Aeroleds NS180
 

Wing Tip Upgrade

One of the cool things to do at Oshkosh is meet all the owners and reps behind all the wonderful products on display.They sure are a passionate lot,eager to explain all the benefits of their products.

I caught up with Susan Calvin ( Operations Manager for Aeroleds ) and explained that I was in the market for some Nav/Lights.
She was kind enough to ship direct for me a new set of Aeroleds NS180 Nav/Lights for my RV-10.



The NS180's come well packaged with all connectors and complete instructions.
Three mounting screws and a 1/2" hole for the cables and the mounting is complete.

I have seen many great wing tips with polished mirrors or Plexiglas but had an idea for something different.
A friend in the sign industry had showed me some Class 1 reflective tape that you can order in Red and Green.
Class 1 reflective tape is 4 times brighter than normal reflective tape and is what is the industry standard for safety and road signs. I ordered some sample pieces from my local sign shop and as it worked out,the sample pieces were enough for each wing tip.

The result is a very bright tip enclosure,




and when any light hits the tips, (iPhone 6 flash )



https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kq...G=w924-h693-no

And when you turn on the Nav lights,



The instructions for the strobes come with a warning to use welding goggles when looking directly at the strobes,(what do they know :eek:),
I tried several ways to photograph the strobes,but the only way was to be some distance from the aircraft. These are INTENSELY bright !



I completed my Tips with the Duckworks Taxi Lights,
http://duckworksav.com/WTLightKits.html#WT_Rnd_LED
these are 1500 lumens taxi lights that WIG Wag via my VP-X when landing.

So with the aircraft all back together and a quick taxi around the airport at night,I am very happy with the light output of my new Aeroleds. No noise was detected on either of my com radios while the strobes were on.

So,I am very happy with the Aeroleds NS180 upgrade,with their low current draw and sealed design,I expect many years of trouble free service.

With the reflective tape in the tips , the aircraft is a lot more visible when parked out on the ramp at night.

Cheers,

Reflective tape
 

Looks nice, great idea, wondering if lights/heat to the tape is an issue?

White color
 

Can you share the paint code or name for the white?

Hi Dave,
The sticker / sign shop I used in Australia makes industrial safety signs for the local coal mines and are very used to extreme high ambient temperatures .
Sorry I do not know the heat range.

The aircraft White is a solid colour AW ( Asian White ) according to my painter.

Cheers,

Very cool! I like the reflective colored tape, I bet it looks great in the sunlight!

Why use the ns180 and not the NS90? My understanding was since the lights are blocked by the wing tip, there is no point in using the 180 (degree) model and the 90 was more appropriate.

Hi Mark,

I am not sure they sell the NS90's anymore,it is not on their website,
( maybe Dean can comment ?)

The 180's have twice the number of strobe LEDs and being rear facing, picks up on the reflective back wall of my wing tips,so I have a very bright strobe light!

I guess if the wing tip enclosure was a mirrored plexi or polished alloy,it would be even brighter.


Anyway,very happy with the new strobes,they are certainly brighter than anything else in my local area.

Cheers,

We discontinued the NS90 when we came out with the new flash pattern version. The average power is lower and the intensity is higher with the new flash pattern. We decided the NS90 was really not necessary to keep around with the new version.

I picked up some wire for my Suntail yesterday at AeroLEDS. I love going there. Everyone is so friendly and helpful. I had some questions and Mark (the engineer) spent quite a bit of time with me drawing out a schematic for me to use. I found out he has a Kitfox in a hangar very close to me. He said he wants to build a 7!

Sunray Plus Problem - VP-X No Fault
 

I've got 2 Aeroleds Sunray Plus landing lights, one in each wingtip. (Plus the Suntail and 2 NS90s). One tilted down and in for taxi and the other for landing.

Working fine until one quit at 250hrs and 1 year in use. There is no fault indication on the VP-X. I'm going to have to dive in to find the problem but thought it would show on the VP-X. Do bad LEDs not show as a fault on the VP-X?

Also, assuming it's burned out, I'm considering the Duckworth landing light Dustyone is using. $110 vs $295. See any problem leaving the working Sunray Plus and replacing the other with the Duckworth. I really like the VP-X auto wigwag at a user selected speed. Thanks!