dan
Well Known Member
Electronics wizards out there... My RV-7 has the SSF-1 wig-wag flasher from B&C. It has served me well. Except that after 834 hours, it finally died a painful death. So I'm in the market for a new one.
I could pay $22 for a new SSF-1 from B&C. That would be pretty straightforward. But of course the cheapskate in me had me looking around for other options.
Yes, I have seen Bill Vondane's very nice flasher, but I'm not interested in the complexity that it introduces. I want to stick with a simple 3-wire setup (+12V, load 1, load 2).
So check this out...here's B&C's SSF-1:
But here's a flasher that costs about $10 less but "looks" pretty much the same:
http://www.midwayautosupply.com/detailedproductdescription.asp?11850
Yet on that page it says "Design Life: 500 hours". Just makes me wonder if the B&C flasher is basically the same animal and also suffers from limited life. Vibration in the airplane environment, yadda yadda.
Anyway, I guess I could rationalize spending $12.99 every 500 to 834 hours, but obviously I'd rather not if there's a better alternative. Especially if there's one with no moving parts.
So...does anybody have a "homebrew" flasher design/schematic that I could fab up from cheap components, save a few bucks, and enjoy having made it myself?
I could pay $22 for a new SSF-1 from B&C. That would be pretty straightforward. But of course the cheapskate in me had me looking around for other options.
Yes, I have seen Bill Vondane's very nice flasher, but I'm not interested in the complexity that it introduces. I want to stick with a simple 3-wire setup (+12V, load 1, load 2).
So check this out...here's B&C's SSF-1:
![ssf-1.jpg](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bandc.biz%2Fssf-1.jpg&hash=de0a5e919d687df133d6034db24d9d1b)
But here's a flasher that costs about $10 less but "looks" pretty much the same:
![el13a-1_3X.jpg](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.midwayautosupply.com%2Fimages%2Ftrico%2Fel13a-1_3X.jpg&hash=04597acb9c9f580a9281a9768c3ca7e2)
http://www.midwayautosupply.com/detailedproductdescription.asp?11850
Yet on that page it says "Design Life: 500 hours". Just makes me wonder if the B&C flasher is basically the same animal and also suffers from limited life. Vibration in the airplane environment, yadda yadda.
Anyway, I guess I could rationalize spending $12.99 every 500 to 834 hours, but obviously I'd rather not if there's a better alternative. Especially if there's one with no moving parts.
So...does anybody have a "homebrew" flasher design/schematic that I could fab up from cheap components, save a few bucks, and enjoy having made it myself?