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LED landing and taxi lights

Doug94

Well Known Member
I've entered the domain of repeat offenders and am building my second RV and am considering alternative components. I've seen the aero led and Whalen products out there for boo coo (technical term) dollars. I've also looked at almost identical lights (output, voltage,etc.) from the automotive arena for a small fraction of the cost of aeronautical components. Has anyone tried these nd have some actual experience or knowledge that they can share? Thanks, I'd love to save the money and put it towards more parts😊
 
My aftermarket auto LEDs are noisy!

I replaced my H4 incandescents with H4 Cree LEDs ------ work OK as landing/taxi lights, but the RF created pretty well wipes out my comm radio. I will eventually bite the bullet and install some "real" aircraft-compatible lights.
 
LED lights

FWIW: Attached is a video of one of our Friday Gaggle flights. @ 2:20 in I am #4 nearest camera & @ 3:28 in I am #4 in the slot.
I am running Rigid Industries D2 Dually Driving lights in Duckworth enclosures. These lights emit no RF and have no bad traits. I have run these every flight for over 2 years. They should speak for themselves.
http://youtu.be/0TL_Ymta1Fw
 
I have been using Trustfire flash light (11000 LM) and it is working out great for me. If you do a search for it, you will see the discussion on that.
 
I too am interested in hearing any feedback from use of LED automotive strobes. StrobesNMore has an LED strobe that is a retrofit for a traditional strobe that uses a 1 inch hole. see: http://www.strobesnmore.com/Nova-P600-Popin-Hide-A-LED.html

The new surface mounts are also impressive. See: http://www.strobesnmore.com/Strobes-N-More-Surface-Star-LED-Lights.html

I'm running into a few issues with my traditional strobe pack and the above items have peaked my interests.

What are the pros/cons for considering the above? Anyone have direct experience with either of the products?
 
Taxi vs Landing

Great thread!
I'm curious about controlling the brightness in the taxi mode versus the landing mode. Maybe I missed it, but I wouldn't want to be blinding everyone on the airdrome because I'm using my landing light as a taxi light. Is limiting the current to the light, in the taxi mode, a possibility?
 
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Question about the Dually's

FWIW: Attached is a video of one of our Friday Gaggle flights. @ 2:20 in I am #4 nearest camera & @ 3:28 in I am #4 in the slot.
I am running Rigid Industries D2 Dually Driving lights in Duckworth enclosures. These lights emit no RF and have no bad traits. I have run these every flight for over 2 years. They should speak for themselves.
http://youtu.be/0TL_Ymta1Fw

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on the Dually's. They look super bright in the video!

Did you go with the spot or flood beam? I was thinking of using the flood model for a taxi light and the spot for a landing light.

Also did you use the flush mount version or standard?

Thanks
 
Wig Wag (MaxPulse) Whelens on the Swift. Click on the image. The video was shot in bright sunshine.

 
FWIW: Attached is a video of one of our Friday Gaggle flights. @ 2:20 in I am #4 nearest camera & @ 3:28 in I am #4 in the slot.
I am running Rigid Industries D2 Dually Driving lights in Duckworth enclosures. These lights emit no RF and have no bad traits. I have run these every flight for over 2 years. They should speak for themselves.
http://youtu.be/0TL_Ymta1Fw

Can we get some more info on what you did please? Did you keep the lights in their housing, or just use the face plate? How much did it weigh per light in the configuration you used?

Thanks
 
Rigid lights

Sorry for the delayed response. The lights are Rigid D2 Dually driving lights. They are the narrowest beam they offer and work great for recognition or taxi. If you go into unlit fields in pitch blackness you might want more of a pattern that can only come from a GE 4509 (100 watt). My setup works great for anything I have done and are quiet and reliable. I used the Duckworth setup with blank back plates, I mounted the back plates horizontally in stead of vertical then hung the lights. This gave me great adjustability and no vibration. Everyone comments on how visable my lights are, the only one in my flight that is close is "lead" and he has 4 lights lit!!
 
Rigids

The lights were installed the way they came from Rigid. I mounted them this way for max cooling, they have GREAT heat sinks (necessary in a wing with no air flow) with the heat sinks they are a bit heavy 1.25 lbs. per light. It is amazing how much heat lights this bright will produce, can't argue with physics! If you want bullet proof reliability these are your lights, worth it for me. Gene
 
Rigid R-Plus Par36

I got the Rigid Hybrid R-Plus PAR 36 Spot light available at Spruce. This fit the bill for price and availability in Canada. The Baja lights were going to be difficult to obtain and the other suspects were going to be more expensive. It also fit my existing PAR 36 setup perfectly. I can't say how it compares to anything other than my previous hid light and it is far brighter with zero noise. I am very happy with it.
 
I installed a Rigid industries PAR36 in a Duckworth enclosure a couple years ago before obtaining my night rating in my 7A. It is very bright, silent in my headset, and seems just as bright and wide as the Whelen LED landing light in a certified plane that I also fly. Both lights make it easy to practice landing with our runway lights turned off. I prefer the Rigid light due to lower cost, and comparable performance
Jay
 
I got the Rigid Hybrid R-Plus PAR 36 Spot light available at Spruce. This fit the bill for price and availability in Canada. The Baja lights were going to be difficult to obtain and the other suspects were going to be more expensive. It also fit my existing PAR 36 setup perfectly. I can't say how it compares to anything other than my previous hid light and it is far brighter with zero noise. I am very happy with it.

Glad to hear you're having good success with the R-Plus light, Sean. I bit the bullet and purchased the Baja lights. No troubles in terms of difficulty to obtain. You live close enough to the border that having them (or other items, for that matter) shipped to a US postal address just across the border would be easy and economical.

At 4300 lumens per light, the Baja Squadrons are incredible. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to run their 9000 lumen product, available in the same package.
 
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