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Filtered LED Driver Now Available

What else do I need?

Brantel said:
Aeroelectric Bob has added his filtered LED driver to his website for sale.

Details here:

https://matronics.com/aeroelectric/Catalog/AECcatalog.html

http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=208203#208203

Bottom line is he needs an order for 19 more drivers in order to produce these. I have the prototype and will be ordering one more.
Click to expand...


Brian,

I am not a EE but do like the idea of doing my own LED position lights. I am up for ordering these to help get the 20 needed but what else will I need? How complicated is this, I have no experience with a soder iron but could find local help. If you could post or PM the other items and some instrucitons, I assume you will be installing in the cutout wing like I have. Thanks, let me know and I will place the order.

Cheers
 
Just ordered 2

Brian,
Thanks for running with this, and I'm glad I've been procrastinating regarding giving up on the roll your own led project.

I just hit the Matronics AeroElectric web site and ordered 2 assemblies.
 
Mike,

I will gather together the links to the threads that detail what I have a little later tonight. Tons of info here in the archives detailing these roll your own versions.

The short version:
If you want to copy the most common design, you will need two drivers from Bob, 6 cyan K2 star LED's, 6 red K2 star LED's, some mirrored plexi and something to make a heat sink out of.

RVG8tor said:
Brian,

I am not a EE but do like the idea of doing my own LED position lights. I am up for ordering these to help get the 20 needed but what else will I need? How complicated is this, I have no experience with a soder iron but could find local help. If you could post or PM the other items and some instrucitons, I assume you will be installing in the cutout wing like I have. Thanks, let me know and I will place the order.

Cheers
Click to expand...
 
bought 2

Just ordered two. I have the rest of the material sitting around waiting on me to start the wings
 
me too

Just ordered two...I really don't think it will be long for bob to get 20 orders. I've built two sets of nav lights and used a cpu heatsink...(not my idea...picked it up here)...purchased on ebay for about 3 dollars. I can send you a pic if you like..

On to the next project....

Thanks Brian for staying the course...
 
Brian,

Thanks I look forward to the links. I went ahead and place my order. The timing is perfect I just this week decided to get off the fence and get stared on the lighting in my wings. I have been putting it off since I did not know which way I was going to go.

Cheers
 
Brian,

Thanks for getting this done. I just ordered two filter board assemblies. I've already got the BuckPucks.
 
Here is just one of many links:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=24258&highlight=data+point

Read it all because some things changed from start to finish...

Some things I have learned:

1. The LEDDynamics driver will trash your radio's with noise. Bob's filter seems to nip this in the bud.

2. Order cyan led's instead of green.

3. K2 stars do not have to be isolated from each other, most others do.

4. Use thermal epoxy to mount the LED's instead of screws, much easier and works just as good.

5. LEDSupply.com is a great source for LED's and drivers.

6. When you run multiple series runs of LED's in parallel on the same constant current driver, you need each series run to have at least three LED's. This allows the LED's to properly share the current from the driver.

7. Socket A cpu heatsinks from old computers make great heatsinks for these lights.

8. Use artic silver thermal paste between your heatsink and base plate.

9. 6ea K2 stars on each side running at 500mA will make you see spots!



RVG8tor said:
Brian,

Thanks I look forward to the links. I went ahead and place my order. The timing is perfect I just this week decided to get off the fence and get stared on the lighting in my wings. I have been putting it off since I did not know which way I was going to go.

Cheers
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Update from Bob.

He added a filter kit only no driver option to the website for those that already have the drivers or who want to customize theirs by using a different current rating on the driver.

Keep in mind that the inductor used in his filter is rated for 1000mA max so do not attempt to use a 1500mA driver with it.
 
Update from Bob:

"I have received orders for the necessary 20 filter boards
and/or fully populated assemblies for the BuckPuck constant
current driver modules. I'll be ordering 100 boards and
detail parts for about 50 total assemblies except for the
BuckPuck module. The board will take about 10 days to fabricate
so I'll not order BuckPucks until the boards are here. We'll
probably assemble a first batch of 50 boards (will take about
a day).

Bottom line that the AEC9051-1 and AEC9051-99 will become
inventoried items that we should be able to ship from
stock in about 2 weeks.

Bob . . ."
 
Brian,

Thank for the info, I am not sure where the heat sink goes but hopefully I will learn this from the thread link you posted.

Cheers
 
I attached mine to the back of the base plate that the LED's are mounted to as shown here:



2005885501486277013_rs.jpg


I used Arctic Silver Thermal Paste between the plate and the heatsink. Used pop rivets to hold it together. Works great!
RVG8tor said:
Brian,

Thank for the info, I am not sure where the heat sink goes but hopefully I will learn this from the thread link you posted.

Cheers
Click to expand...
 
My compliments Brian. You've done a good job with this project.

I'll be in for a set of the driver/filters in due course. Doubt Bob is gonna find it hard to sell 50.
 
Thanks,

Give the credit to Bob, I just gave him a nudge and he took the ball and ran with it.

DanH said:
My compliments Brian. You've done a good job with this project.

I'll be in for a set of the driver/filters in due course. Doubt Bob is gonna find it hard to sell 50.
Click to expand...
 
Is there an advantage in using the K2 stars vs the Luxeon III Emitters (star type) data sheet info below as well as the image.

Red: Vf 2.95 V, Forward current 1400 mA
Cyan:Vf 3.7 V, Forward Current 700 mA

show.cfm


I was hoping to use these as my LED's (since I was able to obtain them last year), but if I need to replace them, than so be it. I'm not so sure that these "Buckpucks" are able to drive six emitters.

Anyone using the emitters? If so how did you wire them? or does it matter, in series or parallel?

John
 
The Luxeon III's work fine. Matter of fact my Cyans are III's and my reds are K2's. They did not have a Cyan K2 when I bought mine so I bought the III's.

The K2's are more efficient and do not have to be isolated from each other. The Io's do have to be isolated or they will kill each other.

It would be tough to get 6 of either in series to run on aircraft power using one of these drivers so what most have done is run two parallel strings of 3 LED's in series on each side.

So for a 1000mA driver, your running each LED at ~ 500mA and the voltage drop across them is Vf x 3.
 
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Boxcars said:
To make sure I understand: just one driver/filter unit to run LEDs in both wingtips?
Click to expand...

While you could do this, you would have very long LED side power leads and this may cause other noise issues.

The suggestion is put a driver/filter in each wingtip and keep the LED side leads as short as possible.

Also, these drivers output a fixed amount of constant current. Depending on how many parallel runs of LED's you have, it will change what current your driving them at.
 
Aeroelectric Bob has expanded his offering of Filtered LED Driver Kits:

"Quote from Bob:

There has been sufficient demonstrated interest in the
AEC9051 series Buck-Puck LED drivers that we've turned
this into an "official" product of The 'Connection.

I've crafted on-purpose installation documentation and
expanded the offerings to cover lower current versions
of the LED driver in addition to the bare-bones Filter
Assembly to which users may add their own Buck-Puck
LED drivers. See:

https://matronics.com/aeroelectric/Catalog/AECcatalog.html

and

https://matronics.com/aeroelectric/Catalog/AEC/9051/9051-700A.pdf
Bob . . . "


And has also done a nice job with formal instructions/diagrams:

https://matronics.com/aeroelectric/Catalog/AEC/9051/9051-700A.pdf
 
For those that are using or planning to use homebrew LED lighting....I can now confirm that Bob's LED Driver noise filters actually work in the application they were designed for.

I finally got my wingtips and lights installed and working and they have no affect on the radio or intercom.
 
rvator51 said:
Hi Brian,
Can you post some pictures of your installation?
Click to expand...

Tons of info here and on other threads...I forgot my camera at the hangar so no pics of them on the aircraft yet.

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=24258&highlight=data+point+led

I mounted the LED drivers/filters right to the tip rib using the post provided by Bob. Bob's driver/filter has a 9 pin Dshell connector for its wiring. Rat Shack 2 pin connector between that and the LED units.

Info on the driver/filter:

https://matronics.com/aeroelectric/Catalog/AEC/9051/9051-700A.pdf
 
Another Option......

I 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. $9.95 each.

Yes they ship from Turkey! They take about 20 days to arrive. The people there have been great to deal with.
 
Pete,

Where were you when we were working thru trying to make these state side drivers quiet!

That thing looks to have similar filtering built in....These off the self drivers here in the states do not have any filtering included thus Bob and I came up with our own....

Is that price correct?
 
yep $10

Brian,

They were a product of some extreme googling......

I did not post b/c I wanted to make sure they worked and were quiet. After 200 hrs I feel pretty good about them. I just took delivery of some 1400ma drivers at 9.95 each. They nicked me for 9.95 Intl Shipping, but they seem to work just fine!
 
I replaced the incandescent bulbs in my Whelen wingtip nav lights with plug-in LED units from Aircraft Spruce. They look great!

However, when I turned them on for the first time while flying the other day, I heard the squelch on my radio go off. After troubleshooting a few times, I decided that it's indeed in my radio and not the audio panel.

I removed the LED bulbs and the noise stopped. Put the incandescents back in and all's quiet.

Is this the noise you guys are talking about? Is the solution to install a couple of filters in the wingtip units, even if I'm not making my own LED bulbs?
 
Depends,

If they are passive devices (no active electronics) then they should not be your source of noise.

If they have an active driver module built into them, then they very well may be a huge source for noise unless they have built in filtering.

Plain old LED's without active drivers will not make any noise.
 
Swapping

The in-out swap of the lights and the corresponing swapping of the noise indicates that the LED drivers are not well filtered and are the source of the noise.
 
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How are the 1400 ACG CC LED Drivers

Pete,

Any update on the 1400 ACG LED drivers you tried out. Have they operated noise free for you?
 
1400ma Drivers

Paul,

I am giving a presentation at the December meeting of the MN Wing on LEDs and plan to use the 1400ma driver as a part of the demonstration, so I have not mounted it in the plane yet. I can tell you the P7 LED with this driver is insanely bright.

I have been using the exact same unit in the 1000ma flavor for over 200 hrs in one wingtip on my 9A (with another P7) with no noise whatsoever. I have an LED Wig-Wag strobe unit and plan to use these as recognition/taxi lights in the wingtips. At $35 a side for LEDs, reflectors and drivers it is not a bad deal!

I will write up a separate post soon with some details and part numbers.
 
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