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mquam99

Well Known Member
So this weekend I spent a lot of time on my cowling and baffles, which is a very tedious process although the results are starting to look good.

I did however get a chance to mount my Navs/Strobes, and wing tip landing lights (Modified RV-10 kit from Van's). Here is a picture of the result..

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why 10 lights?

Mike,
I am up in Glenwood Springs. I am just ordering my wings and tail kit tomorrow. The lights look great on your wings. Why did you use the 10 light kit and modify? I was going to order the QB wings. If I do that, am I stuck with factory lights or what. There are SO MANY questions on an order, I don't want to screw it up!
 
Be advised that the RV-10 wing tip lights don't do a good job of illuminating the area in front of the nose of a RV-10. They do a great job of lighting the area in front of the wing tips.

This is another of those "primer wars" issues. No correct answer, just the one that meets your needs.

Some folks are more than happy with minimal lighting and can land just fine. Others prefer the entire area in front the aircraft lit very bright.

If you are one of the later types, I would recommend taking a look at Duckworks leading edge lighting. It's not very difficult to install.

There are other vendors doing similiar things. You do need to be carefull with some of the inexpensive HIDs. Their power supplies tend to be a little noisy.
 
Lights

I went with the RV-10 kit and modified because I like the look of the landing lights in the tips, and this was an inexpensive option.. I am not too concerned about the amount of light I get out of those as my mission will not include a whole lot of night flying. However, in the event I need the lights these will suffice..

As always there are many choices to be made, and this one worked for me..
 
I'll be working on this exact same situation this week, I hope mine turn out looking as good as yours.

I called Vans about the current 9 wingtips, they told me they didn't have a lighting kit specifically for the 9's wingtips because they didn't think anyone would want to put them in the tips at the time they were designed. I replied that I thought that was a bit shortsighted, Vans agreed in hindsight it was, and they told me that several builders were successfully using the 10 kit but the clearance was tight.

I bought the 10 kit and HID replacement bulbs/ballast.
 
Reflector

Mike,
It looks like the kit comes with a reflector for the strobe/nav light as well but you did not use it. ??
I assume this kit was a good fit with a little trimming of the light reflector plate?

Looks good.
 
ztron

I am waiting the arrival of my led landing lights that were designed by Warren from ztron and myself for my -8. I think they will work great but will let everyone know after install. Mine is a taildragger so lighting directly in front of the nose is not an issue for me. I think I can get them fitted so that one will shine straight fwd and one angled down for taxiing. I am also going with the ztron nav lights. Ztron is a growing company which offers a really good alternative to other led lights. They seem to be very economical compared to others and they are very customer oriented. I am looking fwd to trying them out.

bird
 
reflector

My initial thought was there was reflector material for the NAV/Strobe but it turns out the material is actually to dissipate heat inside the wingtip.

The instructions show exactly that.. I am sure it will come in handy since the lights in the tip will generate a fair amount of heat.

For what its worth, I don't think the NAV/Strobe combo will need the reflector as they are very bright. I will try to take some video of them in action tonight and post it..

Of course adding a reflector under the NAV/Strobe should be easy since they are attached with just a couple of screws and bolts.. You will see in the image the landing light and the cutout for the NAV/Strobe. The first tip took me about 4 hours, and the second about an hour..

I did trim the plate that was provided in the kit for mounting of the light.. Honestly the trimming was minimal and I was able to use all the hardware that Van's provided.. I actually did not have to place an order for more stuff.. Shocking I know :)




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Mike,
Thanks for the internal picture. That helps alot. I have been on the fence with the leading edge light or the tip light. After seeing yours I think I will give this a try.
I had asked about the strobe reflector because the picture on Van's shows a reflector installed so I assumed it came with the kit. I did not know the inside heat dissipator sheet was supplied until I saw your picture.
With a MR16 bulb I can always change to a HID or LED if more light is required.
 
Thanks for the posts. It looks great. I considered the Vans RV10 kit, but had not seen an actual installation.

I would want them for Wig-Wag, If I need them for landing, I screwed up somewhere else!
 
ztron

For those looking for wingtip lights, check out ztron's led landing lights, good price, wig wag and synch built in. They look good, I'm expecting mine to show up tommorrow.

bird
 
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