LED Tail Light on 172SP

arnoha

arnoha

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arnoha
Well, my tail light just burned out...again. Ready to replace it with an LED. What have you guys had success with, particularly if you've had experience on the SP? I'm sure I'm opening a can of worms. (Oil, lights, tires...everyone has an opinion!) But...

Do I need an STC? I've seen conflicting advice on this. I note that the Whelen LED tail light ($220!!) comes TSO and STC. Unfortunately, of all the models lists, the 172P is the last of the 172 listed...no R, no S.

Can I put in a drop-in LED replacement bulb? Lots that fit and lots of people do it. But is it legal? Do I need a 337?

Why is something as simple as a light so damn complex in the airplane world?
 
Give Whelen a call; I'm sure it's not the first time that question has been posed to them. I just put their #7105501 (28v) on the tail of my 172N, and love it. Very bright, low power draw, and allowed the power supply for the original flashing beacon to be taken out. About $500 for the unit, and an hour of shop time.
 
I just put all PSA LED Nav Lights on my Cherokee and I am very happy so far.
 
PSA pineapple-style tail light does not fit on my 2003 Cessna 172S. :( Ordered it...fail.

Right style, right base, but the "pineapple" is too wide near the base to engage, since it hits the reflector. The glass bulb shape is followed pretty closely at the base in this particular model's lamp.
 
Call whelen and PSA to see if either has a solution.
 
I would look at Whelens and Aveos.

We had Whelens in the 310s and now have Aveos in the 414s. Both are high quality products, but I like the Aveos better overall. Much brighter. The one thing I'll say about the Whelens is that the pattern of the strobes I think is better for LEDs. Whelen strobes have more of a distinct on/off (about 1/4 second on then another 1/4 second off). The Aveos use a more traditional strobe multi-pulse flash. I think with the light output of LEDs, the Whelen method is more visible at night from a distance.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I would look at Whelens and Aveos.

We had Whelens in the 310s and now have Aveos in the 414s. Both are high quality products, but I like the Aveos better overall. Much brighter. The one thing I'll say about the Whelens is that the pattern of the strobes I think is better for LEDs. Whelen strobes have more of a distinct on/off (about 1/4 second on then another 1/4 second off). The Aveos use a more traditional strobe multi-pulse flash. I think with the light output of LEDs, the Whelen method is more visible at night from a distance.
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This one? http://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/el/ledlighting_zaveoflash/posistrobexp.php

Pricey. Not sure I can justify $400 on a 172S that rarely flies at night. And I don't need any of the strobing function.

I will let PSA know. See what they say.

Anyone want to buy a tail lamp? 24V pineapple! :D
 
Dr. Contrarian here -- LED tail light?

Why?

I can imagine longevity or reduced electric load.... but it's not like were talking landing or taxi lights where the brightness helps me.

I'm ready to learn on this one.
 
Ravioli said:
Dr. Contrarian here -- LED tail light?

Why?

I can imagine longevity or reduced electric load.... but it's not like were talking landing or taxi lights where the brightness helps me.

I'm ready to learn on this one.
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The purpose of navigation and strobe lights is to make your aircraft visible to other aircraft, and also identify which direction you are flying. Brighter lights make you more visible. I had Whelen LEDs on the 310 and I got a lot of comments on how easy it was to see the plane with LEDs.
 
Okay, I'll accept that rationale.

Now we just need nav lights that make the blip on the tablet brighter since that's all anyone looks at these days. After 2020 nav lights will go the way of LORAN.

[Maybe not]
 
I'm going off distant memory here, but I thought some of the SPs had LED position lights from the factory. What did Cessna use?
 
Ravioli said:
Dr. Contrarian here -- LED tail light?

Why?

I can imagine longevity or reduced electric load.... but it's not like were talking landing or taxi lights where the brightness helps me.

I'm ready to learn on this one.
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Definitely the reduced load. Just replacing the landing light reduced the load 8.8 amps. The LED beacon got me another 2 amp (I think) compared to the rotating Grimes. LED position (tail light), saved another 1.5 amp. Last week, replaced the wing tips and saved another 2.5 amps. Overall, about a 15 amp reduction on a 40 amp system. This is important because if, in the unlikely event I can afford it, either the GPS or the two G5s (3.4 watt, 0.25 amp each) will need that power. I'd love to get rid of the TKM 12D (7+ amps) and get another SL30 (3.2 amps) but it's really not worth it right now.
 
@murphey - Thanks for the actual load reduction numbers. Now it is looking like I should do it in the RV. It has dual electronic electronic ignitions so reducing the power draw is a good thing in the unlikely need for an alternator failure at night.
 
@arnoha Did you ever do this LED beacon upgrade? I also have a 172S and I've had 3 beacon bulb failures now in 4 years (02-0350433-01 LAMP ASSY 28 VOLT). Also 2 base failures as well (02-0250627-01 BASE ASSY-FLASHER). I'd rather put the funds toward LED upgrade. Those old halogen bulbs and bases are mighty expensive anyway. Near $200 for the assembly if the bulb takes out the base too (01-0770509-07). I have already replaced the landing and taxi lights with LED and it was a great upgrade with no regrets. The beacon at about $500 is hard to stomach though. The beacon upgrade costs as much as the taxi and landing light upgrade combined. Also, I saw STC SA615EA, and also observed it was only through the Cessna 172P model. So I'm wondering if this is even an option on a 172S??? Is the fact it is TSO'd enough???
 
Ravioli said:
Dr. Contrarian here -- LED tail light?

Why?

I can imagine longevity or reduced electric load.... but it's not like were talking landing or taxi lights where the brightness helps me.

I'm ready to learn on this one.
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Also, LED's are generally more reliable. Burn out a nav light, and you're not legal to fly at night.

Also, as the pilot of something that moves rather fast and has lots of technology, there are plenty of times when we need to look out the window to look for something moving much slower. I can say that modern LED anti collision lights make that job a lot easier, they really stand out, especially at night.
 
Dirtrider said:
@arnoha Did you ever do this LED beacon upgrade? I also have a 172S and I've had 3 beacon bulb failures now in 4 years (02-0350433-01 LAMP ASSY 28 VOLT). Also 2 base failures as well (02-0250627-01 BASE ASSY-FLASHER). I'd rather put the funds toward LED upgrade. Those old halogen bulbs and bases are mighty expensive anyway. Near $200 for the assembly if the bulb takes out the base too (01-0770509-07). I have already replaced the landing and taxi lights with LED and it was a great upgrade with no regrets. The beacon at about $500 is hard to stomach though. The beacon upgrade costs as much as the taxi and landing light upgrade combined. Also, I saw STC SA615EA, and also observed it was only through the Cessna 172P model. So I'm wondering if this is even an option on a 172S??? Is the fact it is TSO'd enough???
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Call Whelen.

Things change all the time.

I had an old Grimes rotating beacon. Changing the bulb never bothered me - I only needed to do that 3 times in 20 years. After almost 20 years (and the beacon almost 50 yrs old) of taking it down, cleaning the motor, I went with the LED beacon from Whelen.
 
Dirtrider said:
@arnoha Did you ever do this LED beacon upgrade? I also have a 172S and I've had 3 beacon bulb failures now in 4 years (02-0350433-01 LAMP ASSY 28 VOLT). Also 2 base failures as well (02-0250627-01 BASE ASSY-FLASHER). I'd rather put the funds toward LED upgrade. Those old halogen bulbs and bases are mighty expensive anyway. Near $200 for the assembly if the bulb takes out the base too (01-0770509-07). I have already replaced the landing and taxi lights with LED and it was a great upgrade with no regrets. The beacon at about $500 is hard to stomach though. The beacon upgrade costs as much as the taxi and landing light upgrade combined. Also, I saw STC SA615EA, and also observed it was only through the Cessna 172P model. So I'm wondering if this is even an option on a 172S??? Is the fact it is TSO'd enough???
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For the beacon? I did not. I've had it fail once, and the club replaced it with the same old bulb before I even got a chance to comment on it. Base hasn't been an issue for me.

For the tail light, also no. As noted earlier, the pineapple style bulb did not fit in the base...too wide near the bottom. So, to get things moving, I also put back the same old incandescent bulb.

Right now, the only LED on my plane is the landing light, a Whelen. Taxi light is still incandescent, but it's rarely used, so it hasn't burned out in nearly three years I've owned it plus whatever the previous owner put on it.
 
I replaced every light (including interior lights) with LED. I went Whelen for everything except the tail light because I plan on doing the uAvionix ADSB tail light, so I just have a cheaper PSA light there in the mean time. Unfortunately there must be an open ground in my plane, because the Aveo light and goodies for pilots landing light caused pretty severe RFI over the radio. I'm not sure how Whelen does it, but their product causes none in my plane so I'd definitely recommend them. I don't have strobes so I REALLY wanted bright lights to be easily seen and I couldn't be happier.
 
Just put the Whelen Orion series 600 nav/strobes on the wingtips of a PA32. Simple install, look great. About $1500 for the lights and the shop to install them. That may seem a little steep, but knowing they will never burn out, and are brighter and therefore safe seemed worth it.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
I called Whelen this morning. Tech support was nice but no help. He suggested possibly the Whelen 7105501 LED Beacon 28 Volt be installed with a 337 since restart Cessnas (R and S models) aren't included on the STC. Found a guy in sales, Derek, that knew what I was talking about. He said Cessna contracted with Whelen directly for the LED in the latest of the late model 172S. The part is not otherwise available and he doesn't even have the Cessna part number. I have the parts and service manuals for the restart models but mine is too old I guess to have the latest LED optional equipment listed. Whelen's internal part number is 715600 for the exclusive LED for 1996 and newer Cessna 172S. It is different than 71055 and is lower profile. It is the entire assembly and doesn't reuse any components from the old halogen flasher. He advised I should contact Cessna directly to see if I can get the part through them and find out the part number. Also need to find out if it can be installed on earlier serial numbers like my 2000 172SP. Apparently Cessna got all the approvals on this part number so it's up to how they documented it. This is all more work than it should be...
 
Dirtrider said:
I called Whelen this morning. Tech support was nice but no help. He suggested possibly the Whelen 7105501 LED Beacon 28 Volt be installed with a 337 since restart Cessnas (R and S models) aren't included on the STC. Found a guy in sales, Derek, that knew what I was talking about. He said Cessna contracted with Whelen directly for the LED in the latest of the late model 172S. The part is not otherwise available and he doesn't even have the Cessna part number. I have the parts and service manuals for the restart models but mine is too old I guess to have the latest LED optional equipment listed. Whelen's internal part number is 715600 for the exclusive LED for 1996 and newer Cessna 172S. It is different than 71055 and is lower profile. It is the entire assembly and doesn't reuse any components from the old halogen flasher. He advised I should contact Cessna directly to see if I can get the part through them and find out the part number. Also need to find out if it can be installed on earlier serial numbers like my 2000 172SP. Apparently Cessna got all the approvals on this part number so it's up to how they documented it. This is all more work than it should be...
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Good information. Unfortunately, if it's through Textron instead of through Whelen, the already exorbitant prices on these things is likely tripled. (I wish I was joking.) I'd expect $1500 or higher.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
I replaced every light (including interior lights) with LED. I went Whelen for everything except the tail light because I plan on doing the uAvionix ADSB tail light, so I just have a cheaper PSA light there in the mean time. Unfortunately there must be an open ground in my plane, because the Aveo light and goodies for pilots landing light caused pretty severe RFI over the radio. I'm not sure how Whelen does it, but their product causes none in my plane so I'd definitely recommend them. I don't have strobes so I REALLY wanted bright lights to be easily seen and I couldn't be happier.
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Are the PSAs nav lights good to go in the skywagons?
 
James331 said:
Are the PSAs nav lights good to go in the skywagons?
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The pinecone design worked fine for my 1970. Had them in the wings and tail, but I didn't like how dim they were. So they're now with @GeorgeC and I went with Whelen Chromas. They're waaaaay brighter and we'll worth the money.
 
So if I go PSA, go for 3 cones and clear port and starboard nav lenses?
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Yep! You could try the paddle style PSA too. I don't have any experience with them though.
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Thanks!

Did you ever track down the source of that radio noise you had?
 
James331 said:
Thanks!

Did you ever track down the source of that radio noise you had?
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No, but the Whelen landing lights made it go away so I'm not worried about it. I'll look into it more when I do a panel overhaul.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
No, but the Whelen landing lights made it go away so I'm not worried about it. I'll look into it more when I do a panel overhaul.
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That's odd, not sure if the 12v vs 24v makes a difference but I've been fine with my pilot goodies ones for a while now. Even with no issues in my plane is does concern me a small amount that others have had rf noise.
 
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James331 said:
That's odd, not sure if the 12v vs 24v makes a difference but I've been fine with my pilot goodies ones for a while now. Even with no issues in my plan is does concern me a small amount that others have had rf noise.
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Ehh I'm sure you're fine ;). The plane sat in Michigan in a barn for a few decades before she was mine. A ton of the electrical connections are bad, luckily the airframe was completely corrosion protected and I searched everywhere to see if I could find corrosion. Looks like I really got a good one.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Ehh I'm sure you're fine ;). The plane sat in Michigan in a barn for a few decades before she was mine. A ton of the electrical connections are bad, luckily the airframe was completely corrosion protected and I searched everywhere to see if I could find corrosion. Looks like I really got a good one.
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No such thing as a skywagon that isn't a good one ;)

Take it your is a factory float plane
 
James331 said:
No such thing as a skywagon that isn't a good one ;)

Take it your is a factory float plane
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Actually not a factory float kit but the original owner or dealer did request corrosion protection from the factory and sure enough it's in the original equipment list. Nothing for floats though
 
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