Flyguytki

Flyguytki

Well Known Member
I am currently finishing up a Set of LED Nav Lights which are very similar to those that Jeff of Jeffs RV-7A used to make. I have everything fairly well documented so If there is some interest I was going to put together a "How To" of all the parts and pieces, If not then I wont put the time into writing something up.

Heres a few pictures to give you an idea.

IMG_8544.jpg


IMG_8539.jpg


-david
 
Flyguytki said:
I have everything fairly well documented so If there is some interest I was going to put together a "How To" of all the parts and pieces,
Click to expand...

Go ahead! Any new ideas will bring more discussion, which hopefully will generate valuable feedback and sooner or later someone will follow you. I also like Jeff's idea how to build those and have done some experiments with different thicknesses of plastic but not quite confident yet how my things worked out.
 
Count me in!

Yes, I'm definitely interested! I would like to build a set and see how they work. PLEASE go ahead and do the documenting. I will appreciate it a lot.
 
I just finished up my own version with 4 Luxeon Rebel Stars driven at only 500 ma . I didn't use plexi . Very effective and inexpensive . A worthwhile project !
 
Sounds good I will get started on it but I am leaving tommorrow for Oshkosh so It will be posted next week sometime. I purchased all the LED materials from LEDsupply.com Its worth it to go brows around and read the resources page there is alot of good information.
-david
 
I'm very interested in this as well. I was looking at the EndorStars (boy these LEDs seem to change every week). They come either 1 or 3 LED per star. I'm going to have to dig up the articles on what others have done, so any info you can provide would be great.
 
Last edited:
The LED's I went with are K2 Stars and are 1 watt each, I figure 6 will be PLENTY most likely overkill. I don't have them yet but I ended up ordering LED Drivers From the same site to simplify the wiring, the LED's get wired in series and then straight to the Driver, and a power source out the other side. Heres a few links

K2 Star LED's

Red- http://www.ledsupply.com/05027-pd12.php
Green- http://www.ledsupply.com/05027-pm12.php

LED Driver

http://ledsupply.com/02008b-700.php

Adhesive for to attach the LED's

http://ledsupply.com/aata-5g.php


If anyone has any immediate questions send me a PM, if not I will have something written up next week.

-david
 
David - thanks for posting. How does the color of the "green" LEDs compare to certified FAA nav lights? I thought "cyan" was the closer match.
 
Use Cyan instead of Green and also if you use a cheap cc driver, you will get noise on your radio and intercom unless you add a filter (unless you use a cheap one that has built in filtering and most do not)....

There is tons of info in the archives...
 
You may want to position one or more in different directions. LEDs are directional and with this orientation, they will be only seen only from the front and not the sides or high or low relative altitude if that makes any sense.
 
They work just fine the way he has em....The plexi will glow brite all around its edges. Brighter than most certified lights.

Mine are made exactly like his and have proven to be quite effective at all required angles. No where near being marginal.

Now I know someone will be along any second now and say how these will blead over in the front center cause they are so brite, Van's wingtip creates a natural shadow in this area and helps prevent this problem.

Bavafa said:
You may want to position one or more in different directions. LEDs are directional and with this orientation, they will be only seen only from the front and not the sides or high or low relative altitude if that makes any sense.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Lumens requirement

I know that with an experimental, you could use a screw in light bulb if you wanted, but I do remember reading a document that came with my killacycle LED light kit that discussed the FAA requirements for the visible light in the different quadrants. The developer of that kit took it seriously and did a great job of angling the lights and taking readings of the lumen requirements.
 
Yep several of us went thru this exercise a couple years ago..we had threads with lots of pics and diagrams etc that detailed all of this but unfortunately webshots decided to change over to new servers and did not bring all the archived pictures with em as they upgraded. This means there are hundreds of broken links all thru the archives that point to pictures that do not exist.

The data is available other places if you dig for it....
 
LED is both surfaces?

It is sure hard to dig up that old data...

Has anyone ever put LEDs in both surfaces of the wingtip? Most seem to put them in the forward facing surface, but couldn't they also be placed alongside the strobe tube in the outward facing surface? Any reason not to?

I'm going to look at Oshkosh and see if anyone there has done this.

dave
 
If you don't insert the LED in the Plexiglas, you can always bent them to orient in different directions. I have mine setup with a few that are pointed up, down and to the sides. Of course it requires more LED, but this way you can be seen from all directions but behind and from the pilot side which is the legal way.
 
Bavafa, the way these LED's are made there is no way to bend them to change their orintation. However I powered both up for the first time last night, and without any exact measurement they seem just as bright if not brighter than the whelens I was Looking at this week at Oshkosh. Overall I am very happy with the way they turned out and once they are all finished and installed will be exactly what I was hoping for. Here are a few more pictures, I have started on the write up and should have it finished tonight or tommorrow.

IMG_8551.jpg


IMG_8560.jpg


-david
 
Here is how the lights came out when everything was all said and done. Ill post a picture of them illuminated as soon as I recieve my new powersupply.

IMG_8583.jpg


-david
 
David,

If your gonna have a com radio in your airplane, unless you do something with that CC driver you are using, you will get noise on your radio and reduce its range.

You will need to either add Bob K's. filter or make your own or switch to a current limiting resistor instead.
 
Pleas check the wiring diagram.

Nice write up David. I am not an electronics guy but you might check your wiring diagram, you have two of the led's wired, one neg to neg the other pos to pos. I don't think that is correct. I don't know if you were trying to wire them all in series or two groups of three in series and then the groups in parallel.

Jordan
 
I ended up with the same as Brantel with the Strobes, I had done a bunch of research on standard strobes and there is very little difference between "aviation" strobes and standard strobes that Strobes and more sells. So as of right now I have the same set up, only way this would change is if someone comes out with a reasonable set of LED strobes. As far as the wiring goes, I used a diagram straight from the LED manufactures website, I believe they are wired in 2 groups of 3 and then in parallel, I am no electronics experct either so I cant help too much there, I have let them run for a few hours to see if they built up any heat and there was not enough to detect so i think it should be alright.

Brantel, Thanks for the heads up on the noise, that would have been a huge bummer. Would you happen to have any links on how to make one yourself? If not I will have to rework it all and install one from the source you posted.

Thanks again
-david
 
You must log in or register to reply here.