Instrument Lights.

[MBDiagMan]

Probably jumping the gun on this because haven’t yet done any true night flying, but late yesterday I wanted to go around the patch a few times and had some delays that ended up keeping the air until was dark enough I could barely see the instruments.

Once on the ground and in the hangar with door closed I turned on the panel lights.  They seemed really dim, but I didn’t take any time to light my eyes dilate.

Are there lenses available that allow the lights to be a touch brighter?  I have post lights in the custom panel of my Cessna and I am spoiled.

Any suggestions?

[carusoam]

Various version of lights available...

From low cost LED post lights...

to ring lights...

To brow lights above the panel....  LED strips...

and one well written instruction to install LEDs in the overhead spot lights...

All searchable...

Going LED, there is a dimmer for that too...

What do you have?

Are you familiar with your dimmer switches? (Ceiling probably? Or panel mounted?) depending on age.

Best regards,

-a-

[0TreeLemur]

When we rebuilt the panel in our C last year I found some older (non-LED) post lights on eBay for pennies on the dollar.   Replaced the little hot incandescent  bulbs with LEDs.  Put in a PWM dimmer.  Worked out really well.  I've tried both red and white LEDS.  I've got a mixture, mostly white, a few red.  Looks really nice.

 

 

[LANCECASPER]

20 minutes ago, MBDiagMan said:

Probably jumping the gun on this because haven’t yet done any true night flying, but late yesterday I wanted to go around the patch a few times and had some delays that ended up keeping the air until was dark enough I could barely see the instruments.

Once on the ground and in the hangar with door closed I turned on the panel lights.  They seemed really dim, but I didn’t take any time to light my eyes dilate.

Are there lenses available that allow the lights to be a touch brighter?  I have post lights in the custom panel of my Cessna and I am spoiled.

Any suggestions?

Is there a rheostat that makes them brighter somewhere on the panel?

[Hank]

5 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

Is there a rheostat that makes them brighter somewhere on the panel?

Depending on year. The switch for panel lights in my C is a rheostat, turn right to turn in and get brighter, turn left to dim then turn off.

I have ring lights around most of my instruments, maybe I'll remember their cool name soon. Need to replace the overheat red heaters with LEDs. 

P.S.--real soon! Nulites.

Edited December 24, 2018 by Hank

[RLCarter]

Same issue with my E, my solution was eyebrow LED lighting but with no where to mount them

 

[MBDiagMan]

Thanks for the responses.

Yes, there is a rheostat above the pilot, and I turned it as bright as it will go.

Currently it has two red spotlights in the ceiling with the rheostat.  When I started the thread, my thinking was that maybe there are lenses that could make it slightly brighter, but that doesn’t sound promising.

From reading your posts and learning, I think A good approach might be to upgrade the existing lights to LED for the short term, and move to post lights later.

Please keep the suggestions and comments coming.

 

[Guest]

Here’s a neat light that might work.

https://www.flyboyaccessories.com/product-p/7041.htm

Clarence

[N201MKTurbo]

You can take the red lenses out of the overhead spot lights. It will make them a lot brighter, especially if you are red/green color deficient.

[RLCarter]

If they are the original torpedo lights the small knob on the back can be turned to change them from "Spot" to "Flood", they are worthless as a spotlight but mine did a decent job flooding most of the panel

[0TreeLemur]

The overhead rheostat has two issues.   First, it can overheat and cause the plastic overhead liner to smolder and burn.   This happened to a prior owner of my a/c  back in the '90's according to the FAA reports.   Secondly, it won't drive  some LED bulbs correctly.  You should use a pulse width modulator for that.

I'm a PPSEL only, use at your own risk.

[TX-Champ]

Lots of LED Lighting options out there - see this link:  

 

https://www.pilotlights.net/

[jaylw314]

On ‎12‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 3:38 PM, MBDiagMan said:

Probably jumping the gun on this because haven’t yet done any true night flying, but late yesterday I wanted to go around the patch a few times and had some delays that ended up keeping the air until was dark enough I could barely see the instruments.

Once on the ground and in the hangar with door closed I turned on the panel lights.  They seemed really dim, but I didn’t take any time to light my eyes dilate.

Are there lenses available that allow the lights to be a touch brighter?  I have post lights in the custom panel of my Cessna and I am spoiled.

Any suggestions?

you also might want to double check the bulbs are the correct voltage.  Most bulbs come in different voltage ratings (different resistances, really), so if you put a bulb intended for 24V when you have 12V, they only put out half the wattage.

[MBDiagMan]

Great suggestion.  It very well could be the issue.  I will be back home Sunday and hopefully get back into aviation mode.  Thanks for the tip!