dash lights

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JOhnH

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What do most (VFR) people do to see the instruments at night? We have not done much night flying but when we did we had to pull out the flashlight to see the instruments. I can't seem to find any sort of dash light intensity control. This is in a 1977 Cessna 172n.
 
Instrument illumination is usually questionable at best in older-model planes - especially rentals. In the 172's that I have flown, there was a knob that looked like a 'push-pull' knob located near the 'fresh air/cabin heat' controls but it was actually a 'twist' knob that would change the intensity of the panel light(s). The 152 that I did my initial training in didn't have post lights on the panel - it just had one small red flood light mounted over head between the seats that would flood the whole panel area. It actually worked fairly well unless you leaned up and made a shadow with your head.

As far as 'extra' illumination - I haven't found a perfect solution yet. I do work in a warehouse full of flashlights now, so I always have my eyes open for something new to try. The best thing I've found so far is the 'headlamp' style lights that have a stretch-strap that you can wear over your headset. Whatever type of light you use - try to use one with a red color. The red helps prevent night blindness.
 
JOhnH said:
What do most (VFR) people do to see the instruments at night? We have not done much night flying but when we did we had to pull out the flashlight to see the instruments. I can't seem to find any sort of dash light intensity control. This is in a 1977 Cessna 172n.
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The rheostat (dimmer) knob should be below and slightly to the left the throttle.

Edit - forgot to add that there should also be a switch on the overhead that lets you choose the red floodlight, the post lights or both.
 
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I have a knob with a silver hat on the far left side over by the master switch and primer knob on my C-172M. Both the knob and the hat rotate to bring up illumination. One turns up/down the red light above my head that casts a pale red glow toward the dash. The other one brings up/down the internal lights on those instruments that have such luxury.

The maplight with its switch on the left doorpost can also shed some light when needed.

But, for those times I really need to see what is going on inside the cabin, the small flashlight hanging by its cord from the throttle stem is my best bet.
 
CJones said:
The best thing I've found so far is the 'headlamp' style lights that have a stretch-strap that you can wear over your headset.
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I hope this isn't taking the thread too far away from where the OP wanted it to go, but I picked up one of these guys, and it's been quite handy. Works well for night flight, plus I've also used it for maintenance tasks when I needed some task lighting. Very lightweight.

Petzl e+Lite Emergency Headlamp
 
vontresc said:
+1 on the us of the headlamp. I started using one 5 years ago while flying at night. Beats the heall out of holding a maglight in your teeth. The headlamp also comes in real handy when LANDING after dark in the U.P. :D
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Fixed that for ya'. :D
 
I've got two headlamps, one of which has a red mode an they're handy for a great many things. But my experience is that they're just to bright in the cockpit. I make the most use of a pair of keychain LED lights strung on lanyards around my neck. I can shade it with the end of my finger to get just what I need and it's white for chart reading. (Magenta disappears in the red light.) It does take a hand to operate, but flying VFR at night I haven't had to do anything that required two hands and light.

Also, in the C-172C that I'm flying there is a cockpit light dimmer on the left side of the panel down low. It does both the red cockpit flood and the panel lights in the various instruments (some of which I still cant read without an extra light). I would not want to fly night IFR in this plane.

John
 
jsstevens said:
I've got two headlamps, one of which has a red mode an they're handy for a great many things. But my experience is that they're just to bright in the cockpit. I make the most use of a pair of keychain LED lights strung on lanyards around my neck. I can shade it with the end of my finger to get just what I need and it's white for chart reading. (Magenta disappears in the red light.) It does take a hand to operate, but flying VFR at night I haven't had to do anything that required two hands and light.

Also, in the C-172C that I'm flying there is a cockpit light dimmer on the left side of the panel down low. It does both the red cockpit flood and the panel lights in the various instruments (some of which I still cant read without an extra light). I would not want to fly night IFR in this plane.

John
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I stumbled across a cap-bill clip-on lights the other day that is a led black light. It is marked for "night fishing", but I'm guessing it could be used for "night flying" as well. Haven't tried it out yet, but if it works, it could be just the ticket for having visibility in the cockpit without having too much brightness.
 
I used a cyalume light stick tie-wrapped to some fittings across the bottom of the panel, the one time I took my plane up at night. A strip of duct tape worked as a "glare shield" to keep it from shining right in my face.

Weirdest thing is that the stick threw a green line across the inside of the windshield. Looked a bit like the laser horizons some planes have, except, of course, it didn't actually tilt.

Ron Wanttaja
 
JOhnH said:
What do most (VFR) people do to see the instruments at night? We have not done much night flying but when we did we had to pull out the flashlight to see the instruments. I can't seem to find any sort of dash light intensity control. This is in a 1977 Cessna 172n.
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The light is overhead in the headliner. Bulb might be burned out, the potentiometer near the master switch might be shot, or the power transistor that the potentiometer controls could be shot. Those transistors don't last forever. They're found (two of them) on a heat sink mounted to the RH side of the fuselage wall near the glove box, a dumb place to get at. They're not expensive, even from Cessna. Amazing. The potentiometer can get worn out, leading to the old Cessna joke about the three panel light settings: On, Flicker, and Off. There's also a resistor between the potentiometer and ground, and if that burns out (or the leads break), the lights will be on bright no matter what you do with the knob. That usually burns out the bulb sooner than usual.

Dan
 
Ghery said:
Similar to anything with Lucas electrical systems. :D
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Bumper sticker seen on a Morris Minor: "The British drink warm beer because they have Lucas refrigerators."

John
 
JOhnH said:
What do most (VFR) people do to see the instruments at night? We have not done much night flying but when we did we had to pull out the flashlight to see the instruments. I can't seem to find any sort of dash light intensity control. This is in a 1977 Cessna 172n.
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What plane are you flying? Have you looked overhead to see if there is a light above that shines on the whole panel? For unlit conditions Coleman makes a LED headlight with a Red mode, those are good for the application.
 
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