Hot tail strobe light (really hot !)

[swisseagle]

Hello Builders

I read that the strobeunit not should lay around unused for month, so I connected it to a power source and let the strobes flashing for 5 minutes.

Then I want to take it apart and store it again, but I burned my fingers on the Tail-Strobe/Navlight unit

The Wing-Strobe/Navlights get also a bit warm, but not hot. The tailunit gehts at the complete casing (which is aluminum) hot. I could bring a plasticbag to wrinkle with the tailunit, it hurt when I touched it, so I guess, it is a bit more than 60?Celsius hot.

IS THIS NORMAL?

Shop Temperature was around 20?C, the tailunit gehts the full strobe burst and the wingunits spare one.
Strobesupply is a Whelen HDACF, Tailunit a A500A-V-14, Vans Light-System 6

Thanks for any advise before I do more testing.

Regards, Dominik
Switzerland
RV-7A

[Guy Prevost]

It's normal. You're dumping a lot of energy into those flashtubes. A small part of that energy kicks off some photons and creates light. The rest is just heat.

[swisseagle]

Thanks Guy and Tonny for the informations!

Regards, Dominik

[Daver]

I'm prepping my wing tips by installing nav & strobe lights.

I bench tested the wing tip lights and, WOW, does the strobe get hot.

I'm worried about damaging the plexiglass lens with the heat.

Has anybody had this issue? Will the heat damage anything? Should I provide some sort of ventilation (small holes)?

Thanks in advance for any input!

Dave
finishing up RV9 wings

[IowaRV9Dreamer]

I saw some RVs at OSH that had the strobe tubes mounted close to the lens, and you are right - the heat distorted the lens.

I'm going to find a way to keep the tube in the center of the tip - as far from the lens as possible.

Good luck,

dave

[Rupester]

Dave,
What kinduv nav/strobes do you have? I've been looking the Aeroflash units (156-0039) and have not ordered yet 'cause I was unsure how they would fit .. clearance to the lens is one of my concerns.

[Daver]

I'm piecing together a lighting system.

The strobes are from "Strobes n More".

The nav light is an LED cluster I found on the internet (very bright).

I searched "hot strobes" and came up with some threads that basically acknowledge the heat problem but I didn't find a solution suggestion.

The strobe power supply has a "low power" setting. Maybe I should use it.

Also I plugged the tube directly into the power supply. Maybe 15' feet of cable will reduce the voltage some.

I thought about drilling some some holes in the bottom area of the lens and a single hole at the top. I was thinking I could get some cooling air through there and also provide drain holes for inadvertant moisture.

I'll just have to think about this....

Dave

[Rupester]

I recall ne of the earlier threads about hot strobes advised not to plug directly into a power supply ... said to always assure you have some length of wire in there as it does lessen the overheating.

[Ron B.]

What do you do,when you have a power supply in the wing tip, so as not to have electrical interference? The supply wire cannot be long.
Ron