[N941WR]

This may have been posted, if so, I can't find it.

Back in the dark ages, before everyone used headsets and GPS's didn't exist they used to talk about the use of red lights in the cabin for night flights.

Is this still a big deal or can I use blue/white lights?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Tandem46]

NO! You can't use blue/white lights! Are you crazy? Just kidding Bill, you can use any color of lights you want. I'm assuming you're talking about cockpit instrument lights, you said cabin. As long as you think it won't adversely affect your night vision. Green is also a good color. In the Navy most cockpits are being converted to green lighting due to NVD (night vision device) compatibility. Red light is not compatible with NVD's. After flying with green lights for a while, I actually prefer it although my RV has whitish/bluish tint on the lights.

Tobin

 

[N941WR]

Yep, I ment to say instrument and cabin lights. I figure that when loading the RV, even white lights aren't a good thing but I was thinking red and white cabin lights.

However, I'm still not sure what I'm going to do.

Some of the glowing light strips and light wires make me question the need for red lights.

 

[osxuser]

Aviation green is the new standard, better than red for reading charts. That said, you could use purple if you really wanted too.

 

[1911pilot]

I like blue, but the green strips look pretty sweet. I HATE red lights because its hard to read sectional information with them.

 

[treeez]

I don't think I want to use the light strips under the glare shield for my instrument lights. My friend did and on the one and only night flight that he has made, the instruments on the lower part of the panel were unreadable.

 

[Ironflight]

treez,

You're right - the panel coverage of an under-the-glareshield EL strip is very dependent on the installation, and it is easy to shadow lower instruments. However, this is very easy to design empirically - just turn off the lights in the workshop and move your lighting strip around until you get the coverage you want - then, glue it in place.

It won't work in all installations - but it does work in many. I wouldn't condemn the system because of one example. In my installation, all of the lower things on my panel are avionics with their own internal lighting. The EL strip does a great job of illuminating the rest.

Panel lighting is very definitely a cut-and-try design process.

Paul

 

[osxuser]

We used Nulites in our Cardinal for all the instrument lights. They work great, and with some cutting, we even got our square Cessna engine gauges lit. If you look at the new certified Cessnas, they have the EL strip on top, plus a flood (map light) and the backlit instruments. A bit of over kill perhaps, but with independant dimmers for each it works out so you can set a balance you like at night. The thing I don't like about the EL strip is that it lights the whole panel at night, rather than the instruments only.

 

[akarmy]

I don't think I want to use the light strips under the glare shield for my instrument lights. My friend did and on the one and only night flight that he has made, the instruments on the lower part of the panel were unreadable.

I put the 1" el strip about a 1/4" from the lip of the glareshield. It lights the panel "ok". As you say the lower instruments are dim, but in my case that's just a VSI. I decided that since I don't fly that much night flying it really did not matter enough to have "perfect" ilumination.

I can say that if you turn up the dimmer on the EL strip light the entire cockpit is lit up. There's no need for any type of map light, as your entire lap is illuminated.