Help me spend my money

Morgan3820

Morgan3820

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Jun 29, 2013
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New Bern, NC
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El Conquistador
Looking to replace my landing light with an LED. Looked at Whelen $200. Then came across AeroLED. They have one that looks to be better engineered plus a lot bright for $300. Then became aware that they have a version with a pulse function for $400. I do not typically fly a night. I really like the idea of the pulse for recognition/safety. What do you people think? $400 is a lot of $$$ for a light. Maybe I should just replace the standard incandescent on a frequent basis?
 
I have two of the Teledyne Alphabeam LED's in my left wingtip and landing at night the runway is amazingly bright and clear. I've had a couple of opportunities recently to land after dark and found I had none of the tendency to flare late as I have had in the past.
 
Aeroleds are good lights.

Having a blinking white light is great for being seen.
 
Aero leads seem to work well when the aircraft has substantial landing lights.
 
HID for landing light
LED for taxi.
 
Just had AeroLED landing and taxi lights installed with the pulse feature. Also had the Sunspot tail strobe put in. All VERY bright.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I got a deal on the Wheelens - I've had them about 1.5yrs for both taxi and landing light and they are great...supposedly there is a new version that is even brighter, but if you can get a deal on the older model they are more than bright enough.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Looking to replace my landing light with an LED. Looked at Whelen $200. Then came across AeroLED. They have one that looks to be better engineered plus a lot bright for $300. Then became aware that they have a version with a pulse function for $400. I do not typically fly a night. I really like the idea of the pulse for recognition/safety. What do you people think? $400 is a lot of $$$ for a light. Maybe I should just replace the standard incandescent on a frequent basis?
Click to expand...

Well, what is the brightness and pulse function worth to you? $400 in the scheme of airplane ownership is not high, bit it's also not something you have to spend either. So the choice is yours, how much recognition and safety value do you think the bright pulsing light will give you? In South Florida and So Cal, I would call the value assessment very simple in favor of the pulse light. Other areas,:dunno: you just have to judge by the traffic you normally see/hear.
 
James331 said:
HID for landing light
LED for taxi.
Click to expand...

That's where I'm headed with the Mooney, as things burn out. The first taxi light was replaced last winter, the second one will be replaced next week. The landing lights are still hanging on...
 
Look no further than the Rigid R+ Narrow Beam 62010 series lamp. I do not believe there is a brighter lamp in a PAR36 shell at this time for the money ($210 range). At 3,400 lumens each, I have 3 of them (wingtip lights and cowling) and have WIGWAG in the tips as an optional mode to boot, while the cowling is switched separately as a taxi light.

https://www.google.com/#q=rigid+62010

By comparison, these lamps are the same as having Qty:8 120-watt spotlights on the front of the plane. The beam focus, however, is absolutely PERFECT for aircraft, clearly limiting to the width of the runway and optimizing range. As for distance, I am based at an airport with a 7,400 foot runway and again, with NO lights on the field, I can clearly make out not only taxi markings and all runway paint, but every single reflective sign the entire length of the runway! With my old GE incandescent lamps, I could not even tell the signs had reflective properties!

With 20% of my flying at night, IFR approach practices at night and many day takeoffs followed by night landings, I absolutely LOVE these lamps. I tried other 1,000 lumen range lamps and was not impressed. With 10,000 lumens "under the hood," I clearly illuminate the first 500 feet of runway below me while still 200 feet up with the runway lights OFF. I can now land safely on runways with no lights at all.

Picture of my plane in the hangar attached. I'll see if I can have a passenger snap some photos soon of the approach at night. Better yet, I'll mount my HERO3 to the wing and shoot an HD movie for your enjoyment.

By the way, these lamps pull 40W which should tell you how they compare to others in terms of brightness. Also they have vents for additional cooling which are highly effectve at 150knots. The only drawback is that the power wires MUST be secured behind the lamps to avoid vibration. I ran a black tie-wrap throug the vent and around the wire assembly and unless you look real hard, you won't notice.
 

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I've seen those, they're nice I was thinking about them for the 310.
 
JSumeracki said:
I have 3 of them (wingtip lights and cowling) and have WIGWAG in the tips as an optional mode to boot, while the cowling is switched separately as a taxi light.
Click to expand...
What box do you use for the WIGWAG??
 
flyingcheesehead said:
That's where I'm headed with the Mooney, as things burn out. The first taxi light was replaced last winter, the second one will be replaced next week. The landing lights are still hanging on...
Click to expand...
Given that I have 6 forward facing lights on my Mooney...I'm going LED for landing/taxi, and may go LED for the recognition as well, I like to WIGWAG those...
 
I put Alphabeams in and am very happy.
 
JSumeracki said:
Look no further than the Rigid R+ Narrow Beam 62010 series lamp. I do not believe there is a brighter lamp in a PAR36 shell at this time for the money ($210 range). At 3,400 lumens each, I have 3 of them (wingtip lights and cowling) and have WIGWAG in the tips as an optional mode to boot, while the cowling is switched separately as a taxi light.

https://www.google.com/#q=rigid+62010

By comparison, these lamps are the same as having Qty:8 120-watt spotlights on the front of the plane. The beam focus, however, is absolutely PERFECT for aircraft, clearly limiting to the width of the runway and optimizing range. As for distance, I am based at an airport with a 7,400 foot runway and again, with NO lights on the field, I can clearly make out not only taxi markings and all runway paint, but every single reflective sign the entire length of the runway! With my old GE incandescent lamps, I could not even tell the signs had reflective properties!

With 20% of my flying at night, IFR approach practices at night and many day takeoffs followed by night landings, I absolutely LOVE these lamps. I tried other 1,000 lumen range lamps and was not impressed. With 10,000 lumens "under the hood," I clearly illuminate the first 500 feet of runway below me while still 200 feet up with the runway lights OFF. I can now land safely on runways with no lights at all.

Picture of my plane in the hangar attached. I'll see if I can have a passenger snap some photos soon of the approach at night. Better yet, I'll mount my HERO3 to the wing and shoot an HD movie for your enjoyment.

By the way, these lamps pull 40W which should tell you how they compare to others in terms of brightness. Also they have vents for additional cooling which are highly effectve at 150knots. The only drawback is that the power wires MUST be secured behind the lamps to avoid vibration. I ran a black tie-wrap throug the vent and around the wire assembly and unless you look real hard, you won't notice.
Click to expand...

I am figuring on getting one of these, as soon as my last Q4509 bulb (from a case of them I got five or so years back) is installed. I have read great endorsements of the Rigid elsewhere, although I cannot now recall where.

Except here, now... :D
 
teejayevans said:
Given that I have 6 forward facing lights on my Mooney...I'm going LED for landing/taxi, and may go LED for the recognition as well, I like to WIGWAG those...
Click to expand...

I like the way you think. :thumbsup: Have you found an LED fixture for the recognition lights yet? I've been thinking about the AeroLEDs MicroSun. A lot of the others are significantly larger than the existing lights.
 
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