Whelen Parmetheus landing lights

flyingcheesehead

flyingcheesehead

Touchdown! Greaser!
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iMooniac
Hi folks,

Anyone here have the Whelen Parmetheus LED landing lights installed? At first glance, it looks like an ideal replacement for the short-lived GE 4509's: Drop-in replacement, no extra ballast or other electronics to install, and a relative steal compared to HID's at $229 from Aircraft Spruce.

Seems like there's gotta be a catch, or everyone would have these? I know that Aviation Consumer was less than impressed with the output of some of the LED lights they reviewed, but that was a couple of years ago, so things may have improved.

These would be used on a C182 and a DA40, and I'm more curious about the DA40 install - The DA40 is listed on the PMA AML, but the existing lights are rectangular and not round, so I'm kind of curious what's required to mount them correctly and whether they look funny.

Thoughts? Thanks!

(Yes, Pete, we're looking - Thanks for the link!)
 
My hangar mate has one in his Cherokee 140, and is ecstatic about it. I have not yet seen it lit (I relate with extreme embarrassment). I will take a serious gander next time out.
 
I installed one in my 150 and I couldn't be happier. I was done with replacing the Q4509 every 20-30 hours. I did a comparison between a 4509(standard non-quartz halogen), Q4509(quartz halogen) and the Parmetheus by hooking them up to my car via jumper cables. It is considerably brighter than the 4509 and a bit brighter than the Q4509. It has a nice white light and the beam pattern is nice and uniform. The current draw is far less and the life of the unit is essentially endless so I just keep it on continuously to be a bit more conspicuous in the air. It is a little pricey but you'll save money and hassle in the long run. Huge recommendation here!
 
I have one on my Cherokee 180. I can't tell any significant difference in illumination from the incandescent it replaced, but I like the peace of mind knowing it will come on when I flip the switch. I'm happy with it.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Hi folks, Anyone here have the Whelen Parmetheus LED landing lights installed? At first glance, it looks like an ideal replacement for the short-lived GE 4509's: Drop-in replacement, no extra ballast or other electronics to install, and a relative steal compared to HID's at $229 from Aircraft Spruce......
Click to expand...


I installed the Whelen Parmetheus LED landing light in the Sundowner. I think it made a big difference, bright white light that really does a good job coming from the wing tip. I am going to upgrade the taxi light too. Besides, less current draw is always plus!

check your PM
 
We've seen enough good reports or at least "it's different light but seems to work well" ones that we'll be installing one in the 182 soon, since the landing light is out (again). Happy to send a PIREP for it Kent, when we get it done, Kent. You may beat us to it, though.
 
I replaced my landing and taxi light on my Bonanza. The old lights were the 4313 which were 250 watt units and draw 19 amps each. The replacements only draw 1.25 amps each. The light output is definitely lower than the amp sucking 4313 bulbs and the landing light has a narrower beam. The light is adequate. The 100 watt 4509 is an option for my airplane, so, I would expect the LED's would be closer to them, but I haven't compared them. I did it mainly for the current draw issue and found the LED lights to be good enough, but no where near the light output of the 4313 bulbs in terms of how well they light up the runway or taxiway.

As far as using them to aid in recognition and collision avoidance, the low current draw is certainly a plus but I would recommend adding a flasher.
 
I installed them last year in my 182 and am very happy with them. low current draw and from what I'm told by others my plane is much easier to spot when I run them during the day. I've had lights burn out twice when I needed them and it's nice to know that won't happen again.
 
I have had both the taxi and landing lights installed in the 172N since last year and could not be happier...bright white light, and virtually no current draw at all.
 
I think the issue for most folks boils down to the money for the LED light. Unless there is an unexpected failure the LED should outlast the airplane. If you do the straight up math you can put in a lot of 4509's for the price of a an LED replacement.

I just put the Teledyne Alphabeam in our Warrior. It's a little more than the Whelen. Haven't tried it at night yet, but I can sure tell the difference in current draw when I hit the switch during the runup. I'va taken my share of ribbing from folks in our EAA Chapter about it, but don't care. :D
 
I have them. I have no issues and IMHO both the focused (landing) and diffused (taxi) beams are superior to the original GE bulbs for both seeing and being seen. For me the reduced electrical load alone was worth the replacement. If I still have the plane in a few months I'll get around to replacing most or all of the cabin light bulbs with standard LED replacements too. I still have a low amp generator in my plane.

I have no opinion as to whether the HID is superior to the LED since I've never flown with one after dark.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Hi folks,


Seems like there's gotta be a catch, or everyone would have these?
Thoughts? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Everyone "should" have a plane with a nice paint job, and have the newest and greatest traffic avoidance system, SVR, full LED anti-collision lights (beat the snot out of strobes) and digital 406mhz ELT too. But they don't :nono: :wink2: Some people don't fly at night and just don't think about their landing lights either.
 
I put the Parmethus in the cherokee back in Jan 2011. There was no question about it. After changing the landing light ($10 GE 4509 that the FBO charged me $35) on a cross-country, dark, cold, windy ramp with the FBO guys laughing at me, I refused to go thru that again.
 
alaskaflyer said:
Everyone "should" have a plane with a nice paint job, and have the newest and greatest traffic avoidance system, SVR, full LED anti-collision lights (beat the snot out of strobes) and digital 406mhz ELT too. But they don't :nono: :wink2: Some people don't fly at night and just don't think about their landing lights either.
Click to expand...

It's $$$. I have a choice this summer, $750 for the LED strobe of $750 for the 406 ELT. Installation for the strobe will be $ and almost nothing for the ELT (ran the wiring from tail to front when I replaced the aluminum battery cables last fall).
 
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