Runway lights for private airports

[RV8RIVETER]

Howdy Gil

We just replaced our runway lights at 1T7. I found these, link below, but made by Lithonia for $19 each. Well built, fully sealed, standard bulb socket. Mounted to 1/2 pvc to make them breakaway. We have 12 approach/eor lights that I designed an led PCB socket, and built to put in these fixtures. $300 for all parts to build led sockets. The LEDs pull 5 mW and are easily visible from 2 miles. Happy to answer any questions.

https://www.amazon.com/EATON-Lightin...43361437&psc=1

[az_gila]

Originally Posted by Christer

I have used Striplin Runway Lights on a private strip. Not fancy but they do the job at reasonable cost.

Thanks... I seemed to have missed this company in my on-line searches.

Just spoke to them and they seem to have a nice product with glass globes and standard sockets big enough to take LED bulbs.

I'll get a sample to try out and we can have a "light off" test - or should that be "light on" test...

Our problem is probably going to the the 18 year old wiring and connections in plastic conduit.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by rv7charlie

Jets? Why are we having this discussion? Just have the jet owners take the money out of their petty cash & pay to have it done.

Exactly. Jet-class airports buy these:

https://carmanahairports.com/

[az_gila]

Originally Posted by Snowflake

Exactly. Jet-class airports buy these:

https://carmanahairports.com/

With a 44' x 4000' runway with a 1.2% slope and no IFR approaches "Jet-class" would probably not apply.

[gmcjetpilot]

Well the drug runners have a few cars drive to ends of runway and turn on the high beams.... (from what I see in the movies...)

This is not a recommendation but curiosity. I have a bunch of solar powered LED lights linning my drive (about 20 of them). They have been working for 2 years. Had to take them apart and clean corroded switch contacts (actually bypassed switch). They are cheap and work. Have no idea how ideal that would be for runways... They are white, medium brightness and light is focused light towards ground, They are cheap. I bought boxes of 10 or 12 for $15.00 on sale from HF. You can litter the edge of the runway for a few hundred bucks. If you have full sunlight during the day they last about +6 hours. Overcast about 4 hours run time. Of course they come on automatically at darkness....

I am very particular about night approaches and runway lighting... Unless I know the runway, terrain and/or there is moon light and/or PAPI or VASI, with legit standard runway/taxi lighting, not landing there. Private strip, never been there, non standard lighting, no approach aid... nope....

[Timberwolf]

Option 3- purchase NVG?s and lights aren?t required. They?re a game changer.

[az_gila]

Originally Posted by gmcjetpilot

Well the drug runners have a few cars drive to ends of runway and turn on the high beams.... (from what I see in the movies...)

This is not a recommendation but curiosity. I have a bunch of solar powered LED lights linning my drive (about 20 of them). They have been working for 2 years. Had to take them apart and clean corroded switch contacts (actually bypassed switch). They are cheap and work. Have no idea how ideal that would be for runways... They are white, medium brightness and light is focused light towards ground, They are cheap. I bought boxes of 10 or 12 for $15.00 on sale from HF. You can litter the edge of the runway for a few hundred bucks. If you have full sunlight during the day they last about +6 hours. Overcast about 4 hours run time. Of course they come on automatically at darkness....

I am very particular about night approaches and runway lighting... Unless I know the runway, terrain and/or there is moon light and/or PAPI or VASI, with legit standard runway/taxi lighting, not landing there. Private strip, never been there, non standard lighting, no approach aid... nope....

When I flew gliders out in the Mojave desert several folks had maps marked out with locations of straight roads with clear shoulders. A lot had landing tires marks on them...



We are using as back-ups the solar powered small lights that look like normal street centerline reflective 'bumps' and are glued down.

They seem to work well when new, but lose brightness fairly quickly and then fail completely in 1 - 2 years. I'm sure the AZ summer heat on a black runway surface doesn't help longevity.

We do have a VASI for approach on the preferred (uphill) night runway.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by gmcjetpilot

If you have full sunlight during the day they last about +6 hours. Overcast about 4 hours run time. Of course they come on automatically at darkness....

That's basically why the Home Depot-grade lights aren't suitable... You have to limit night ops to 4 or less hours from sunset, because you don't know what the day's light profile looked like, or what the age of the batteries/LEDs/etc. are in the lights.

[RV8RIVETER]

We looked into the solar bump lights as well, even got a sample of a couple designed and sold for airports. If you don't have power or want to use as taxi lights they are a good option. They do not work well for runway lighting as they cannot be seen well at all unless you are on the glide path and even then, they cannot come close to a 40 watt equivelant bulb and fixture. They also have a 10% failure rate from what we could gather and the batteries are only rated for 5 years, so plan on replacing them all again in about that time frame.

We already had the wire run for 120vac and were just replacing lights, so replacement fixtures were our best choice. Added plus was same fixture for eor as runway light. The prototype red/green led bulb I made ran perfect for 6 years, until I just replaced it with the final version.

[RogerG]

Originally Posted by az_gila

A question for private airparks/runway owners.

What runways lights do you use?

In researching I can only find two options -

1. Windtek - https://www.bestwindsocks.com/produc...e-runway-light

2. AC Spruce and Wag Aero - https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catal...unway-lamp.php

We have the second one, but after 16+ years the wiring is getting problematic and attempts have been made to overcome voltage drops with LED lamps. Unfortunately LED bulbs do not really fit the sockets in either design. Re-wiring is being looked at but the cost of 8,000 ft of cable is up there.

Does anyone have any innovative solutions that have worked out in practice?

Any special maintenance issues involved?

In our case we have about 56 yellow cone light heads.

Gill,

We have the Wag Aero fixtures on TA67 3000? grass. 2 years ago we traded out the 15W E17 incandescent bulbs with LED Microwave bulbs 6000K which are equivalent to 35W Halogen. The concensous on the field is way better, brighter, whiter light, with less energy consumption, and less voltage drop due to lower wattage. Only complaint is the LED?s are more prone to failure with lightining strikes than the incandescent.

The LED?s we used are 4W 360 Lumens 6000K, E17 base, Silicone coated. You can find them here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HPHEM72...v_ov_lig_dp_it