Hey guys,

Its been a while since ive posted here, but i have some questions for the gurus! My 182 has all the factory original nav and landing lights on it...they suck! I have the Grimes nav lights, with a tacked on strobe system. My landing lights are in the nosebowl the 2 on either side of the air filter, my taxi light burned out 4 hours after i got it back from annual inspection. Im positive this has nothing to do with the installer as i have heard of similar stories from 182 guys.

SO...

I have a landing light that works, no taxi light, i have strobes that work, i have a beacon that works, and i have 1 nav light that works. I want to upgrade the landing and taxi light to LED or HID, and go LED on my navs and strobes if possible.

Are there any direct replacements for these, or do i need to take the bird into the shop and have all new wiring done to accomodate the new lighting.

I guess what im saying here is im flying completely blind here on this and dont know where to start, other than i really want a better quality light, and i really want LED strobes and nav lights.


thanks for the help guys i appreciate it.


Mike

Hey Mike. I know Whelen make a new LED nav/strobe that runs off of the nav power. This way you dont have to have the flash boxes installed like their old style strobes. I like this option better then a strobing nav bulb as a white strobe is more noticable then a colored one in my opinion. As far as taxi/landing lights, I think both Aero LED and Whelen LED versions are great. Someone with more experience on that front may correct me however...
David

Whelan makes all sorts of direct replacement, APPROVED lights. I've used their Parmethius landing/taxi lights on several airplanes, and they last forever, even in those cowl installations.

You're right not to blame the maintenance outfit for the short life of those cowl lights. Cowl mounts vibrate bad on these A/C and conventional lights have filaments. Hot filaments + vibrations = bulb failure. LED lights don't have filaments, and they don't get hot....

MTV

Whelan has a leg up with name recognition, and their Parmetheus landing is less expensive than AeroLeds SunSpot 36. However, the 36 at 48 watts, absolutely blows away the 17 watt Parmetheus when it comes to light output. We did an impromptu test comparing the two brands across a dark Idaho meadow. AeroLed is $100 more than Parmetheus, but when you consider that AeroLed has more than double the light output, the extra AMU seems a good deal to me.

Aviat is installing AeroLeds as a factory option, so there's a good many Huskys flying with them. I have four on my Husky, two landing and two taxi. When I select landing lights, all four come on together - - they are also wired so they all operate in wig-wag mode for anti-collision. Most impressive.*

*Disclaimer. I impress easily. I have no connection with AeroLeds, 'cept my Husky has Aeroleds for Nav, strobe, landing and taxi.