Interior lights

[XenosN42]

Let us know what you think Bryan. I have yet to fly my Waiex at night but I think the time has come to perform some night testing later this fall and see how it goes. I love night flying and would like to expand into that phase soon, but I do need some form of interior cockpit lights to make it safe.

Thanks for sharing!

I'm looking forward to hearing about your experiences flying with an MGL panel at night. I have a iEFIS Explorer and the screen is too bright to fly with in the dark. It's blinding and washes out the outside view. Of course that is with the 'night' brightness setting. With the normal day setting my eyeballs would melt.

[Bryan Cotton]

I did a hangar test with the new lights. I can definitely read my MFD, and also see all the other instruments and controls. The turn coordinator is nicely illuminated. I did notice that the light in that location definitely shines on the back of my glasses, which is a problem. I am going to try and make some fabric side shields and evaluate that.

The light draws 35 milliamps.

[MichaelFarley56]

I'm looking forward to hearing about your experiences flying with an MGL panel at night. I have a iEFIS Explorer and the screen is too bright to fly with in the dark. It's blinding and washes out the outside view. Of course that is with the 'night' brightness setting. With the normal day setting my eyeballs would melt.

That's interesting. My MGL Xtreme has an adjustable screen brightness selector as part of a main adjustment menu. This adjustment is a sliding scale from 0-100% with maybe 30 brightness settings in between. Normally during daylight flights I have it adjusted to around 85% "bright" but it also gets incredibly dim when I turn that down. Does your iEFIS Exploer have just the two settings, day and night?

[XenosN42]

That's interesting. My MGL Xtreme has an adjustable screen brightness selector as part of a main adjustment menu. This adjustment is a sliding scale from 0-100% with maybe 30 brightness settings in between. Normally during daylight flights I have it adjusted to around 85% "bright" but it also gets incredibly dim when I turn that down. Does your iEFIS Exploer have just the two settings, day and night?

You're so lucky to be able to adjust the brightness with that granularity! On the iEFIS Explorer it's either 'day' setting, or 'night' setting. And, as I said the night setting is too bright. I've thought about researching a neutral density gray film that could be attached to the screen. One concern would be the touch screen features.

[jrs]

I have the iEFIS G3 simulator running and it shows a setting for daytime and also one for nighttime. Under menu button scroll down to second page. Daylight Backlight setting :23
Nighttime Backlight setting :10 by default. Range Daylight 15-31 and Nighttime 1-15. Is that helpful.

[XenosN42]

I have the iEFIS G3 simulator running and it shows a setting for daytime and also one for nighttime. Under menu button scroll down to second page. Daylight Backlight setting :23
Nighttime Backlight setting :10 by default. Range Daylight 15-31 and Nighttime 1-15. Is that helpful.

I've confirmed those settings are in the simulator. I'll check the actual EFIS the next time I'm at the airport. Thanks!

[Bryan Cotton]

Here is my night picture:

MFD and panel lighting.png (395.54 KiB) Viewed 6377 times

I unplugged the post lights as I felt there was too much glare looking out the sides. Also because of the position of the light it was reflecting on the back of my glasses. I made these shields out of some vinyl.

side shields.png (603.68 KiB) Viewed 6377 times

These work good. I did notice when looking cross cockpit that the light shone in the holes that slip over the temples. I'm going to sew on a flap to cover them.

side shields installed.png (486.21 KiB) Viewed 6377 times

On full bright I can read the MFD easily. As my eyes adapt to the dark I can turn them down to about half and still make it out. Considering I was not fully adapted I think it's pretty good. I'll bring two red flashlights too!

[XenosN42]

I have the iEFIS G3 simulator running and it shows a setting for daytime and also one for nighttime. Under menu button scroll down to second page. Daylight Backlight setting :23
Nighttime Backlight setting :10 by default. Range Daylight 15-31 and Nighttime 1-15. Is that helpful.

I checked the settings on my EFIS the other day. The night time setting was '1'. Obviously I must have known about that setting seven years ago, but forgot about it. I used the EFIS in a closed hanger on the night setting and the light appeared to be bright, but not as bright as I remembered it to be seven years ago. One day soon I'll take it out on the taxi way to see if it is usable for night flying. I'll let you know.

[Bryan Cotton]

The pictures did not come out well, but I am night current again. Flew the Waiex 0.7 for 3 full-stop landings.

[GordonTurner]

Nice video Bryan. Did you make an in-cockpit video on that flight?

Gordon