[tectweaker]

I am planning on adding some cabin and panel lights to my rv8. I currently don't have any lights and lighted instruments in the panel. I am thinking that the led strip from vans would be sufficient for the panel and a map light for general lighting. I have quite a bit of experience flying other aircraft and have generally had good luck with white light on the panel and red light as the dom\cabin light.

Two questions:

1- Do I need a switch in addition to the dimmer? Will the dimmer turn off the light circuit completely?

2- Will the led strip sufficiently light up the panel or should I get some additional spot light for the panel?

Any other thoughts would be helpful as well.

----- Current shopping list for panel lighting...

35" LED Strip WHITE
LC LED STRIP WHITE
1
$39.95 $39.95

12 volt Red LED Light
LC MAPLIGHT RED
1
$47.00 $47.00

Voltage control unit for panel lamp control
ES DIMMER, LAMP 1.5A
1
$34.00 $34.00

 

[DrillBit]

The 100 Hz PWM dimmer I used for the strip LEDS under the glareshield completely turns off the lights turning the knob fully ccw.

I just finished riveting the top foward skin and installed the strip light for good. So far no EMI from the controller coming through on the headset. But that's limited testing, sitting in my garage, on the KLVK tower frequency, fully open squelch, just barely hearing calls from in-flight aircraft.

We'll see....

Big G's GTR-200 COM radio, by the way.

 

[lr172]

My experience.

Get the lowest output possible on the LED strip. The make 3 different style/power output options for the LEDs as well as # of LED's per meter. I started with medium power (5XXX series LEDs) and could not get it as dim as I wanted it in night time flight situations. I upgraded to a better dimmer but that wasn't enough. I finally downgraded to a strip with the lower output LED (32xx or 36XX series LEDs)(5M reel for about $6 on ebay). Between those two steps, I can now set a light level that works once adapted to night vision, as well as bright enough to use pre or post-flight when not worried about killing your night vision. The Kicks dimmer was a nicer unit compared to others I tried.

The LED will spill some light in your lap region to go beyond total darkness, but not adequate to read a map. My next step is to figure out something here, as the LED solution that I created during the build is just too bright.

I'll add that the 3M adhesivie strip provided with this strips did not hold well in my case. I ended up having to pull it off and replace it with a stronger alternative.

Good luck,

Larry

 

[flyinga]

If you are going "all glass" I don't see why you would need any panel lighting. I mounted one adjustable white LED on each side above the sub-panels to provide light for them. They come on with the nav lights and have rheostats to adjust intensity. I've flown a good bit o f night time with this configuration. I wouldn't use red lights. Last airplane I flew with red instrument lighting was in 1969.