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TrustFire Flashlight Landing Lights

donaziza

donaziza

Well Known Member
These TrustFire 11000 Lumen flashlights have been put in, I guess, by several guys as landing lights on their RV's. They're really bright. (Who woulda thunk it---a flashlight:D). Anyway, they have 9 LED's. 3 of my LED's have stopped working, and its not even installed on the plane yet, but rather sitting on my desk.

The only guy I know who has installed them is Bavafa, (Mehrdad) in Sacramento, and his are fine. Is there anyone else who has installed them and had this problem? I've been to Batteries Plus, and apparently, they can't be fixed, or rather, its cheaper to buy a new one.

Any help would be very welcomed.
 
I have been running these in the Rocket night and day for about 50 hours now with no issues. I run them in the "strobe" mode almost exclusively, and even in the daylight, people can see me coming for miles.
 
How Installed & Switched?

Michael -

Could you 'splain how the units are installed, powered & switched?

Thx

David
 
I put one in the wingtip on my rv9a. Flew it for a half hour and it would only light the dim setting. After a couple of tries it quit completely.
 
Just like Michael, mine are going strong and have been using them on every flight during take off and landing, as well as when I see planes around and suspect they don't have me in sight.

For landings at night, these have been the best and brightest that I have had and thus far no issues.
 
greghughespdx said:
I'd be interested in seeing some pics and some detail about installation and wiring used.
Click to expand...

I believe I have posted pictures and some info about my installation, I still have some on my iphone that I can e-mail or text if interested. Wiring is pretty much standard, first I used my existing wiring that powered my xenon landing lights. I was having a bit of RF noise with those but not as much as with the xenon. I end up running a new shielded wire in place of the old wire and now have virtually NO noise or any issues with these lights. They are super bright, have five modes and been working great thus far.
 
HFS said:
Michael -

Could you 'splain how the units are installed, powered & switched?

Thx

David
Click to expand...

In a nutshell, the flashlight head is in two pieces threaded together between cooling fins. There is aproximately a .050 gap between the fins of the "reflector half" and the "electronics half". I just made a mount flange out of .050 aluminum that is just trapped between the two halves when it is screwed together. This mount flange just happens to have the same outside diameter of my previous GE PAR bulb mount, so that's how it is mounted.

To wire it up, I cut down the battery tube and shoved a wood dowel down the middle. Then center drilled it for a long screw which made contact with the "battery spring" on the inside, and secured a ring terminal on the outside for the ship's positive lead. For the negative side, just drill and tap the battery tube and secure another ring terminal.

Switching is just an on/off toggle. If you cycle the switch within a second, it changes modes, otherwise retains a memory of whatever the last mode was. Switching on the fly is easy, but 99% of the time it's on "strobe".

These are inexpensive imports, so quality is going to be spotty, but I'd imagine that infant mortality is going to be the primary failure mode. I run them from the minute I take the runway to the minute I shut down and have not seen a failure in 50+ hours, but I have a spare, just in case. At $49 bucks, why not?
 
I've given up on even installing TrustFire. After about 30 seconds of being on, the light starts to pulsate, and then very quickly gets dim. Tried calling TrustFire. They never answer their phone. Tried emailing them (on their own site). They never answer. Worthless company as far as I'm concerned.
 
The newer versions of these lights will not take more than 11 volts. Regulate the power to the light and all will be good. I learned this the hard way.
 
Slowpoke said:
I bought a adjustable regulator from Amazon for $13. It is working great.
Click to expand...

Thanks again for that info Adam. I just checked Amazon and they have quite an assortment. Can you tell me what you used? I don't want to reinvent the wheel and possibly blow a light out. Thanks! Dave
 
I had Adam order me another spare when he ordered his lights and they are indeed different. Externally they look the same, but the ones I'm having great luck with have a spring loaded brass button battery contact at the light head, while these "new" units have a coiled spring. There may be dozens of subcontractors building lights for Trustfire, but I know of these two. It looks like the "brass button" version may have a voltage regulator built in, while the other does not. I do know that in addition to the 50 hours I've already run them, I did another 5+30 from Mojave to Ft.Worth at 14.2 volts today and they are still going strong.
 
David, this is the unit I used, sorry but I have not learned how to get an image on a post yet..

DROK® 12A/100W 4.5-30V to 0.8-30V DC Buck Volt Converter Step Down 12V Car Power Supply Voltage Regulator
by DROK
 
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