Best Price for AeroLed Nav/Strobe or eqv?

Nav and strobe lights by the AeroLeds Company consisting of the Aero Pulsar NS90 for the wings and the Suntail for the tail look like nice units but what a price at $1100 (thru Vans). This is less than Aircraft Spruce's price.

I am finding it hard to justify the $1100 price and wondered if anyone has found a cheaper price elsewhere or if there have been any discounts out there.

I am not expecting to fly at night often and finding it hard to justify spending that much. I know I could go with Vans less expensive lighting option 6 (Whelan non-LED) at $925 but like the lower power drain and weight saving (no power pack) LED's. As I understand it no other LED Company has a direct install system for the RV9.

Thought I would ask for input before swallowing hard and biting the bullet.

Jim
RV9a Fuse

The AeroLED guys at Oshkosh told me that Van's was the best price, even better than their "show" price.

Here's how I

justified it. Same as you: less than $200 buys you tiny low voltage wires, no power supply, several pounds less weight, bulbs that essentially never burn out, no RF problems, and very cool looking lights. I do plan to fly a lot at night, but I still think I would have opted for the Aeroleds. Not flying yet, so can't speak to actual experience, but I like what I see in the shop and the support by Dean and crew at Aeroleds has been great. Oh, and Van's was the best price I found...

Little food for thought.

Jim, how close are you to going flying???

AEROLED's are cutting edge technology/application. That costs the big bucks.

If you are still quite a way from being ready, well, historically the price of tech stuff is pretty much of a downward trend.

Not trying to speak for Dean or anything, but have you ever seen high tech electronics trend up in price???

LED Nav/Strobe Future Price Anyone's Guess

I have seen Vans price on their system 6 Nav/Strobe lights go up nearly $300 in the past 2-3 years so I am not optimistic that AEROLEDS Pulsar and Suntail prices will go down. My 2 cents only.

Anyone have a better prediction?

Jim
RV9A-maybe 1.5 yrs out from the maiden(?)

I'd be slow to say the prices are going up. Typically the older LEDs are replaced with newer/brighter ones as they become available.

A good example are the Aerosun lights. They had 800 Lumen lights, but now they're 1600 Lumen. The number of LEDs and the packaging hasn't changed a bit. I think (but can't say for sure) that they had 400 Lumen lights before those.

The older versions typically drop in price by 50% when the new stuff hits the street (at the premium price point). This is how they've managed to get rid of the old inventory and move on to the next generation of lights.

If you really want the 1600's, you're better off hanging onto your cash and waiting for the 3200's to come available. Then you can decide if you want the 1600's at half price or the 3200's at full.

Note: (Assuming there is a 3200 light in the works......)

Phil

jimbo said:

I have seen Vans price on their system 6 Nav/Strobe lights go up nearly $300 in the past 2-3 years

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Isnt that a certified Whealen system??

I did say "cutting edge technology"

Apples/oranges.

try other vendors

I have installed the Whelen LED strobe/nav/tail light and am pleased with them. The total for all three lights was around $400-$500. I know they are not at the same caliber of brightness as AeroLED but they sure are a lot cheaper.

Aveo for me

I chose the Aveo for my new 7 and will be retrofitting the current 7. The Aveo 6 in 1 system is a work of art. The wingtip mounting system is being developed now and will be available very soon. The lights ALL exceed FAA requirements.

The lights look great like they were built for the purpose. Check them out at www.aveoengineering.com. Aircraft Spruce sells them.

The Aveo products are not the cheapest out there but the quality is exceptional. Additionally, life time warranty.

Excellent stuff.

Aveo too

I just got my aveo's from spruce and they are a work of art. Amazing stuff. I spent way more time looking at lights over the last year or two and finally couldnt wait any longer.

My father in law who worked in the auto headlight manufacturing/design/mould end just LOVES THEM. They are incredible little packages of tech, light and quality. Expensive yes but...you will feel good plugging them in and blinding the build shop visitors. You can kill a whole afternoon just "testing them"

Any mounting/fitting issues with the Aveo LED's?

How do they fit on the RV9 wing tips and rudder bottom fairing? Any special or extra work to mount?

Jim
RV9A Fuse

Same as others

Hi Jim,

The tail light is a standard pattern like the others. No issues there.

There are options for the wing lighting. The 6 in 1 has the taxi/landing light in one unit. The position/strobe mounts on the side of that. An adjustable mount is being developed for the cut out in the RV tips.

You can go with mounting the landing/taxi lights in the wing LE and the position/strobe in the tip cutout.

Pretty simple stuff. The strobes are extremely bright, the positions too.

The landing and taxi lights are also extremely bright. I fly a lot at night and can't wait to try them out.

As was noted, they are a work of art. No equal.

jimbo said:

How do they fit on the RV9 wing tips and rudder bottom fairing? Any special or extra work to mount?

Jim
RV9A Fuse

Click to expand...

RVbySDI said:

I have installed the Whelen LED strobe/nav/tail light and am pleased with them. I know they are not at the same caliber of brightness as AeroLED but they sure are a lot cheaper.

Click to expand...

Actually Whelen strobe flash tubes seem brighter than the LED based lights. Light output has not been measured scientifically by me, but on a recent flight of 3 RV's, 2 airplanes had Whelens, mine has AEROLEDs. The Whelens on the other 2 aircraft really popped out at me, so I asked one of the other pilots how bright were my AEROLED's compared to the other airplane with Whelen's. The response was the strobes on the other airplane with Whelens really popped out at him (bright), my AEROLED's not as much. That's what I thought would be the case.....the Whelen strobe tubes are VERY bright, and in a side by side eyeball test in my hangar one day the Whelens appeared brighter than the AEROLEDs.

My decision to go with AEROLEDs in the first place was based primarily on weight savings on a device that met FAA requirements. I have been happy with my choice, and installation was a breeze.

FWIW, on a recent side by side non scientific comparison in my hangar, AEROLEDs appeared brighter than similar AVEO products. Again not scientific, just an eyeball test.

Aveo lights-please "enlighten" me

It appears that the Aveo Positrobe XP white position/strobe tail light at $306.95 from Aircraft Spruce compares with the AeroLEDs Suntail at $340 from Vans. Aveo's LED lights are not in Vans catalog.

The wingtip nav/position/strobe model selection from Aveo is a little confusing-I think for the RV9 wingtip you have to go with Aveo's Flash LP Embedded light at $695 from Aircraft Spruce http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/aveoflashembeddedLED.php (and not the Ultra Aurora model). This compares with AeroLEDs Pulsar NS90 lights at $760 from Vans.

For those who have purchased the Aveo nav/pos/lights and have mounted them-is the above correct, and am I also correct in assuming that no extra work is involved in fitting the Aveo lights?

Just trying to make an informed decision here and spread the word for others as to options and cost.

Thanks,
Jim
RV9 Fuse

Here is a comparison video that I made that may be helpful. Note that the Xenon strobe is not a Whelen unit, but is built under PMA by another vendor. Cameras don't do a very good job of picking up Xenon strobes because the flash duration is so brief that it is often missed by the shutter speed of the camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu4KyNBkK8o

The AeroLEDs strobes on the Pulsar NS series, Suntail, and Pulsar (but not the Pulsar EXP) comply with the Class II (400 effective candela) requirements per AS8017b which is the SAE standard called out in TSO-C96a.

Daytime visibility of strobes is never as good as visibility after sunset. Strobes have a limited visibility distance during the day regardless of what type they are, although I agree that Xenon strobes of equal effective candela will have a little bit of an advantage in direct sunlight simply because the have a very high peak intensity which gives them more contrast in sunlight.

The best thing you can do during the day is to operate recognition lights. Recognition lights have candela values in the multiple 1000s vs. the muliple 100s of effective candela that strobes have. This is why wig-wag lights will be picked up at 3 to 5 miles in the forward direction while strobes are not visible beyond a mile or so in full sunlight.

Dean Wilkinson
CTO, AeroLEDs LLC

One thing that I have heard from some of our customers is that they don't like the fact that the Aveo lights have to have the position light power input energized in order to turn on the strobe function. I find this an unusual feature since the legacy position lights and strobes and our products all have independence of function between the position lights and strobes.

Hi Dean....thanks for your input. Can you give us any guidance to these questions:

1) What is the likelihood of prices trending down in 2011 for the Aero Pulsar NS 90 and the Suntail positon/strobes?

2) Do these products come packaged with connectors and any wiring?

Thanks,
Jim

jimbo said:

Hi Dean....thanks for your input. Can you give us any guidance to these questions:

1) What is the likelihood of prices trending down in 2011 for the Aero Pulsar NS 90 and the Suntail positon/strobes?

2) Do these products come packaged with connectors and any wiring?

Thanks,
Jim

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Hi Jim,

Its hard to predict, but the prices of LEDs are expected to come down, and a large portion of the BOM cost is the LEDs themselves. I can't commit to anything price-wise at this time, but we are working to reduce our costs and are trying hard to be competitive.

Yes, the lights come with mounting brackets and connectors. The lights have a wire pigtail, and we sell the 3 conductor 20 gauge shielded wire for $0.91 a foot.

Best Regards,

Dean Wilkinson
CTO, AeroLEDs LLC

After considering all the options and looking at several manufacturers last year, I went with all AeroLED's on my -7 based on two primary factors.

1. AreoLED's was the ONLY manufacturer that worked with the FAR's to make sure all their products will pass FAR 91.205 during an inspection by a careful DAR. When I asked Aveo about FAR 91.205 compliance they actually asked why that would be important to people building "Experimental aircraft"...I couldn't believe it. Night and IFR flight was TOO important to me to have the DAR tell me during my inspection that the lights didn't meet 91.205 spec. I knew AeroLED's would because they built them to.

2. All the products AeroLED's say they have available, are actually available! There is no "Coming Soon" stories for phantom products to try and get builders to wait...and wait...and wait for something that might be a year away or never happen at all.

What I didn't realize but learned after I get my NavStrobes (NS-90's and the Suntail) and my landing lights (SunRay Plus) was that the products are some of the finest quality I'll be putting on my plane! Installation and wiring was a snap and they look great turned on and off!

The other thing I learned is that the AeroLED's team understands the value of supporting their customers. They actually returned my call or answered the phone when I called with technical questions before I purchased my lights. Now that they're working through SteinAir I can get support from the team at SteinAir if needed.

All in all my experience with AeroLED's has been stellar! Great people, great products and great support!

- Peter

No longer the case

The AVEO's have the Position and Strobe power inputs separated now on all models. This was on the lower end model only.

Dean_aeroleds said:

One thing that I have heard from some of our customers is that they don't like the fact that the Aveo lights have to have the position light power input energized in order to turn on the strobe function. I find this an unusual feature since the legacy position lights and strobes and our products all have independence of function between the position lights and strobes.

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Has anyone purchased the Aveo Powerburst lights yet. I can not find any info concerning if they comply night and IFR regs. They look pretty good and the price is right.

Lumens

Does anybody know how many Lumens a typical incandescant light puts out? Aero LEDS. What is everybody buying? Sunspot 64 for a landing light? I am doing an RV-8 and am wondering which way to go.

Here is a comparison for lumens that should help you, the Sunspot 64 is meant to replace the PAR64 bulbs on large (i.e. 737, DC-3, etc.) aircraft and are a bit large for an RV. The Sunspot 46 and 36 lights are equivalent to PAR46 and PAR36 bulbs found on light singles:

PAR36 Size Sunspot 36HX 100W Incandescent 30W HID
1500 lumens 1200 lumens 1800 lumens

PAR46 Size Sunspot 46 250W Incandescent 50W HID
6700 lumens 4600 lumens 4500 lumens

Note that the lumens given are only what ends up directly in the beam, there is light that goes off at other angles that is not included in the above numbers.

Dean Wilkinson
CTO, AeroLEDs LLC

Dean, thanks for the excellent info!

Dave

RV7Guy said:

I chose the Aveo for my new 7 and will be retrofitting the current 7. The Aveo 6 in 1 system is a work of art. The wingtip mounting system is being developed now and will be available very soon. The lights ALL exceed FAA requirements.

The lights look great like they were built for the purpose. Check them out at www.aveoengineering.com. Aircraft Spruce sells them.

The Aveo products are not the cheapest out there but the quality is exceptional. Additionally, life time warranty.

Excellent stuff.

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except that the 6in1's are not out yet- based on everything i've seen, are you saying you got them from ACS?