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Anyone Add a Second Landing Light?

cactusman

cactusman

Well Known Member
Working on my wings and I was just wondering if anyone added a second landing light for the wigwag function in the other wing.

Am thinking about running extra wires for a future mod and wondering if there is any issues with the wiring?

Spacing for wiring?

Voltage/draw issues?

Issues with stall warning vs landing light, etc?

Maybe the answer yea or nay will present itself as I progress.
 
A decision was made to not market a second (right side) Skyview screen based on available surplus of the alternator output. I imagine the power requirements of a a second landing light would be a similar concern.
 
rvbuilder2002 said:
A decision was made to not market a second (right side) Skyview screen based on available surplus of the alternator output. I imagine the power requirements of a a second landing light would be a similar concern.
Click to expand...

Interesting...any idea what the surplus amps are?

I see the sky view consumption is 3.5 amps (plus more for batt backup), but the AeroSun is 2.5 amps max.....and I can power it with a 9V battery.

If the wigwag function is used - only one light at a time would be lighted also in theory.
 
I have placed a second light. You will be surprised how much extra wiring is needed. I did it for a few reasons. The main one was I think the plane looks strange with one light. Second reason was to take advantage of the wing wag.

At this stage in the wing wag mode I feel it wont use any extra power. It might be a problem if you wanted to run with both lights on at the same time. I have not used it yet to provide you with any more information. My sky view was powered up yesterday for the first time. I didn't have the wings on to test the lights. I may be able to give you some more information when the LAME does that check.

Cheers
Julian 120316
 
Erik, the thread concerns the RV-12 that uses AeroLed lights as 'standard' - but the lighting kit includes just one AeroSun landing light.

You are correct in that they are awesome! :)
 
If yours is a tail dragger, it's pretty much needed to have two lights. One aimed for landing configuration, (to light up the runway on approach), & the second would be aimed lower for effective Taxiing.
If you are an 'A' model, you could get away with one landing light, aim it about 150ft down the taxiway for taxiing & it is about the right angle for seeing the runway on approach.
Adding the second light does look better, offers better lighting & recognition, does give the option of WigWag for more safety, & wire really doesn't weigh that much...
As for the surplus amperage item mentioned above, he is talking about totalling up all the power requirements of all your onboard equipment (radios, efiss, boost pumps, lights, pitot, etc) & seeing if your alternator can keep up with some surplus safety factor.
 
I installed the left wing landing light but I am just using the pulse and landing. My Viking engine has a forty amp alt. so not worried about amps. Yesterday was the first day I flew after a long grounding with the landing gear SB. The one problem I notices was the pulse noise in my head sets. I'll call Vans tomorrow to see how to remove.
Ron Russ RV12 Viking
 
150 hours on 2 landing light RV-12

I installed a left wing landing light after my 5 hours were up on my ELSA RV-12. I have the Dynon 180. Since I knew this would be added, I ran a pull-string thru the left wing grommets during the wing build.

I guess Vans saved 1/2 an ounce total by using small grommets but it was a chore getting the wire in there with the nav, strobe and stall vane wires. Fuel lube and creative cussing got the job done. Took this opportunity to install conventional electrical connectors in place of the Mickey Mouse set-up at the wing roots.

My plane has neither Skyview nor autopilot. No electrical problems noted. I use the wig-wag for TO and landing only. No night flight so I can't speak to extended use current draw. Expensive add-on but visibility in the pattern is priceless.

Jim
RV-12 #264
flying 154 hours
 
I expect to add one also like my friends Jim and Ron have done. Just seems to be a better visibility factor for the buck, and that is the only reasons us old pilots flying on our drivers license can use it for, since we cannot fly at night (of course we cannot help it if we misjudge our sunset time once in a while)
 
N223JH said:
I installed a left wing landing light after my 5 hours were up on my ELSA RV-12. I have the Dynon 180. Since I knew this would be added, I ran a pull-string thru the left wing grommets during the wing build.

I guess Vans saved 1/2 an ounce total by using small grommets but it was a chore getting the wire in there with the nav, strobe and stall vane wires. Fuel lube and creative cussing got the job done. Took this opportunity to install conventional electrical connectors in place of the Mickey Mouse set-up at the wing roots.

My plane has neither Skyview nor autopilot. No electrical problems noted. I use the wig-wag for TO and landing only. No night flight so I can't speak to extended use current draw. Expensive add-on but visibility in the pattern is priceless.

Jim
RV-12 #264
flying 154 hours
Click to expand...
Good to know. I assume you just ordered the same parts out of the sky view kit for the left wing?

As an aside....my wing kit in dec came with the new 16 bulb aeroled landing light...very impressive and bright when tested with a simple 9v bat. Expensive option but worth it IMHO.
 
Actually, I just called Vans and asked for an RV-12 landing light kit for my left wing. Just wire it into the right wing LL wire.

Jim
 
Hi Don,

I can email you my wiring diagram I made up. I guess it would make sense that I actually put my wings on and make sure it works first. I am the last person you would want to talk to about electical things.

As Jim said the wires run through the aircraft from the left to the right wing. I think Vans may have upgrade their single light to include the wing wag wire so that they can have a single flashing light. You then need to run master and slave wires. As someone said it is real tight in those grommets.

I also wanted to install an AOA tube. You will have to be creative if you do that as it won't be going in with the wires. I am going to look at sliding it down the space in the leading edge.

Cheers

Julian 120316
 
When I recently added my left landing light I called Rian at Vans and he told me to use the 25 pin Optional, Pin 23 for Landing Light & Pin 21 for Wag. These pins are open, just add pin to new wires and push in. The plex. lense is now made of a heavier material and is very brittle. I used my heat gun, not hair dryer, and heated leading edge until it compressed enough to get it in, then I gently heated while I screw in place. Not everyone will agree with this method but when you break two lenses you change your method.

Ron Russ RV12 Viking
 
I'm a long way from lights in my build but I seem to recall that you add a cooling shroud to the regulator for the light kit. I would assume all on this thread are doing a capacity calc on the system if adding additional components.

Is anyone concerned about overworking the reg?
 
Not just optional currently

waterboy2110 said:
I'm a long way from lights in my build but I seem to recall that you add a cooling shroud to the regulator for the light kit. I would assume all on this thread are doing a capacity calc on the system if adding additional components.

Is anyone concerned about overworking the reg?
Click to expand...

I believe the cooling shroud and tubing are now part of the standard kit with the Skyview panel. I got one shroud with my pre-Skyview-era lighting kit, and one with my Skyview avionics package. I believe the additional cooling is basically a reliability issue--it may be within limits without the shroud, but the additional cooling probably works wonders for long-term reliability. A lot of my beliefs/faith-promoting rumors in this posting. :)
 
RV-12 second landing light wiring

John Mc - perfect timing for your question ? let me first start by saying my build is going to be E-AB and not E-LSA. I?m in the process of adding a landing light to the left wing. My left wing skeleton is completed but the wing is not skinned yet. To help alleviate the aforementioned audio noise issues, I?m running 20 gauge three conductor shielded wire to both the landing and nav/strobe lights (AreoLEDs recommends shielded wire for the nav/strobe but they had a 50? minimum so decided to use it on the landing lights as well).

The left wing?s electrical connector will accommodate your needs, but will be maxed out. The ground, stall warning, and nav/strobe wiring consumes 5 of the 8 contacts leaving three available?and that is what you will need for the landing light power, wig wag power, and the master to slave (think wig wag sync) wire.

I also will be running the Tygon tubing for the AOA feature. In my case, this requires kicking up to larger wire grommets for the eight ribs the Tygon will pass through. I will be using Heyco SB-437-5 grommets (available from Mouser) which have a wire hole of .312" in the eight ribs the Tygon tubing will be running along with the two shielded wires. It requires going up to the next size larger hole on a step drill to 7/16?. For the rest of the ribs, the grommets supplied by Vans could work but it is a VERY tight fit for the shielded wires (and forget about pulling in another wire) so I will likely use Heyco SB-437-5 grommets up to the landing light and Heyco SB-437-4 grommets, which have a hole size of .270, for the remaining grommets ? the mounting hole size for both grommets is the same ... 7/16?.

I do not plan on doing any night flying, so will only use the left landing light in the wig wag mode. That said, I will run the wire to the left light?s steady on power (red wire) through the wing and should the output of the Rotax electrical get increased in the future, I can tie the wire down should I decide to night fly and want the light. I suppose a switch could be added to only power up the additional landing light on short final to keep from over taxing the system for a long period of time.

I called AeroLEDs and verified that the total current consumption of both lights in the wig wag mode is the same as one light steady on ... and it is according to them. For wig wag operation all that needs to be done is wire from the right light?s master out (green wire) to the left light?s slave input (blue wire) and have power applied to both light's wig wag power (yellow wires). Note: For wig wag operation, power is NOT needed on the steady on (red) wire and if power is applied to the wig wag (yellow) wires it overrides the steady on power and places the light in a pulse or wig wag mode depending on a one or two light instillation.

Hope this helps,

John
Dues paid
www.DOGAviation.com
 
Last edited:
That helps a lot, John. Thanks for posting. I too, am going E-AB and even though I will have plenty of extra available voltage output, I'll only use my second light in a wig-wag configuration. I'm not real interested in night flight- especially here in the highly congested DFW metroplex. Your wiring notes answered a lot of my questions. Thanks.
 
rvbuilder2002 said:
A decision was made to not market a second (right side) Skyview screen based on available surplus of the alternator output. I imagine the power requirements of a a second landing light would be a similar concern.
Click to expand...

Okay, so the amps budget to add a second light is a valid concern based on the size of the alternator. What if you only wanted it for the wig-wag in the landing pattern? The increase in amps should be both temporary and negligible. I'd be interested in knowing how to wire my plane up to add the second light after the Phase 1 flyoff in a Vans-approved manner before the wing skins go on. Thanks.
 
kevinl4000 said:
Okay, so the amps budget to add a second light is a valid concern based on the size of the alternator. What if you only wanted it for the wig-wag in the landing pattern? The increase in amps should be both temporary and negligible. I'd be interested in knowing how to wire my plane up to add the second light after the Phase 1 flyoff in a Vans-approved manner before the wing skins go on. Thanks.
Click to expand...

See John's post, #19 above. AERO LED answered the question for us.
 
I powered both my landing lights up today and both lights appeared to work okay and the wing wag sure look good swapping from wing to wing. As has been discussed I would not use them both on together. I considered changing the wiring slightly so you could not accidentally run the two together. I will think about doing that later.

Julian 120316
 
Two lights just look cool! :cool:





Seriously, I run two HID landing lights, nav lights, strobes, smoke pump and fuel pump all at once with a 40 amp alternator.
 
John-G said:
John Mc - perfect timing for your question ? let me first start by saying my build is going to be E-AB and not E-LSA. I?m in the process of adding a landing light to the left wing. My left wing skeleton is completed but the wing is not skinned yet. To help alleviate the aforementioned audio noise issues, I?m running 20 gauge three conductor shielded wire to both the landing and nav/strobe lights (AreoLEDs recommends shielded wire for the nav/strobe but they had a 50? minimum so decided to use it on the landing lights as well).

The left wing?s electrical connector will accommodate your needs, but will be maxed out. The ground, stall warning, and nav/strobe wiring consumes 5 of the 8 contacts leaving three available?and that is what you will need for the landing light power, wig wag power, and the master to slave (think wig wag sync) wire.

I also will be running the Tygon tubing for the AOA feature. In my case, this requires kicking up to larger wire grommets for the eight ribs the Tygon will pass through. I will be using Heyco SB-437-5 grommets (available from Mouser) which have a wire hole of .312" in the eight ribs the Tygon tubing will be running along with the two shielded wires. It requires going up to the next size larger hole on a step drill to 7/16?. For the rest of the ribs, the grommets supplied by Vans could work but it is a VERY tight fit for the shielded wires (and forget about pulling in another wire) so I will likely use Heyco SB-437-5 grommets up to the landing light and Heyco SB-437-4 grommets, which have a hole size of .270, for the remaining grommets ? the mounting hole size for both grommets is the same ... 7/16?.

I do not plan on doing any night flying, so will only use the left landing light in the wig wag mode. That said, I will run the wire to the left light?s steady on power (red wire) through the wing and should the output of the Rotax electrical get increased in the future, I can tie the wire down should I decide to night fly and want the light. I suppose a switch could be added to only power up the additional landing light on short final to keep from over taxing the system for a long period of time.

I called AeroLEDs and verified that the total current consumption of both lights in the wig wag mode is the same as one light steady on ... and it is according to them. For wig wag operation all that needs to be done is wire from the right light?s master out (green wire) to the left light?s slave input (blue wire) and have power applied to both light's wig wag power (yellow wires). Note: For wig wag operation, power is NOT needed on the steady on (red) wire and if power is applied to the wig wag (yellow) wires it overrides the steady on power and places the light in a pulse or wig wag mode depending on a one or two light instillation.

Hope this helps,

John
Dues paid
www.DOGAviation.com
Click to expand...

Thanks John.

I am building stock E-LSA, just thinking about the future. It does appear that my lighting kit has a wire for pulse landing light going to the connector (Dec 12 kit), so I might just see if I can string wires thru the existing grommets without doing any mods to pre-wire for a possible future addition of a light post-cert, pre-paint.

It sounds like you and others are using wiring that is better than supplied in the lighting kit? Do you have a recommendation or source for that wiring?

Has anyone else doing a recent build had issues of noise using the stock wiring Van's supplies in the kit?
 
John-
I ordered my shielded cable from AeroLESs ? they carry 3 conductor 20 gauge shielded cable (in 50? minimums) for use with their lights, so will be using that for both the nav/strobe and landing lights inside the wings. However, the grommets supplied by Van?s will NOT support both cables being shielded. I switched up to Heyco SB-437-5 grommets (from Mouser) ? it requires kicking the hole size in the nose ribs up to the next size larger on the step drill to 7/16?. Now, there is also plenty of room for the mod using the Tygon tubing for the AOA indicator should you decide to go that route at a later date.

My plan is to run 18 gauge shielded wire from the instrument panel to the electrical connectors on the sides of the fuselage for the strobe circuit where the current will be the sum of both wing lighting units. May also do the same for the wig wag lighting ? have not heard if noise is generated in wig wag mode, but it can?t hurt.

John
Dues paid until summer
www.DOGAviation.com
 
John-G said:
John-
I ordered my shielded cable from AeroLESs … they carry 3 conductor 20 gauge shielded cable (in 50’ minimums) for use with their lights, so will be using that for both the nav/strobe and landing lights inside the wings. However, the grommets supplied by Van’s will NOT support both cables being shielded. I switched up to Heyco SB-437-5 grommets (from Mouser) … it requires kicking the hole size in the nose ribs up to the next size larger on the step drill to 7/16”. Now, there is also plenty of room for the mod using the Tygon tubing for the AOA indicator should you decide to go that route at a later date.

My plan is to run 18 gauge shielded wire from the instrument panel to the electrical connectors on the sides of the fuselage for the strobe circuit where the current will be the sum of both wing lighting units. May also do the same for the wig wag lighting … have not heard if noise is generated in wig wag mode, but it can’t hurt.

John
Dues paid until summer
www.DOGAviation.com
Click to expand...

I called Van's and AeroLed and really didn't get an answer. I think (and they thought) using the shielded wire on a E-LSA build would be fine, but enlarging the holes and using bigger grommets in my case would likely be pushing the limits of a DAR's patience imho. E-AB like yours of course you can do what you want of course.

I do see that my Dec 12 lighting kit includes a capacitor for noise reduction and AEROLED recommended using common grounds wherever possible.

I wish Van's had followed AeroLeds recommendations for shielded wiring at least on the nav/strobe lights but I want to follow their plans. Thanks for the info though and best of luck with your build.
 
cactuspilot said:
I called Van's and AeroLed and really didn't get an answer. I think (and they thought) using the shielded wire on a E-LSA build would be fine, but enlarging the holes and using bigger grommets in my case would likely be pushing the limits of a DAR's patience imho. E-AB like yours of course you can do what you want of course.

I do see that my Dec 12 lighting kit includes a capacitor for noise reduction and AEROLED recommended using common grounds wherever possible.

I wish Van's had followed AeroLeds recommendations for shielded wiring at least on the nav/strobe lights but I want to follow their plans. Thanks for the info though and best of luck with your build.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify...
Van's has always used AeroLED's recommendations for the installation of their products, but as they have advanced the developmenty of their products, those recommmendations have changed over time.
It is my understanding that only recently they began recommending shielded wire be used when installing their units.
 
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