ksanders
Moderator Emeritus
I looked into these inexpensive voltage regulators but they do not meet the requirements for a boat. they require the input voltage to be about 3 volts greater then the output which means to provide 12 volts you would need a 15 volt input. Also the ones I looked at would not regulate to a steady output unless the input was a constant voltage. I have considered installing multiple diodes in series with the leds which would drop about .7 volts for each diode if I remember my basic electonics. this would mean that as your boat voltage declined with battery discharge your lights would get dimmer but should help with led life. using diodes rather then resistors makes the system less dependent on current draw since voltage drop across diodes only changes slightly with current change. 3 diodes should work well, plus diodes are really cheap only pennies.
Great post, but 100% unnecessary.
My cheap led bulbs work great!
Oh I understand electronic theory. I'm a 30 plus year industrial electronics tech by trade. Great theory, but again 100% unnecessary in real life.