Rate my interior lighting plan

[Brantel]

Here is my interior lighting plan at the moment, please feel free to let me know if I am all wet on an idea or not....

Starting in the back and working forward...

2ea of these puppies for the baggage area mounted on the rollover bar brace, white:


1ea of these mounted on the tipup roll bar brace pointing forward over the shoulders of the pilot/pass,Blue:
&
2ea of these mounted on the tipup forward canopy decks for actual map lights/panel floods/etc, Blue.:


1ea of these mounted under the tipup glare shield for a panel wash light, Blue: Purchased from Stein of course...


One of these on any backup instrument that is not internally lit, white:


Two of these under the panel, mounted to the subpanel just in case you drop something or need to look down there at your feet, white:


Four of these to provide four channels of control. All four will be connected to a common "Interior Lighting" power switch. I may just build me a custom 4 channel dimmer using the LM317 regulator to save space and to beef up the heatsink.



Channel One: White baggage domes/under panel lights
Channel Two: Blue Maplights on canopy decks/Overshoulder Light
Channel Three: Blue glareshield strip panel wash light
Channel Four: White internal instrument/avionics and Nulite lights

[Jamie]

I would ditch the post lights and go with nulites (aircraft spruce has them). They are way better and the price is comparable.

I would say you don't need the LED light strip and the light over your shoulder. That's a little overkill. The LED light strip, one map light, some baggage lighting and I would say you are done.

Just my opinion...but isn't that why you asked...to get opinions?

[kentb]

I don't think that I would mount on the bottom side as it would compromise strength to much If you go to the back side, I don't think that the light you have will flex forward enough to work. Also how are you going to attach the nut?

Kent

[Brantel]

Thanks Jamie, I will check into the nulites...Yep, love the feedback from the guys that have been there done that...

Originally Posted by Jamie

I would ditch the post lights and go with nulites (aircraft spruce has them). They are way better and the price is comparable.

Just my opinion...but isn't that why you asked...to get opinions?

[Brantel]

Hey Kent,

This is a tipup so the light would be mounted on a coverplate that would go on the bottom of the tipup rollbar to bulkhead brace. There are some pics here somewhere where others have done similar.

Found one example of something similar...Thanks Chris!

Originally Posted by kentb

I don't think that I would mount on the bottom side as it would compromise strength to much If you go to the back side, I don't think that the light you have will flex forward enough to work. Also how are you going to attach the nut?

Kent

[terrykohler]

Brian:
On my tip-up, I use a light strip under the glare shield and only one of the small spots mounted to the underside of the roll bar brace. The spot can swing up out of the way when I'm stuffing bags into the bay. I've found that in spite of the center line mounting, I really don't see interference from the latch handle. I have an "old school" panel with mostly Van's gages. I've eliminated the lights from most of these in the interest of reducing the number of wires behind the panel. I have internal lighting only in my compass, ADI, VOR and my EI triplex gage (EGT, CHT, OAT). Of course, radios are also internally lighted. Both the light strip and overhead spot are wired to the same rheostat. At night, I'm typically dialed down to half power. Too much light and your night vision is affected.
Terry

[Brantel]

OK Jamie put me on to something better so I took his advice and swapped the post lights for the Nulites.

Originally Posted by Jamie

I would ditch the post lights and go with nulites (aircraft spruce has them). They are way better and the price is comparable.

[SteinAir]

Only thing I'd say is that since you're going glass (G900's right), go with either blue or green map lights and LED strip, becase the red will wash out some of the stuff on the EFIS or EIS screens. Most of the newer heavy iron has gone away from red interior lights for similar reasons.

Also, thank goodness you got rid of those @!#!%^& post lights!

Cheers,
Stein

[allbee]

No matter what, always carry a small flash light.

[Brantel]

No red with the "economy" glass panel per Stein so I will go with Blue cuz I just like it better than Green.

Originally Posted by SteinAir

Only thing I'd say is that since you're going glass (G900's right), go with either blue or green map lights and LED strip, becase the red will wash out some of the stuff on the EFIS or EIS screens. Most of the newer heavy iron has gone away from red interior lights for similar reasons.

Also, thank goodness you got rid of those @!#!%^& post lights!

Cheers,
Stein