I put this vid together to show what the AeroLEDs and UMA panel lights look like on the Skywagon. I'm super happy with the setup. The 0.5" wide UMA EL strip fits perfectly under the bottom lip of the sub-panel which solves the problem of being able to see your trim indication as well as anything you might drop on the floor. I put a red LED in the overhead and since there is no headliner, the light spills out over the sides and really baths the entire cabin in a nice red light. Pretty good (and super low amp) setup. Was kinda pushing the limits of the GoPro at night, but I hope it's helpful.

Shiny!

adjective; (of a smooth surface) reflecting light, typically because very clean or polished.

Firefly; To be good, in a state of being good, to be having a good time.
Firefly; Something that is great, neat, very cool, peachy keen.

Looks great! I can see why the tower calls you a UFO, haha.

I'm a fan of your interior lighting, looks very usable without being overkill. Do they dim? If so, are they all tied to one dimmer or are they on individual switches?

Looks good Greg!

Janel (my pilot girlfriend) was watching over my shoulder. She said it would have been a hell of a landing if you were on the centerline. She's not taildragger qualified yet, so I told her she needs to walk the walk before she starts playing internet CFI.

Yep. They are all dimmable... and all on separate dimmers which is nice.

That said, I have found that I have been flying with them all on full intensity w/ no reason to dim. It was a great idea in principle, but if I were to do it again, I think I would forgo the dimmers.

I also have converted the Cessna post lights on the A pillars to use LEDs. The pilot is red and pax white. When I need a really bright light, I use either of these.

AEROPOD wrote:She said it would have been a hell of a landing if you were on the center-line.

I was practicing for UK ops where they use the left side.

bigrenna wrote:

AEROPOD wrote:She said it would have been a hell of a landing if you were on the center-line.

I was practicing for UK ops where they use the left side.

Makes sense, I also guessed that you may have been lead of a flight of 2.

Outstanding Greg, very pretty, good work!

The overhead panel lights in my 180 were removed by some previous pwner, and the door post bullet spotlights were inop so I removed them. That leaves me with a dome light but no panel lights at all. I am a day VFR pilot (only 3.8 hours at night in close to 20 years of flying), but would like to have something just in case. I thought about glare-shield lighting like Renna's but my 180 doesn't have a glare shield, and I don't really want one. Then I happened to see a local guy's 180 which had one of these battery-powered "pilot light pro's" installed: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/e ... ghtpro.php
I checked it out in a dark hangar & it really seemed to light up the panel nicely, it's complete with dimmer plus dimmable map lights. Easy install also-- it's stand-alone when battery powered, or you can hardwire it. It'd be easy to pull power off the dome light. I think it's way over-priced at about $125, considering what it is it should be about twenty bucks, but if it does the job well it's probably worth the money.

bigrenna wrote:I put this vid together to show what the AeroLEDs and UMA panel lights look like on the Skywagon. I'm super happy with the setup. The 0.5" wide UMA EL strip fits perfectly under the bottom lip of the sub-panel which solves the problem of being able to see your trim indication as well as anything you might drop on the floor. I put a red LED in the overhead and since there is no headliner, the light spills out over the sides and really baths the entire cabin in a nice red light. Pretty good (and super low amp) setup. Was kinda pushing the limits of the GoPro at night, but I hope it's helpful.

Very nice! Now I have to go back and re-read what you did for all of your internal and external lighting and take some notes.