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Aveo Zip Tip Update
Bit the bullet and bought the Aveo Zip Tips Premiere for my RV7. I was somewhat reluctant due to the mixed reviews regarding fit and customer service. They arrived yesterday undamaged. First off, the quality of the tips is about equal to those of the Vans tips. The one piece lens is high quality and very solid, probably 1/4" thick. I placed the inboard edges against my Vans W-715 tips and they are dimensionally identical, therefore I believe fitting them should be no more difficult than the Vans tips. The one piece light module is high quality with 12 led landing lights, 3 led taxi lights, nav light and double flash strobe and built in wig wag controller.Also a seperate module mounted in the outboard trailing edge with nav and strobe lights. The module mounts to the inside of the tip and has 2 nicely machined aluminum brackets for ample up/down/right left adjustment. The "kit" came with no instructions whatsoever, although a wiring diagram is available on their website, but has no mention of wiring the rear modules. After a little experimentation I figured out the connections. The lights and strobes are VERY bright. There is a recess molded into the lower front portion of the tip for an access plate
(provided) that may be installed at builders discretion. It would seem necessary to install this for access to the module and light alignment. If you can swing the 3k price these tips are a nice addition, also no need to wire a tail nav /strobe light. Getting a hold of the Aveo Florida people can be challenging-forget e-mail, but all my communication has been through Damien via phone and he seems to be their can do guy. If you are considering these you can PM me and maybe I can be of some help. Jake RV7 #72018 N767T 2017 dues paid. |
Jake
i really appreciate seeing that post. i was first aware of the product about 8 months ago. Once i saw it online i was absolutely getting them. But then so much negativity online about the product the company the service and i was hesitant. Damien returned my call early summer and i was feeling a little better about the product after discussing everything with him. i have tried to reach him since and no return call. i am so not impressed with all the other solutions that i still felt id use the Aveo tips and deal with whatever shortcomings i had to. why should this project get any easier right? I think your post is the final decision maker for me. i am mid way through my SB wing kit and not in an urgent rush for them. I can live with not having contact from Damien yet. but i have two questions in the meantime if you could answer Do you feel a VOR antena will easily fit in the hollow space of the wing tips? what wiring do i require for the unit? how many conductors and what guage in order to have individual control of all the lighting? with that i can keep moving forward. i will try again to get hold of Damien in the future and i assume the product will only be more refined the longer i wait. Would i want the tips on the wings while i work on the fuselage and finish kits or wait to order until the wings are mounted and its almost complete? |
Adam,
I too had been following the evolution of the zip tips and I believe they have gone through several generations of update. I chose them because it is a nice all in one package that solves a lot of problems. Having to purchase seperate landing lights, nav/pos. & strobe lights, fitting them and integrating the whole package can be time consuming and easily run you $1500 or more. The $3000 price becomes a little more realistic. I plan on dimpling my wing skins and attaching with 6-32 screws and nut plates using the pre-punched holes, you could also go the piano hinge route. You will still need to use the Vans W-412 trailing edge rib opposite the aileron. There is plenty of room for a VOR antenna. As far as wiring, you need to run 2 18ga.wires for pos & taxi lights, 2 16ga. wires for ldg & strobe lts.. I plan on wiring the landing & taxi lights on one circuit. There are also another 2 18ga. wires for wig wag controller & strobe synch. I am using the wig wag controller integrated in my AFS quick panel. As mentioned, I will be installing the access panel on the bottom of the tip, there is one round twist connector on the module to disconnect and remove the tip, 2 ground wires can attached at the outboard rib. You can probably find a buyer for your Vans tips, further reducing the cost of the Zip's. My wings are mounted and I am going to complete the installation before I remove the wings/tips for final assembly at the airport. Hope this can be of some help. Jake RV6 #20477 completed 1991, sold RV7 #72018, N767T, IO-360 M1B, MT 3 Blade, AFS quick panel. On target for first flight this summer! VAF 2017 dues paid. |
End result
I've mentioned this before but I have been using AVEO gear for many years. Communications can be painful but the end product is pretty good. When they first wanted to do a plug and play tip I warned that this would be difficult to do because the trailing edges are all a little different and the tips would need adjustment. Somehow they missed this and thought they were ready to ship.
Not really sure what they did to resolve this. Since I already had my Van's tips set up with antennas, reinforcements etc, I only wanted the light modules. Despite their promise several years ago to sell me only the modules it took an act of congress to actually get them. Lots of work to get them install but they look good. I was already wired for AVEO lights when these came out. BTW, 16 ga is serious overkill. These are LED's and draw very little current. 18 ga is probably too heavy but fine. You don't need 16 gauge for sure. Overall the product is excellent and the end result is as well if you want to suffer through the customer service frustration. I will say it is getting much better with Damien's help. |
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aveo
thanks guys im really feeling better about the tips now. so helpfull
im just about to build my second tank, i am aiming to have both wings complete by april |
One question I have is the time frame from order to delivery. I hear this can be several months.
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I'd like to hear a pirep about how well the landing lights work on final, as well as the taxi lights (especially for a tail dragger).
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Good to hear you got your tips. I received the first set of tips for the 10 last week and will get an update posted soon along with some pictures. It's interesting to see yours having the light cavity pieces separate. The prototype set they sent me had them molded in already.
Note of caution, make sure that when the flange is trimmed, the light cavity piece is outboard far enough that the mounting pin doesn't interfere with the wing rib. I trimmed mine without thinking about that and wound up having to redo a lot of work. I did test my lights out in the yard at night and was pretty impressed by how bright and powerful they are. The beam seems pretty good as well, we'll see how it works in the air. |
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