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Thread: Occupancy Sensor

  1. #11
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CarlOrton View Post
    C'mon, Ron, put a bit of a challenge to it! Set up an IR emitter / detector pair on each side of the cockpit. If you get out and the beam completes, then set off an alarm. Small, simple, and relatively cheap. Plus it gives you something to talk about at fly-ins!
    Actually, this is the way my mind originally turned. Thinking I could put a emitter/detector pair on one side, and a white surface on the other as a reflector. Got a laser LED element floating around here somewhere.....

    Have to admit, I have a Rube Goldberg tinge that wants something not completely simple.

    The airplane HAS a strobe, but it hasn't been hooked up for about 10 years. Ran out of panel space/enthusiasm for switches/fuses when I re-did the electrical system. Ditto the nav lights. Dates to the building of the aircraft ~40 years ago. Hardware-store wire used; not too fired up sending strobe pulses ~10 feet through it.

    The strobe itself is mounted to a big shaped balsa block on the vertical stabilizer...totally ruins the lines of the tail. I've temporarily removed it, in the past, to mount a video camera instead.


    I tend to cover it in shame, on the ground....

    Ron "Good place to keep the formal flying helmet" Wanttaja

  2. #12
    Sam Buchanan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rwanttaja View Post

    The airplane HAS a strobe, but it hasn't been hooked up for about 10 years. Ran out of panel space/enthusiasm for switches/fuses when I re-did the electrical system. Ditto the nav lights. Dates to the building of the aircraft ~40 years ago. Hardware-store wire used; not too fired up sending strobe pulses ~10 feet through it.
    "Strobes" are so obsolete.

    eBay is stocked with all sorts of bright, flashing LEDs that only require low-current 12v power. Much smaller, self-contained, often brighter, and far less power required (no power supply) than the old-school stuff. The present wiring should work just fine. Looks like you could keep the camera, just replace the position light with LEDs. Or better yet....ditch the strobe nacelle and keep the position light housing...that FlyBaby would no doubt be much sleeker and faster!
    Last edited by Sam Buchanan; 02-15-2018 at 10:57 AM.
    Sam Buchanan
    The RV Journal RV-6 build log
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  3. #13

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    Strobes were always obsolete, I think. (don't do much in daylight) (not needed at night) In my opinion.

  4. #14
    Sam Buchanan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Berson View Post
    Strobes were always obsolete, I think. (don't do much in daylight) (not needed at night) In my opinion.
    I was contrasting xenon-filled glass tubes with fancy new LED-thingies........
    Sam Buchanan
    The RV Journal RV-6 build log
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  5. #15
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sam Buchanan View Post
    I was contrasting xenon-filled glass tubes with fancy new LED-thingies........
    Last time I flew was a typical Seattle winter day... about 45 degrees, cloudy. I was following a 172 into the pattern, and remember marveling at how visible the plane's strobes were. One on the tail, one on each wingtip. I'm sure they were the modern LED type...they were blinking, not flashing. Wouldn't mind adding something like that. Just don't like the ugly protuberances on top of a shapely tail.....

    Ron Wanttaja

  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sam Buchanan View Post
    I was contrasting xenon-filled glass tubes with fancy new LED-thingies........
    Agree.
    The highway patrol has some very bright and dazzling LED in red, blue, yellow and white, I think.

  7. #17

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    The super Rube Goldberg in me (and my method for building is 1. come up with a plan, 2. Find five elements in it that can be removed, 3. Wait, 4. Go back and remove three more.

    So I'm wondering if a pair of garage door sensors and a bit of circuitry from the opener hooked to an LED light wouldn't do the trick?
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  8. #18
    DaleB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Giger View Post
    The super Rube Goldberg in me (and my method for building is 1. come up with a plan, 2. Find five elements in it that can be removed, 3. Wait, 4. Go back and remove three more.
    In that spirit... how about a big sign taped to the wall of the hangar, next to the light switch or door or whatever is the last thing you do, that says:

    MASTER OFF?

    My wife put one in my hangar to remind me to make sure I leave with my cell phone, glasses and keys. Sucks to lock those up in the hangar.
    Measure twice, cut once...
    scratch head, shrug, shim to fit.

    Flying an RV-12. I am building a Fisher Celebrity, slowly.

  9. #19
    planecrazzzy's Avatar
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    How bout re-keying a switch to your "car key"... Can't leave unless you have the key ?
    I've re-key'd several locks... Just put the key in an file what sticks out.
    I've also moved the little pins... but filing is easier.
    .
    Simple , but... you'd have to drive the same vehicle to the hanger

    OK... Revision... Put the master key on a ring WITH your car key... or hanger key...
    Hmmm, now you can't get back in the hanger to shut off the master !!!! HA...

    .
    Gotta Fly...
    JAM

  10. #20
    CarlOrton's Avatar
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    Good thoughts, JAM, but for some, experimentals especially, (like my Sonex) the only keyed device was the padlock on the canopy! And, since I was in a hangar, I never used the padlock.

    Carl Orton
    Sonex #1170 / Zenith 750 Cruzer
    http://mykitlog.com/corton

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