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Interior lights

Stockmanreef

Well Known Member
I am having my panel built and Steinair asked about interior lights. Can a cabin light actually be put into the cockpit? I have the standard red/white strip lights from vans and I imagine that lighting up all the panel switches would be nice.

Thanks
ken
 
I found that the Dynon HDX and G5 cast enough into cockpit for my VFR night flight needs and prepping aircraft for flight. Found no need for cabin flood lighting.
More advance IFR night ops requires research on your part, scenario base planning to avoid surprises. Reflecting light off bubble canopies in night or IFR conditions could increase issues with vertigo.
If able, buy an hour with a RV night flyer. It will give you great info.

H
 
The light strip under the glareshield can throw a ton of light when at full brightness. It even lights up the foot well area. You may find it adequate.



You could also put a light under the roll bar. That would light up the baggage area too. An adjustable eyeball would let you point it around.
 
A little off topic but something to consider, I had Stein put in one dimmer for my LED strip. And although the individual displays in the G3X system have photoelectric dimmers and can be dimmed through the software, if you add another dimmer knob, Stein will tie the dimming circuits together on each box so you can use the dimmer to control all the displays at one time.

Mine were all wired through one of the PWM circuits but I'm missing the dimmer and have more important things to complete at this point.

For those building their own panels, here's what I used as the PWM dimmer for the LED strip. Independent control for both colors.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005S070U...TF8&colid=2PATBSCKT74NV&coliid=I3O2MA7B1B16OT

615TSQrrRRL._SX679_.jpg
 
See blog post here from 9/16: https://turnerb14a.blogspot.com/

In addition to the Van's red/white strip, I put a light fixture in the baggage area: I used a couple of LED lights from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07544JW2F/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1) , wired in parallel. I originally made an aluminum bracket but was unhappy with overall appearance so I replaced with some 1/8" thick ABS plastic. I've run it for an hour plus with a power supply with no appreciable heat buildup. It only draws 0.3 amps using 18ga wire (I tested current draw with more than enough wire to run to the panel.

The fixture uses a "frosted" glass screen that diffuses the light nicely with plenty "over the shoulder" as well as in the baggage area. Primary use will be loading/unloading - too bright for use in flight.
 
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