NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Nav light colors and ranges
From: Rodney Myrvaagnes
Date: 2003 Oct 13, 23:58 -0500
From: Rodney Myrvaagnes
Date: 2003 Oct 13, 23:58 -0500
The tricolor only uses one filament. The vertically-displaced red and green probably four, since they are on each side of the mast. On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 23:42:34 -0400, Jared Sherman wrote: >With all the talk of light ranges and alternates I made the mistake of looking back in COLREGS and found some things to wonder over. I put it to the list for comment and note as usual I am not licensed to practive mathematics, don't accept any numbers I present as being correct. > >COLREGS gives examples of lamp brightness as: >1nm 0.9cp >2 4.3 >3 12 >4 27 >5 52 >6nm 94cp > >and for vessels under 12m requires a sidelight range of only 1 nm (0.9cp) >and all other lights 2nm (4.3cp) > >for 12-50 meters, >masthead 5nm (52cp) (20-50m oal) >masthead 3nm (12cp) (12-20m oal) >all others 2nm (4.3cp) including all-around lights. > >I note this because it would mean a sailboat 12-50m, using red/over/green all around lights would need a total of 8.6cp with that lighting scheme--but 12cp with a masthead tricolor light. So here the alternate lighting saves 25% on power needs. > >For a boat under 12m it would mean 8.6cp instead of 4.3cp, actually doubling power consumption on the mast. > >Pros and cons, it would seem. And I have no idea how the lamp manufacturers match bulbs for this criteria, I'd expect them to use "stock" bulbs so perhaps with tungsten bulbs it is simply 10W vs 20W and devil take the details. > >Comments? Rodney Myrvaagnes J36 Opinionated old geezer Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.