Strobe lights

[Sv.grainne]

I'm looking for a good strobe light to mast mount on my Genesis. What are people using now?

 

[Resasi]

Hi Bobby went with this one.

Had recommended before..

GyroPaul had shown us the Speed Tech lights that Scott Essex had recommended. They give a very bright flash with programable sequences. Both Denis and I thought they looked pretty good so I have ordered a pair of those, one with Red and White, the other with Green and White. These will probably either be mounted to the cheek plates or on the ends of the horizontal stabs. I think probably cheek plates to avoid any electrical interference to the arial which might be tail mounted.

Z-4 TIR LED Surface Mount Warning Light Head - G-TZT4 | STL​

The Z-4 TIR LED Surface Mount Warning Light Head produces 12 watts of power in a compact housing with powerful MaxGen LEDs and 24 available flash patterns.
www.speedtechlights.com

 

[Sv.grainne]

Thanks Leigh, tried searching but search doesn't work on this site very well.

Bobby

 

[Sv.grainne]

I ordered 3, one 2 color for each side of the cabin and one for the back of the mast.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[DavePA11]

So what flash setting number are you going to use?

 

[Capt'n Gator]

I ordered the Speed Tech lights and installed them but I am now getting terrible RF interference from the lights on my Vertex radio. What can I do to eliminate the RF????

 

[Sv.grainne]

So what flash setting number are you going to use?

Haven't decided.

 

[Sv.grainne]

I ordered the Speed Tech lights and installed them but I am now getting terrible RF interference from the lights on my Vertex radio. What can I do to eliminate the RF????

I would try to confirm that it is actually RF interference first. Do you have access to a handheld radio? See if you are getting the interference on the handheld to confirm if the interference is "conducted" on the DC cables or "radiated" picked up via the antenna.

 

[Capt'n Gator]

I would try to confirm that it is actually RF interference first. Do you have access to a handheld radio? See if you are getting the interference on the handheld to confirm if the interference is "conducted" on the DC cables or "radiated" picked up via the antenna.

The Vertex radio is a handheld radio, I have it connected to a dipole antenna that is mounted to the gyro frame. The RF is definitely coming from the lights, every time they flash you hear it on the radio.

 

[Sv.grainne]

Is the handheld connected to the Gyros DC power?

 

[JETLAG03]

These are good too, zero interference

You searched for lp - Cell2

www.cell2.com

 

[GyroChuck]

I also have a Vertex radio which I run off the radios battery. Connected to an antenna on my instrument pod.

I have a LED landing light which I have set up to strobe in daytime. I would get a loud buzz when it flashed on.

Since the light was close to the antenna I moved the light lower on the frame. It helped some what. But when a distant ttransmissionbroke the squelch I would get the buzz again.

Since the transmissions were so distant and did not concern me. I turned up the radio squelch since I'm only concerned about the airports I'm flying into/out of. So far I only get an occasional buzz.

Another item to try. Use shielded wire to the strobes and ground the shield.

 

[Sv.grainne]

Lights are on the way so will pass on what I find when I install them. My radio is powered from the DC bus on board and using a 1/4 wave antenna. Will build a ground plane behind the antenna with copper foil.

 

[Capt'n Gator]

Is the handheld connected to the Gyros DC power?

No, the radio operates off it's own battery. The lights are tied directly to the gyro battery which is only used to power the speed tech lights and the starter on the E box.

 

[Sv.grainne]

I got the 3 lights today and set them up but have not installed them yet. Going to tie all 3 together so that the lights are synched and then will see what the effect is on the radio.

 

[All_In]

Please let us know. If you like them I'm going to order a set too.

 

[Sv.grainne]

I completed fabricating a bracket for the strobes and here is a brief video showing them with a synchronized pattern. Next I'll see what effect they have on the VHF Radio.

 

[curtisscholl]

Pulsed DC which feeds the strobes is a square wave. Square wave is composed of all the natural frequencies from daylight to near DC. The only way to knock that out is at the source of the pulse. One can start by wrapping the DC wires in a RFI blocking toroid close to the DC input to the box and wrap the Strobe out feed wires at the source box through another toroid at the strobe output A grounded shield around the box can also help. Shielded two conductor cable with shield grounds can be a help along with a .001 mfd RFI bypass capacitor, one side to positive DC lead and the other side to ground conductor and to the frame.

OR one can build a VHF band pass filter and place it between the antenna and the antenna connector to the radio. But I fear the signal is not going into the antenna, but through the case straight to the pc board of the receiver.

And then again I may be totally off base.

Curtis

 

[Sv.grainne]

I fired up the radio with the 3 strobe clusters today and no interference, zero. Set squelch at lowest possible setting at quieting and turn on strobes, squelch did not break. Monitored weak local CTAF frequency with strobes on and off and no noticeable interference.

 

[Resasi]

Thanks Bobby, that's good to know.