Recommendation for LED landing light

[NicoN]

We have again a broken landing light. It is now the second time one of these bulbs burnt.

How are your experiences with LED landing light according to quality, lifetime and brightness.

Surprisingly, there are not many reports  or comparison about LED landing lights to be found.

One comparison was from 2015 and the result was that LED is not necessary brighter than these old style lamps.

Otherwise, most of the manufacturers seem to have upgraded their products.

 

Any recommendation?

[kris_adams]

Hi Nico, I would get an LED for sure.  I too got tired of the old bulb failing somewhat regularly.  I purchased a Whelen Parmetheus (pretty sure it was the Plus) in 2014 or 2015.  I leave the landing light on for all flights (mine flashes during the day).  So it has not been turned off since I got it 3+ (could be 4) years ago.  As for brightness it's hard to comment as it's been so long since I had the old style bulb.  I landed at night yesterday and can tell it that it seems very bright.  I'm very happy with it.  Good luck!

[EricJ]

If you search this site there are quite a few threads going into great detail on the various options for LED landing lights.    I think most of the options out there have been evaluated pretty thoroughly.

 

[1964-M20E]

You might try these guys they donated one to the Mooney Summit for a door prize.

 

Nav Strobe lighting - Par 36 LED landing light

[Hank]

I converted from GE to Whelen Parmetheus in April 2014. So far, I have turned it off twice, once during annual and once halfway through Pitot-Static check. Not sure what happened during IFR recert this year, they had the plane for almost two weeks, ordering parts and fixing leaks.

[bradp]

Budget will make much of your decision for you. 

You can get “tractor” lights for $80-150. 

The wheelen offerings are in the middle. 

The Brightest aviation lights top $1000  

Most of us who went LED did so for collision avoidance as much as anything else. My LED isn’t the fanciest (old generation Whelen) but goes on and stays on day or night. It gets the job done at night but at this point I’d probably be willing to pay a bit more for a brighter light.  

 

I hear rigid makes good LED lights if you have a tractor.  

[Yetti]

You can also get a wheelen LED "tracto bulb"   Search Amazon for LED PAR 46 or PAR36 and you will find the Wheelen option.  Other than model number, and price, I am not sure there is a big difference.

[Raptor05121]

What's your budget? How friendly is your IA to NORSEE with non-PMA lights?

I have a $250 truck light (Rigid Industries 63372) and its twice as bright as the Whelen Parmetheus.

 

[jaylw314]

2 hours ago, Hank said:

I converted from GE to Whelen Parmetheus in April 2014. So far, I have turned it off twice, once during annual and once halfway through Pitot-Static check. Not sure what happened during IFR recert this year, they had the plane for almost two weeks, ordering parts and fixing leaks.

According to the AIM, you're supposed to turn off your landing light when you approach an active runway, and then back on when you're ready/cleared for departure

[Hank]

2 hours ago, jaylw314 said:

According to the AIM, you're supposed to turn off your landing light when you approach an active runway, and then back on when you're ready/cleared for departure

I'm the only flyable plane at my base . . . .    We (I?) have no approaches, so never a clearance at home. But I work to maintain radio discipline. 

[0TreeLemur]

I purchased a PAR46 LED bulb from a non-certified vendor that cost less than half what a certified bulb cost.  I did this after studying the AIM and acknowledging that the incandescent bulb that I replaced was not certified.   The AIM says that landing lights are required for commercial aircraft, not for private aircraft.  The second thing the AIM says is that landing lights shall not start a fire.   So, I tested the bulb that I bought outside the aircraft driven with a 14V power supply for hours.   It didn't catch fire.   So I installed it.  

If you want the name of the vendor send me a PM.  It is BRIGHT.  So much brighter and with a considerably wider beam than the incandescent bulb it replaced. 

[glenn reynolds]

I have five hundred hours (two years) on whelan landing and taxi lights.  When I made the purchase it was  due to failed incandescent lamps which had also heat damaged the ovation plexiglas bulb covers.  I fly with my taxi light on all the time.  No damage to the plexiglass and no issue with the lamp since switching to LED.  The two lights are plenty bright.  While Whelen uses the same LED diodes in both the taxi light and landing light the taxi lens is ridged which gives the beam a wider broadcast angle.  Whelen suggested I put in two sets of landing lights rather than a taxi and landing but I choice taxi and landing as I feel I get better side of the taxiway lighting with taxi light.  They were expensive but I have no regrets and recommend you switch to LED.  Whelen stated that the big difference in brands is how they treat or handle the heat output.  Whelen claims they spend real money on cooling fins and metal heat dissipation which the competition scrimps on.  Since I have not flown with the competition I cant say how good a light they make, but I do know that in icing conditions, I get very significant icing on the landing lights (that is the only section of the wing not TKS protrotected) so it's not warm enough to melt ice.  (it's not relevant for this thread, but I actually like having an "ice indicator" so I can judge how much icing I'm fighting with the TKS system)  

[gsxrpilot]

I'm with @Fred_2O and got my LED landing/taxi lights from @LANCECASPER. They don't hardly draw any amps, never get hot, and are bright as hell. 

[0TreeLemur]

OK, so the new LED really lights up the numbers on final.   Here is the bigger advantage: the old incandescent light was worthless on the ground.   The new LED light that I bought has a grating over four of its 18 LEDs that casts some of the light on the ground around the a/c, making taxi opns much safer...

[Andy95W]

7 hours ago, Fred_2O said:

I purchased a PAR46 LED bulb from a non-certified vendor that cost less than half what a certified bulb cost.  I did this after studying the AIM and acknowledging that the incandescent bulb that I replaced was not certified.   The AIM says that landing lights are required for commercial aircraft, not for private aircraft.  The second thing the AIM says is that landing lights shall not start a fire.   So, I tested the bulb that I bought outside the aircraft driven with a 14V power supply for hours.   It didn't catch fire.   So I installed it.  

If you want the name of the vendor send me a PM.  It is BRIGHT.  So much brighter and with a considerably wider beam than the incandescent bulb it replaced. 

Shoot, you already said you got it from a non-certified vendor.  Why not just tell us what you got?  We won't tell.

[jlunseth]

I had two LEDs installed in my K probably 8 years ago.  I don’t have a clue what they are, but they sure reduced the current draw to practically nothing, and that was a problem with the combination of the old strobes and the old landing lights, and the issue with charging at idle in the 231.  Night pattern ops would run the battery down.  At any rate, I turn them on as soon as I come into the Bravo ring around my home base.  I have around a thousand hours in the aircraft since the LED landing lights were put in, and no sign of a problem.

[0TreeLemur]

3 minutes ago, Andy95W said:

Shoot, you already said you got it from a non-certified vendor.  Why not just tell us what you got?  We won't tell.

Like I said, I'll reply to a PM, but I'm not gonna recommend anything that somebody might find objectionable in any way on a www site where every word I type is immortal.   You might try google.  That's how I found them.  

[LANCECASPER]

2 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

I'm with @Fred_2O and got my LED landing/taxi lights from @LANCECASPER. They don't hardly draw any amps, never get hot, and are bright as hell. 

The GE incandescent lights didn't start out on airplanes either way back when - they started on farm equipment.  Whatever LED you go with - they last 1000's of hours and take hardly any current and it's a nice bright white light.

 

These are the ads on Ebay for lights for your "Tractor", but for Mooneyspace if it's done outside of Ebay, 10% less.

PAR 36

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113147253505

https://www.ebay.com/itm/112787661034

PAR 46

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113147253935

[xcrmckenna]

I went with the Aero Sunspot. They want way to much money for the thing but I wanted the brightest LED I could get.



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[0TreeLemur]

For those wondering about installation of an LED landing light, I recommend this video.

 https://www.avweb.com/blogs/insider/AVWebInsider_FAACounterSafety_203196-1.html

[MIm20c]

12 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

PAR 46

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113147253935

How would that led compare to the one @Raptor05121 uses?  I’d like to get a brighter unit, not a fan of the Whelen output, and I don’t want to til next spring when the new 14v 4596 comes out. 

[Raptor05121]

Mine is 200,000 candlepower and 4200lm. That one is only 2400lm. That's about on par with the Whelens. If you want something bright, you're going to pay for it.

[kortopates]

Mine is 200,000 candlepower and 4200lm. That one is only 2400lm. That's about on par with the Whelens. If you want something bright, you're going to pay for it.

Agreed, although the subject is LED's the brightest lights by far (typically a factor of 5) over LED's remain the HID. Mine from knots2u are claimed to be over 600,000 candle power and draw much less power than even the high powered LED's. I've had my set since before the LED's where an option and have been trouble free.


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[Steve W]

One problem is that 'candlepower' and 'candela' are relatively useless terms unless you qualify them. Is that just the brightest point, is that the candlepower over the entire beam width, or is the beam width considered to where the candela falls off to 1/2 the max. This is when proper graphs are needed. If you focus it tightly enough my 2xAA battery flashlight can put out 1 MILLION candlepower and would be useless as a landing light.

Similarly lumens are total light output by a light, if it's not focused where you want it then that can also be a useless measure, a 20,000 lumen bulb with no directionality would make a poor landing light as the actual candela would be around 20000/12.

Personally I'd love to see one of the remaining aviation publications do a shoot out with measurements and pictures from all the current players.

 

[Raptor05121]

Aviation Consumer did one a few years ago but each manufacturer has since released a newer/brighter option so it needs to be updated