Landing light control and panel dimmer

[Leslee]

I have looked through the forums and thought I would pass this along. When I built my plane I used two devices that really simplified the instrument panel dimming and landing light flasher problem. These two devices were the MaxPulse and MaxDim. I live in Alaska so lighting control in very useful during the long winters. These are fully STC'd, and although that is not required for our planes, it does show a degree of prior testing etc. I got mine here http://www.maxpulsemaxdim.com. On the website you will see the MSRP, but call them or email them for better pricing than that. These devices are very robust, handling 20 Amps on the pulser and 12.5 Amps on the dimmer. Yeah I know, we don't need no stinking 20 Amps - but this means no more welded contacts, whacked transistors, or burnt out contacts due to a short, dropped wrench, shorted filaments. And the pulser does HIDs. No the company is not owned by my brother in law. It was just a great experience using these. In fact at one time these guys had a coupon for homebuilders that reduced the price significantly. Call these guys, they will fix you up.

[Dan Blumel]

Originally Posted by Leslee

And the pulser does HIDs.

Probably does not include the warm-up cycle as required for long HID life.

[Leslee]

Originally Posted by Dan Blumel

Probably does not include the warm-up cycle as required for long HID life.

Dan, do you mean that a "warm up cycle" is different than just turning on the lights solid - like with a switch. How should we turn them on with a switch so the "HID life will be extended"? Should we turn them on for a given length of time (warmup), then off and back on. If so what would you recommend for the duration of the 'warmup' phase? We all want to extend the life of our HIDs.

[Dan Blumel]

Originally Posted by Leslee

Dan, do you mean that a "warm up cycle" is different than just turning on the lights solid - like with a switch. How should we turn them on with a switch so the "HID life will be extended"? Should we turn them on for a given length of time (warmup), then off and back on. If so what would you recommend for the duration of the 'warmup' phase? We all want to extend the life of our HIDs.

Leave them on until they reach full perceived output, on some slow warmup ballasts/bulbs this can take as much as a minute. Most will be much less. Pulsing should only occur when the bulb has reached "steady state" (about).

We have an HID wig-wag related patent pending on this delay (warm up) before steady state. We covered the other methods as well not just time based. This way a work around of our patent is very unlikely. This patent has been in the works for well over 2 years and we are on the final leg. At least 1 company has encroached on our pending patent and they are well aware of its details (it has been published for over a year). Once we have the final approval (soon), they will have to stop offering this product.

We also offer a newer ballast and pulse "rev D" system which allows us to wig wag them without disrupting the main power wires to them to facilitate pulsing. This is done using a small communication wire. This removes the large powerflow from the pulsing unit. Our newest (soon) pulsing unit will be VERY small because of this capability. The new pulsing unit will be 20-25% the size of the current ones.

[Leslee]

Originally Posted by Dan Blumel

Leave them on until they reach full perceived output, on some slow warmup ballasts/bulbs this can take as much as a minute. Most will be much less. Pulsing should only occur when the bulb has reached "steady state" (about).

We have an HID wig-wag related patent pending on this delay (warm up) before steady state. We covered the other methods as well not just time based. This way a work around of our patent is very unlikely. This patent has been in the works for well over 2 years and we are on the final leg. At least one company has encroached on our pending patent and they are well aware of its details (it has been published for over a year). Once we have the final approval (soon), they will have to stop offering this product.

We also offer a newer ballast and pulse "rev D" system which allows us to wig wag them without disrupting the main power wires to them to facilitate pulsing. This is done using a small communication wire. This removes the large powerflow from the pulsing unit. Our newest (soon) pulsing unit will be VERY small because of this capability. The new pulsing unit will be 20-25% the size of the current ones.

Dan, I thought - "wow, how does this guy know so much about HIDs?" then I looked up your user information on the forum and you actually manufacture this stuff. This is all very interesting to me - I would really like to read more about the patent. You say it is 'published' could you direct me/us to that information? Or does it have a number associated with it? Thanks Dan for sharing your knowledge! As a matter of fact, the MaxPulse does have a delay prior to the start of pulsing..

[Dan Blumel]

Originally Posted by Leslee

Dan, I thought - "wow, how does this guy know so much about HIDs?" then I looked up your user information on the forum and you actually manufacture this stuff. This is all very interesting to me - I would really like to read more about the patent. You say it is 'published' could you direct me/us to that information? Or does it have a number associated with it? Thanks Dan for sharing your knowledge!

I am a little suspicious of your motives (very short time here), so I should let you do your own homework. Its not that hard using google. We have patent pending warnings on our products and on our website (we have a few patents pending).

If others would like to see it, let me know here and I will provide the number and a link to see the published copy from the US patent office. In that case though I will create a new titled thread.

[Leslee]

Originally Posted by Dan Blumel

I am a little suspicious of your motives (very short time here), so I should let you do your own homework. Its not that hard using google. We have patent pending warnings on our products and on our website (we have a few patents pending).

Suspicious? I have been a lurker here for a long, long time. But unlike you, I am not trying to sell something. My post was just to provide information. I'm not sure what the importance of "patent pending" is to the FAA or us owners (nothing). Most folks who have an STC or other 'approvals' from any source are quite proud of it and are willing to share it. Seems you could have provided us the information instead of the schoolmarm approach of "do your homework". And we really appreciate you explaining Google for us. We needed that. So Dan, thanks but no thanks. I do wish you good luck with xevison and your products 'patent pending' and all.

[Dan Blumel]

Originally Posted by Leslee

Suspicious? I have been a lurker here for a long, long time. But unlike you, I am not trying to sell something. My post was just to provide information. I'm not sure what the importance of "patent pending" is to the FAA or us owners (nothing). Most folks who have an STC or other 'approvals' from any source are quite proud of it and are willing to share it. Seems you could have provided us the information instead of the schoolmarm approach of "do your homework". And we really appreciate you explaining Google for us. We needed that. So Dan, thanks but no thanks. I do wish you good luck with xevison and your products 'patent pending' and all.

Our patent was awarded Nov of 2009, Vertical power has a license to use this patented technology in their pulsing control.

http://www.xevision.com/pdf/Vertical...eVision_PR.pdf