Whelen A500 tail strobe life

hgerhardt · #1 10-20-2008, 10:29 PM

What's the average life you've been getting out of your Whelen A500 rear strobe/position light? My strobe tube gave up the ghost at less than 160 hours. Of course, you can't (easily) replace the tube itself because it's a potted subassembly. And, Van's doesn't carry a replacement tube. Spruce has the replacement tube, but it's only $11 cheaper than the entire assembly from Vans!

Heinrich Gerhardt
RV-6, 165 hours

jrvssgl · #2 10-20-2008, 11:15 PM

About 20 minutes of testing. Turned it on a month later and it didn't work.. Whelen was reluctant to fix it as the manufacture date showed that it was 2 years old but after hearing my story they fixed it under warrantee. Hopefully will last a little longer or at least till I get the plane flying.

N282S · #3 10-21-2008, 05:06 AM

My position light died at 19 minutes testing. The strobe is works.

tc1234c · #4 10-21-2008, 05:55 AM

I have 481 hr on mine. I dropped the wing tip lense twice, but have not replaced any tube yet.

Ron B. · #5 10-21-2008, 02:46 PM

On mine it was the power pack. I have one for each strobe. It was over the warranty and I sent it in to Whelen and they were good enough to fix it at no cost other than shipping. I was using it for maybe a year, don't remember , but had bought it quite some time before while building. Did hear somewhere that shelf life is also a concern on these units.

Dean_aeroleds · #6 10-29-2008, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron B.

On mine it was the power pack. I have one for each strobe. It was over the warranty and I sent it in to Whelen and they were good enough to fix it at no cost other than shipping. I was using it for maybe a year, don't remember , but had bought it quite some time before while building. Did hear somewhere that shelf life is also a concern on these units.

Yes, shelf life is an issue with Xenon strobe based lights. There is a flash capacitor in the strobe driver module that needs to be excercised (charged up) on a regular basis. If it sits too long (months) without being charged up the electrolyte relaxes and the capacitor can fail prematurely if it isn't reconditioned properly. Abruptly charging it in normal use after it has sat too long without first reconditioning it (applying a gentle charge-up) can damage them.

Dan Blumel · #7 10-29-2008, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dean_aeroleds

Yes, shelf life is an issue with Xenon strobe based lights. There is a flash capacitor in the strobe driver module that needs to be excercised (charged up) on a regular basis. If it sits too long (months) without being charged up the electrolyte relaxes and the capacitor can fail prematurely if it isn't reconditioned properly. Abruptly charging it in normal use after it has sat too long without first reconditioning it (applying a gentle charge-up) can damage them.

The shelf life after leaving the factory is about 24 months. If left unused for 24 months after active use, the same applies. The official way to recondition for use, the capacitor is as follows:

Hook the strobe power supply up to a variable (User selectable) voltage (output) power supply that is rated (amps) for the current requirements of the strobe power supply. If don't have this available most avionics shops or electronics repair shops will have this capability.

(this is for 12/14 VDC units only) I do not have this same info for 24/28 VDC strobe supplies. With NOTHING attached to the Strobe Power Supply output (no strobes attached) do the following:

Power for 15 minutes 3 VDC input,

15 minutes 6 VDC input,

15 minutes 9 VDC input,

15 minutes 12 VDC input

The unit is now ready for normal installed use with strobe tubes attached.

My Whelen strobe power supply sat unused (during construction) for 19 years, (Yes, it took me that long with a 10 year hiatus in the middle, long story)
Used this "program" from Whelen and the unit has worked perfectly for about 200 hours so far.

As a proactive precaution, I would follow this proceedure with only 1 year of non use, It will not hurt the unit and is a proactive effort to protect your investment.

tomagin · #8 10-29-2008, 05:55 PM

The tail position light failed after about 200 hours. 400 hrs later all the strobes - tail and wingtip continue to work.

RV6_flyer · #9 10-29-2008, 06:24 PM

Cannot comment on tail light strobe but can give a data point on the wingtip strobes.

I replaced my wingtip strobe around 1,600 hours. Spoke to Whelen at Oshkosh asking how long they should last. Salesman said the wingtip strobes should last 1,000 hours. Told him how long mine lasted.

I replaced both wingtip strobes at the same time.

shuttle · #10 12-01-2009, 03:50 PM

Yesterday, with regard to my Whelen HDACF strobe power supply, I asked Whelen Tech Support about the reconditioning procedure described by Dan Blumel earlier in this thread. Whelen said that this was no longer necessary on newer strobe power supplies. When asked how I tell if mine is a newer one they said the design changed about 10 years ago (1999).

Thought I'd post this for posterity incase anyone else finds this thread in a search.