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USCG Certified
2nm Tricolor / 3nm Anchor Light
Designed and built in the U.S.A.
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Thousands of hours of design, engineering, development, and testing allow us to present to you the best tricolor/anchor light ever made. We're so confident in the quality that we include a 5 year warranty.
Safety and quality are our two points of focus. By incorporating a custom boost-buck power supply of our own design with the highest performance LEDs available, we offer the highest performance, longest lasting, and safest tricolor/anchor light on the market. We deliver full brightness from 4 to 16 volts, ensuring you have lights when you probably need them most. 80% less power consumption means more power for other uses.
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U.S.C.G. Approved
Superior Safety
Full Brightness from 4 to 16 Volts
80% Less Battery Consumption
2nm Certified Tricolor
3nm Certified Anchor
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Enhanced Vertical Field Coverage
Rated for over 50,000 Hours Use
LUXEON LEDs form Lumileds
Hard Anodized Aluminum Housing
Borosilicate Glass Lens
Ceramic Capacitors
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Daylight Sensor for Anchor
2 or 3 Wire Compatible
380mA @ 12.6V for Tricolor
420mA @ 12.6V for Anchor
Made in U.S.A.
5 Year Warranty
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See the detailed information below for more.
Construction in Detail:
Let's start with the housing. The SSM Tri-Color is made to stand up the elements, and more. It's machined from three pieces of solid aluminum and hard-anodized to create a coating which is almost as hard as a diamond. Sun, rain, snow, hurricane... nothing will phase it.
SSM uses borosilicate glass instead of plastic lenses. This is really tough glass, and it will never cloud, crackle, discolor, oxidize, or degrade in the sun in any way. We looked at the causes of failure of most lights and the lenses degrading was high on the list. By using borosilicate glass, we eliminate all the problems of plastic lenses.
The waterproof seal between the aluminum and glass is provided by a pair of military aerospace spec. (AMS 3304) silicone o-rings. Over two dozen compounds were reviewed before choosing our particular o-rings. To ensure they're doing their job, we operate each light under water for several hours.
Electrical connections are made via a locking waterproof connector in the base. This connector system was originally designed for laboratory sensors and provides a totally sealed electrical entry. The SSM Tricolor/Anchor includes a 2 meter long cable with a molded connector at one end for connection to your yacht's electrical system. If there is ever need to disconnect the light, it's as simple as unscrewing the locking ring and unplugging the connector.
One job of the housing is to ensure the LEDs cast the correct arc of visibility. Our housing ensures compliance with COLREGS 72 and allows for a far greater vertical visibility than required. This ensures you will be seen regardless of tack and allows other vessels to see you with consistent brightness in the heaviest of seas. The increased vertical angle also allows for greater visibility at anchor where lights on a tall mast may be seen from a distance, but not up close.
Thermal management is a big issue with high brightness LEDs. Our housing design doubles as a heat sink for the LEDs and driver circuit to ensure they remain at a proper temperature for maximum life.
Our LEDs:
SSM uses the best LEDs available, the Luxeon K2 series from Philips Lumileds. Lumileds has been in the LED business for over 30 years and introduced the industry's first high-brightness LED. Their K2 series of emitters deliver top output, efficiency, and industry leading lumen maintenance. The lumen maintenance or the consistency in output over time of K2 emitters is superior to other LEDs. The pure colors of the red, green, and amber LEDs eliminate the need for optical filters which degrade over time. By generating only the color required, efficiency is greatly enhanced.
LEDs are solid state and as such have no glowing filament to burn out. They don't care about being hammered by jarring waves and are perfectly happy to keep performing at peak output. The lack of a filament to burn out also means they have a tremendous life span. Lifetimes are presently quoted at 50,000 hours to 70% lumen maintenance meaning that after over 11 years of using your light for 12 hours a night, the LEDs will loose about 30% of their brightness. The actual lifetime that the LEDs shine will be substantially longer and SSM navigation lights should outlast most of the vessels they are installed on.
Some manufacturers have chosen to use 5mm form factor LEDs, but we have not seen a 5mm LED that can come close to approaching the longevity of Luxeon K2s.
Our Driver Circuit:
All LED-based lighting systems are a product of the LEDs and the driver circuit that feeds them. Hundreds of hours of design, simulation, prototyping, and testing have gone into our circuit in order to build the best driver in the industry. The SSM NovaNAV Driver provides 100% brightness over the input voltage range of 4 to 16 Volts. Even a battery which is far too weak to light conventional lights can supply our tricolor with enough juice to burn at 100% brightness.
SSM uses precision switching current regulators in a shielded housing with excellent filtering to feed the LEDs with exactly the current they require for maximum life and maximum visibility. Switching regulators are far more efficient than linear regulators, and they can also do what no linear regulator can which is to provide 100% brightness at 4 volts. This is safety when you need it most. Extensive shielding and filtering ensure that our lights do not interfere with radio equipment.
Capacitors are integral parts of all electronic circuits. Most lighting makers use "electrolytic" capacitors. These caps are the weak link in the chain of component reliability. If the seal that keeps the electrolyte inside fails, the cap will fail. If electrolytics are not used often enough, they will also degrade and fail. Solid State Marine does NOT use electrolytic capacitors in order to eliminate the problems that they cause. Instead, SSM uses ceramic capacitors which are inherently more reliable and do not have a shelf life as electrolytics do.
SSM is quite willing to license its driver technology to other makers. We are happy to concede this unique advantage we offer in the quest for additional maritime safety for all.
An integrated daylight sensor automatically turns the anchor light on at dusk and off at dawn to save power. For testing purposes, the anchor light will shine for several seconds when activated in the daylight before turning off and waiting for dusk.
The SSM Tricolor/Anchor supports two-wire as well as standard three conductor wiring. This feature allows a vessel which only has an anchor light to be retrofitted with a Tricolor/Anchor light without running new wire up the mast. Control may still be done with separate switches for anchor and running lights (running takes priority over anchor), or a single on-off-on switch may be used.
Accessories:
 pic of brackets to go here soon
SSM offers mounting brackets for mast top and mast side use. Our brackets are made from a single piece of .080" marine grade 316 stainless steel which is more than strong enough for the task.
 
One question we heard several times during development was, "do you have a strobe option?".
We have something better.
Our SOStrobe will flash one or two lighting circuits (up to 10 amps total) with the internationally recognized S.O.S. pattern. In an emergency you can flash your tri-color and deck lights or your tricolor and anchor lights for maximum visibility.
Please see our SOStrobe product page for more information.
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© 2008 Solid State Marine, LLC |
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