Pulse Lite or Max Pulse? And other light questions

[Pinecone]

Which one and why?

And which lights to pulse?

I have wingtip recognition lights and two landing/taxi lights in the lower cowling.

So what pattern to flash?  Alternate the wingtip recog left - right - left?   Or alternate the two wingtip with one of the nose lights?  Or some other pattern.

Also, my plane does not have a beacon.  I like a beacon for ground operations to warn people that the airplane is powered up and to remind me if I left the master on.

Whelan has a ground recognition light that does not meet anti collision light standards, but I have strobes and recog lights.  So this or a real beacon?   BTW, it is $300 versus $1600 for a lower beacon.

[PT20J]

I just had a MaxPulse installed on my recognition lights. It is a lot smaller and a LOT less expensive than the Pulselite. My shop has installed several MaxPulses and reported no problems. It has lots of modes, so you can choose what suits you best. I just leave it on the fastest alternating setting and it is wired to the original breaker switch to turn it on and off.

Whelen is about to start shipping the LED replacements for the recognition light bulbs according to @OSUAV8TER.

Skip

[GeeBee]

Ditto the above. That is what I did as well.

I like the flashers for bird avoidance as well. I learned from an expert the other day that prey birds and buzzards process images at about 130 frames per second where as humans are about 30 fps. Thus he suggested the fast possible flash rate as to them, everything is slow motion to us.

[A64Pilot]

Maxpulse weigh about 1 oz and is about 1” around, plus the guy is very easy to work with should you need assistance, but doubt you will need to.

Birds do react to flashing lights, but it’s not as simple as just flashing, they are more sensitive to specific wavelengths and flash rates.

Ag aircraft hit birds very often, very, very often and I tried to Certify a “bird light” on the Thrush consisting of Maule wing landing lights, Promethius bulbs and a Maxpulse.

I gave up when the FAA wanted me to test the aircraft to VD with the landing light lens removed so I was just installing them with a 337 in the Repair Station.

I don’t think anyone has ever flown an aircraft to VD with the leading edge light lens removed, I understand why they wanted the test, but I was uncomfortable doing it.

Regular bulbs can’t flash quickly, the filaments just won’t heat quickly enough, HID works but the bulbs fail prematurely, LED’s work great.

I know the Maxpulse turns the current on and off, but I believe some of the other flashers actually reduce and increase current, making the light appear to flash, but as it’s not on / off that reduces the thermal stress on a filament if one exists and that increases the bulbs life.

But I think an LED with a Maxpulse will last for years.

I have a couple of Maxpulses in the hangar, but I’m recovering from knee surgery so I can’t take a photo, but they look just like an old dimmer with four spade connectors on them, assuming you have a separate wire to each light installation couldn’t be simpler.

 

[OSUAV8TER]

I personally have the Precise Flight Pulselite 1210 installed but I got that when it was like $500. Now I hear they want something around $1500? I stopped selling them. Maxpulse is the best value and I recommend the model with the ring terminals. I stock and carry these in my online store.

https://www.gallagheraviationllc.com/MaxPulse-9200-000-B-Ring-Terminal-Switch_p_266.html

[Pinecone]

OK, Max Pulse it is.

Now, pulse rec lights left/right, or pulse rec lights together alternating with the taxi or landing light????

[A64Pilot]

The Maxpulse connects to two light circuits and gives you several option of flashing then together or alternating.

‘I ran them with the knob turned all the way to the right, which if memory serves is alternating at 120 per min.

This is a Maxpulse, whole thing weighs 1.1 oz, four connectors, from memory power, ground and two lights, simple.

Label is P for port, S for Starboard continuous on, A for alternate flash and B for flash together.

Label isn’t adhesive for some reason, or didn’t used to be, this one is at least 5 years old.

At the high flash rate I recommend LED’s as it seems they are instantly bright, regular bulbs flashed quickly lose some brightness as the filament has to heat up, and I think the constant on/off shortens a regular bulbs life

[kortopates]

I personally find the pulsing of the recognition lights to be all that is needed to significantly increase visibility- especially at night. I’d wouldn’t pulse the landing lights to avoid having to switch from pulse to solid on for night landings - to much of a bother IMO.

Also i personally wouldn’t add a beacon either primarily because of a FAA legal interpretation that will consider them both together an anti-collision light system that requires them both to be functioning to be airworthy. That logic just doubles the chance of having to fix a failed light. Although on the pro side you can argue that with all LEDs the chance is very small.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pinecone]

Hmm, did not realize that is you have a beacon, it is part of the anti collision system and required.

What reg is this?

True, just pulsing the recog lights may be enough.    And then I could repurpose the switch for the ground recog light.

[ArtVandelay]

Hmm, did not realize that is you have a beacon, it is part of the anti collision system and required.
What reg is this?
True, just pulsing the recog lights may be enough.    And then I could repurpose the switch for the ground recog light.

You need flashing 360° coverage: beacon or strobes, recognition lights no because they only face forward.

[Pinecone]

Yeah, I did some looking and it says you have to use the anti collision system if one is installed.  It can be either beacon or strobes.  Using both is acceptable.

The recog I was talking about looks like a beacon, but lower light output.  Whelan calls is a Ground Recognition Light.