical (fully dimmed) | ||||
| Constant over input voltage range due to integral current regulator | ||||
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Click here for a non-technical comparisons and specifications. Click here for a full technical specifications and comparisons. |
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| Unswitched and magnetic switched units, >1 hour submersion at 1 meter depth in 25˚C sea water. Mechanical switched units cannot be immersed without damage to the switch. | ||||
| ~250mm (10 inch) fully tinned wire pigtail leads |
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| ~100 gm (8 US oz.) | ||||
| Length - 150mm (6"); Width - 37mm (~1-5/16"); Height 24mm (~1") Mechanically Switched Unit Width at Switch - 50mm (2") |
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| LIFETIME! | ||||
| US$ 42.50 - | Fautasi (Pure White) NO SWITCH |
Fautasi Vevela (Warm White) NO SWITCH |
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| US$ 49.00 - | Fautasi (Pure White) Toggle SWITCHED |
Fautasi Vevela (Warm White) Toggle SWITCHED |
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| US$ 44.00 - | Fautasi (Pure White) Magnetically Actuated, Electronic SWITCH |
Fautasi Vevela (Warm White) Magnetically Actuated, Electronic SWITCH |
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| US$ 54.00 - | Fautasi (Pure White) Toggle SWITCHED & 3 Position Dimmer |
Fautasi Vevela (Warm White) Toggle SWITCHED & 3 Position Dimmer |
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If you are currently cruising, please read the information here. Relax and shop in future peace with our Privacy Policy |
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| (9 units or less, please email sales@bebi-electronics.com for larger quantities) | ||||
| Handling..... | Flat rate US$6.50 per order for our standard ULTRAFAST handling. (>81% of all orders are postmarked the day before they are ordered! Email us at sales@bebi-electronics.com if you have questions how we do this!) |
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| Registered Fast Post..... | NO CHARGE ANYWHERE! (Click here if you'd like more information about our shipping before you order). | |||
| Express..... | Please note that the buttons below DO NOT order product, they give you the OPTION of adding Express shipping to your existing order. Express does not measurably speed the delivery of your order (at quite a price!), but it does give you the ability to track your order. Thus, we only recommend it if you have a large order. | |||
| Europe, Africa, & Asia ~7 Days & Tracking Number US$44.00 |
NZ/Australia ~7 Days & Tracking Number US$17.00 |
N & S America ~7 Days & Tracking Number US$29.50 |
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| Fautasi | ||
Copyright 2009 © Bebi Electronics, Ltd.
*Yes, Fautasi is a Samoan word! During the production of our first units, we had them lined up on a picnic table at Waitui Marina, and the rows of lights looked just like the line of oarsman aboard a fautasi to my eye!
