Weird strobe behavior. Anybody seen this?

AltonD · #1 10-11-2009, 08:30 PM

I searched the archives and couldn't find anything

My tail strobe is intermittent. It will work for 30-40 seconds, then nothing. A minute later, it repeats. I swapped leads and it stays with the tail strobe so it is not the power supply.
Now the weird part: If I turn the Nav lights on, it works just fine.
Anybody seen this? Bad tube? This is the combo nav/strobe tube.

rv9av8tr · #2 10-11-2009, 11:12 PM

Sounds like ground path related.

carguy614 · #3 10-12-2009, 04:52 AM

Is this the Whelen tail strobe unit? If so, I'll bet you have the ground for the white tail light, and the trigger to the strobe reversed. Check your wiring at the rudder. It is also possible that the strobe unit is wired wrong. check the pin positions on the strobe lamp itself. Never heard of this happening, but it is the only thing that makes sense.

Regards,
Chris

AltonD · #4 10-12-2009, 06:24 AM

No, this is the three strobe unit from Van's.
I am thinking a poor ground issue. The pwer supply unit is grounded to the frame. I am going to run a test wire to the fire wall ground block and see if that improves. The tail nav light is also grounded to the frame. I did this with all of the lights.

EFG · #5 10-13-2009, 05:28 PM

I had this problem on a 182RG with Whelen Wing tip strobes. The left one flashed in a pattern that could never be discerned, the right was normal. Turned out to be the strobe bulb was losing gas and the firing of the strobe was more and more intermittent as it got lower in pressure. A replacement of the strobe bulb while expensive, fixed the problem. I never would have guessed this was the issue till I spoke with a guy from Whelen, cause it actually was firing. When in doubt, call the manufacturer !!!

EFG · #6 10-13-2009, 05:33 PM

Oh, I forgot to say, it worked fine if you ran the engine up to 1500 rpm (system voltage change). The guy said they are "voltage range sensitive", range being the operative word here.

Give'em a call, very friendly and helpful.

rjcthree · #7 12-21-2015, 03:11 PM

Was there ever any resolution here? Fully assembled for the first time, now I've got the intermittent tail strobe issue. I left it running for an hour, batt+power supply, EFIS said voltage never got below 13.0v. Sometimes a double flash, sometimes a single, sometimes none. No discernible Pattern to it.

It's the three strobe Whelen from Vans. Wiring checks.

Thanks, Rick