Help: strobe quit working

I promise not to clean my tail lens again!

My tail navigation/strobe light lens was extremely dirty so I decided to pull the bottom rudder flairing where the tail position light/strobe light attaches. Getting the two screws with locking nuts out was tough but I got it done. Cleaned the lens and reinstalled everything. Had to replace one ground connection for the position light but didn?t have to do anything to the strobe light connection. Powered everything up and the strobes didn?t work! Not only the tail light strobe failed to work but the wing tip strobes also quit working!

I don?t understand what happened. Why would the wing tip strobes also quit working. I didn?t even get close to them. Does anyone have any idea what?s happened here?

If it?s the classic Whalen system there?s only one power supply for all three strobes. Sounds like the high voltage cable has a short.

Strobes

I have a Whelan system available. Rudder strobe quit so replaced all with LEDs. All else works but strobe bulb inop. Have all connectors etc. Anyone have an idea what it is worth?

My strobes quit too but it turned out to be the panel switch! If I flipped it fairly firmly they worked, but if I just pushed the rocker gently then no flash.

~Marc

The three in one Whelen needs 14 volts to work properly. I went through a lot of trouble shooting to find out. 12v gave me intermittent firing.

There was a full operation system here FS, $100 a week ago.

mr.sun said:

I have a Whelan system available. Rudder strobe quit so replaced all with LEDs. All else works but strobe bulb inop. Have all connectors etc. Anyone have an idea what it is worth?

Click to expand...

What LED system did you use to replace your Whelen system with? Was it hard or easy to convert to LED? Cost?

Flyleds

Hi Jim.
mr.sun replaced his strobes with a Flyleds kit, and did a great job of color matching the boards to his wings. (Thanks Greg!)


Please have a look through our website!

Try unplugging just the tail strobe from the power-pak (my power-pak has a connector for each strobe - hoping yours is like mine). The wing strobes should start working again. If wings strobes do, then you can figure out if it is a wiring issue or lamp issue at the tail.

Lots of guys used Belden industrial shielded cable for the strobe wiring and the insulation is not rated for the strobe voltage - so sometimes it fails (esp. where the insulation has been compromised (nicked, exposed to the elements, etc)).

My tail strobe/light unit failed and I replaced it with an LED version from Flyleds - very happy with it. I left the wing strobes alone, as they are still working.