“Gear Down, Three .... Amber?”

[squeaky.stow]

Dumb question of he day. Do others have a Gear Down annunciator light that is clearly not green?

This has bugged me for a long time because I am hardwired to respond to amber as a caution. Is the lense just old? Can I replace it with the right colour without spending a fortune?
 

[carusoam]

Expect a green piece of plastic has fallen out of the window...

The good news... we know the manufacturer of the whole device... mentioned around here yesterday...

A quick call, and an email of your pic... will probably net a quick response!

Expect that it might be rattling around inside there still...  

Best regards,

-a-

[squeaky.stow]

10 hours ago, 1980Mooney said:

If you take off and forget to raise your gear in the climb or cruise then the Gear Down annunciator is a proper amber “warning”....

Either solution is imperfect. 

It’s pretty clear from the POH that Mooney, like pretty much every other manufacturer, intends the gear light to be a reminder that the gear is safely down for landing, not a reminder that you forgot to retract it. Mooney also says it should be green.

My question is not about the philosophy of the indicator, but the colour. Am I the only one with a K that has an amber light instead of a green one?

[Hank]

My C has a tiny green light for Gear Down, along with a large green indicator in the floor. Gear Up is a matching size amber light and a red floor indicator. I always check the floor indicator on final, as it's mechanical, painted on the gear mechanism and is always correct even when the lights don't work.

But it's ONE amber light and ONE green light!

[RobertGary1]

Not the model I own but I agree that it seems like the lense has fallen out. I’d also expect it to be green 

 

-Robert

[RobertGary1]

13 hours ago, 1980Mooney said:

If you take off and forget to raise your gear in the climb or cruise then the Gear Down annunciator is a proper amber “warning”....

Either solution is imperfect. 

Never seen a land plane that works that way. In the sea planes we had some different colors. 
 

-Robert 

[mooniac15u]

Looks like the same annunciator as I have on my M20J.  The gear down light is the same color on mine.  The floor indicator is green.

[McMooney]

think my annunciator may be green, can't read the letters on it anymore 8).  the floor indicator is def green.

[squeaky.stow]

1 hour ago, mooniac15u said:

Looks like the same annunciator as I have on my M20J.  The gear down light is the same color on mine.  The floor indicator is green.

Thanks. I think they must fade with age. LASAR has a picture of the lense on their website (sold out and no longer available) and the lettering for the gear looks green in the picture. Hard to tell for sure but it is definitely a different colour than the “gear unsafe” right next to it. I had been looking for an excuse to add a green LED light next to the gear handle. Maybe this is it.

[kortopates]

The OEM for these, repairs them and has these. 

International Avionics
3782 Arapaho Road, Addison, TX 75001-4311
Bus: 972-417-2820
Email: info@internationalavionics.com
 

[nfonville]

The important indicator is the gear status view window on the floor.  It should be checked prior to landing.

[squeaky.stow]

2 hours ago, kortopates said:

The OEM for these, repairs them and has these. 

International Avionics
3782 Arapaho Road, Addison, TX 75001-4311
Bus: 972-417-2820
Email: info@internationalavionics.com
 

Thanks so much Paul. I will contact them. 
Mark

[StevenL757]

Mark,

Just throwing this out there, but I can make one of these for you.  Since 2014 when things changed on my airplane, I wanted to "true-up" the annunciator to remove unneeded lights.  I also wanted the TEST button to light up all the lights in the annunciator, including the ones with no assigned value (a dashed line).  I started out contacting International Avionics above, and was beyond shocked when I learned how much the were.  Try something in the $1200USD range.  I found this hard to believe, so wanted to craft something.  I just de-constructed my original template and shopped around for the materials.  At my annual in TX back in May, my IA was shocked (in a good way) that my template looked, fit, and appeared crisper and clearer than the original, and ok'd the install.

Some pics below of my process and the finished product.  First picture is the original.  Basically, the materials cost me around $120.  With the amount of materials I have, I could produce dozens of templates for various models...I just need to size them appropriately.  Happy to do a couple for you in exchange for mailing costs only.  Let me know...

Steve

[y2kiah]

I would save yourself a couple hundred bucks and just cut out a square of green translucent plastic sheet and tape it behind the lettering, that's how they get their color to begin with

[carusoam]

Nice work, StevenL!

It a system under common updates...  as in it often needs an update as a Mooney gets updated through its life...

Thanks for sharing your methodology...

Best regards,

-a-

[StevenL757]

23 minutes ago, y2kiah said:

I would save yourself a couple hundred bucks and just cut out a square of green translucent plastic sheet and tape it behind the lettering, that's how they get their color to begin with

That's essentially what I did.  Just cut the little squares out of translucent tape rolls of various colors to copy the IA design template.

[y2kiah]

@StevenL757 your results look fantastic! Just curious did your IA consider this preventive maintenance or minor alteration?

[StevenL757]

PM

[kortopates]

12 hours ago, StevenL757 said:

I started out contacting International Avionics above, and was beyond shocked when I learned how much the were.  Try something in the $1200USD range.

Steve, Yours looks fantastic - job well done. The good folks at IA didn't even charge me for a new screen on mine, they installed a new face when I sent it to them for repairs of ~$400 when an avionics installer installed the plug on backwards and fried about 8 diodes in the unit. They saw how bad the original screen looked and sent it back with a new one. They may not be willing to be just sell parts though, but my entire repair was only a 1/3 of what you heard. 

[squeaky.stow]

14 hours ago, StevenL757 said:

Happy to do a couple for you in exchange for mailing costs only.  Let me know...

Steve,

That would be fantastic! I will PM you next week to discuss. I also have an inoperative vacuum system that I would like to blank out or maybe repurpose.

I am out of town right now getting in the last chance to visit my new granddaughter before we go into another COVID lockdown.

On the bright side I will have lots of time to work on the plane!

Cheers,

Mark

[squeaky.stow]

PM sent

[squeaky.stow]

Long overdue update to this thread. @StevenL757 sent me several of his custom made annunciator lenses. A panel upgrade slowed things down but I now have a green GEAR DOWN light instead of amber.

Turns out the old one had been faded to amber from the heat of the bulb after 35 years.

 

[StevenL757]

Looks like I may need to shift the "START POWER ACTIVE" light a little to the right...   :-)

Let me know if you want another one and I can send up there.

[squeaky.stow]

You know, I had never noticed that! 
Of course now that you pointed out I won’t be able to NOT see it!

That would be awesome if you want to send me another, but you have to at least let me pay this time!

[StevenL757]

Buy me a beer when we eventually meet.  :-)

I'll work on this between now and the weekend, and ping you when done.