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-   -   LED Position Lights (https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=162944)

Tankerpilot75 08-06-2018 04:42 PM

LED Position Lights
 
I was walking through the exhibit barns at AirVenture and several lighting exhibits got me to thinking about replacement position light bulbs.

I have the standard old Whelen A650 position/strobe light setup on my RV in the wing tip. I?m not yet interested in changing out completely to an LED position/strobe setup due to cost BUT I am thinking about changing the position light bulbs out from incandescent to LED.

Has anyone done this? If so what LED bulb did you use? Where did you source them? Were the replacement LED bulbs as bright and did you see any reduction in amperage draw?

I've already changed my wingtip landing lights to Whelen 71685 LED lights and really love the brightness of these lights over the old 50w halogen lights. The amperage draw for these lights was significantly less than the halogen lights.

moosepileit 08-06-2018 05:15 PM

Pilot lights set of 3 $50
 
https://www.pilotlights.net/led-navi...2-bay15s-ba15s

Like. 1/3 the draw.

Vlad 08-06-2018 05:48 PM

4 years ago I bought LED replacement bulbs at S-n-F. Still shining thousands hours later I will dig the vendor info Jim. I hope they are still in business. Long lasting bulbs. Before that I went through several sets of expensive Whelen types.

RV10Pilot 08-06-2018 07:45 PM

Looks like the same as these bulbs https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...umens/2799/://

I would think that you would want to put a cool white bulb below the colored lenses and not the green and red that is sold with the kit listed above. And then you will need to verify that the lights meet the regulations. If you ask Whelen they do not.

moosepileit 08-07-2018 03:59 AM

I tried the PSA original "navstrobes". The were a white shade, not colored.
Under the Grimes colored hemis-
Red was orangeish
Green was blueish
No way they were "right".
They needed the biggest ferrite choke/clamps to muffle their RFI.

The above ones I posted that are colored lamps, under colored Grimes globes look dandy. YMMV, but they look just like the jets at work.

Why would any OEM tell you what works at 10% price and 5 minute install?

If you like paying the big bucks, don't google, "MSTRB red 360 degree". $40 for an anticollision light will really upset you.

Xkuzme1 08-07-2018 12:26 PM

I bought the strobing nav lights. Turn them one once, they light up. Recycle the switch and the strobe colors.

I love them. They work really well. Bright, low draw, increase visibility.

All my exterior lights ate now LED. Love them.

Tinker

rvsxer 08-07-2018 01:26 PM

I talked to the Pilotlights people at Oshkosh. Their lights are meant to be used with the stock Whelen red and green lenses. The color is then correct. For those of us that have the Whelen A600 (Nav-Strobe-Tail) on each wingtip, they are working on a tail light lamp to fit those.

Tankerpilot75 08-07-2018 02:41 PM

Ordered
 
I called the people at Pilotlights.net and talked to them about their LED replacement bulbs. They recommended using their colored LED lights under the Whelen colored lens covers. Said the brightness increase would be ?dramatic.? It?s worth a chance and the price was $39 plus shipping.

Will give a pirep once received and installed.

RV10Pilot 08-07-2018 03:13 PM

Spruce sells one of the whelen replacement bulbs for $49.75. I wonder if I can swap my my never used overpriced bulbs for LED replacements.

Tankerpilot75 08-07-2018 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV10Pilot (Post 1279081)
Spruce sells one of the whelen replacement bulbs for $49.75. I wonder if I can swap my my never used overpriced bulbs for LED replacements.

The bulbs I purchased from Pilotlights.net clearly state theirs are for ?experimental use only.? However they are supposed to exceed the brightness of the Whelen bulbs and have a significantly longer service life (50,000 hours) with less amperage draw. Whelen clearly does not recommend these bulbs because their not STC?d and takes a STC?d system like theirs into the experimental arena.

A lot of experimental items are improvements over certified systems so I?m going to give these bulbs a try. As I said earlier, a pirep update will be provided after I install them and have used them a bit.


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