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Whelen Orion led light/strobe combo - any thoughts?

Immelman

By Immelman
in Vintage Mooneys (pre-J models)

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Immelman Mentor

Immelman

Posted
Posted (edited)

Has anyone installed these on a vintage Mooney?

I've got one of these in my tail now (and a power supply mounted in the empennage which I believe is showing its age)

http://www.whelen.com/aviation/product.php?head_id=11&prod_id=45

And for the same price as replacing the power supply I can go all LED on that position with one of these:

http://www.whelen.com/aviation/product.php?head_id=11&prod_id=162

Just curious if any vintage Mooney folks have a review... sure would be nice to get rid of those costly strobe power supplies!

PS - as my wing tips work fine I would be just going for the tail light.

 

 

Edited by Immelman
SantosDumont Rising Star

SantosDumont

Posted
Posted

I went all LED this year and put the OR650E Navs, OR500 Tail, 90520 Beacon, and PAR36/46 LED Taxi/Landing lights on my '67 F.  Work great.  I didn't bother to run the sync cable because I can't see the lights from inside the plane so not going to OCD about it.

Immelman Mentor

Immelman

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for the pirep! Good to get confirmation they work for a vintage guy. I went with the Whelen LED landing light earlier this year and am happy with it. Next nav/wingtip strobe to go out.... I'll do both and get the sync because I am OCD haha! But for now I'll start with the problematic tail light and go from there.

  • Like 1
rbridges Grand Master

rbridges

Posted
Posted

Marauder has for sure. I did the wing tips and love them. Not OCD install  lol  Expensive annual kinda delayed the tail strobe swap. 

Marauder Grand Master

Marauder

Posted
Posted

I went all LED in my F last year. I didn’t sync them for the simple reason (other than I’m not OCD) that there won’t be many times all of the lights will be visible at the same time. Think about it. If a plane is approaching you from your 11 o’clock at the same altitude, they will see your port strobe and maybe your belly strobe. They won’t see your starboard strobe nor your tail strobe. I think staggering the light makes more sense and is more eye catching if they flash at different times.


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Lowbid Enthusiast

Lowbid

Posted
Posted

I believe it was 2013 (?) when Whelen introduced the Orion wingtip nav/strobe light.  I purchased all of the Whelen exterior lights that year at Oshkosh.  I did the non-OCD install and have been very happy with the set-up.  This year, flying into Oshkosh, the ground controller after Ripon commented on my "lit-up" mooney.

DXB Grand Master

DXB

Posted
Posted

I had them put in at annual (Orion 650E at the wingtips, 500 at the tail) after a strobe started to croak on one side. They are great, and a pretty quick and easy to install even with the sync .  All wires were already there in my case. They are not cheap, but in aviation making something permanently maintenance-free feels like a win.  Also installing them made it legal to  remove my belly flasher, which let me reuse its wires as the second set needed for the tail nav/strobe.  My confirmation bias instinct also indicates that the removal added a couple knots :lol:. 

BTW if anyone needs my old stuff, it is still available.  The belly flasher and right nav/strobe definitely work.  The left one is available for parts.

KSMooniac Grand Master

KSMooniac

Posted
Posted

I put the Whelens at all 3 locations after OSH this year, and sync'd them even though I'm not OCD. It was a lot of work, but I'm glad I did it. I previously had no strobe on the tail or belly, so adding the third point was an upgrade. I wish they did the double or triple fast flash, but the slower, even flash x 3 certainly does the job.

 

I have some Whelen and Hoskins strobe boxes if you want to try a cheap and easy solution first...you could kick the upgrade can down the road a bit and take advantage of Sun n Fun or OSH show pricing.

 

Sent from my LG-US996 using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Jim Peace Grand Master

Jim Peace

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 12/30/2017 at 7:03 AM, INA201 said:

Im going to wait on this.  My lights are currently working so hopefully a burnout when this thing is available.

http://www.aveoengineering.com/crystal-conforma-for-mooney/

Don't hold your breath for these.  I have emailed them referencing the website and they say it not so many words that they don't even know what I am talking about and that there are no Mooney tips being developed, especially for my C......

There seems to be a disconnect between marketing and the actual people who do the work.  

My brother uses their red Barron beacon on his RC jets and they are nice,,,,,

Would be great if someone in their company knew anything about these tips they have on their site.

Edited by Jim Peace
Jim Peace Grand Master

Jim Peace

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Hank said:

Somebody there does, Jim. They had samples at the Mooney Summit in September. 

An Email from them in October after the Mooney summit.  Keep in mind they advertise from B-J models.

"""Sorry I haven't gotten back to you right away, however your inquiry has
sparked some discussion about retrofits for older Mooneys.....  
the tips we are making would not work on your model...."""

Edited by Jim Peace
amillet Mentor

amillet

Posted
Posted

Both strobes stopped working in past 3 months.  I’m installing Aero LEDs during annual in a couple weeks  per @donkaye recommendation.  Hope to gain a little useful load with removal of 3 power supplies.

LANCECASPER Grand Master

LANCECASPER

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, amillet said:

Both strobes stopped working in past 3 months.  I’m installing Aero LEDs during annual in a couple weeks  per @donkaye recommendation.  Hope to gain a little useful load with removal of 3 power supplies.

I think Don Kaye went with Whelen, not AeroLED on the Nav/Strobes. But this year he went with AeroLED for Taxi/landing lights.

 

amillet Mentor

amillet

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

I think Don Kaye went with Whelen, not AeroLED on the Nav/Strobes. But this year he went with AeroLED for Taxi/landing lights.

Thank you.  I found this comparison chart and will install the Whelans.

 

MinesBrighterThanYoursv5.pdf

StevenL757 Grand Master

StevenL757

Posted
Posted
On 12/25/2017 at 1:55 PM, Immelman said:

Has anyone installed these on a vintage Mooney?

I've got one of these in my tail now (and a power supply mounted in the empennage which I believe is showing its age)

http://www.whelen.com/aviation/product.php?head_id=11&prod_id=45

And for the same price as replacing the power supply I can go all LED on that position with one of these:

http://www.whelen.com/aviation/product.php?head_id=11&prod_id=162

Just curious if any vintage Mooney folks have a review... sure would be nice to get rid of those costly strobe power supplies!

PS - as my wing tips work fine I would be just going for the tail light.

Installed them in my "O" awhile back.  Managed to take back ~5 pounds useful load ditching the old lights and two power supplies.  Been ecstatically happy with their performance ever since.  Several tower controllers have made remarks about the brightness and overall appearance of the lights...especially at night.

Steve

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PTK Grand Master

PTK

Posted
Posted
On 12/25/2017 at 1:55 PM, Immelman said:

Has anyone installed these on a vintage Mooney?

I've got one of these in my tail now (and a power supply mounted in the empennage which I believe is showing its age)

http://www.whelen.com/aviation/product.php?head_id=11&prod_id=45

And for the same price as replacing the power supply I can go all LED on that position with one of these:

http://www.whelen.com/aviation/product.php?head_id=11&prod_id=162

Just curious if any vintage Mooney folks have a review... sure would be nice to get rid of those costly strobe power supplies!

PS - as my wing tips work fine I would be just going for the tail light.

 

 

I installed the 650E in wingtips of my J a couple of years ago. Very happy with the decision. 

 

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