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Whelen 71685 LED Landing Light

mrreddick

Well Known Member
Is anyone using this light in the wing? It looks like an easy replacement for the standard light in Vans kits. After some digging I finally found specs saying it is rated at 12,000 candela.
I don't do much night flying but I'm looking for something a little brighter than the standard light.
 
This one is intended to fit the Duckworth mount in the leading edge, though it could likely work in the tip as well.

Yes it likely will .:p As we have a kit for both the leading edge and the wing tip.
p10.jpg
 
Whelen 71685 Lumen rating or comparative brightness

I am looking for a replacement for the standard Duckworth halogen bulb fixture. (My new-to-me 8A has just one of those in the wing for its only landing light.) I hope to find I an upgrade that 1/ is LED, 2/ will conform to the Duckworth mount already in my wing, and 3/ is very bright since I have only the one landing light fixture in the wing.

DW has a 3 LED replacement. But no brightness info on their site, and no answer to my email to them sent a few days ago. From appearances alone, it doesn't look like it would be particularly bright. Whelen doesn't publish lumen ratings for comparison purposes.

Has anyone compared this Whelen 71685 bulb to other popular LED upgrades to the DW fixture? If its a marginal improvement, I'll move ahead with the plan to install some SUV/ATV oriented LED "flamethrower" LED light(s) with some reengineered mounting required.
 
Whelen specifications

From the Whelen catalog for experimental aircraft light, I found this:

Whelen Parmetheus PAR36 LED bulb: 40 degree focus: 15,000 candela
Whelen Parmetheus PAR36 LED bulb: 10 degree focus: 60,000 candela
Whelen 71685 landing/recognition LED bulb: 30 deg focus: 12,000 candela

http://www.whelen.com/pb/Aviation/C...Manuals/LSA_Experimental_Lighting_Catalog.pdf



I am looking for a replacement for the standard Duckworth halogen bulb fixture. (My new-to-me 8A has just one of those in the wing for its only landing light.) I hope to find I an upgrade that 1/ is LED, 2/ will conform to the Duckworth mount already in my wing, and 3/ is very bright since I have only the one landing light fixture in the wing.

DW has a 3 LED replacement. But no brightness info on their site, and no answer to my email to them sent a few days ago. From appearances alone, it doesn't look like it would be particularly bright. Whelen doesn't publish lumen ratings for comparison purposes.

Has anyone compared this Whelen 71685 bulb to other popular LED upgrades to the DW fixture? If its a marginal improvement, I'll move ahead with the plan to install some SUV/ATV oriented LED "flamethrower" LED light(s) with some reengineered mounting required.
 
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