LED landing light

I just mounted my LED landing light on my Snobird yesterday. One of the things I'm doing is to use all LED lighting for the anti-collision, strobe and landing/taxi lights. The new generation of LED's are extremely bright and use very little current, not to mention the 50,000 hour life. I've been doing a lot of research into LED lighting and have found some really cool lights.

I have found some sources that I'll share for the betterment of the group here. I guess I could just stock up and sell them for a profit, but I really don't have the time to do so.

I did some testing of my landing light Friday night and it is brighter than my high beams on the car that I drive. I estimate that I'll have about a 200 yard throw with this light. I couldn't believe how bright these LED's are!! I had to make a housing for the driver board but that was no big deal.

Anti-collision lights:
Oznium makes these neat little round metal (waterproof) High Intensity Flood lights. They're smaller than a half dollar, made of solid metal and are so bright that you can't look directly at them. I tried them in my garage and it lit up the whole garage. They're very reasonably priced too. I

http://www.oznium.com/high-intensity-led-floodlight

This is another anti-collision strobe. which i've also tested. It's a 3-led version and is also extremely bright. It is a strobe, so the LED's don't stay on and then strobe, they are just in strobe mode. There are 12 different flash patterns that you can chose from. They also have a 4-LED version in which you can have them always on, and strobe too. They are very nice for the money as well.

http://www.strobesnmore.com/strobes-n-more-e3-super-led.html

As far as the landing light goes, I'll have to get the pictures for you. It is made from parts that I obtained from a gentleman in the UK. when I get those pictures uploaded i'll send the information as well. You have to put it together yourself and we're dealing with static-sensitive electronics, so if you're not comfortable with it then I wouldn't suggest it.

AeroLED's is also having a spring sale on some of their landing lights.
http://www.aeroleds.com/

The one I built has over 2800 lumens and it is super super bright.

Let me know if you need any further information or assistance with the LED technology, I'm not an expert by any means but i've done a considerable amount of research into this.

Don

Pic

Pic

Here is a Pic of the landing light showing the 7 LED's. I haven't mounted it to the driver box yet so this is just the light itself.

Have you come up with an option for Position lights. I noticed the ones from Oznium.com have a 120 degree angle. Does that meet the FAA requirements?

They do

They do

They do meet the requirements of 110 degrees viewing angle. Here's a document about that.

Just curious..

Just curious..

I don't know if anyone else would be interested but me, but have you found any self contained battery operated stick on led lights in your travels?
I don't have an electrical system and the amount of night flying I would ever do doesn't warrent all the hassles of wiring up a set.
Ben S

I did

I did

But the were all white, no red or green. and certainly I would doubt that they'd be seen from 1200 feet away. You can always mount these types and carry a small 12v battery to power them from.

Anyone have experience with these?
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/aveoeseries.php

http://www.aveoengineering.com/Avia...position_LED_lights/AveoFlashLP_LSA/index.php

perbgyro said:

Anyone have experience with these?
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/aveoeseries.php

http://www.aveoengineering.com/Avia...position_LED_lights/AveoFlashLP_LSA/index.php

Click to expand...

Yes, They are a great product.

One of the things I experienced with LED lights was from a so called replacement arrangement for a standard light bulb. I screwed it into a reading lamp on the head board of my bed and thought I would use it to read by. To my suprise it was VERY BRIGHT but I had difficulty reading by it, it turns out that the wave length of the led's was different than a conventional bulb and the eye did not respond to it as well, even though it was vry bright.

Tony

correct

correct

there are different wavelengths that make up white light. If I were going to put in something for reading it would be warm white and not the cool white which tend to be a bit too white and wash out. I used the cool white wavelength because it tends to throw the light farther out and it will cover more area.

I have landing and nav lights in led. They almost pull no amps according to my old halogen style light. I went from 27 amps down to 2.2 amps with led.

For the experimenters among you, you might look at....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380234116431&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I've presently got 55w halogens on a wig-wag setup that works well, but I think these might be better. Experimenting, ya know? :lol:

I'm more concerned with Recognition lights, than Landing lights. GOTTA Be Seen!!

You know what would be cool?

You know what would be cool?

My kid used to have some led lights that screwed onto the air stems of his bike. when spun the centrifugal force moved a slider inside to turn them on, they ran on watch batteries. What would it look like if you mounted one on the outboard side of your rotors on each side?
I know balance and all has to be taken into account by they weigh next to nothing and cost half as much.
Would probably get a bunch of UFO reports after flying on a dark night!
Ben S

Don,

Where did the 7 LED set up come from. Did I miss something in the translation?

Thanks

BEN S said:

My kid used to have some led lights that screwed onto the air stems of his bike. when spun the centrifugal force moved a slider inside to turn them on, they ran on watch batteries. What would it look like if you mounted one on the outboard side of your rotors on each side?
I know balance and all has to be taken into account by they weigh next to nothing and cost half as much.
Would probably get a bunch of UFO reports after flying on a dark night!
Ben S

Click to expand...

I already made them Ben. They won't fit the 7's though...I made them for 8,8.5. I suppose if you REALLY wanted them, I could make you a set.

I made them for tracking...instead of using the reflectors and mirror....or flashlight bleh.

GyroCFI said:

there are different wavelengths that make up white light. If I were going to put in something for reading it would be warm white and not the cool white which tend to be a bit too white and wash out. I used the cool white wavelength because it tends to throw the light farther out and it will cover more area.

Click to expand...

All wave lengths make up white light.

true

true

like white noise. However there is a difference between the cool white and the warm white and I'm pretty sure it's a different wavelength. I just go by what I read, as I said i'm not an engineer in light design.

WindRyder06 said:

Don,

Where did the 7 LED set up come from. Did I miss something in the translation?

Thanks

Click to expand...

I got the 7-LED light from a guy over in the UK. You can make it yourself by getting the parts from several different vendors.

Cutter electronics has everything you need.
Here is the optics
http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut933

I'll have to search the site for the rest of the pieces I used.

Additionally I used the hyperboost from taskled (taskled.com)

more

more

here is the housing/heatsink and most of the complete kit. As I said, it has the Hyperboost from Taskled.com which is recommended for hooking up to "dirty DC power" such as we have from alternators.


http://http://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut90

BEN S said:

I don't know if anyone else would be interested but me, but have you found any self contained battery operated stick on led lights in your travels?
I don't have an electrical system and the amount of night flying I would ever do doesn't warrent all the hassles of wiring up a set.
Ben S

Click to expand...

Ben, I bought some LED strobes from Bear Perkins at Bensen Days. They have 4 LEDs in them. They're down the page in the Electronics section:
http://www.bearperkins.com/accessories.htm


He said some of the powered parachute guys have several of these strobes powered by just a Key West rectifier without having to use a battery.