Pulsing LED recognition lights

[Pinecone]

That is nice, but I have landing and taxi lights in the cowl.

I am thinking alternate both recog lights with the taxi light.

[donkaye]

5 hours ago, flyingcheesehead said:

Dangit Don, one post ago I had it all figured out what I was gonna do!

But that is really sharp, I like the idea of alternately pulsing the taxi and recognition lights. How are your switches set up? Do you still have the split L&R taxi light switch? Is there a separate "Pulse" switch? Are your light switches on the panel or are they the newer overhead style?

I wonder if the MaxPulse is capable of this?

From the image below all my lights are located in a group below the G500 TXi.  The top row operates independently from the bottom row.  That means all the split switches in the top row operate independently.  The bottom row from left to right are the Nav lights for night flight, the strobes, and the Pulse lights.  When cleared for takeoff, on the runway I use the neumonic "lights, camera, action".  Lights mean Strobes and Pulse Lights On, camera mean Transponder to Alt (not needed anymore with Garmin Transponder), Action means add Power.  With the LEDs I feel comfortable keeping the strobes and pulse lights on all the time except in the clouds.  At night when on approach I also turn on the landing light.  When off the runway, strobes and pulse lights go to Off, the landing lights stay on, and I turn on the taxi lights.  With the new LED recognition lights, I would now feel comfortable turning on the recognition lights at night while taxiing.  In the past that was not possible, since the old incandescent lights would burn a hole in the plastic covers.  Not so with the LEDs.  

[ZuluZulu]

I bought a Pulselite system in 2020.  My mechanic never had time to install it (and was dreading it) so it sat on the shelf until 2023, when he quickly installed the MaxPulse I bought instead.  So I sold the Pulselite.  With the MaxPulse costing $1000 less, it's a no-brainer.

[flyingcheesehead]

16 hours ago, donkaye said:

From the image below all my lights are located in a group below the G500 TXi.  The top row operates independently from the bottom row.  That means all the split switches in the top row operate independently.  The bottom row from left to right are the Nav lights for night flight, the strobes, and the Pulse lights.  When cleared for takeoff, on the runway I use the neumonic "lights, camera, action".  Lights mean Strobes and Pulse Lights On, camera mean Transponder to Alt (not needed anymore with Garmin Transponder), Action means add Power.  With the LEDs I feel comfortable keeping the strobes and pulse lights on all the time except in the clouds.  At night when on approach I also turn on the landing light.  When off the runway, strobes and pulse lights go to Off, the landing lights stay on, and I turn on the taxi lights.  With the new LED recognition lights, I would now feel comfortable turning on the recognition lights at night while taxiing.  In the past that was not possible, since the old incandescent lights would burn a hole in the plastic covers.  Not so with the LEDs.  

Interesting. Do you still have a rotating beacon? That's what our sixth switch is.

[flyingcheesehead]

On 5/19/2023 at 8:04 PM, GeeBee said:

Yes it is easier. Just three wire run from the recog switch to the pulse controller. 

Do you still have all six overhead light switches?

Does the RECOG switch still do anything? The MaxPulse installation instructions make it look like you are supposed to bypass the original switch in the circuit. If the switch still works, do you need to have it on to get any pulse, or does turning it on turn the lights on solid regardless of the MaxPulse setting?

Does the MaxPulse just control your recognition lights? I'd really like to make it flash like Don's...

[GeeBee]

Yes, the recognition switch acts as the "master power" to the Max Pulse. You have to leave that switch in the circuit because it is more than a switch. It is also the circuit breaker for the recon light circuit.

Only flashes the recognition lights, that is all I want.

 

[donkaye]

10 hours ago, ZuluZulu said:

I bought a Pulselite system in 2020.  My mechanic never had time to install it (and was dreading it) so it sat on the shelf until 2023, when he quickly installed the MaxPulse I bought instead.  So I sold the Pulselite.  With the MaxPulse costing $1000 less, it's a no-brainer.

I think when I got {won) my Pulselight System they cost $450.   It seems like it has more flexibility, but at a lot more cost.  It allows me to do everything I wanted in regards to lights, though.  I'm glad I don't have to make the decision now because I think I'd be out the extra money.

[donkaye]

14 hours ago, flyingcheesehead said:

Interesting. Do you still have a rotating beacon? That's what our sixth switch is.

I never had a rotating beacon.  The upper row of lights from left to right:  Landing lights, Taxi light, Recognition lights.  The bottom row of lights: NAV lights, Strobe lights, Pulse lights.

[Marc_B]

@donkaye it’s interesting to see the difference between recog size/light output and taxi light. Probably WAY better recognition with flashing like you have set up!

If I understand correctly if you flip switch for recog it turns recognition lights on constant as does taxi. And if you turn on “pulse” it alternates recog with taxi if you have both taxi and recog switches on.  If you only have taxi switch on does pulse just flash the taxi light only?

[donkaye]

1 hour ago, Marc_B said:

@donkaye it’s interesting to see the difference between recog size/light output and taxi light. Probably WAY better recognition with flashing like you have set up!

If I understand correctly if you flip switch for recog it turns recognition lights on constant as does taxi. And if you turn on “pulse” it alternates recog with taxi if you have both taxi and recog switches on.  If you only have taxi switch on does pulse just flash the taxi light only?

I've had this setup for so long, I can't remember all the combinations I tried a number of years ago.  Bottom line it is really simple, with the top row of switches off, turning on the bottom Pulselight switch will pulse the lights as shown in the video.  The pulse lights only work in the way shown.  On final I can keep the pulse lights pulsing and additionally turn on the landing lights from the top row.  If I want the landing lights, taxi lights and recognition lights on together (non pulsing of the taxi and recognition lights), I turn off the pulse lights and switch on the taxi and recognition lights from the upper row.  This is the way the lights worked before the addition of the pulse lights.  It's pretty versatile.

I couldn't get back far enough to really show in the video how bright the new recognition lights are.  I should have gone down to the airport at night to do the video.  One thing I know is that they are too bright to look at head on and they really run cool.

[FlyingScot]

17 hours ago, GeeBee said:

Yes, the recognition switch acts as the "master power" to the Max Pulse. You have to leave that switch in the circuit because it is more than a switch. It is also the circuit breaker for the recon light circuit.

Only flashes the recognition lights, that is all I want.

 

Are there separate power runs to each recog light _from the switch_ on the switched side (makes the install easier) or is it a single run to some other location from which both are fed (harder). Inquisitive minds would appreciate knowing.... Thanks

[PT20J]

7 minutes ago, FlyingScot said:

Are there separate power runs to each recog light _from the switch_ on the switched side (makes the install easier) or is it a single run to some other location from which both are fed (harder). Inquisitive minds would appreciate knowing.... Thanks

You should check your schematic, but on my 1994 M20J, there were separate power runs back to the breaker/switch.

[GeeBee]

Yes, same here. Separate runs.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I'm really curious how this is wired. I'd love to have my lights do what Don's do, but with the MaxPulse instead of the too-expensive PulseLite system.

I contacted Seaton Engineering (MaxPulse maker) and they gave me an idea using diodes that might do what I want.

 

[PT20J]

I put the MaxPulse on the recognition lights and left the taxi lights and landing lights as they were. However, since all these are now LED, I leave them all on all the time in flight. 

The seaplanes I flew for Kenmore Air had pulsed wing mounted landing lights (Beavers don't have taxi lights). I flew a lot of trips with company traffic coming the opposite direction. I noted that the pulsing lights were not all that visible during the day because the beam width of a landing light is so narrow that you only see them if they are pretty much at your 12 o'clock. If I were going to pulse something besides the recognition lights, I would pulse the taxi lights because they have a wider horizontal beam. However, I figured that steady landing and taxi lights and pulsed recognition lights was good enough and simple to install.

Skip

[Pinecone]

I wonder how it would look to pulse the taxi light with a steady landing light with cowl mounted lights?

So many possible combinations.

@donkaye looking at the PulseLite manuals, it seems all you need to do to get your landing lights ON is to put the Landing Light Switch to ON, that overrides the PulseLite switch setting.

[donkaye]

4 hours ago, Pinecone said:

I wonder how it would look to pulse the taxi light with a steady landing light with cowl mounted lights?

So many possible combinations.

@donkaye looking at the PulseLite manuals, it seems all you need to do to get your landing lights ON is to put the Landing Light Switch to ON, that overrides the PulseLite switch setting.

The landing light in my system in not connected the pulse light system.  The pulse lights can be pulsing and the landing light on solidly at the same time. 

[Pinecone]

5 hours ago, donkaye said:

The landing light in my system in not connected the pulse light system.  The pulse lights can be pulsing and the landing light on solidly at the same time. 

My point was, if you leave the PulseLite switch ON, and turn the Taxi Light and/or Recog lights switches ON, they should change to non-pulsed, without turning the Pulse Lite OFF.

[donkaye]

4 hours ago, Pinecone said:

My point was, if you leave the PulseLite switch ON, and turn the Taxi Light and/or Recog lights switches ON, they should change to non-pulsed, without turning the Pulse Lite OFF.

I don't think mine work that way, but I'll try that the next time I'm at the airport.

[PT20J]

5 hours ago, Pinecone said:

My point was, if you leave the PulseLite switch ON, and turn the Taxi Light and/or Recog lights switches ON, they should change to non-pulsed, without turning the Pulse Lite OFF.

That's the way it works in the rental airplanes I have flown. There are two switches: landing light and pulse. The landing light switch overrides the pulse if both are on.

[donkaye]

On 5/26/2023 at 5:07 PM, donkaye said:

I don't think mine work that way, but I'll try that the next time I'm at the airport.

I went to the plane today and tested the lights as asked above.  With the pulse lights on I turned on the split switch taxi lights.  The pulsing did stop, the taxi lights remained on steady, and the recognition lights turned off.  I then turned off the taxi lights and turned on the recognition lights.  The recognition lights turned steady, but the taxi lights continued pulsing alone.  The above is nice to know, but I'll continue to use my lights as I have in the past,  as I don't see any benefit of using those configurations as opposed to the original methods.

[Pinecone]

It just saves a step.  And once you land, just turn off the recog and taxi, and they go back to pulsing