REFLECTOR: Landing Light

[Douglas Holub]

MessageWho cares if a person can save 10 amps from his lighting system? Will it make the plane go any faster or be any safer? Yes. If a person could keep his total power budget under 10 amps or so, he could use B & C's vaccuum pad 28 volt, 20 amp alternator and remove the belt driven alternator at the back of the engine. It helps the c.g. to move the alternator to the vaccuum pad, there is no belt to break, and total weight goes down by about 5 lbs. That's what I'm doing. I've got an electrical system and minimal IFR avionics that use about 9 amps maximum at 28 volts.

Doug Holub
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Douglas Holub 
  To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list 
  Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 2:18 PM
  Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Landing Light


  In the words of Bob Dylan, "The times, they are a changin'."  I've been designing LED traffic signals for the past few years, and LEDs are available now that can do landing lights. I've been trying to avoid designing my own, so I keep waiting for someone else to do it. A 250 watt landing light (20 amps at 12 volts) can be replaced by a 40 watts (3 amps) of LEDs. I see these guys have one:

  http://www.lunaraccents.com/   I don't know anything about it, but it looks like it's for the airlines.

  Speaking of low power, I just bought a pair of position lights and strobes from Kunzleman Electronics. One sleek, aerodynamic package on each winglet includes the two LED position lights and the strobe. The strobe power supply accepts 12 to 100 volts, but the LED position lights are 14 volts only. Since I have a 28 volt system, I asked Dick Kunzleman if I could connect the two pairs of position lights in series. He said no problem. So I hook the red lead on the left wing to 28 volts, hook the black lead on the right wing to ground, and tie the remaining two leads together. Total 28 volt power budget for all position lights and strobes: 1.5 amps. I think that's pretty amazing.

  Doug Holub
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Chuck Jensen 
    To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list 
    Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 1:34 PM
    Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Landing Light


    Kevin,

    Given the physics involved and despite the rapid improvements in output from LEDs, I would guess we are still "light-years" from seeing an effective LED landing light, though I don't know what kind of lumens a GE4509 put out.  LEDs are great for being visible at night, but to light up the night, that's a significantly greaters challenge. OBTW, if you find one....I'll take one!
    Chuck Jensen 

    -----Original Message-----
    From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On Behalf Of Velocity_AZ
    Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 1:52 PM
    To: reflector at tvbf.org
    Subject: REFLECTOR: Landing Light


    Has anyone found a suitable LED replacement for the GE4509 landing light?

    Kevin


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