LED lights for the plane

I have a Whelen Parmetheus in the nose. Put it in when the previous GE bulb died between dusk preflight and midnight arrival.

Went out the other night and remembered to check it. At the hold short line, GPS said the airport was 0.4 nm away. A few minutes later, coming down final with no VASI/PAPI, I could read the runway numbers at 0.72 nm. At my previous airport, I couldn't make this test, as the trees were in the way. Here, the green REILs were visible, as well as the white/yellow/red edge lights, great for lining up.
 
The LEDs behave differently than the incandescents.

The LEDs I've noticed will reflect off of anything light colored and reflect REALLY well off of reflective markers, runway paint, etc.

But the LED light will be almost completely absorbed by black asphalt until you're really close to it.

Some call this "not bright enough", I just see it as "different". You're forced to look for different things than you have in your memory of previous night landings, and taxiing.

Twenty landings later it's a non-problem. You adjust and figure it out.

In the Mooney I'm guessing it looks kinda like all you can see is white stripes and reflective markers whizzing by. Honestly if something were ON the black surface, you easily see it from a LONG way away. It's just the asphalt that tends to "disappear" sooner in your depth of field than it did when lit up by the hot yellow flashbulbs of old.

That's the best way I can describe it. If the asphalt is black with no stripes and markings, just paved, that'd be hard with the LED bulbs.

But it's virtually never that a runway is opened back up after paving without at least centerline paint markings and side stripes.

It's kinda like Atari Night Driver. Heh. Well unless even a pebble or dust or anything else is on the black asphalt. That pops right out and missing FOD is easy.

I think someone who'd never seen incandescent lights for a pitch dark landing wouldn't be bothered by the LED at all.

It's the expectations from memory that bother us during transition.
 
I flew the Flybaby at night quite a bit with no landing or panel lights. I got by just fine.

The problem was runway intersections. When Id go through one the edge lights would go away and it was a terrifying few seconds with no visual clues since I can't see over the panel on the ground at all.

I finally added a 1 amp led light angled heavily to the left which fixed the runway edge issue for me going through intersections.
 
denverpilot said:
The LEDs behave differently than the incandescents.

The LEDs I've noticed will reflect off of anything light colored and reflect REALLY well off of reflective markers, runway paint, etc.

But the LED light will be almost completely absorbed by black asphalt until you're really close to it.

Some call this "not bright enough", I just see it as "different". You're forced to look for different things than you have in your memory of previous night landings, and taxiing.

Twenty landings later it's a non-problem. You adjust and figure it out.

In the Mooney I'm guessing it looks kinda like all you can see is white stripes and reflective markers whizzing by. Honestly if something were ON the black surface, you easily see it from a LONG way away. It's just the asphalt that tends to "disappear" sooner in your depth of field than it did when lit up by the hot yellow flashbulbs of old.

That's the best way I can describe it. If the asphalt is black with no stripes and markings, just paved, that'd be hard with the LED bulbs.

But it's virtually never that a runway is opened back up after paving without at least centerline paint markings and side stripes.
Click to expand...

There is something to that...

!UES 10/040 UES RWY 18/36 SURFACE MARKINGS REMOVED 1410201619-1410312100

No, I have no idea why they did that... The runway surface is not new. But the landing light was worthless without the reflective paint. I'd hate to have to do an emergency landing in the Mooney with just LEDs.

I do remain a big fan of LEDs for the applications where they're replacing the 100W GE 4509's - They work great in the 182, R182, and Archer. They just don't do as well as the 250W 4596's.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
There is something to that...



!UES 10/040 UES RWY 18/36 SURFACE MARKINGS REMOVED 1410201619-1410312100



No, I have no idea why they did that... The runway surface is not new. But the landing light was worthless without the reflective paint. I'd hate to have to do an emergency landing in the Mooney with just LEDs.



I do remain a big fan of LEDs for the applications where they're replacing the 100W GE 4509's - They work great in the 182, R182, and Archer. They just don't do as well as the 250W 4596's.
Click to expand...


Ick. Hope they find some paint around there soon. Ha.
 
Well... The slow transition from the original taxi/landing light configuration (4x GE 4596 250W PA36's) is now complete - We now have two Whelen Parmetheus Plus taxi lights, and two XeVision 50W HID landing lights:

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And even with all this light, we're using 86% less power now! In fact, if we assume the alternator is 66% efficient, that means the engine now has 1.75 more hp going to the prop at cruise power, which should make the plane a half knot faster. :D

Someday, she'll be as well-lit as Lance Fisher's Baron. :thumbsup:
 

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jesse said:
I finally added a 1 amp led light angled heavily to the left which fixed the runway edge issue for me going through intersections.
Click to expand...



Would it work to add a camera with IR light? I am thinking of a back-up camera intended for cars. They are cheap, and available with wireless to simplify the installation. As a display, maybe the iPad you already have, with a video capture device.
 
NoHeat said:
Would it work to add a camera with IR light? I am thinking of a back-up camera intended for cars. They are cheap, and available with wireless to simplify the installation. As a display, maybe the iPad you already have, with a video capture device.
Click to expand...

I think if I were trying to look down at a screen at night while landing the Flybaby I would crash for sure.
 
AvWeb did a pretty good comparison of a few of the LED products with the GE 4509's and LoPresti Boom Beams:


I'm still loving our dual HID landing/dual LED taxi setup. Next, we'll be looking to replace the recognition lights... Probably around Oshkosh this year. :D
 
I would love to install the three leds for my Arrow but $1000 is a lot of money
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Well... The slow transition from the original taxi/landing light configuration (4x GE 4596 250W PA36's) is now complete - We now have two Whelen Parmetheus Plus taxi lights, and two XeVision 50W HID landing lights:

attachment.php


And even with all this light, we're using 86% less power now! In fact, if we assume the alternator is 66% efficient, that means the engine now has 1.75 more hp going to the prop at cruise power, which should make the plane a half knot faster. :D

Someday, she'll be as well-lit as Lance Fisher's Baron. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

that is so tough looking. Much better than the single cowl light in my mooney. :thumbsup:
 
Looks like among the LED's that the AeroLed had the best light pattern and color. Wonder if in my three light arrangement if the center cowl light should be a taxi light or just make all three landing lights. Thoughts?
 
tmyers said:
Looks like among the LED's that the AeroLed had the best light pattern and color. Wonder if in my three light arrangement if the center cowl light should be a taxi light or just make all three landing lights. Thoughts?
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I would make them all landing lights for better distance vision. With your wing tips lights, they offer good perrifial (sp) illumination.. .....
 
I currently fly have the tip lights ai.ed toward the center to give a continuous beam of light. I am thinking that with the more diffused pattern of the leds I would be able to widen it a bit.
 
tmyers said:
I currently fly have the tip lights ai.ed toward the center to give a continuous beam of light. I am thinking that with the more diffused pattern of the leds I would be able to widen it a bit.
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I agree......
 
tmyers said:
I currently fly have the tip lights ai.ed toward the center to give a continuous beam of light. I am thinking that with the more diffused pattern of the leds I would be able to widen it a bit.
Click to expand...

yabut the LEDs pale a bit in comparison to the HIDs...
 
Too much work for me. My lights work pretty well as a trio. Just updating to led would be an improvement.
 
You need to decide whether you want lights to illuminate the night or to provide daytime recognition. I have no interest in lighting the dark and every interest in assisting other guys to see me. Different missions have different priorities.
 
Stewartb said:
You need to decide whether you want lights to illuminate the night or to provide daytime recognition. I have no interest in lighting the dark and every interest in assisting other guys to see me. Different missions have different priorities.
Click to expand...


Flashing lights will work better if you want to be seen.
 
Yes, and that's precisely why I installed LEDs on my airplane. I use a MaxPulse flasher and in combination with the LEDs the flashing is instant and crisp. Halogens just wobbled between brighter and dimmer. The crisp LED response to the flasher makes a much more effective forward-facing recognition tool.
 
I just finished converting all my lights to LED except for the wingtip landing lights which are HID. I went w/ the Aveo Galactical wingtip nav/strobe/position, Aveo Galactica Red Baron tail beacon. Wheelen rear position LED and Wheelend LED landing light (lower cowl).

Much much brighter/visible in daylight and of course night time and power consumption is much lower. Another benefit is that I had audio feedback from my strobes and now that I'm 100% LED not a peep!

Here's a video of the lights in action...

 
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