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Luxeon LED Source

T

tx_jayhawk

Well Known Member
All,

I have been googling to death recently, but I have not been able to find exactly what I need. I am looking for a source for encased, low-profile Luxeon LEDs. I'd like something that ideally could be mounted in a hole with only a DC power supply required (lense and LED together). I'd want it to have as wide of an angle viewing area as possible. I am thinking I have found a suitable source for the hockey-puck power supplies, but I still can't find exactly what I need lightwise. Most of the things I have found are LEDS only (not lense) and not conducive to mounting in a hole.

Any suggestions? The close thing I have found so far appears to be the Star/O.

Thanks,
Scott
7A Fuse
 
I used two luxeon led's per wingtip, to build recog-lights. I had no problem to find and order these led's in our country. Be sure to use a proper heat-sink to prolong the led's life and light output.

This is how they came in the mail;

cimg2191hq2.jpg


...and this is how they look in the wingtip;

cimg2190ed9.jpg
 
PH-SCP said:
I used two luxeon led's per wingtip, to build recog-lights. I had no problem to find and order these led's in our country. Be sure to use a proper heat-sink to prolong the led's life and light output.
Click to expand...
I've been thinking of the exact same thing for our CT and eventually for our -7/9. That should be very visible and draw very little power. What is the angle on the lenses? 10 deg? Are they LuxI or III?

LED Supply is a pretty reliable group and have lots of drivers in stock, should you want to use one.
 
eBay

I have bought from both LED Supply and Best Hong Kong. Both had fast shipping and I've had no problems with their products.

Don't forget to check eBay. I recently saw 30 Luexon III LED's that were a very reasonable price.
 
I have bought from LED Supply, Best Hong Kong, and Light of Victory on eBay. Compared to the two Hong Kong suppliers, LED Supply is way overpriced, so I would not recommend them anymore.

The first LEDs that I got from Best Hong Kong came fairly quickly, and measured closer to 18,000 mcd for 10,000 mcd LEDs, so that was a good purchase. I finally broke down and bought some luxeons from Best Hong Kong, and they took several weeks to arrive, but they did get here, and were as advertised.

I have made a couple of purchases from Lights of Victory, and the first was as advertised. The second was 130,000 mcd LEDs that measured closer to 65,000mcd, but I really was not that suprised, just disappointed. They are now showing 140 degree 20,000mcd LEDs, which might be just what you are looking for.

http://www.besthongkong.com/

http://stores.ebay.com/Light-of-Victory-Led-Store-lvehk

http://www.ledsupply.com/

Tracy.
 
the_other_dougreeves said:
I've been thinking of the exact same thing for our CT and eventually for our -7/9. That should be very visible and draw very little power. What is the angle on the lenses? 10 deg? Are they LuxI or III?

LED Supply is a pretty reliable group and have lots of drivers in stock, should you want to use one.
Click to expand...

Mine are Luxeon 1, with a 10 degree beam angle, they sell at ? 12,50 each in the Netherlands, that's about $ 16,00 your money....ordering 10-99 gives a 17% discount and ordering 100 or more, 30% discount. I just love their light output for the amount of current they draw, should work great for recog-lights.
 
the_other_dougreeves said:
I totally forgot to ask, but did you make the mounting piece yourself or was it provided?
Click to expand...

All I got were the two pairs of Luxeon Star LED's. Had to make the mounting plate, heat sink and connections myself. Not hard to do, just very time consuming. :) :)
 
Luxeon

Try www.digikey.com Do a search for luxeon led. These guys have a catalog 2 1/2" thick. I've ordered several things from them. Very good service. $25.00 min. order unless you want to pay $5.00 surcharge.
 
RyanM said:
This may be a dumb question, but what are recog-lights?


Ryan
Click to expand...
Lights that are bright enough to be seen, i.e., so that others can recognize your airplane, but are not unnecessarily bright enough to be a real landing light.
 
PH-SCP said:
Mine are Luxeon 1, with a 10 degree beam angle, they sell at ? 12,50 each in the Netherlands, that's about $ 16,00 your money....ordering 10-99 gives a 17% discount and ordering 100 or more, 30% discount. I just love their light output for the amount of current they draw, should work great for recog-lights.
Click to expand...

Please note that 10 degrees is not enough to be "legal" in the US per AC 20.74, which requires a 110-degree spread. Here are some installation ideas:

My airplane (5x 1W lambertian, 2 of them tipped back to get 110 degrees):

342647016_b47cb6fcf9.jpg


20060915_IMG_3676.JPG


Eclipse 500 (insanely bright -- lambertian and batwing used):

360177517_54efcbc0fe.jpg


As for where to get luxeons, the cheapest source I found is the company that the manufacturer recommends: Future Electronics. To find the parts, it's easiest to follow the links from lumileds.com . The Future Electronics site is truly awful, the worst I've used in at least 5 years -- but it's 10x cheaper than every other source I found.
 
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Paul Eastham said:
Please note that 10 degrees is not enough to be "legal" in the US per AC 20.74, which requires a 110-degree spread. Here are some installation ideas:
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I don't believe there is a beam angle requirement for landing lights, just for the nav lights.

could be wrong.

-mike
 
mlw450802 said:
I don't believe there is a beam angle requirement for landing lights, just for the nav lights.
Click to expand...

Sorry, thought we were talking position lights here. I am unclear on the usefulness of this other sort of light...
 
Paul Eastham said:
Sorry, thought we were talking position lights here. I am unclear on the usefulness of this other sort of light...
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Paul - sweet but simple setup for your nav lights. I am thinking of doing the nav lights with 2x Lux III lambertian powered by a single driver. Did you put any electrical isolation between the stars and the aluminum mounting plate?

Recognition lights are designed to help the aircraft be visible, but don't consume so much power that you can't use them for long periods of time. They are often used in wig-wag / pulselight systems. An example would be the lights in the wing root area of the 737 - SW has these on a wig-wag that (IIRC) it is SOP to use below 10k'. (IIRC, Boeing calls these "runway / turnoff" lights). Here is a page that shows the pattern of such lights.

Why not just use your landing light all the time? Well, it uses 100W, maybe more (more power, Scotty!), and you don't want the darn thing to burn out from over use when you turn it on some dark evening.

These lights are certainly not required and some will question whether they are needed on a RV. However, I fly under / around Class B a lot and the traffic can be very busy. Anything that I can do to make me more visible is good. The lights are simple, light, draw less than 2A (4 x Lux III), don't require a lot of install time and will never burn out.

A good alternative is to use a HID landing light(s), which uses less power and has a long life. Another is to make the landing light from LEDs, but that might require too many emitters and would require a lot of rethinking of the mounting.
 
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Just a few thoughts

It seems that most of the folks who post here concerning Vans stock landing light, are not too thrilled with the output. However the bulbs are cheap, and relatively easy to replace.

Seems to me that the stock Vans light in the tip would be good for wig-wag recognition lighting, and a set of HIDs in the leading edge for landing lights.

At least that is where I am headed with my lighting at this time.

Mike
 
An excellent idea!

Mike S said:
It seems that most of the folks who post here concerning Vans stock landing light, are not too thrilled with the output. However the bulbs are cheap, and relatively easy to replace.

Seems to me that the stock Vans light in the tip would be good for wig-wag recognition lighting, and a set of HIDs in the leading edge for landing lights.

At least that is where I am headed with my lighting at this time.

Mike
Click to expand...


Thanks, Mike. It didn't even occur to me that I could do both. Thanks for thinking outside my box!
 
Mike S said:
It seems that most of the folks who post here concerning Vans stock landing light, are not too thrilled with the output. However the bulbs are cheap, and relatively easy to replace.

Seems to me that the stock Vans light in the tip would be good for wig-wag recognition lighting, and a set of HIDs in the leading edge for landing lights.

At least that is where I am headed with my lighting at this time.

Mike
Click to expand...


Now you're cooking with gas! Great idea!

-Jeff
 
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