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DIY LED Taxi Light Update

petehowell

petehowell

Well Known Member
I have had a few people asking about the DIY Taxi Lights I have in the wingtips of my-9A.

The good news - they continue to work really well. No heat or noise issues and they seem pretty durable - I turn them on at startup, day or night and run them all the time. LED prices continue to drop, making these even more affordable. They are great as taxi lights, but still don't equal HID for landing.

P7 Star $16

heat sink reflector $7

Now the bad news(maybe) the CC driver board ($10) is not on the web anymore. I have an email into the guys in Turkey to see if we can get more. I want some for the high output bike lights I am making.

I will keep you posted.




petehowell said:
I found these on the web and have been using one of these units in my wingtip for 200 hrs now to drive a P7 taxi light with no noise on the radio. No idea if it would be noisy closer to the cockpit. The price is right. They come in 350, 500, 700, 1000, and 1400ma constant current flavors. $9.95 each.

Yes they ship from Turkey! They take about 20 days to arrive. The people there have been great to deal with.
Click to expand...
 
Another driver?

I'm just starting to think about this stuff (I'm working on wings) and not even sure what an LED driver is, but would the AEC9051 Series High Intensity LED Driver Kits at www.aeroelectric.com work with these?

???

Dkb


petehowell said:
I have had a few people asking about the DIY Taxi Lights I have in the wingtips of my-9A.

The good news - they continue to work really well. No heat or noise issues and they seem pretty durable - I turn them on at startup, day or night and run them all the time. LED prices continue to drop, making these even more affordable. They are great as taxi lights, but still don't equal HID for landing.

P7 Star $16

heat sink reflector $7

Now the bad news(maybe) the CC driver board ($10) is not on the web anymore. I have an email into the guys in Turkey to see if we can get more. I want some for the high output bike lights I am making.

I will keep you posted.
Click to expand...
 
Flashing/steady lights

There's a circuit I use in my plane that drives two 50W halogen reflector lamps, one in each wing. Using a DPDT switch they can be set up to be on steady as landing or taxilights or as flashing recognition lamps alternately flashing at about 1 second each. The circuit turns the lamps on through each other in the flashing mode so that the inrush current is limited to the current of the on lamp, which at 14V is 3.6A. These lamps on my plane have been flashing for over 550 hours; they turn on when the master is on so that it serves as a warning to anyone nearby. I just completed and sent a circuit modified to operate on 28V to a friend. When I told him about the circuit and that the parts for it were about $20 he looked it up on the web and found the original article describing it in the 2000 June 12 edition of Electronic Design.
 
Sounds cool ! Could you be more specific where I could find this circuit . I did a search but couldn't find it .

Pete,

Are you only using one LED per wing , or more ?

Marc
 
Google to the rescue...

777drvr said:
Sounds cool ! Could you be more specific where I could find this circuit . I did a search but couldn't find it .

Pete,

Are you only using one LED per wing , or more ?

Marc
Click to expand...

The design, and it's associated schematic, is here --

http://electronicdesign.com/article/components/aircraft-light-flasher-extends-bulb-life4422.aspx

Seems easy enough to build if you know electronics.

figure_01.gif


Note - this is for bulbs, not LEDs. - it's a nifty idea to limit the in-rush current.
 
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One per Tip

Hi Marc - Yes- one P7 and reflector combo per tip.

777drvr said:
Sounds cool ! Could you be more specific where I could find this circuit . I did a search but couldn't find it .

Pete,

Are you only using one LED per wing , or more ?

Marc
Click to expand...
 
Starting to get interested in this ! I don't know much about this stuff but am trying to get Google educated . I understand CC is the way to go to drive these lights .

Pete,
Have you found out anything about the $10 driver board or have you sourced something else ? I just fired off an email to a company in Turkey who makes the ACG D-1400 driver.

Marc
 
That is the one...

Marc,

I use the ACG drivers as well. The 1000 runs cooler than the 1400 and is plenty bright with the P7.
 
Hi Pete,

I got a reply from ACG in Turkey . $8.95 per for 1-9 and $7.95 10-19 . $14 shipping . I went on Candle Power forums and those guys are extreme LED users ! Some of the beam shots were incredible . I think LEDs are the future in aircraft lighting .

Lot's of discussion about drivers and "buck pucks" with a bunch for sale . Most of those guys had to worry about form factors to fit in the flashlights but it's not a big deal for us .

One thing is that they are all switching regulators which have been proven to cause noise in our audio systems . You say that you haven't had a problem with the ACG drivers....

The CandlePower forums also brought to light ( groan ) more options. Higher power LEDs and drivers . Wow this could be fun !!

Marc
 
LEDs are Cool

Marc,

The technology is moving very quickly, and the prices are always dropping. It allows us to play around at resonable prices.

I have been using he AGC drivers for about a year now with no RF issues. Your mileage may vary. The price is such that if there is a problem - you are not out much.

I did have noise issues with the LED Dynamics Buck Puck - but not with AGC.

Good Luck!
 
Noise can be controlled if the driver has built in filtering....

Bob Knuckles and I worked together to develop a filter for the LED Dynamics (CC driver with no built in filtering) type drivers. It works well and I suspect that the AGC drivers have a filter method built into their design. The AGC drivers seem to be very cost effective!!

Most normal cheap off the shelf CC drivers like the ones that LED Dynamics makes will trash your radio and intercom with noise unless you add a filter to it!!! Pete has had good luck with the AGC ones!
 
The ACG units can also be paralleled to increase the output . I think the P7 leds will only put out 900 Lumens at 2.8 amps .

Pete says 1A is good enough . It probably is but you know how it is , bigger , better......

Another jump up would be SST 50 driven at around 5 amps !

I'm off to the hangar to check my wingtips and come up with a plan.

Pete,

Are you grounding the driver locally or using 2 wires ? Twisted ?

Marc
 
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Heat

Amps = heat. Make sure you have a plan to keep the LEDs cool. I have had good luck and long life by under-driving the LEDs I use for taxi and nav lights.

All part of the design process........
 
Yep , you're right ! Maybe I shouldn't get too excited about the power . I really only wanted recognition/visibility lights with minimal fuss and expense.

The ACG manufacturer says there are a couple of caps on the input side of the driver and one on the output when asked about filtering .

Did you ground locally or use two wires ? If so , were they twisted ?

Are LEDs treated any different regarding Wig Wag circuits ?

Marc
 
Trying to contact ACG

so I can purchase a couple of ACG D-1400 LED Drivers, but have not received a reply. Has anyone puchased for them lately? I have been to their website click on the "Contact US" button and requested information last week. I sent another message today on the "Inquiry Button". Hopefully someone will contact me soon.
 
Might as well simply use one of the US companies. I'm going to buy from LuxeonStar as their drivers can be synced together to wigwag the taxi lights or strobe them if I want.
 
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