DIY LED Taxi Light Update

petehowell · #1 04-25-2010, 09:18 PM

I have had a few people asking about the DIY Taxi Lights I have in the wingtips of my-9A.

The good news - they continue to work really well. No heat or noise issues and they seem pretty durable - I turn them on at startup, day or night and run them all the time. LED prices continue to drop, making these even more affordable. They are great as taxi lights, but still don't equal HID for landing.

P7 Star $16

heat sink reflector $7

Now the bad news(maybe) the CC driver board ($10) is not on the web anymore. I have an email into the guys in Turkey to see if we can get more. I want some for the high output bike lights I am making.

I will keep you posted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by petehowell

I found these on the web and have been using one of these units in my wingtip for 200 hrs now to drive a P7 taxi light with no noise on the radio. No idea if it would be noisy closer to the cockpit. The price is right. They come in 350, 500, 700, 1000, and 1400ma constant current flavors. $9.95 each.

Yes they ship from Turkey! They take about 20 days to arrive. The people there have been great to deal with.

comfortcat · #2 04-25-2010, 10:35 PM

I'm just starting to think about this stuff (I'm working on wings) and not even sure what an LED driver is, but would the AEC9051 Series High Intensity LED Driver Kits at www.aeroelectric.com work with these?

???

Dkb

Quote:

Originally Posted by petehowell

I have had a few people asking about the DIY Taxi Lights I have in the wingtips of my-9A.

The good news - they continue to work really well. No heat or noise issues and they seem pretty durable - I turn them on at startup, day or night and run them all the time. LED prices continue to drop, making these even more affordable. They are great as taxi lights, but still don't equal HID for landing.

P7 Star $16

heat sink reflector $7

Now the bad news(maybe) the CC driver board ($10) is not on the web anymore. I have an email into the guys in Turkey to see if we can get more. I want some for the high output bike lights I am making.

I will keep you posted.

petehowell · #3 04-25-2010, 10:43 PM

I think they would work just fine.

elippse · #4 04-30-2010, 10:54 PM

There's a circuit I use in my plane that drives two 50W halogen reflector lamps, one in each wing. Using a DPDT switch they can be set up to be on steady as landing or taxilights or as flashing recognition lamps alternately flashing at about 1 second each. The circuit turns the lamps on through each other in the flashing mode so that the inrush current is limited to the current of the on lamp, which at 14V is 3.6A. These lamps on my plane have been flashing for over 550 hours; they turn on when the master is on so that it serves as a warning to anyone nearby. I just completed and sent a circuit modified to operate on 28V to a friend. When I told him about the circuit and that the parts for it were about $20 he looked it up on the web and found the original article describing it in the 2000 June 12 edition of Electronic Design.

777drvr · #5 05-02-2010, 05:57 AM

Sounds cool ! Could you be more specific where I could find this circuit . I did a search but couldn't find it .

Pete,

Are you only using one LED per wing , or more ?

Marc

az_gila · #6 05-02-2010, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 777drvr

Sounds cool ! Could you be more specific where I could find this circuit . I did a search but couldn't find it .

Pete,

Are you only using one LED per wing , or more ?

Marc

The design, and it's associated schematic, is here --

http://electronicdesign.com/article/...-life4422.aspx

Seems easy enough to build if you know electronics.

Note - this is for bulbs, not LEDs. - it's a nifty idea to limit the in-rush current.

petehowell · #7 05-02-2010, 10:37 AM

Hi Marc - Yes- one P7 and reflector combo per tip.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 777drvr

Sounds cool ! Could you be more specific where I could find this circuit . I did a search but couldn't find it .

Pete,

Are you only using one LED per wing , or more ?

Marc

777drvr · #8 05-02-2010, 05:20 PM

Starting to get interested in this ! I don't know much about this stuff but am trying to get Google educated . I understand CC is the way to go to drive these lights .

Pete,
Have you found out anything about the $10 driver board or have you sourced something else ? I just fired off an email to a company in Turkey who makes the ACG D-1400 driver.

Marc

petehowell · #9 05-02-2010, 05:52 PM

Marc,

I use the ACG drivers as well. The 1000 runs cooler than the 1400 and is plenty bright with the P7.

777drvr · #10 05-03-2010, 06:34 AM

Hi Pete,

I got a reply from ACG in Turkey . $8.95 per for 1-9 and $7.95 10-19 . $14 shipping . I went on Candle Power forums and those guys are extreme LED users ! Some of the beam shots were incredible . I think LEDs are the future in aircraft lighting .

Lot's of discussion about drivers and "buck pucks" with a bunch for sale . Most of those guys had to worry about form factors to fit in the flashlights but it's not a big deal for us .

One thing is that they are all switching regulators which have been proven to cause noise in our audio systems . You say that you haven't had a problem with the ACG drivers....

The CandlePower forums also brought to light ( groan ) more options. Higher power LEDs and drivers . Wow this could be fun !!

Marc