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PaigeHoffart

Well Known Member
Anyone have any experience with mounting a taxi light on one of the inlet ramps? I've seen a couple of photos, and it seems like a simple solution that wouldn't require any cowl mods. I'm just wondering what kind of effect it would have on cooling.

cowllandinglight.jpg


Thanks,
Paige
 
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Cooling and Vibration?

Any blockage in the air inlet could cause cooling problems.

Also our flying club has two C172s - one with lights in the leading edge and one with lights in the cowl. We are for ever replacing bulbs in the cowl mounted lights due to vibration damage and to my knowledge we have never replaced bulbs in the wing mounted lights.

Just my 2c

Jim Sharkey
 
Jim,

Thanks for the reply. The cowl mounted vs. wing mounted debate has played out. I'm planning on using both with a LED based taxi light to fill in the area immediately in front of the plane. The question is do I cut into the cowl, do some glass work, and then have to mess with a wire connector every time I pull the cowl, or can I get away with putting it in the inlet. Surely someone on the board has to know someone with the setup depicted above (http://k53.pbase.com/u17/sonex293/large/42255034.IMG_0667.jpg).

Here's a pic of the light I'm thinking about using:
sku_25149_2.jpg

900 lumen according to the specs, cast aluminum, and about $55.

Paige
 
Think first...

Before you do something so uniquely clever.

In the cowl inlet you have cooling issues. What will the light be shining on? Hmmm. Is that really what you want?
 
lights in cowl

I too flew a C-172 that had the landing light in the cowl - was always needing replacing. Had to make a night landing one time and light did not operate. a bad thing if landing at night
 
Risky

The inlet area has been pretty much reduced to minimum section for sufficient cooling. If you search thru the forums, you'll see that efforts for further reduction have been made in search of more speed. Little to no success on the speed end, and increased problems with engine cooling. Putting your engine at risk for a center mounted light is probably something you should avoid. I have one light (standard duck-works wing mount) with a higher output bulb that is sufficient for taxi and landing. No plans to add another.
Terry, CFI
RV-9A N323TP
 
Ron Lee said:
Before you do something so uniquely clever.

In the cowl inlet you have cooling issues.
Click to expand...

Hence the reason for the question. I too have reservations about the possible cooling effects, but there is at least one RV out there with the setup. I'd love to hear a "I tried it, but my CHT's went up 50 deg" or "works fine for my O-320...". Just looking for some empirical data, it's not my original idea.

What will the light be shining on? Hmmm. Is that really what you want?
Click to expand...


Ummm... the same thing every other cowl mounted light would shine on.. the prop? What am I missing?

Paige
 
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A slightly tangent thought would be to mount a clear plate to the cowl and mount the light to a part of the structure and just shine through. You wouldn't have to worry about unwiring or unplugging it when you drop the cowl. It'd be much easier to aim the beam too.
 
Shockwave said:
A slightly tangent thought would be to mount a clear plate to the cowl and mount the light to a part of the structure and just shine through. You wouldn't have to worry about unwiring or unplugging it when you drop the cowl. It'd be much easier to aim the beam too.
Click to expand...

The thought has crossed my mind. I think the light would have to be fairly close to the cowl to get a wide field of light without a huge lens. The easiest place to mount it would seem to be directly below the inlet ramps but, I worry about difficulty in removing the cowl due to interference from the lower inlet flange. If someone has pics of a setup like that, I'd love to see them. So far the only one I'm aware of has an aluminum bracket mounted to the cowling.

Thanks for the ideas,
Paige
 
Please post info for this light

Jim, please post a link or store name for the LED light you showed in your original post. :)
 
P7

Hi Paige,

I am running a P7 based light in my wingtip. It is plenty bright, but the light is not real useful way out at the tips. So I have thought of what you are thinking of. Vibration will not be an issue in the cowl as with incan lights. No filament.

The P7 I am running is a real floody light making it a good taxi light.

Cooling may be an issue in the inlet. Try it on a cool day and then remove it and note the temp changes. That will let you know the effect. Maybe a small pod under the cowl would work. Lots of ideas, not much time...:D

I bought some LED driver boards from Turkey that have worked well to drive my light from ship's power. LEDs are current driven beasts so be careful hooking them up to voltage driven sources

I hope that helps.

Here is a link to a HK supplier. I have ordered from DX with good results
 
Pete,

Are you running the P7 bare, or with a lens? I'm beginning to think about running three P7s or MC-Es in a 1" x 3" rectangular cutout below the inlet. Three LEDs in series with a ballast resistor would be reasonably efficient without any RFI worries.

Paige
 
Reflector

Paige,

I have a reflector/heatsink that I adapted to am MR-16 mount. There is no focusing lens. 3 P7's is a ton of light - you might want a dimmer to use for oncoming traffic.

Good luck - the future of the LED stuff is getting brighter all the time (big groan.....)
 
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