Tadpole wrote:Think I'll get these for the Stinson instead of putting in power packs, etc. I have the old school beacon on the back of the plane, think I might just remove it and patch that hole over.

Tadpole, if you wanted to go with the brighter white strobe rather then the color strobe, the new whelen LEDs, the Orion series i believe they are called, wire up with the exsisting nav wires. No powerpacks from what i was told.
David

A1Skinner wrote:Tadpole, if you wanted to go with the brighter white strobe rather then the color strobe, the new whelen LEDs, the Orion series i believe they are called, wire up with the exsisting nav wires. No powerpacks from what i was told.
David

David, thanks. Hadn't seen those. I do prefer the solid color and the white strobe. Looks like the 650 series would replace the current Whelen position light I have on my droop tips now. I'd have to add another power wire to have the separate control of strobes / nav but the wings are open anyway.

Ya I'm with you on the solid color and white strobe. I think that is more visible in the daytime.

Cary wrote:.... But heck, my computer, my smarter-than-me phone, practically everything I own with any kind of circuitry in it, doesn't always do what it's supposed to do. ......Cary

That's me in a nutshell. I hate technology, or more accurately, technology seems to hate me.
These flashing nav lights look like they'd be OK for daytime, but not legal at night since the nav lights flash and then apparently cycle off for a few seconds. I'm not convinced that strobes do much in the daytime anyway, in my experience the only thing that makes an airplane easier to see in the daytime is a set of wig-wag landing lights. And then only if the front end of the other airplane is pointed at you.
The strobe / beacon on my new 180 is inop, so I've been pondering a replacement, but I don't think these flashing nav lights are for me. Even though I generally don't fly at night, I need something to keep me legal and safe should I happen to do so. I bought a new Flight Strobe unit from a buddy for less than half-price, I'll probably mount it on the top of the cabin. Bright, and STC'd for the 180 to boot.

The pricing on LED's just pisses me off. First, you start with certified.... you can spend a thousand bucks on a hand full of surface mount LED chips and some driver circuits. You pour plastic on it and some reflectors in the back.
In the experimental world... things are getting better. The products reviewed here are a magnitude cheaper than certified. But, still over priced. Go on ebay and search with the base type for your wings or tail... and you will find bright LED lights for under ten bucks.
They come post paid from China. They are bright as hell... and if one burns out just pitch it. Some can make a bit of noise in a radio.... just pitch it. Choices, mounts and bases abound. Mine are in the leading edge, the wing tips, the tail, under the glare shield, in my truck, on my house for exterior lighting, in the hallways for nite lights.
When I landed last night, the place was lit up like Christmas... and I never spend the kind of money I see in the aviation catalogs.
That goes for gas. Now, if I could only get cheap avgas from China.... Damn.

I guess another option is to just update the beacon I have on the back of the Stinson and do LED nav lights and not worry about strobes.

Navstrobe has an LED bulb for your beacon as well. It also has a circuit built in similar to their nav lights to make the beacon bulb flash if desired. It's 30 something bucks from spruce.

I've got the 30W (draw less than 1 amp on 14V according to their site but the math doesn't add up....VxA=W) NavStrobe LED nav lights and love them. I'll be adding the beacon bulb onto my next Spruce order. I'm not really concerned about PMA when the bulbs I'm replacing have never been PMA'd either nor has the FAA required them to be.

Ya I saw that. I guess it's just a preference thing on wingtip strobes or a beacon. I've not done much night flying and haven't developed a preference yet. I doubt I'll do much in the Stinson, but I want the ability to do so legally and safely. Easiest is to just replace all the bulbs I have now with LED and call it good, but it's easy to make changes at this point in the project too.

Old thread... But is everyone still happy with these? Is the electrical noise/interference that bad?

For anyone interested, I installed the sextant lights yesterday. Definitely brighter than normal incandescents, and the pulse feature is a nice addition for daytime visibility, although they are still a budget solution (as compared to something like the Pulsars) and don't replace any anti-collision lights. Didn't notice any radio/electrical interference. Here are a couple videos.

I think the green looks a tad brighter because I'm standing slightly to looker's left of centerline and a small amount of red light is blocked by the wingtip. Equally as bright by eye. You can see the tail white light flashing on the ground in the back.

Position lights only (strobe mode):


Position lights (strobe mode) plus a single Rigid 43W landing light: