LED position/strobe light kits

[jpmfgman]

Recently I found a young company making LED position/strobe light kits but I lost the link and cant seem to find them now.

please reply with any known suppliers .

Thanks

[Fred.Stucklen]

Most auto parts stores, and even some Super Walmart's, have 1156 LED bulb replacements that meet the intensity requirements for aircraft. The problem with them is that you also need to put in an RFI filter in the power leads or your radios will be inop! The filter is a simple "PI" network of 100 uF caps with a .1 uF across them, and a Toroid with at least 10 turns through it.

Originally Posted by jpmfgman

Recently I found a young company making LED position/strobe light kits but I lost the link and cant seem to find them now.

please reply with any known suppliers .

Thanks

[Aiki_Aviator]

I purchased LEDS off an organisation in Oz

Flyleds.com

Paul is a good guy and always willing to help.

Regards,
Andrew,

[flightlogic]

flyleds.com In Australia... Great products

[Kyle Boatright]

Originally Posted by flightlogic

I know you said small company, but consider Whelen. They have been engineering lights for a long time. The products are robust. Their Microburst line of LED lights is not advertised much, but they impressed me. I purchased a set for the wingtips of my 9A at Oshkosh. They went right on in the same spot my strobes had been. Easy wiring and away I flew. The Microburst line comes in experimental only versions, with appropriate reduction in prices over certified.
I appreciate this approach, as it addresses the RV builder group well as well as others.

Per Whelen's documentation, the microburst line doesn't meet the requirements for night operation.

[jpmfgman]

Originally Posted by Aiki_Aviator

I purchased LEDS off an organisation in Oz

Flyleds.com

Paul is a good guy and always willing to help.

Regards,
Andrew,

Thanks Andrew flyleds is what I was looking for.

[flightlogic]

I know... I know... The debate goes back over five years. People are quite passionate about their lights. For the original poster, the topic search will give you links to comments like those below and lots of research... do your homework and then decide. It's your wallet.

>>>>>>Thanks to Jeff from WHELEN I have a set of their LED nav/strobe/position lights to test. I have seen all of the other manufacturer's products before at SNF and OSH but have not had an opportunity to examine them first hand outside the display booths at those shows.

I now have the WHELEN set to evaluate first hand on my plane. In the past two weeks I have wired them up on my RV9A project. Although they are not permanently mounted in the wingtips or the tail I do have them functional. Here are my thoughts.

I have a 1966 Cessna 172 sitting side by side with my RV project in the hangar. After wiring the lights up and placing them on the wings in relative proximity to where they will be when permanently installed, I then turned them on.

Here is the initial thoughts on first power up:

Thought #1
They are bright!

Thought #2
I really don't care if they are not TSO'd. You see, once I turned them on, I then walked 10 feet over to my GA 172 and turned on the nav lights and strobe lights and turned off the lights in my hangar. There is absolutely no comparison between the TSO spec meeting lights on my 172 and those on the RV. The LED's blow them out of the water in brightness! Especially the tail nav/strobe light.

Thought #3
I am sure there are other issues in addition to brightness that "those in the know" are concerned about, but the truth is, the way our wingtips are designed, and because of the general construction of these lights, there is little doubt in my mind they will outperform any existing incandescent lights currently used on GA aircraft.

[RV74ME]

Ok, this is a stupid question...

If the whelen microburst nav/strobes (and others) are not certified for night flight, then why would anyone purchase them? Given that nav lights are only required to be on at night, they are of no practical use in the daytime. Strobes, yes...

What am I missing here?

[N804RV]

Originally Posted by Kyle Boatright

Per Whelen's documentation, the microburst line doesn't meet the requirements for night operation.

Only because they don't meet the definition of an "approved" lighting system. Meaning, they are not PMA. Same with the FlyLED products.

Aren't there lots of experimental homebuilts flying with homemade nav/position lights and strobe lights? I think Whelen is just trying to prevent any liability issues with someone trying to install them on a certified aircraft.

[Aiki_Aviator]

Originally Posted by N804RV

Only because they don't meet the definition of an "approved" lighting system. Meaning, they are not PMA. Same with the FlyLED products.

Aren't there lots of experimental homebuilts flying with homemade nav/position lights and strobe lights? I think Whelen is just trying to prevent any liability issues with someone trying to install them on a certified aircraft.

FWIW, I believe that there is no requirement for "approved" lighting. The only requirement is that you have them.

My understanding is that FLYLEDS satisfies all of the technical requirements for lighting, in all conditions, in both angle and luminescence, and by a fair margin.

Isn't that what is required? Achieved legal requirements, achievement of being seen and with a product that satisfies at least the minimum technical requirements necessary to conduct flight.

What is really good is that they are also so much cheaper than the alternate "approved", last longer with better support and are designed for RV's.

I like em..... :-)