best lights to install

[RVatrixEmily]

Hi, My dad and I are building an RV9A and we're wondering what the best position and landing lights are to use. What have you had the best luck with? Any info on LEDs?
Thank you.

[the_other_dougreeves]

I'm working on the idea of LED recognition lights in the "new style" W-715-1 wingtips along with LED nav lights. My LED parts should be waiting at home thanks to UPS.

Basically, I'm thinking of installing 2x white Luxeon III LEDs on the flat portion of the light cutout with a 15 or 25 deg lens on one or both. These will powered by one 750mA LED driver per wingtip. The lights will have a wig-wag and a progressive switch for OFF-TAXI-WIGWAG operation on a single switch. Current draw will be < 2A with both wingtips on.

LED nav lights will be mounted to both the inboard and forward facing sections of the cutout. Most likely 3x Lux I with a single current driver per wingtip. Current draw will be 0.5A per side.

[Low Pass]

For landing lights I use four MR-16 halogen lamps - two in each wing. Outer pairs angled in & down, inner pair directly ahead. 300 watts total. Cheap and very bright.

[apatti]

Originally Posted by Low Pass

For landing lights I use four MR-16 halogen lamps - two in each wing. Outer pairs angled in & down, inner pair directly ahead. 300 watts total. Cheap and very bright.

Bryan,
Do you have any pictures/descriptions of your installation process?

Thanks,

[petehowell]

Here are the lights I made:

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...60&postcount=6

[the_other_dougreeves]

Originally Posted by petehowell

Here are the lights I made:

Pete, these are very similar to what I am designing. I am planning on installing on LED taxi lights in place of where you have the MR16s and use the Duckworks landing light, which has very good feedback.

By "higher output LEDs" you mean Luxeon IIIs?

[petehowell]

Hi Doug,

Yep, 4 Luxeon IIIs on each side. I used a simple current limiting resistor for the circuit - not elegant but sized for a bit of overvoltage. Very bright results.

During a dusk intercept by an RV-6 the other pilot mentioned the colored nav lights gave him the first glimpse of me.

[Robert M]

I'm not real creative when it comes to electrical things, I just went with the Whelen light kit sold by Van's.

[N130WN]

Originally Posted by Low Pass

For landing lights I use four MR-16 halogen lamps - two in each wing. Outer pairs angled in & down, inner pair directly ahead. 300 watts total. Cheap and very bright.

This sounds like the four-bulb kit Van's sells. Is it? It's hard for me to imagine those little bulbs put out enough juice, but it sounds like you are happy with them. Thx.

[the_other_dougreeves]

Originally Posted by N130WN

This sounds like the four-bulb kit Van's sells. Is it? It's hard for me to imagine those little bulbs put out enough juice, but it sounds like you are happy with them. Thx.

The Van's setup is a nice idea. The biggest downsides that I see are a circular pattern instead of a rectangular beam and 300W is really a lot of power - about 20A with everything going. This is the main attraction of the LEDs for recognition lights for me - low current draw. Never having to change bulbs is nice too. If you have a 40A alternator and have all lights on, strobes, avionics, etc, you could be drawing more current than the alternator is putting out - it makes full output at a high engine RPM - and can drain the battery during approach.

However, the MR16 style certainly are simple and you could always use lower wattage bulbs.