Alex G. Posted May 20, 2019 Report Share Posted May 20, 2019 I have a JPC LED strobe on the tail and today I’ve installed 2 Whelen Orion 650e LED strobes for the wing tips.Since my aircraft didn’t have a dedicated wire harness for the wing tip strobes, and I wanted them to start/stop at the same button press in the cockpit, I’ve connected them to the existing tail strobe (at the wire that feeds the tail strobe inverter).Now there seems to be an issue, because whenever the tail strobe flash combine with the flash of the wing tips, the tail strobe momentarily turns off. Sometimes in the middle of the flash, if it happens for the wingtip strobes to start flashing just at that moment. When the pulses are intercalated (out of sync) there is no issue, both run ok.Is there an issue with voltage drop when peaks combine or grounding that may be somehow corrected?The system is a 12v one, the wingtip Whelen 650e draw 3.4 amps combined (peak) with no inverter needed, and the tail JPC one that uses an inverter draws 6.2 amps (peak). Actually it is rated at 75W/12V and hopefully I did the math correctly.The positive wire that feeds both seems to be an AWG20 or AWG18 standard copper multicore twisted cable. The negative wire that feeds both is taken from the aircraft chassis.Any idea on how to solve this? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenL757 Posted May 20, 2019 Report Share Posted May 20, 2019 Did you connect the Orion 650 to the existing strobe power supply? Although it is possible to have a combination of strobes and LED lights working on the aircraft together (many people do it), you cannot connect the Orions to the strobe power supply...they need to be on their own power...separate from the strobe power supply. What aircraft type are we talking about? Some details and background will help us to help you troubleshoot. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex G. Posted May 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2019 Both wingtip and tail strobes are LED. Whelen wingtip are self contained and only need a 12V supply. JPC one needs an inverter (power source) even if it's a LED. I've connected the Whelen exactly at the same point where JPC's power source gets its 12V feed. The aircraft is a Socata TB20 and I've posted here since you guys have a lot of experience with Whelen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex G. Posted May 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2019 I managed to power the aircraft from a 100 amps external power source, with no change. When they overlap, only the wingtip strobes work. However, as soon as I press the avionics button to start all the equipment, something strange is happening. Somehow, the 2 strobes magically always stay out of sync and flash one after the other, with no more issues. I did the test several times. Avionics on, strobes always flash one after the other and work with no issues. Avionics off, the strobes timing starts to shift and, as soon as they overlap, the tail one is not flashing. Avionics on again, magically they somehow sync and flash only one after the other, no issues.This is driving me crazy! The 2 strobe systems have no sync connection and do not communicate in any way. How on earth starting the avionics will always get them to flash one after the other?The only thing that happens when I start avionics is a higher overall load on the battery, which should make things even worse...I don't mind the current setup, since I always fly with avionics on, however I don't have any idea what happens, if any of you do, please let me know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carusoam Posted May 20, 2019 Report Share Posted May 20, 2019 Welcome aboard Alex. Strobes typically have... two wires for power and ground... a third wire to handle communicating / syncing the strobe timing... The natural timing of the circuits is typically the capacitors loading up with electrons. When they are full, the strobe fires off... Turning the switch off and back on, just starts the whole natural timing thing on again... Capacitors have a tendency to wear over time so staying naturally synced is unlikely to stay this way... review the wiring plan for that communication wire... it probably doesn’t take much voltage... Mixing manufacturers takes some knowledge to make sure they are compatible... Best to take to your mechanic to review the proper details before something expensive gets cooked... PP thoughts only, not a mechanic... best regards, -a- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenL757 Posted May 20, 2019 Report Share Posted May 20, 2019 Alex, are you a member on the Socata forum? If not, I suggest you contact Andrew Knott. https://socata.org/ His contact info is under “About Us” —> “Contact Us” I used to own a TB-9, and went to Andrew with many of my issues. He runs the forum, has many years of piloting, ownership, and maintenance experience with all models of Socatas, and will be happy to help you. Not that you won’t get excellent guidance here, but Andrew is the Socata expert...bar none. Steve 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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