LED Aircraft Lighting

Hey you electronic talents out there,
I've just read Mark Phelps's article in Sport Aviation upon LED lighting. Flying an oldtime Klemm 107C here in Germany and having trouble with the current drawing bulbs and epecially with the strobe I'd like to change to LED lighting. However, considering the costs for a complete system change of a few hundred Dollars ( or Euros, doesn't really matter) for commercially available LED lights, changing a bulb from time to time seems not to be too odd. But, since EAAers have a lot of talents, isn't there anybody among you guys who already has designed a homebuild LED lighting and would like to share his designs? Are there electrical wire diagrams available for aircraft interior LED lighting, position lighting with LED, strobe or ACL with LED and LED landing lights?
Something self build and saving costs would be a real impetus for changing to the new advanced LED lightings. And it would be a great and overseeable little project for the long winter evenings.

Bob's LED driver solves the major issue with over the counter LED drivers, which are typically too noisy (RFI) for aircraft. Checkout https://matronics.com/aeroelectric/C...ECcatalog.html. The LED drivers are at the bottom. Just add LEDs until you max the current draw. You'll have to experiment with the LEDs you choose to ensure that they put out the appropriate amount of light and angle of viewing. Search the archives of Matronics or Vansairforce for more details.

Bob,
Thanks a lot for the hint. I will check that out. Maybe I have something to play with during the winter evenings.

Cheers
Thomas:)

I picked up some Whelen Vertex LEDs with driver for $50 @ Oshkosh from the Whelen booth. They are sold here to:
http://www.chiefsupply.com/3781-Whel...-ft-Cable.aspx

Pete

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peteohms

I picked up some Whelen Vertex LEDs with driver for $50 @ Oshkosh from the Whelen booth. They are sold here to:
http://www.chiefsupply.com/3781-Whel...-ft-Cable.aspx

Pete

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There was a huge debate that got ugly on VAF awhile back when Whelen came out with their entry level LEDs for experimentals. The debate centered around whether or not they actually met the FARs for lighting. The result of the debate was that they didn't and were delivering an inexpensive option to the experimental market.

I can't comment to the accuracy of theses statements, since I only read the threads. My recommendation would be to specifically ask the vendor you purchase from to show testing that conform the requisite FARs for lighting. If you are building your own, while you may not have the equipment to perform detailed testing, you should have some testing done to validate compliance.

The following is an excerpt from that thread:

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...t=51558&page=3

Thank you all for your interest, excellent questions and feedback. I felt I would give the post at least 24 hours time and then try to answer some of the questions.

So as to not mislead anyone on VAF, the Microburst™ products were designed to fill a gap in our product line for Experimental/Light Sport/Ultra-light aircraft lighting. Many pilots simply want an affordable lighting system to provide added safety even though they will never fly at night with their aircraft, or, as indicated in some discussions on VAF, do not expect the “lighting police” to come looking for them, therefore either build their own lights which would have no approvals, or purchase un-approved lights.

The Mircroburst™ lights are designed and built to the same practices as the many Whelen TSO approved products; however they are for experimental use and will not comply with all aspects of FAR/TSO requirements. We are not marketing, or selling them with claims of FAR/TSO compliance. They are their own entity within our product line. The mounting hole pattern is slightly different than our legacy products, however will fall within the same footprint.

The benchmark of performance for “legal” night flying is a position/anti-collision light system that is TSO approved. If a product is not marked as TSO approved (where an approval exists), it should be assumed that it does not comply with all of the TSO/FAR requirements, or, data should be supplied with each unit sold to the end user substantiating the claims of full TSO compliance.

Whelen’s existing line of TSO approved LED lights, (forward position/anti-collision/tail position), typically are tested to over 1,200 individual points to show FAR compliance per TSO-C96a and TSO-C30b light output requirements. This also includes the overlap areas of the position lights that are typically the most difficult area to comply with.

We will be posting an on-line order form within the next week or so for those who feel that these lights will suit their needs.

Regards,
Jeff Argersinger
Whelen Engineering