Cockpit lights bulbs

[Joshua Blackh4t]

 I want to get my night VFR rating as soon as my annual is done, ( probably over a month away, it expired today, feeling sad)

So I was checking all the lights in the cabin, and got most to work, yay.

When I checked the overhead cabin lights one was brighter than the other, and the bulbs were different.

One is a GE 303 and the other a GE 89. 

Aircraft spruce lists both as "cockpit lights".

Does anyone know what is correct and if there is a LED upgrade possible?

Thanks

[LANCECASPER]

4 hours ago, Joshua Blackh4t said:

 I want to get my night VFR rating as soon as my annual is done, ( probably over a month away, it expired today, feeling sad)

So I was checking all the lights in the cabin, and got most to work, yay.

When I checked the overhead cabin lights one was brighter than the other, and the bulbs were different.

One is a GE 303 and the other a GE 89. 

Aircraft spruce lists both as "cockpit lights".

Does anyone know what is correct and if there is a LED upgrade possible?

Thanks

I bet it's the GE 303 that's not as bright since it's a 28 volt bulb and your airplane is 14 volts. The GE 89 is the correct voltage for your airplane.

[Prior owner]

There is a thread about converting the overhead torpedo lights to LED. I found that the easiest route was to Buy the Piper conversion tubes (they snap right on) with new LED bulbs. I’ll try to find pics later today.

[EricJ]

These days there are direct LED plug-in replacements for most incandescent bulbs.    Search around amazon, ebay, etc., or even aircraft spruce if you want to pay more. 

 

[Joshua Blackh4t]

8 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

I bet it's the GE 303 that's not as bright since it's a 28 volt bulb and your airplane is 14 volts. The GE 89 is the correct voltage for your airplane.

Funny enough, the 303 is the bright one. 

I might have to get one of both and check them at night to see what they are like. 

 

And also get some LEDs and see how they work. 

Lightbulbs are cheap, so strange when working with planes.

 

[Joshua Blackh4t]

6 hours ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

Aero-Lites has a LED drop-in replacement, too.  
 

#89, #67, #97, #98, #1155 | 12-Volt LED Replacement (BA15S Base) SKU: AL-G6DV-CW LIGHT COLOR: BRIGHT WHITE Voltage: 10-30VDC Quantity: 1-Pack Price: $7.45

They look good. There are 2 options depending on the dimmer, is the old Mooney system voltage or PMW? I'm guessing voltage. 

[EricJ]

8 minutes ago, Joshua Blackh4t said:

They look good. There are 2 options depending on the dimmer, is the old Mooney system voltage or PMW? I'm guessing voltage. 

Yes, the original system is analog voltage.   When getting LED replacements look for dimmable units.    A non-dimmable LED bulb typically doesn't do well with dimming, and if nothing else won't dim properly.   Fortunately many of the LED bulb replacements these days are dimmable and will work well with analog dimmers.

[Mooney Dog]

9 hours ago, PilotCoyote said:

There is a thread about converting the overhead torpedo lights to LED. I found that the easiest route was to Buy the Piper conversion tubes (they snap right on) with new LED bulbs. I’ll try to find pics later today.

Do you happen to have a link to this? i tried to search for it but i dont think im finding the right things 

[Prior owner]

1 hour ago, Mooney Dog said:

Do you happen to have a link to this? i tried to search for it but i dont think im finding the right things 

Torpedo light LED conversion

[A64Pilot]

Be careful with cheap LED’s many are very noisy in the radio spectrum, I believe it’s the power supply. quality LEDs meant for either marine or aviation use have been tested and don’t cause interference, it can be even small leds

 

[Vance Harral]

14 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

Be careful with cheap LED’s many are very noisy in the radio spectrum, I believe it’s the power supply.

My guess is that low-power cabin lights are unlikely to have this problem, because they usually don't have an integrated power supply/down-converter; just the diode itself, and a passive resistor.

High-power devices that draw a lot of current from the main 12/24V bus, but need to down-convert it to a lower voltage for the diode itself, are potentially susceptible to this problem: strobes, landing lights, etc.  Genuine aviation-rated products are likely to be RF "quiet", but something you get from Amazon or Autozone not so much.

RF noise is definitely an issue for LED lights which screw in to a 120V AC socket and need a built-in power supply to convert from 120V AC down to the low DC voltage required to drive the LED.  Some of the more cheaply made devices emit RF noise that interferes with garage door openers, WiFi, etc.  Turns out this is also an issue where airports have converted their surface and runway lighting to LED.

I'm trying hard to be a fan of LED lighting in all aspects of my life: more lumens, less energy, runs cooler, better for the environment, etc.  We installed an LED landing light in the airplane about two years ago, and it's been great.  But as an old grump, I confess annoyance at how much more of an intelligent consumer you need to be in the modern era about a freakin' light bulb, vs. the "old days".  Used to be you bought a 6-pack for the house/airplane/car/boat at inexpensive cost, and they almost always worked for years.  If one gave up the ghost early in its life cycle, you were only out a few pennies.  But now that I have mostly LED lighting in my house, it seems like every month I have another $20+ problem with one of the things: it dims, flickers, or quits altogether and has to be replaced.  Car headlamps are sealed units and run over $100 apiece even in the least expensive application.  In theory there's a warranty on all these things, but making good on it is a hassle.  And most of my bad experiences are with supposedly "quality" LED bulbs, not the cheap no-name stuff in the discount isle.  I still buy LED for every new application, and hope it will improve over time.  But for the past decade or so, it feels like a net loss in cost and hassle.  And I say that as a EE nerd who really likes the technology.

[EricJ]

44 minutes ago, Vance Harral said:

My guess is that low-power cabin lights are unlikely to have this problem, because they usually don't have an integrated power supply/down-converter; just the diode itself, and a passive resistor.

One would think so, but often not.    Any dimmable LED has a power converter that turns the input voltage level into a PWM (pulse width) output that varies the length of time the LED is pulsed on.   At full voltage it should be on all the time.   Even many LEDs that don't dim, like LED headlamps on cars, are still pulsed to manage things like heat and current flow.   The chopping supplies for the dimming circuits these days are tiny and fit in the bases of the smallest bulbs, so can be in anything.   I never assume any more what's inside these things, even if they're not dimmable.

That said, I think you're right that the energy levels radiated by the chopping power supplies these days is very low.   *ANY* electronic device has to pass FCC Part 15 levels for unintentional radiation, and anybody who is fine having their cell phone or tablet or iPod or whatever on in the airplane should not  be too worried about LED lights.   That said, when there's an interference problem, all of that stuff is suspect.

[carusoam]

PWM…

That sort of explains why some cheap driveway lights leave a flickered trail as you move your head in the dark….

Odd affect of driving through my neighborhood after dark…

 

-a-

[A64Pilot]

USCG specifically called out navigation lights, and those are pretty much identical to our position lights on smaller boats, so small LED’s can possibly be an issue.

 I put some of those LED rope lights in our sailboat, kids called them “Limo lights” They raised hell on my HF radio, but don’t seem to bother anything else, but then again HF is very sensitive, the fridgepower supply as it was an inverter sounded like 1950’s movie spaceship when the fridge was on, so to use the HF I had to turn the fridge off.

Since moving back in a house I use LED’s for everything except the oven light, so far haven’t had one go bad, everything on the boat was LED of course as it cut energy consumption by a factor of 10x and since we live off of a battery bank, it mattered.

The LED rope lights on the boat after a year or so started losing bunches of LED’s. but they were cheap fleabay lights, the rest of the lights were quality Marine Beam lights and never had an issue, even with the HF.

https://store.marinebeam.com/led-replacement-bulbs/