New installed whelen LED nav strobe

[larrynimmo]

With the help and guidance of AI installed the whelen set pretty much wire for wire...when I turn on nav light, it works perfectly...when I turn on strobe...it work perfectly.   When I have the master switch on, there is a very dim illumination of the red position light on the left wing, and the white position light....I also noticed that the GEAR SAFE light on the annunciator was dimly lit, like it would be once you turn on the nav lights....

I almost wonder if the original Mooney design used some sort of grounding backfeed through the nav lights to give it a dimming function switchover

[Steve W]

You are correct. It's described in the service manual I have in 24-39-06 pg 16. Depending on the model your A&P(if he understands electronics) should be able to put in a relay so 'CH1RET' goes to ground when the lights are off and +V when the nav lights are on without routing the signal through the lights.

[larrynimmo]

4 hours ago, Steve W said:

You are correct. It's described in the service manual I have in 24-39-06 pg 16. Depending on the model your A&P(if he understands electronics) should be able to put in a relay so 'CH1RET' goes to ground when the lights are off and +V when the nav lights are on without routing the signal through the lights.

ive studied the wiring diagram....what would you think if I put a nav light in the rear compartment (where the battery is)   of the plane....that would give it a path to bleed down the back feed?

[Steve W]

31 minutes ago, larrynimmo said:

ive studied the wiring diagram....what would you think if I put a nav light in the rear compartment (where the battery is)   of the plane....that would give it a path to bleed down the back feed?

I suspect one incandescent or halogen bulb on the nav light circuit would be enough to make the dimming circuit happy, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

[carusoam]

We have a near Whelen guy around here...

@OSUAV8TER tech question about Whelen lights here...

Got any tech resources for this one?

Best regards,

-a-

[OSUAV8TER]

8 hours ago, carusoam said:

We have a near Whelen guy around here...

@OSUAV8TER tech question about Whelen lights here...

Got any tech resources for this one?

Best regards,

-a-

I am no technical expert but I can connect with the right people if this issue persists. 

[KB4]

On 4/9/2020 at 1:19 PM, larrynimmo said:

I also noticed that the GEAR SAFE light on the annunciator was dimly lit, like it would be once you turn on the nav lights....

Gear Safe light did same for me, that's normal, but I didn't have the dim lit position light.  IIRC my Whelen tail led did have the dim lit you describe. 

[larrynimmo]

On 4/9/2020 at 1:41 PM, Steve W said:

You are correct. It's described in the service manual I have in 24-39-06 pg 16. Depending on the model your A&P(if he understands electronics) should be able to put in a relay so 'CH1RET' goes to ground when the lights are off and +V when the nav lights are on without routing the signal through the lights.

Yes....this worked exactly as you said....I traced out the wires and cut the wire from the nav switch to the third terminal (from pilot side) of the annunciator...installed a normally closed ground wire (and coil -), normally open (and coil +) to nav wire...common to the annunciator and it works exactly like it did before and no back fed leds.

 

thank you

[carusoam]

On 4/10/2020 at 10:09 AM, OSUAV8TER said:

I am no technical expert but I can connect with the right people if this issue persists. 

This is the issue that pops up from time to time….

call it the ‘annunciator panel dimming function, based on position lights status, doesn’t work properly with LED position lights’…

The result being… bright lights in the cabin during dark flights…

 

Best regards,

-a-

 

[OSUAV8TER]

8 hours ago, carusoam said:

This is the issue that pops up from time to time….

call it the ‘annunciator panel dimming function, based on position lights status, doesn’t work properly with LED position lights’…

The result being… bright lights in the cabin during dark flights…

 

Best regards,

-a-

 

Thanks, I'm better tracking this now. I understand it is an issue and I'd like to have some documentation that shows how to manage it. Now I see I responded to this a while ago and it bubbled up again the other day, I'm dedicated to creating a repository of knowledge that documents how to manage this. 

[MisfitSELF]

On 4/13/2020 at 5:48 PM, larrynimmo said:

Yes....this worked exactly as you said....I traced out the wires and cut the wire from the nav switch to the third terminal (from pilot side) of the annunciator...installed a normally closed ground wire (and coil -), normally open (and coil +) to nav wire...common to the annunciator and it works exactly like it did before and no back fed leds.

 

thank you

Any chance do you have pictures of your installation or part numbers of what you used?

[Pinecone]

There are other threads with info on how to deal with this issue.