Aeroleds Landing and Taxi Lights

[donkaye, MCFI]

I went to Oshkosh this year expecting to buy nothing.  How wrong I was—again.  I had changed out the wingtip lights with Whelan Leds a couple of years ago, but I was never happy with any of the Landing and Taxi Light Leds.  They just weren’t bright enough.  So I never got any.  This year was different.  After looking at the Whelans and being treated poorly by  the people at their booth, I checked out the Aeroleds' booth.  They had demos comparing the 4596 incandescent light with their Led lights.  I couldn’t believe how much brighter they looked even with the same lumens as the standard 4596.  I bought both the Landing Lights (4596) and Taxi Lights (4587). 

Yesterday was the first time I got to try them out in actual darkness.  Unbelievable!  They seemed brighter and had more depth by a significant amount compared to my previous lights.  I know it’s subjective, but that’s how it appeared.   They do take more current than the comparable Whelans, so maybe that makes the difference.  Too, the Whelans take another part to be able to flash them because of their low current.  Not so with the Aeroleds.  They are plug and play.  They cost about twice what the Whelans cost, but in my opinion it was well, well worth it.

[MIm20c]

I stopped by the booth at Oshkosh as well. It’s amazing how bright the led have gotten. Accidentally looked into one of the displays pointing at the ceiling, big mistake!

Also I think some of the personnel at the vendor shows get a little tired of answering the same questions all day/week. However, normally the ones least personable actually know the products the best. If I want a pretty face and a smile I’ll shop with my wife in Chicago, I’d rather have someone knowledgeable. 

[MB65E]

I have them in a Citation I maintain. Amazing!! Best product on the market bar none. 

Slightly steep $ for personal use but I'm sure their pricing will come down. 

-Matt

[ArtVandelay]

For those of us with 4 of them, that extra $ adds up.

[donkaye, MCFI]

5 hours ago, teejayevans said:

For those of us with 4 of them, that extra $ adds up.

Yes, they are not inexpensive.  While you could buy a lot of cheap 4596s, each time you replace a light it takes half an hour (or more if you don't know how to do it).  So, for me, each time I would replace a light it would cost $100 in fuel to get to the MSC and back, and another $125 for the install and bulb.  The spec on the 4596 says it has a useful life of 25 hours. Now compare that to the 30,000 hour MTBF of the Aeroleds lights.  Basically you never have to replace them and you can have them on all the time---expecially when you pulse them.  They'll pay for themselves in a couple of years.  In the meantime you have lights that are way brighter than the less efficient and short lifetime incandescent bulb.

[Raptor05121]

pics?

[donkaye, MCFI]

2 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

pics?

Headed to Kerrville tomorrow for Homecoming.  Maybe when I get back.

[ArtVandelay]

Yes, they are not inexpensive.  While you could buy a lot of cheap 4596s, each time you replace a light it takes half an hour (or more if you don't know how to do it).  So, for me, each time I would replace a light it would cost $100 in fuel to get to the MSC and back, and another $125 for the install and bulb.  The spec on the 4596 says it has a useful life of 25 hours. Now compare that to the 30,000 hour MTBF of the Aeroleds lights.  Basically you never have to replace them and you can have them on all the time---expecially when you pulse them.  They'll pay for themselves in a couple of years.  In the meantime you have lights that are way brighter than the less efficient and short lifetime incandescent bulb.

I went with old Whelens (before plus), for $175, don't know how they stand up to Aeros ($339) but agree they are brighter (less yellow) than incandescent. I wigwag the recognition lights, and with Orions I stand out. The old incandescent lights get lost in the ground clutter. I hope to keep the plane long enough to make them profitable

[TWinter]

I've had the Aeroleds Pulse Taxi/Landing light for a few years. I actually did a fair amount of night flight this year and have been very pleased so far. This was a quick still picture and a video I did a while back. Video takes a minute to load, but shows well.

 

-Tom

Aeroled_Movie.MOV

[M20JFlyer]

Yes. The AeroLeds definitely paint a bright target on a humid fuzzy day in Texas.

Flying into Austin airport this week ..the left or right seat of an Southwest crew asked tower to acknowledge traffic as a  Mooney.

I have four of the 4596 AeroLeds landing lights in a 91J and I believe the SW crew wanted assurance that the bright lights were indeed a slow GA target. 

[amillet]

On 9/24/2017 at 3:29 PM, donkaye said:

I went to Oshkosh this year expecting to buy nothing.  How wrong I was—again.  I had changed out the wingtip lights with Whelan Leds a couple of years ago, but I was never happy with any of the Landing and Taxi Light Leds.  They just weren’t bright enough.  So I never got any.  This year was different.  After looking at the Whelans and being treated poorly by  the people at their booth, I checked out the Aeroleds' booth.  They had demos comparing the 4596 incandescent light with their Led lights.  I couldn’t believe how much brighter they looked even with the same lumens as the standard 4596.  I bought both the Landing Lights (4596) and Taxi Lights (4587). 

Yesterday was the first time I got to try them out in actual darkness.  Unbelievable!  They seemed brighter and had more depth by a significant amount compared to my previous lights.  I know it’s subjective, but that’s how it appeared.   They do take more current than the comparable Whelans, so maybe that makes the difference.  Too, the Whelans take another part to be able to flash them because of their low current.  Not so with the Aeroleds.  They are plug and play.  They cost about twice what the Whelans cost, but in my opinion it was well, well worth it.

Don, did you keep the incandescent position lights in the front? (the ones that melt the plastic cover?)

[Piloto]

Unlike incandescent filament light bulbs that fail under vibration or very cold weather the LEDs will not. This makes the LEDs highly reliable and long lasting aside from the fact that they draw less current. Same analogy to the old vacuum tubes vs transistors.

José

[amillet]

The position light is separate from the strobe & nav light .  Is there a LED replacement?

[donkaye, MCFI]

4 hours ago, amillet said:

Don, did you keep the incandescent position lights in the front? (the ones that melt the plastic cover?)

So far no LED replacement for the recognition lights. 

[kpaul]

3 hours ago, amillet said:

Is there a LED replacement?

@Sethis talking to Aveo about that very issue.

[kortopates]

The simple solution to the "hot" recognition lights is to install a Precise Flight flasher for them. Then they pulse like strobes which improves recognition and keeps them cooler so they'll never melt the lenses if you forget to turn them off after landing. Plus the bulbs are cheap if you are willing to grind down the edges and solder on wires onto the original projector bulb.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[carusoam]

+1 for an LED recog light.  I'll take two. And I'll fly around with them constantly on...

+1 for new clear lense covers, I melted a new set the first year after I replaced the pre melted ones...

+1 for a precise flight flasher, I'll go look that up...

My manual check list isn't fast enough to protect the clear lens...

Best regards,

-a-

https://www.preciseflight.com/general-aviation/shop/pulselite-general-aviation/

They say they can pulse recog lights...

[LANCECASPER]

12 hours ago, kortopates said:

The simple solution to the "hot" recognition lights is to install a Precise Flight flasher for them. Then they pulse like strobes which improves recognition and keeps them cooler so they'll never melt the lenses if you forget to turn them off after landing. Plus the bulbs are cheap if you are willing to grind down the edges and solder on wires onto the original projector bulb.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Is this the one? https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/pulselite1.php

[kortopates]

2 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

Is this the one? https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/pulselite1.php

Yes it is. LASAR used to make one too that was smaller and simpler to install on the recognition light switch, but they dropped it after Precise came out with this one.

[JohnB]

+1 on the Aero LED's that I also didn't expect to buy from Oshkosh! Replaced my Whelans, and these are easily 3-5x brighter and the taxi light is amazing. The 24 V one they're putting on Citations I hear. Best bang for your buck is if you have a 24 V system and you can get the highest end Aero LED. They use about as much power as your original incandescent lights do and night and day difference between these and incandescents. (I used to wonder if my previous incandescents were even on, although i could see my wings  better with them on at night).

I get the feeling though that in a few years, someone will come up with something brighter than these and ill probably need those too

JB

[johncuyle]

On ‎10‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 11:26 AM, JohnB said:

+1 on the Aero LED's that I also didn't expect to buy from Oshkosh! Replaced my Whelans, and these are easily 3-5x brighter and the taxi light is amazing. The 24 V one they're putting on Citations I hear. Best bang for your buck is if you have a 24 V system and you can get the highest end Aero LED. They use about as much power as your original incandescent lights do and night and day difference between these and incandescents. (I used to wonder if my previous incandescents were even on, although i could see my wings  better with them on at night).

I get the feeling though that in a few years, someone will come up with something brighter than these and ill probably need those too

JB

It's weird to think, "Hey, and you'll probably be able to resell the old ones" about a landing light.  Too bad I'll probably already have Sunspots in mine by then.

[JohnB]

8 hours ago, johncuyle said:

It's weird to think, "Hey, and you'll probably be able to resell the old ones" about a landing light.  Too bad I'll probably already have Sunspots in mine by then.

Ha! No doubt John! I have 2 pair of Whelan LED landing/taxi lights as well as the prior i incandescents that no one seems to be interested in. Oh well, they make good looking paperweights though!