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Going LED -- What do I need to know?


MisfitSELF

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I vowed that I would "go LED" once (or as) my lights burn out.  Preflighting my bird last night I noticed my right wingtip strobe is in-op.

My stats:  1984 M20J, 12V, wing tip lights are embedded in the wing tip (curved wingtips?)

So I've been looking at the Whelen Orion 650E (embedded) and replacing both wingtip lights at once.  I know about by passing the strobe module/power supply.  But, are there any "gotchas" like you must run all new wire out to the wing, or add a circuit so that the lighting works right?  It looks too easy...

Also, any recommendations for other certified lighting solutions?

 

Thanks,

 

Bruce

Edited by MisfitSELF
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If you do LED all around, the tail light may need 1 or 2 wires run.  The tip lights already have 4 wires (strobe, nav, and separate grounds).  You need a minimum of 3 wires (strobe, nav, ground).  The 4th wire can be used to sync the strobes so they flash together.

The stock tail light on my 252 is only a strobe.  The rear nav lights are in the tips.  If you want to have the tail be both, you need to run 1 wire for the nav.  And if you want the strobe synced with the tips, you need another wire.

Strobe power supply can be removed for a slight gain in useful load.

Landing/taxi lights are simple.

I am doing the LED strobe/navs shortly.  Also adding a beacon, as my plane does not have one.

 

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If you remove all the incandescent nav bulbs you need to figure out a way to control the dimming feature for the gear light on the annunciator panel or it will always be dim. There are threads hereabouts on this. Some folks have installed a relay.

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11 hours ago, MisfitSELF said:

My stats:  1984 M20J, 12V, wing tip lights are embedded in the wing tip (curved wingtips?)

So I've been looking at the Whelen Orion 650E (embedded) and replacing both wingtip lights at once.  I know about by passing the strobe module/power supply.  But, are there any "gotchas" like you must run all new wire out to the wing, or add a circuit so that the lighting works right?  It looks too easy...

Because I had nothing better to do today I looked at the electrical schematic diagram for your plane. It looks like you have a four conductor shielded cable running from the nav/strobe switches through some connectors to the strobe power supplies and nav lights in the tips and tail. This is sufficient to wire the new lighting. The red wire is for nav, black is ground, yellow is strobe, and green is spare (please confirm this in your plane). If you are only replacing the wingtip lights and keeping the tail incandescent/strobe, the GEAR DOWN annunciator will dim properly with the nav light switch. If you are replacing the tail nav/strobe with LED you will need to wire a relay or other device to the GEAR DOWN return line in the annunciator or else live with a permanently dimmed and unreadable in daylight GEAR DOWN light, not a good thing IMO. You can wire the new lights using the red, black and yellow wires but the strobes will not be sync’d. You can use the green wire to sync the strobes but that would require jumpering them together in a connector behind the panel. I have no idea of the difficulty of doing that.

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5 minutes ago, MisfitSELF said:

I read the thread about dimming the landing gear light but it never really answered the "how to keep the gear light working as designed" question.  Any leads?

It’s around here somewhere… for the person with the right search skills…. :)

While we wait for that person to arrive…

Our Whelen guy is quite technical, and was the person to write the details down…  they probably came direct from Whelen engineering…

Soooo… let’s invite him too….  @OSUAV8TER

Leaving a particular bulb in place, or a specific resistor needed… put in the right place…

My biggest challenge with the annunciator panel… the light is dim during the day with my nav lights on…

I like a bright green light to OK my landing, on short final…   :)

Best regards,

-a-

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11 minutes ago, carusoam said:

My biggest challenge with the annunciator panel… the light is dim during the day with my nav lights on…

I like a bright green light to OK my landing, on short final…   :)

Me, too, but it comes from having the landing light on all the time.

But mynhabit was set with an incandescent landing light.

  1. Gear down abeam intended point of landing. Check green gear light.
  2. Turn base, confirm airspeed, check green gear light.
  3. Turn final, confirm airspeed, check VASI / PAPI lights if available, point at floor indicator and make sure it's green.
  4. Adjust flaps, throttle and yoke to land at desired point, preferably with the stall horn sounding.
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3 minutes ago, Hank said:

Me, too, but it comes from having the landing light on all the time.

But mynhabit was set with an incandescent landing light.

  1. Gear down abeam intended point of landing. Check green gear light.
  2. Turn base, confirm airspeed, check green gear light.
  3. Turn final, confirm airspeed, check VASI / PAPI lights if available, point at floor indicator and make sure it's green.
  4. Adjust flaps, throttle and yoke to land at desired point, preferably with the stall horn sounding.

One of these days…

I’m going to go all LED… 

and a pair of landing lights and a pair of taxi lights will join my pair of LED recog lights…

I want to be seen. :)

-a-

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2 minutes ago, carusoam said:

One of these days…

I’m going to go all LED… 

and a pair of landing lights and a pair of taxi lights will join my pair of LED recog lights…

I want to be seen. :)

-a-

I've been told on the radio that my LED landing light, LED belly strobe and incandescent red & green wingtip lights show up really well at night. I have a video getting night current so my wife could ride with me, but it's not posted anywhere, maybe I should? 

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56 minutes ago, Hank said:

I've been told on the radio that my LED landing light, LED belly strobe and incandescent red & green wingtip lights show up really well at night. I have a video getting night current so my wife could ride with me, but it's not posted anywhere, maybe I should? 

There are two aspects of our lighting systems…

See, and be seen…

Our Whelen guy is always focussed on showing side by side comparisons of how well his lights brighten the runway and taxiway… from his tool cart.  Perfect for seeing the runway environment…


The thing that makes me most nervous…

Being on short final with a school plane getting ready to enter the runway…

Or any variation of planes around my non-controlled traffic pattern….

 

How far out can Deborah see you coming?

When you call…

Mooney light show, 5 miles east of the field, at 2k’….inbound for rwy28…

That would be an interesting video…   :)
 

Let’s help the less experienced pilots with their awareness of our situation…  situational awareness for everyone!

Best regards,

-a-

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6 hours ago, MisfitSELF said:

I read the thread about dimming the landing gear light but it never really answered the "how to keep the gear light working as designed" question.  Any leads?

There is thread where someone came up with a circuit to make them not dim all the time.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Pinecone said:

There is thread where someone came up with a circuit to make them not dim all the time.

 

 

@MisfitSELF Yes, I believe that is it. Because the navigation/position lights are LED you can operate them all the time without concern for them to burn out. That is how I run with my lights now. With most aircraft when you turn on the navigation lights, the OEM assumed you were utilizing them for night flight, not day time, so things autodimmed. Each type is slightly different but there is good guidance in those threads. I have the LED lights to replace your worn out equipment if you want a specific quote. Email me at gallagheraviationllc@gmail.com or check out my website at https://www.gallagheraviationllc.com/Whelen-Aerospace-Technologies-LED-Lighting_c_25.html

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2 minutes ago, OSUAV8TER said:

Need to bookmark this thread.

 

I wish MS could make more use of Featured Threads, like Stickies on other forum platforms. There are many helpful threads that deserve the honor of being Featured.

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3 minutes ago, RoundTwo said:

I wish MS could make more use of Featured Threads, like Stickies on other forum platforms. There are many helpful threads that deserve the honor of being Featured.

Yes, I agree. Instead, I just favorite certain topics so I can quickly pull them up. The search engine is not great either.

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since I'm connecting my tail light tonight without the strobe  (doing that when I redo the interior). This whole relay or adding light doesn't seem to be explained for simple minded folk like myself.

Anyone have pictures and detail of what they did? 

How dim is the light? Is it so dim you can't tell it's on?

All my lights are adjustable inside, does that not matter? 

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23 minutes ago, JayMatt said:

How dim is the light? Is it so dim you can't tell it's on?

You can see the floor gear position indicator without a light. My bulb was burned out when I bought the plane, and I had no idea there even was a bulb for the first two years I owned it. If you’re flying at night you’ll need a flashlight, but you’ll need a flashlight for other stuff too. 

 

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5 minutes ago, toto said:

You can see the floor gear position indicator without a light. My bulb was burned out when I bought the plane, and I had no idea there even was a bulb for the first two years I owned it. If you’re flying at night you’ll need a flashlight, but you’ll need a flashlight for other stuff too. 

 

I never knew there was a floor gear position indicator...lol

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16 hours ago, JayMatt said:

I never knew there was a floor gear position indicator...lol

Barber pole seen through a window on the floor… green is good to land.

Light bulb to light the barber pole is a 24V bulb in a 12V system to be dim all the time…

Often the plastic window is so dirty or etched… some people don’t know it is there….

 

If you are looking for The green light on the annunciator panel… it gets dimmed so much, in day light it is hard to see…

+1 for stickies and FAQs…

Best regards,

-a-

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Our floor indicator was dirty, cloudy, and scratched to the point of being un-readable at one point.  You could vaguely see a red or green blob through it.

Spent a few minutes with a rag, some WD-40 for a degreaser, followed by a clean wet rag with some Meguier's polishing compound and it cleared right up.  Can read it easily during the day now.

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