172 Landing lights

U

UngaWunga

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UngaWunga
1972 Cessna 172M, single large landing light in the center of the lower cowl.
It's 5" across, which doesn't match up with the measurements of the popular PAR* sizes.
Does anyone know the model number of PAR number for this size light?

Thanks
 
Really? That's 5 3/4". This bulb is 5 1/8" max. Guess I need to pop it out of the cowl to figure this out.

Thanks
 
UngaWunga said:
Really? That's 5 3/4". This bulb is 5 1/8" max. Guess I need to pop it out of the cowl to figure this out.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Unga:
In my limited experience, I recall only seeing PAR 36, 46, and 64 sized bulbs used in most aviation installs.
 
UngaWunga said:
Really? That's 5 3/4". This bulb is 5 1/8" max. Guess I need to pop it out of the cowl to figure this out.

Thanks
Click to expand...

What you see on the outside isn't the overall width of the bulb. I've changed enough of them...
 
Ooooh. After long last, I finally bit the bullet and just bought a PAR46 Sunspot.

Eye-watering expensive, but about twice the current draw as the Parmetheus, which should yield about twice the brightness, for less than twice the Parmetheus price (and still less than a third of the 4522 draw). From my digging, this was the brightest 14VDC LED I could find.

https://www.pacificcoastavionics.com/products/2639-sunspot-46-landing.aspx

Very not disappointed. After a couple of night landings, I am wishing I had bought it much earlier. The 4522 tight illumination spot was like landing while looking through a yellow tinted toilet paper tube by comparison. This is bright, white, and the runway is illuminated from edge to edge. I'm sold. It visually appears significantly brighter than the 4522.

And I can now leave it on continually for collision avoidance. With the 4522's 10 hour mean time between failures, I was always rationing the landing light like a water faucet in the desert.

Aircraft spruce just significantly raised their price on this light I see, so the others may be following soon.
 
Yeah, I'm not going to spend $700 on a single bulb.
 
UngaWunga said:
Yeah, I'm not going to spend $700 on a single bulb.
Click to expand...

Unless you are a commercial operator for whom downtime due to failed landing lights is expensive. Or a private owner who pays a shop to replace that bulb over and over. Add it up.
 
Yup, just showing there are options for the other sizes. I'm just going to have the wire fixed and call it good.
 
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