Let There Be Light! (Duckworks HID Conversion kit) - Page 3

RV7Factory · #21 06-25-2009, 04:19 PM

Thanks for the info Jim. I was browsing the duckworks site the other day... from your earlier comments it appears that you went with the HID bulb upgrade for the rectangular reflector. Correct?

I don't really need to know, but I guess I am just sort of curious to see how the rectangular reflector gets upgraded with an HID bulb.

flickroll · #22 06-25-2009, 08:02 PM

You just remove the old halogen bulb and then put the HID bulb in the reflector using the same retaining screw. The rest of the installation is figuring out how to mount the ballast and the 'black box'.

RV7Factory · #23 06-25-2009, 09:59 PM

Thanks again Jim... I guess I thought there would be more to it than that.

At $240 for the pair, this seems like an upgrade worth consideration.

flickroll · #24 06-26-2009, 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV7Factory

At $240 for the pair, this seems like an upgrade worth consideration.

I you send him a check he'll discount the price over what you see on the web. I think the pair of lights with a web price of 240 can be had for 200 plus shipping. For me, the upgrade was well worth the money.

Jim

airguy · #25 06-29-2009, 11:11 AM

OK - opinions solicited...

I'm getting ready to do the lights in my wingtips, I need to go with all-wingtip lighting since my leading edges are auxiliary fuel tanks.

Right now I'm looking at the Halogen landing light and LED nav light combo from Creativair, then the Duckworth HID dropins for the landing lights on that kit. I have not decided what to do about the strobe, from the pictures I've seen it appears the strobe protrudes right out into the beam of the HID when both are mounted in the wingtip, is this correct? Does it impact the HID beam enough to worry about?

Suggestions as to the strobe package? Comments/suggestions about the Nav light and HID combo? Is there a wigwag flasher now that can handle 50W HID per side? I plan on running belly-mount Nav/Comm antennas for primary, and possibly wingtip mounted antennas for secondary nav/comm, I realize the wingtip mounted units will be subject to RFI when lighting is operational, I'm still rolling that over in my head.

Radomir · #26 08-25-2009, 08:03 PM

I installed a pair of 50W HID wingtip landing lights last week (Duckworks kit) and I finally had a chance to do some night flyin' and try 'em out.. OK.. I'm joining the WOW crowd... these lights are amazing.. the old halogens look like a pair of candles in comparison..

very, very happy with these HIDs...

I went with the 50W ones... but I'm sure that the 35W would work just fine too.. both are orders of magnitude stronger than the halogens

One super minor thing to mention is that the igniters are definitely noisy in the intercom (though, the noise gets squelched out).. but that's just for a few seconds until they "warm up" -- no noise afterwards at all.. Not an issue at all anyways..

N8RV · #27 08-26-2009, 07:08 AM

This may no longer be an issue with the Duckworks HID kits, but when I installed mine YEARS ago (I think they had just come out in Van's catalog and were a LOT more expensive!), I read in the instructions that they should NOT be used with wig-wag circuitry.

If they've since changed that, or if I'm just not remembering correctly, then disregard. However, somebody may want to call Duckworks and be sure that it will work and not burn out the HIDs.

rocketbob · #28 08-26-2009, 07:56 AM

You can now buy 50W HID kits with electronic ballasts for under $60 on ebay. I have one of these kits for my rocket and have done bench testing with it... they can be wigwag'ed after a warmup period. Don't know how long they will last but I may do some longevity testing.

Radomir · #29 08-26-2009, 08:18 AM

Bob, can you post more details about that alternative.. I think it'd be helpful to some. (eg. which bulb type etc..)

Are those MR16 or leading edge lights? I couldn't find reasonably priced MR16 HIDs... (wingtip lights) so had to go with the duckworks setup....

rocketbob · #30 08-26-2009, 09:33 AM

Radomir, I ordered mine from this same seller on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/55W-HID-XENON-CO...#ht_5960wt_939

Very quick shipping, was actually surprised how quick they got here from China.

I specified 4300K H3 bulbs, which simply retrofit into the existing Duckworks incandescent bulb reflectors.

I bought this setup for my Rocket, but to check for any noise issues I wired them into the electrical bus on the RV to check for any noise issues. Flipped them on...absolutely no radio noise.