Aircraft Lighting

[waiking59]

call EAA if your a member they'll have the correct info for you.

[pfhoeycfi]

I have wingtip LED nav/strobe lights from Aveo Engineering. Landing light is a Duckworks with HID lamp (no longer available). Note that if you plan to fly at night your lights MUST be TSO'd units to be legal (one of the only things on an experimental that needs to have a TSO).

Hi, does this TSO requirement apply to both the nav/strobe/pos lights and landing lights?

peter

[Bryan Cotton]

You only need a landing light if you are flying for hire. It would not apply there.

[builderflyer]

Does anyone have an opinion to share as to whether or not it is more effective, from a visibility standpoint, to sync wingtip strobes? Is it worth running an extra wire to take advantage of the sync feature or not? What do you fellows think as I'm undecided.

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261

[Bryan Cotton]

I ran the extra wire. Would they include the feature if it wasn't worth it either for visibility or cool factor?

[n502pd]

synced or non synced? for my needs when I flew at night, my eyes could pick up random flashes a bit easier than a peroidic synced flash. I have vert stab and belly strobes to use when I fly in the daytime, and if the other guy sees you easier with non synced strobes, the better for all. but that is just my preference. I did use 3 conductor shielded with 1/2 in poly tube when building. I plan to put on the skybeacon device, maybe this year and expect no interference fron the tip strobe...I hope!!

[builderflyer]

Thanks for your inputs, Bryan, Joe,

My initial thinking was that if another aircraft can see both of my wingtips at the same time, it will see more flashes per minute if the strobes are not synced and that may make my Sonex more noticeable. If, on the other hand, the other aircraft can only see one of my wingtips, it won't matter to it if the strobes are synced or not. But I agree that having both wingtip strobes flash at the same time is more cool.

There doesn't seem to be a consensus on this subject in that some airliners reportedly have their top and bottom lighting synced and some do not. Apparently the FAA doesn't care enough about "to sync or not to sync" or there would be some FAR covering the subject.

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261

[n307tw]

Hey Peter,

For NAV/Position/Strobe lights I will be using the Aveo Powerburst Daylite lights. These things are ridiculously bright and because they are non-TSO for certified aircraft but meet FAA specs they are cheaper. I am also syncing them up and not using shielded wire since it isn't required.

Aveo Lights

For landing lights I am going for a cheaper setup as well. I am using 40-Watt LED flush mounted mictuning lights in the Duckworks flat plate kit for the Sonex. Its the same kit they use for their landing light setup but the mounting plate for the light is solid and you can cut it to customize whatever light you want. I also wrapped it in carbon fiber vinyl since I think it will look nicer once the Plexiglas is on. I am just finishing skinning the wings and will post a picture when I fit the Plexiglas on the leading edge but below are pictures of what I've done so far. I'll be using the Garmin setup and it will wig-wag the lights instead of using a standalone flasher.

Amazon Link for Mictuning lights
Duckworks Aviation Site

Since my airport is in a Charlie airspace I am putting LED beacon lights on belly and on vertical stabilizer tip. It is probably overkill for our tiny Sonex planes but I figure if you're lit up like a Christmas tree, someone is bound to see you. They are tiny Feniex Red 360deg hide-a-way LEDs and use maybe 5 watts and honestly they are leftover LED's from when I used to up-fit fire department chiefs cars and volunteer firefighter's POVs.

Feniex 360 LED Light

Good luck with your decision!
-Tim

[builderflyer]

Hey Peter,

For NAV/Position/Strobe lights I will be using the Aveo Powerburst Daylite lights. These things are ridiculously bright and because they are non-TSO for certified aircraft but meet FAA specs they are cheaper. I am also syncing them up and not using shielded wire since it isn't required.

-Tim

Hi Tim,

Since I didn't care about having red/green running lights, I went with the Aveo Gliderburst strobes which replace the red/green leds with additional strobe leds for greater strobe effect. But these things really interfere with my Microair 760 comm radio and shielded wire is absolutely necessary to minimize the disturbance. I would suggest that before permanently installing your Powerburst lights with unshielded wire you do a test run to determine if your comm radio will be also be affected as was mine.

Good luck with your project,

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261

[Onex107]

I installed AVEO ENGINEERING strobe lights, the POWERBURST model. The least expensive strobe in the catalog. They just failed at four years and 250 hours. On one side the nav. lights worked the strobe didn't and on the other side all the lights were on, white, and the strobe worked. They won't answer my email and digging in their web site I find that the non certified version has a three year warranty, and, if you failed to register the purchase with them within 30 days the warranty was void. Beware. An expensive bad experience.
The units are potted in place so they cannot be disassembled for repair.