Non aviation LED lights

Dunno. But if it makes your friend happy, I could write an anonymous review on Amazon, praising how it lights up a runway.
 
NoHeat said:
Dunno. But if it makes your friend happy, I could write an anonymous review on Amazon, praising how it lights up a runway.
Click to expand...


Put something in there about whether it adds any radio interference too.
 
It's a light bulb. I don't understand the question.... perhaps the answer is just too easy and I am looking at it way too hard...? :sosp:
 
Unit74 said:
It's a light bulb. I don't understand the question.... perhaps the answer is just too easy and I am looking at it way too hard...? :sosp:
Click to expand...

The big problem with LED replacements is that are more than an electrical device, like incandescent bulbs. They are also electronic devices, with all the complications that come with that. Interference and cooling are probably the two biggest issues. A poorly designed or shielded circuit can make for some interesting noise in your headset. LED lamps may use less power overall vs. incandescent, but they drop it in a different place (the back of the LED chip) and more concentrated.

It would probably work just fine. It's not rocket science. But it's also not as straight-forward as it seems.
 
arnoha said:
The big problem with LED replacements is that are more than an electrical device, like incandescent bulbs. They are also electronic devices, with all the complications that come with that. Interference and cooling are probably the two biggest issues. A poorly designed or shielded circuit can make for some interesting noise in your headset. LED lamps may use less power overall vs. incandescent, but they drop it in a different place (the back of the LED chip) and more concentrated.

It would probably work just fine. It's not rocket science. But it's also not as straight-forward as it seems.
Click to expand...

You know what all this sounds like to me?



Fear mongering...... seriously. Like, if there was a confused WTF emoji, I’d post it.

OP...give it a go. Hell, buy one off eBay and try it. Or get one from the local tractor shop. Or pay $300 for a Whelen or $600 or an AeroLeds..... I have used about 3 China no name brands and two Whelens in 3 different airframes. Even the CSObeech guys are running cheap arse China PAR36 bulbs. Give it a go and report back.
 
Maybe wrap a ferite core around the cord to reduce the noise.
 
Not all LED lights are created equal. I’ve used some of the cheap PAR36 LED replacement lamps and the only good things about them were low power consumption and not burning out. They did not put out enough light to be really useful at night.
 
I am not saying that I have them in my airplane (officially).......but I have seen the Aerolites brand Sunsetter landing and taxi lights and they are super bright, aviation bulbs at non certified prices. A good middle ground between Whelen and EBay.
 
Most of the noise is not produced by the led, but by the powersupply to run the led on ac power.
 
Unit74 said:
You know what all this sounds like to me?



Fear mongering...... seriously. Like, if there was a confused WTF emoji, I’d post it.

OP...give it a go. Hell, buy one off eBay and try it. Or get one from the local tractor shop. Or pay $300 for a Whelen or $600 or an AeroLeds..... I have used about 3 China no name brands and two Whelens in 3 different airframes. Even the CSObeech guys are running cheap arse China PAR36 bulbs. Give it a go and report back.
Click to expand...

It's a grab bag. Not all LEDs are created equal. Some of the cheap Chinese LED drivers create a hellacious amount of electrical / RF noise.

I had to toss a box of eBay LED candelabra bulbs at home that would take down my SmartHome network when ever those fixtures were turned on.

Here's an example from a boating forum where cheap LED Nav lights screwed up their AIS system.

https://digitalyacht.net/2018/10/16/reports-interference-led-lighting-reducing-ais-reception/

Image-3.jpg
 
I installed two 48-LED lamps on the plane to the left
<----
14,000 lumens advertised, for $35 ($35 per pair, not each) I can find the link if desired.

So, pretty bright. Not spots so I can't say they are fantastic.

And yes, about 50% of the time I get breaking of squelch when I snap on the right side lamp.
I do not yet know if that RF would interfere with a tower communication as I have not yet had it to a large airport at night.
 
I bought one of the PAR36 bulbs from goodiesforpilots.com (~$35) and did a side by side comparison with the Alpha Beam installed on my Cherokee. The cheaper one was every bit as bright if not brighter than the Alphabeam but I can't say anything about radio interference as I haven't installed it in my plane.

In any case, its a helluva lot more light than the $19/19 hour incandescent bulb that I replaced.
 
Unit74 said:
Fear mongering...... seriously. Like, if there was a confused WTF emoji, I’d post it.
Click to expand...

Physics is complicated, especially when it comes to electrical stuff.

Most of the time, things do just work. However especially when you're getting into radio waves, there's a lot of stuff that can (and does) happen. In my job I see it every day. Depending on how screwed up the electrical system is and what exactly you're dealing with, it can be very complicated. I personally don't care if anyone tries anything like those LEDs in their plane, but I would warn that you have various radio interference potentials that I would worry more about with the cheap Chinese LEDs vs. a Whelen, Aveo, etc. who are specifically designing for aircraft.

I run Aveo LEDs for the landing lights in the MU-2 and I run Whelen LEDs for the tip tanks and the tail stringers. Aveo and Whelen are both sponsors of Cloud Nine, but they also make very good products that just bolt in and work. For the Whelen LEDs I have, their STC covers the MU-2 and also let me remove the other beacons, reducing drag and making the plane look better.

Whenever I hear people say "There's no difference between experimental and certified equipment" I just shake my head. By and large, that's simply not true. Now, you may not notice a difference operationally, but the standards you have to meet for certified actually exist, and they are tiered based on multiple factors like aircraft weight, number of seats, etc. etc. There are differences.
 
For the PAR36 crowd, the spot lights from LarsenLights.com work really well. The original GE bulbs carried no approval whatsoever... YMMV.
 
Send it... Works great from what “I’ve seen”
 
thomasdr72 said:
The original GE bulbs carried no approval whatsoever... YMMV.
Click to expand...

A very true statement. But, the manufacturer incorporated it into their design, there by certifying its use in that design and in that position.

As above, YMMV.
 
I installed the Aero-Lites Sunsetter Plus LED taxi and landing lights on my experimental and love them. They're much brighter (2,100 lumens) than the GE 4509s, draw half the current, and have an MTBF of 30,000 hours (instead of 25 hours). The price was $75 each (taxi, landing) plus tax and shipping.

https://www.aero-lites.com/product-page/sunsetter-plus-led-taxi-recognition-light

EDIT - I should also mention that there doesn't seem to be any RFI from these units (at least in the VHF aviation band); there is no discernable difference in noise level on several unoccupied VHF frequencies with the squelch turned down between the taxi and landing lights turned on or off.
 
Last edited:
Unit74 said:
It's a light bulb. I don't understand the question.... perhaps the answer is just too easy and I am looking at it way too hard...? :sosp:
Click to expand...
Call any good garage door company and ask them about LED lights.
When I put an LED in my garage door opener, the remote transmitter would not actuate the opener. I could still use the hardwired button, which was ok when leaving, but when I got hope it was a PIA. It took me a while to make the connection, but when I took the LED out, everything was fine. I put it back and the remote wouldn't work. The guys at the light bulb store thought I was crazy. Those things are not just light bulbs. They are computer chips that emit light. And the absolutely can and do cause electrical interference. So I would NEVER put one in my plane that wasn't proven safe.
 
Good thing our planes don’t have any garage doors on them....o_O
 
I'm a little surprised to read of all the RFI issues you guys are having with LED bulbs at home. We're using mostly LEDs now and have had no issues. Of course broadcast radio reception, especially AM, was already trashed by the supposedly clean consumer electronics. No malfunctioning SmartThings hub, no garage door issues, cordless phone problems, none of that. The LED nav lights in our RV-12 are dead quiet, but they're from Kuntzelman and not some no-name Chinese joint. I have an LED PAR36 lamp I want to install one of these days, and I haven't detected any noise from it either. Need to hang the o-scope on the power and ground leads and see how noisy it is.
 
DaleB said:
I'm a little surprised to read of all the RFI issues you guys are having with LED bulbs at home. We're using mostly LEDs now and have had no issues. Of course broadcast radio reception, especially AM, was already trashed by the supposedly clean consumer electronics. No malfunctioning SmartThings hub, no garage door issues, cordless phone problems, none of that. The LED nav lights in our RV-12 are dead quiet, but they're from Kuntzelman and not some no-name Chinese joint. I have an LED PAR36 lamp I want to install one of these days, and I haven't detected any noise from it either. Need to hang the o-scope on the power and ground leads and see how noisy it is.
Click to expand...
Not all LEDs are created equal. In my case it was 7 years ago. Other cases involved cheaper bulbs. Good LEDs that are certified for aircraft are expensive.
 
DaleB said:
I'm a little surprised to read of all the RFI issues you guys are having with LED bulbs at home. We're using mostly LEDs now and have had no issues. Of course broadcast radio reception, especially AM, was already trashed by the supposedly clean consumer electronics. No malfunctioning SmartThings hub, no garage door issues, cordless phone problems, none of that. The LED nav lights in our RV-12 are dead quiet, but they're from Kuntzelman and not some no-name Chinese joint. I have an LED PAR36 lamp I want to install one of these days, and I haven't detected any noise from it either. Need to hang the o-scope on the power and ground leads and see how noisy it is.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the world of unverified non-UL products, cheap internet marketplaces, and an a slew of international sellers competing for lowest cost product.

There has to be hundreds of LED manufacturers now, so it doesn’t surprise me that your small sample size is OK.

I’ve now completely converted two homes to LEDs, and while most purchases were fine, I had a batch of premature failures - rapid blinking - on a big brand (Sylvania, I think), and the noisy candelabra lights.

The MIL is having a problem now in her condo with her Bose compact stereo. It has no FM reception at random times during day, but only when her neighbor is home. When they are out for the day or on vacation, the Bose always works great. I’ll just about bet your paycheck they have a crappy LED bulb in a fixture somewhere that is causing the problem whenever it is on.

YMMV.
 
ElPaso Pilot said:
Welcome to the world of unverified non-UL products, cheap internet marketplaces, and an a slew of international sellers competing for lowest cost product.

There has to be hundreds of LED manufacturers now, so it doesn’t surprise me that your small sample size is OK.

I’ve now completely converted two homes to LEDs, and while most purchases were fine, I had a batch of premature failures - rapid blinking - on a big brand (Sylvania, I think), and the noisy candelabra lights.
Click to expand...
Oh, I'm not saying many of the LED bulbs are any good. I've had the cheapies die anywhere from weeks to less than a year after installation. We just put all LED surface mounts in place of can lights in out basement, and the new kitchen is all LED. Those are all Feit, which seem to do well. Some are good quality name brands, some are no-pronounceable-name Amazon specials. I'm just saying that we haven't had any yet cause problems other than with the bulb itself.
 
JOhnH said:
Call any good garage door company and ask them about LED lights.
When I put an LED in my garage door opener, the remote transmitter would not actuate the opener. I could still use the hardwired button, which was ok when leaving, but when I got hope it was a PIA. It took me a while to make the connection, but when I took the LED out, everything was fine. I put it back and the remote wouldn't work. The guys at the light bulb store thought I was crazy. Those things are not just light bulbs. They are computer chips that emit light. And the absolutely can and do cause electrical interference. So I would NEVER put one in my plane that wasn't proven safe.
Click to expand...

I'll be damned. I've got a garage door that, all of a sudden, the opener has been a ***** to get to work (only works on short range and not always). The more I think about it, it corresponds roughly to when I replaced the light in the opener with an LED...
 
A&Ps don't care about these bulbs come annual time? Perhaps they don't, but that was part of my reasoning for going with Whelen units.
 
Challenged said:
A&Ps don't care about these bulbs come annual time? Perhaps they don't, but that was part of my reasoning for going with Whelen units.
Click to expand...

Good ones don't (unless it's truly causing a problem)
 
JOhnH said:
Call any good garage door company and ask them about LED lights.
When I put an LED in my garage door opener, the remote transmitter would not actuate the opener. I could still use the hardwired button, which was ok when leaving, but when I got hope it was a PIA. It took me a while to make the connection, but when I took the LED out, everything was fine. I put it back and the remote wouldn't work. The guys at the light bulb store thought I was crazy. Those things are not just light bulbs. They are computer chips that emit light. And the absolutely can and do cause electrical interference. So I would NEVER put one in my plane that wasn't proven safe.
Click to expand...

I am SO glad I read that John. I've had that same EXACT issue with my garage door for months now and until now, didn't know what caused it. I'm changing the bulbs back tomorrow.
 
bradg33 said:
I'll be damned. I've got a garage door that, all of a sudden, the opener has been a ***** to get to work (only works on short range and not always). The more I think about it, it corresponds roughly to when I replaced the light in the opener with an LED...
Click to expand...

You're not alone. See above.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top