Went to a local automotive store and found that they sell LED replacement bulbs that would fit the existing bayonet of my stern light.
I found that the old #90 2 pin bulb was wired with the positive and negative wire running to each respective pin. However, with the new LED bulb, I found that the two bottom pins were BOTH positive and the negative had to be connected to the bayonet of the LED bulb. DOH!
Not to be defeated (and to take advantage of my $7.99 investment!), I decided to remove my stern fitting and re-wire the bayonet base to the configuration of the new LED bulb.
The bayonet base was easily removed from the rear portion of the stern light housing. I then proceeded to take the bayonet base red and black wire and wire them together (reason: as mentioned before the LED pins are BOTH positive so I will need positive contact across both pins), solder, and shrink wrap. Positive side taken care of.
For the negative, I would have to ground it to the bayonet base of the stern light. To do this, I soldered the cut negative wire to the spring inside the bayonet base (so when the LED bulb is fitted into the bayonet base, the spring is compressed, and thereby pressed against the basonet base, grounding the bulb).
The final product
Ok, now does it work? Yes it does. Here we have the LED sitting next to the old incadescent #90 bulb. There is a noticeable difference in light output as noted by the below two pictures.
The LED bulb draws 0.05 AMPS and the old incadescent #90 bulb draws 0.75 AMPS.
Lights On!
Lights Off!
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