Xenon HID landing and taxi lights finished

[cnpeters]

I rolled my own xenon HID landing and taxi lights. I started with the DW 100w halogen kits, then acquired used ballasts and new D1R bulbs from ebay. Why? Far less load (35W) and brighter than the 100w halogens in a side by side test. I like the reflected brighter light better than halogens. I will probably be at engine overhaul when bulbs burn out. Plus, just cool lights IMHO.
I made bulb mounting plates and JB welded them to the par36 reflectors, then did bench testing outdoors to adjust and find the proper bulb depth/focal length. Metal and rubber spacers were then epoxied, bulb clamped, ballast mounted. Don at DW has the lights sitting way back in the leading edge for the RV-9 compared to other RV's - I moved them forward at least two inches without problem to increase lateral light dispersion.
I used a flood type lens for the taxi light (Don has these - not on the order sheet - just ask), and added a side reflector to increase lateral dispersion. Everything was mounted and tested with a power supply - works great. See the website (Kitlog site under my name) for appropriate entries and a bunch more pics if interested - click on "Wings" in the right side navigation box for the full list of entries. The landing light is from 5/21-26, and the taxi light 6/25-30. Pete Howell from MN has the same type bulbs and ballasts in his RV-9A - he reports no noise except for a few seconds when turned on. And thanks, Pete, for your help.



Close up of bulb base with mounting plate, spacers, and hold down bracket I fabricated.



This is the wide beam taxi light - the only difference is the refracting lens. Note the side reflectors - one I had to leave off in wing install - couldn't fit with leading edge lens in way.


A little blurry, but house is 300 feet away. This is the landing light spot pattern.


Jumper cables and car used at first, but now have nice 13.8v power supply. Ahh, retina burning power! May set up both on a wigwag (yes, you can wig wag xenons with the right device).

[Mike S]

I also am using HID lights for landing and taxi----------glad you got there ahead of me, now I can just steal your engineering. Thanks.

I plan on using the stock Vans tip lights for the wigwag setup, however. Save the good stuff for night work.

Mike

[cnpeters]

Yeah, using separate lights for wig wagging makes sense. I did get some Luxeon III LED's to play with for the same reason and may go that route (they use so little current and have a practically indefinite life span).

[Mark Burns]

Carl,
Very nice craftsmanship!

Mark

[the_other_dougreeves]

Originally Posted by cnpeters

Yeah, using separate lights for wig wagging makes sense. I did get some Luxeon III LED's to play with for the same reason and may go that route (they use so little current and have a practically indefinite life span).

That's my plan as well - 2x Lux III per side (just as easy to do two per side as one) with a OFF-TAXI-WIGWAG progressive switch.

[Flyrod]

Is the heat output from Xenon HID more or less that 50W Halogen?

[lorne green]

HID's powered up for ten minutes - warm (and drawing < 3 amps)
50 Watt halogen powered up for one minute - hot

[cnpeters]

I did compare both on the bench - HID cooler. In the wing, just warm (lens). And confirming Lorne's comment, my power supply did show less than 3A load.

[petehowell]

Hi Carl,

Nice updates to the design. I'll have my patent guys contact you to get the the proper documents signed and the payments transferred.....

I think we agreed on a soda at OSH someday?

The lights are nice - no heat issues and low current draw - I hear them for the first 5 sec on startup no noise after that.