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Wingtip vs Leading Edge Lighting

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skelrad

Well Known Member
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Maybe my search skills are weak, but most threads I've found talking about leading edge vs wingtip lighting are a decade old and many of the decisions were driven by the lighting types available at the time (halogen mostly). Times have definitely changed, so I'm curious of the pros/cons people see to doing wingtip vs leading edge lighting with LEDs in the mix now.

It'd be great not to have to cut into the wing skin if the wingtip lights are good nowadays, but the geometry makes me assume even the best LED wingtip lights will have a dead spot in front of the aircraft. I'm not sure if that's bothersome or not.

I'm placing orders for the "extras" I need for the wings. I'll take any observations people want to throw at me.
 
I think leading edge lights give you flexibility without needing to cut metal the next time there is a lighting revolution. For instance, my RV-6 started its life with Halogen landing lights. Best technology around in 2000, but by 2010, we had HID's which were far brighter. So I upgraded. And now LED's are even brighter with a much smaller current draw. One day, I'll probably go in that direction. All of these lighting devices are/were different sizes and shapes, but they all fit into the original leading edge lighting bay.

With wingtip lights, light retrofits will probably involve modifying and maybe repainting the tips.
 
It really is a personal choice.

My first RV6 had leading edge landing lights L and R. It was 100% DIY including the Lexan window and bulkhead and reinforcement around the cut out. This was before Duck work had a kit.

MY RV4 had the original HOERNER style which Landing/Recognition light in wing tip. It was a round incandescent landing light. It worked fine. The NAV/Strobe was on the outside.

My Rv-7 has symmetrical tip which allows slightly smaller area to fit all of the above, but high powered LED landing landing light and NAV/Strobe fit. Rear strobe/nav required. It is harder to fit it all in the symmetrical wing tip.

Leading edge landing lights are fine. Before powerful LED you were stuck with basically incandescent or later Halogen. You could not easily fit the headlights of the day in the wing tip. t works and does not reduce strength of structure, because an RV will likely fail in other places then outboard wing leading edge, if subject to ultimate load forces.... You put an inner rib bulkhead and a doubler around the cutout.

At a developed airport with lots of lights landing and taxi lights are not a big deal. Land in small and unlighted airports on a moonless night you can't get enough light. Long ago in spam cans with just a nose bowl cowl light landing at night at small airports with no lights I have shut down and got out to LOOK. Lights on any small plane is limited. DO YOU EVEN NEED LIGHTS. You can fly DAY VFR all day long... literally and pun intended. You can always run wires for future and not install ANY LIGFHTS> Make the plane lighter.
 
I cut the leading edge on my first RV as the old school duck work lights were the only practical option ~20 years ago. I would never consider doing that again. The new owner of this plane has since replaced the weak sister halogen light wiht two single FlyLeds on each side.

On the RV-10 I replaced the stock wingtip LL with a single FlyLED (same form factor to easy swap out). On the RV-8 I put two in each wingtip, one for aimed for landing and one for taxi. On both planes I used the AeroLed NAV/Strobes (lower profile so they do not interfere with the landing lights).
https://flyleds.com/products/#!/Single-Spotlight/p/108852015/category=0

I’m happy with both installs.

On the new RV-10 I’ll go with “The Works” from FlyLED:
https://flyleds.com/products/#!/The-Works-Wingtip-Lighting-Kit/p/105662651/category=0

Carl
 
I just placed an order for my wings and deleted the factory tips and have put a deposit on Aveo Zip Tips. Yes it’s a premium for the tips, but I have been told they are a 1 for 1 drop in replacement. Plus with the winglets, they will add about 1-2 kt. They are all in one tip lights led. Someone who actually has them installed and using can speak further to any dead spots, etc. but I haven’t seen any bad reviews as to that
 
Carl Froehlich said:
I cut the leading edge on my first RV as the old school duck work lights were the only practical option ~20 years ago. I would never consider doing that again. The new owner of this plane has since replaced the weak sister halogen light wiht two single FlyLeds on each side.

On the RV-10 I replaced the stock wingtip LL with a single FlyLED (same form factor to easy swap out). On the RV-8 I put two in each wingtip, one for aimed for landing and one for taxi. On both planes I used the AeroLed NAV/Strobes (lower profile so they do not interfere with the landing lights).
https://flyleds.com/products/#!/Single-Spotlight/p/108852015/category=0

I’m happy with both installs.

On the new RV-10 I’ll go with “The Works” from FlyLED:
https://flyleds.com/products/#!/The-Works-Wingtip-Lighting-Kit/p/105662651/category=0

Carl
Click to expand...

Ditto for my RV7 - just like your 8 - as a taildragger I don't notice any dead spot with my Baja Sport LED and AeroLed nav/strobes. detail: mine are not aimed but the replaceable diffuser lens of the baja has half linearly diffused and half clear. One light diffuses vertically and the other horizontally. Good distance, near for taxi and broad for near landing.
 
Tip lights for my -7

I have FlyLED's "the works" lights in the wingtips of my -7. No complaints after a year with them (though I don't fly much at night).

I originally wired them up for the 'taxi' light option, but switched that over to the 'wig-wag' option because I found the nav lights were bright enough to see the taxiway edge markings w/the LDG lights turned off.

Would keep that config if I was building another.
 
BillL said:
Ditto for my RV7 - just like your 8 - as a taildragger I don't notice any dead spot with my Baja Sport LED and AeroLed nav/strobes. detail: mine are not aimed but the replaceable diffuser lens of the baja has half linearly diffused and half clear. One light diffuses vertically and the other horizontally. Good distance, near for taxi and broad for near landing.
Click to expand...

I put baja's in the wing tips of the 10 and they work very well. As long as you keep them as far outboard as possible, there isn't a noticeable dead spot.

Larry
 
Different airplane (Glasair Sportsman) but same lighting conundrum. Ended up installing a Baja Squadron Pro in each wingtip. Comments about getting them mounted as far outboard as possible are ones which should be taken to heart. Getting the lights outboard so they can be aimed in toward runway centerline is critical.

I've found that lighting with these two LED fixtures is very good, far better than anything else I've flown in terms of light aircraft. Still, I find that "right in front of the airplane" is a bit of a shadow zone. As a result I'm working on installing a single flood lamp unit from FlyLEDs in the lower engine cowl, just to put that extra splash of light right in front to illuminate any potential potholes or obstacles which might result in a prop strike. Cheap insurance.

Oh, wig-wagging the Baja Squadron Pro's works very well and results in incredible "see and be seen" visibility over distances measured in miles, not hundreds of yards.
 
I installed a duckworks kit in each leading edge. Geometry of the beam angle was my main concern with tip lights only. It didn't bother me to cut the holes or live with the fact that my leading edge isn't factory clean along the whole length. It also give me more options. I haven't even figured out which type of lights I'm going to use yet but I know I don't have make it all fit in the wingtip now.
 
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