Raptor's LED Torpedo Retrofit

[Raptor05121]

I did this a while ago but seem to be getting a lot of private messages on finding it, so I've consolidated the pictures and will be making a "how-to" in its own thread which can be searched.

This is a purely informational post about the possibilities of LEDs and is tested on a grounded aircraft and is no way airworthy pending your IA, local FAA DAR, or 337 modification. This requires rewiring and removal of the old overhead rheostat that controls the lights.

Approx time to complete: 2-4 hours.
|Approx cost: $50

Parts needed: (I ordered my parts from SuperBrightLEDs.com, but some of these have since gone out of stock. You will need to source them elsewhere)

Note: The wiring layout in these pictures is incorrect when I took them. I later rewired them. I have edited the photos that needed new wiring since taking them. Refer to the final wiring diagram at the bottom of this post.

2x BA15S Empty Bases (BA15S-EB)
2x BA15 1156 wired sockets (BA15S-SW)
2x BA15/1156 LEDs (67-R15)
LED PWM Dimmer (Oznium makes a great product that is small enough to fit where the old one goes)
Soldering Iron
Solder
Electrical tape
Knife or another pointed object
Wire strippers/dikes
Thin (20+AWG) wiring approx 2 feet

1.)Pop the existing torpedo's off the stock lamps by gently pulling them off. Twist and remove the 1156 bulb.
2.) Using a knife, gently pry up one end of the retaining clip holding on the red lens. Remove the red lens.
3.) Turn the focusing ring counterclockwise until it stops. Using a pair of pliers, grip the twist knob and continue to turn counterclockwise. You will feel resistance, you will be ripping apart the solder holding it to the clip inside. *THIS WILL RESULT IN PERMANENT DESTRUCTION OF THE OEM FOCUSING LENS*. Once it is broken off, tap the insides out.
4.) Now that everything is disassembled, clean everything good. You'll have 50 years of crap over everything.

5.) Using the electrical tape, wrap it around the 1156 bulb about 8-10 times. Keep test fitting in the housing, it should slide back into the torpedo and fit snugly.

 

6.) Bend the two tabs of the wired sockets back about 85 degrees. You want a little bit of flare in them as they will press against the inside of the case to hold the fixture in place.
7.)Solder the positive 12v+ lead into the center electrode. 

Add some solder to the inside of the empty base and attach your 22AWG wire to that. Leave about 2 feet of dangling wire as we will need to fish through the overhead panel. Insert the soldered base into the torpedo, fishing it out through the side hole. Run the (-) wire out of the back of the torpedo. Slide the rest of the LED into the unit, and reinstall red lens and clip.

Put the units back together and they should look something like this. I recommend having another 4-5 inches between the torpedo and the base socket. These were ultimately too short as you have to twist-lock the bases with the torpedo out of the way before you slide the torpedo back onto its mount
 

Now for the hard part. (Again, please have an A&P handy for this if you are not versed in 12v applications. Of course, this is not a legal modification for flying aircraft and appropriate documentation and paperwork needs to be filed before flying).

I don't have any pictures of this process but its simple once you see what I am talking about. You'll need to drop the overhead trim panel and find your old rheostat. Remove it but carefully identify which wires are which. You should have a positive and negative ship input, and one positive output (the factory map lights are grounded at the sockets. We cannot have that- they need to be grounded at the PWM hence the new wire).

 

Remove the old rheostat and install the new one. Run factory wires into the INPUT terminals of your PWM. Run the factory output (+) wire into the appropriate terminal. Fish your 2 foot long ground wire through the steel roll cage and all the trim pieces, and then trim it down and attach to the PWM. Flick on the master, and with the PWM in the OFF position, nothing should happen. If the LEDs come on full brightness, they are prematurely grounding somewhere else. Turn the rotary dial on. It has a duty cycle of 5-100% variable and the LEDs should correspond. If this works, you have completed it. Put everything back and enjoy.

(In the following pictures, I also changed out the cargo compartment dome light with a simple 3156 LED that replaces the old bulb. This is full-brightness output and can be dimmed by 95%).

Any questions, feel free to PM me.

-Alex

 

[Raptor05121]

@Mooney-Mark
@bill98

[Mooney-Mark]

4 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

@Mooney-Mark
@bill98

That is awesome! Thanks Raptor! I will take a shot at it! That is great interior lighting!

[mooniac15u]

17 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

This is a purely informational post about the possibilities of LEDs and is tested on a grounded aircraft and is no way airworthy pending your IA, local FAA DAR, or 337 modification. This requires rewiring and removal of the old overhead rheostat that controls the lights.
 

What did you use for installation approval on your aircraft?  It would be helpful for others to know what might be needed.

[DanM20C]

Here is a link to the photos of the retrofit I did long ago in my old C.  Adding a PWM module for dimming is important but it isn't as simple in the "newer" vintage Mooneys.  At some point they got rid of the overhead rheostat and moved to a panel mounted dimmer assembly that incorporates the anuciator panel.  This assembly started at least by 69 and carried over into the early J's.   I simply disconnected the overhead lights from this box and added a PWM in an overhead location and ran power to it from interior light breaker.  Otherwise wired just the same as Raptor's.

Cheers,

Dan

 

 

[LANCECASPER]

I am a huge fan of LED’s due to the heat, amperage required and short life of incandescent bulbs. Looks like both of your hangar elves did a great job of retro-fitting.

Gary Reeves a Master CFI who does seminars taught us in one of his classes that red light being necessary to preserve vision at night is a myth, so I started doing some research. I remembered that when I used charts that magenta lines were almost impossible to see with a red light. There are a lot of things out there about it but here’s one that I found interesting,

http://stlplaces.com/night_vision_red_myth/

[jaylw314]

battery powered LED puck lights with a remote control are an alternative as well.  Find ones that are dimmable and can be set to any color.  You could even have a disco party in your cabin  I stuck 3 to the roof along the cabin headliner, and put a spot of Velcro on the back of the remote and under the cabin vent controls so it's within easy reach.

 

[CWM20f]

I was going to go with Raptor’s conversion originally - looks great.  I ended up using the battery powered pucks with remote.  Put one in each footwell - one under each front seat - and one on headliner above back seat.  You can get individual ones on or off when needed by different aiming of remote.  I usually leave the ones under the seats on in flight - gives passengers enough light for activities.  This is view from baggage door  

Edited October 10, 2018 by CWM20f

[Skates97]

5 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

I am a huge fan of LED’s due to the heat, amperage required and short life of incandescent bulbs. Looks like both of your hangar elves did a great job of retro-fitting.

Gary Reeves a Master CFI who does seminars taught us in one of his classes that red light being necessary to preserve vision at night is a myth, so I started doing some research. I remembered that when I used charts that magenta lines were almost impossible to see with a red light. There are a lot of things out there about it but here’s one that I found interesting,

http://stlplaces.com/night_vision_red_myth/

Here's an old thread from the Vans forums. There was a debate about colors and this poster has some connections at the Air Force Night Vision Research Lab. He posted the results of a telecom with them discussing colors. The consensus was "cool white" dimmed down.  

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showpost.php?p=479679&postcount=23

[LANCECASPER]

23 minutes ago, Skates97 said:

 The consensus was "cool white" dimmed down.  

The consensus was also that a disco ball hanging from the headliner could be a distraction in certain situations.

[jaylw314]

8 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

The consensus was also that a disco ball hanging from the headliner could be a distraction in certain situations.

Thanks, I needed that laugh!

[Skates97]

3 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

The consensus was also that a disco ball hanging from the headliner could be a distraction in certain situations.

But if you put bright enough lights on the disco ball will that eliminate the need for external strobes?

[rbridges]

5 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

The consensus was also that a disco ball hanging from the headliner could be a distraction in certain situations.

No duh. Everyone knows it will bump into your pimp hat. 

[steingar]

Of cours the other problem with night flight is that the cones, the cells responsive to colored light, don't function well in anoxic environments.

[Prior owner]

 

Firstly, thanks Alex for creating this thread. I would very much like to be running LED’s from tip to tail on my aircraft. I am also following your M20D thread, as I have a 64 D.

I am accustomed  to flying with a dark cockpit, NVG’s,  infinitely adjustable instrument, avionics and switch lighting, steerable searchlights, and never really having the need for any type of flood lighting unless I’m on the ground doing paperwork.

I realize now just how spoiled I am; I have found no perfect solution (safe, cheap, pleasant, legal) for lighting the older Mooney panel. At some point in my plane’s life, somebody took a plastic facia panel with factory post lighting in it (probably salvage), and brutally hacked it to fit the panel that my model had. It looks like Hell, but it works. But I cannot stand to look at it. See pics below.

Post and / or instrument ring lighting is a very expensive conversion, even if you do it all yourself. But I might be going that route, as I cannot bear to fly at night with a cockpit that is brightly lit... the flood lighting will always be a ground lighting/inflight backup lighting system for me, as I become uncomfortable when something affects my ability to see outside in VFR conditions. 

I am sure that you will manage to get the  brightness under control. I would thInk that it wouldn’t be safely flyable as it is presently configured, unless used purely while IMC. For now, your plane will be visible from 10 miles away at night, as the entire cockpit is a giant anti-collision light! 

Please post your results with a different dimmer- perhaps once it is toned down it will be a great solution!

And thank you for documenting your efforts...

 

[Marauder]

My plane is a bit different with an all glass panel. Everything has a light source so the only thing lighting does for me is illuminate the knobs or buttons that don’t have their own light source. Even without their own light source, the Aspens throw off enough light to light up the switches.

 

I left the factory original white lights in place with the original rheostat. They offer sufficient lighting and also control the lighting of the audio panel buttons.

 

The LEDs are on a PWM controller and are adjustable from a very low level of lighting:

 

 

To a pimped out level

 

 

I find the red light certainly helps retain my night vision and it is perfect to be able to setup the cockpit with the master on using the low power draw LEDs.

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[steingar]

I hate flying mine at night.  I was never that big into night flying in the first place, though I never actively avoided it.  The Mooney is SO dark, and I can't see rather important things like the tachometer or the VSI.  Crappiest landing I've done in memory was at night.

If it stays like this I'll avoid night flying like the plague.  I like the idea of Alex's mod, but I'm all thumbs when it comes to all things electrical and have never touched a tottering iron in my life.  Airplane seems like a poor training project.  that, and I'm one mechanic away from having an unairworthy airplane if they decide they don't like it.  I could probably get it by my guy, but it could play hob with resale.

Love the idea of the little net-light thingies that you thread inside the instruments.  They sound spendy, though.

[jaylw314]

I just stuck a couple LED puck lights from Costco that have a remote control that lets you adjust the brightness.  I stuck them on the headliner behind me.  At night, I just leave them on dim so I can see around the cabin, that way if you drop stuff you can still find it..  As long as I don't look straight at them, night vision is ok.

[Skates97]

5 hours ago, Marauder said:

The LEDs are on a PWM controller and are adjustable from a very low level of lighting:

 

Where did you put the PWM for the LED's? I'm going to add an LED strip under the glareshield and have been debating the best place to put the controller for them.

[Marauder]

Where did you put the PWM for the LED's? I'm going to add an LED strip under the glareshield and have been debating the best place to put the controller for them.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Prior owner]

Heck, it took me this long to understand why you’re dong it this way Alex...I never understood that a PWM dimmer had to provide a dedicated ground wire to the LED..!

 

[Raptor05121]

On 12/27/2018 at 4:21 PM, Skates97 said:

Where did you put the PWM for the LED's? I'm going to add an LED strip under the glareshield and have been debating the best place to put the controller for them.

I replaced the old rhetostat on the overhead. 

[tigers2007]

Is the official bulb for the Grimes Torpedo light a GE #89? I see that Aero-Lites has a dimmable bulb in that size.