Lighting Bus

I am wiring my panel, is a lighting bus really a necessity, or even nice to have? I am planning a dual screen (or one if they come out with a bigger screen....come on Garmin!) G3X, with a GTR200, GPS400, and a Mini-B for back-up. My understanding is that I can adjust all displays at the individual unit. What say you guys that have gone before me.

I am also a little unsure on how to actually wire it, can someone shed some light?

Everything on my panel is manual or auto dimming except my 6 LED's. Oops, did not think about it. Nothing a strip of dark tinting and velcro coins did not solve for what few night flights we take. My two GRT HX's are not dim enough on setting "1" if on a really dark xc, so tinting worked there too.

Edit: I have 1- 36" Autozone white LED strip under glareshield, 2- 36" strips running down cabin top and 2- 18" strips over baggage area. Used these dimmers...had to darken the glareshield strip a little with black sharpie.

http://pilotlights.net/pwm-dimmer-12-vdc-high-power-7a-channel

Check Bob Nuckolls

Hey there,

Bob Nuckolls wrote an article some time back about the need for some sort of cockpit lighting is things go bad. The article was written long before the EFIS displays we now enjoy, so use your judgement. Personally, I have 2 analog gauges still, airspeed and altimeter. I'm going to install a strip of LEDs below the glare shield for ambient lighting and a spotlight on both pilot and pax side for map reading, etc. Both of these can easily be controlled with 1-2 rheostats. Check out either pilotlights.net or superbrightleds.com, along with all the usual sources (B & C specialty, SteinAir, Aircraft Spruce).

Good luck,

David

Don't know if it's necessary or nice, but my setup (from Stein) includes a two-channel dimmer - I'm building a -10 with G3X stuff. The dimmer is small and easily wired via a Dsub connector - daisy chaining all of the lighting bus pins to the unit, add a 3A CB (VPX) power wire and ground, and a rheostat. It ends up kind of like a single wire can bus without the terminations. I haven't gotten to the point of firing it up yet, so I can't comment on the utility, but it's a pretty easy thing to set up.

==dave==

All the fancy electronics will illuminate and take care of themselves but have you thought about how you will see and identify your electrical system switches at night? Even when they are off?

Jeremy,
I just started flying my dual panel G3X. I did not wire a dimmer to the lighting bus wires. I did nowever run all the lighting buss wires to a single point and then used a dual pole Nav. light switch so that the EFIS's saw power to the light bus when I turned on the nav lights. This way I can add a dimmer later very easily. The radio stack has photo cells for automatic dimmers but the GDU's do not.
I have been fine with my setup so far.
You will find that the rest of the panel still needs light. The buttons on the GDU's and the toggle switches below don't get light unless you add something.
I just recently added a strip of white LEDs under the glare shield on a dimmer and flew last night. Worked great.

LC40e

Most of the modern avionics is self dimming and works fine. I recommend something like the LC40E. For my new plane, I've got lit switches. The LC40 provides for dimming. Also have a green and white LED strips on the glare shield. The LC40 is the on/off/ dimming device. Also have baggage lighting, under the panel lighting and a couple of other lighting surprises on a batt buss.

Very easy to wire. Definitely put in some sort of alternative lighting circuit.