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Nose Taxi Light

BobCollins(AA) said:
Has anyone outfitted RV-7A with a nose cowl taxi light
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I would give Geoff Combs at Aerosport Products a call. (614-834-8659) He showed off his cowl light for the RV-10 at OSH. I know that he's talked about doing other models, but I can't speak to his schedule and availability. They are LEDs, which minimizes the vibration issues that you have with incandescant bulbs. It can be easily installed, even with an already painted cowl.

bob

cowllight.JPG
 
az_gila said:
One issue would be vibration.

The Grummans with a nose bowl landing light have two 1/2 inch thick dense foam rubber rings supporting the sealed beam bulb.
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And go through landing lights on a regular basis. I replaced one almost every year flying 2-300 hours a year. Of course those are filament bulbs. Led or and other non-filament bulb should be much more resilient to vibration.
 
walkman said:
And go through landing lights on a regular basis. I replaced one almost every year flying 2-300 hours a year. Of course those are filament bulbs. Led or and other non-filament bulb should be much more resilient to vibration.
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Considering that the certified 4509 sealed bulb lamp only has a rated life of 25 hours your replacement time might have been quite reasonable...:)

http://www.lampline.com/4509-ge-65-p
 
az_gila said:
Considering that the certified 4509 sealed bulb lamp only has a rated life of 25 hours your replacement time might have been quite reasonable...:)

http://www.lampline.com/4509-ge-65-p
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That's 25 hours of burn time not 25 hours of flight time, but hey as I recall I had even more trouble with the wires breaking right at the crimp than the filament burning out. The bulbs are (were?) cheap, but the only time I ever found out they were out was when I turned the light on to land, which is sub optimal :rolleyes:
 
What about HID lights?

I too have always wondered why folks don't put the landing/taxi lights in the cowl. Would the same vibration issues exist for HID lights? Or are they resistant to the effects of vibration like the LEDs are? What say you lighting engineers out there?
 
Why would vibration be an issue if the engine doesn't touch the cowling anyway?

Engine power pulses maybe? Since the wings are bolted solidly to the fuselage and it's bolted solidly to the engine mount, you'd think there'd be more vibration in the wings, no?

Best,
 
pierre smith said:
Why would vibration be an issue if the engine doesn't touch the cowling anyway?

Engine power pulses maybe? Since the wings are bolted solidly to the fuselage and it's bolted solidly to the engine mount, you'd think there'd be more vibration in the wings, no?

Best,
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Distance from the source of vibration attenuates the vibration? Besides, wings do flex.
 
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