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Keep Whelen or sell to get LED?

T

thoma015

Well Known Member
When i purchased my partially built wing kit it came with a full set of Whelen 14v strobes (non led). A500A tail light, A650 PR&PG, and HDACF power supply.

Im trying to decide if i should sell this kit and get some LED's. What are the pros vs cons of just keeping what i got instead of going the LED route.
 
If I was starting with nothing, I'd go LED, but if I had a set of Whelens, I'd use 'em. There is no sense (to me) in chasing technology when you already have something that works.
 
I would keep them

They have been in production for decades. Lots of airplanes flying with them for many many years. I have never had any one break.

My buddys RV9A has had them for over 10 years and never changed a bulb. He flies about 50-80 a year.

just my 2 cents...
 
I agree with everything JPM said. And if you wings are still partially built, much easier to do now than later.

I purchased an RV9A that had the Whelen strobes. They are good, but I was not impressed with the landing and taxi lights (in the wings). Probably more due to my night vision isn’t as good as it used to be than due to the Whelens. I upgraded to LEDs at my next annual all the way around. I gave my used Whelens to an EAA chapter member so he had some spares. Yours are new, so could sell for something closer to new price to save another builder some $.

I also installed Led wig-wags (alternating taxi light and landing light) on my wings to be seen a little easier/sooner in the air. I would do it all over again, but particularly if the Whelens hadn’t been installed yet. Much brighter, less amps, and won’t burn out.
 
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I'm installing duck worth lights in the leading edge for landing and taxi lights.
Im just trying to determine if selling what I have to get some LEDs are really worth it? I know the advantages of LEDs but I already have a setup that was $1500 or so (new).
 
Just Went Through This

Howdy,

My Whelen power pack (same unit as yours) recently went TU after 10+ years of problem free service. I am going to the Whelen MicroBurst II system which, at AC Spruce, costs less than simply replacing my old style power pack. However, given the good service life I had and the fact that your unit is basically new, I would use it. If I were building new and had not purchased a strobe system as yet, I would go LED.

Cheers,

db
 
A set of polar opinions . . . no definitive path.

I was in the same situation as you, same Whelen hardware list.

You might look at the manf. date codes, and be sure you test it on the bench now before you make a decision. Don't assume it works. It is very sensitive to voltage. My tail strobe was not consistent and I went through a lot of trouble shooting and bought some new parts before understanding that it needs 14 volts not 12 volts to fire properly. (a long story in itself even with expert help)

Also, since the old system can be installed directly on a certified airplane, and there are lots of guys looking for replacement parts, the salvage value for NOS with a relatively new date code might be higher than you think.

If tested and it all works (also remember the length of the wire has voltage drop) at 12VDC, then it is a toss up.

You choose with no wrong answer.
 
Same deal here... Wings were wired for Whelen wingtip lights - combined xenon strobe/red_green nav light and white tail light. Have brand new wingtip modules and a brand new power supply and, of course, all the wiring also brand new.

Knowing that I wanted to go all LED on our aircraft, I found a used set of AeroLED wingtip units that performed the same functions as the Whelens. I've installed them after ripping out the stock Whelen wire and installing the proper twisted shielded triple (MIL-C-27500) tefzel wire. I'm flying with them now and am happy.

I will say the AeroLEDs Pulsar strobes appear nowhere as bright as the Whelen xenon strobes.

Our EAA chapter is building a Zenith CH750 Cruzer. I suspect my Whelen lighting system will be installed in it. Had I not happened upon the AeroLEDs Pulsars at a very good price, the Whelens would be flying in our own aircraft. I likely would have pulled the stock Whelen incandescent position light bulbs and installed LED equivalents, just to drop the total current draw, and will likely do this if I install them in the Cruzer project.
 
keeping mine old school strobes

I've been in formation a number of times over the years with other RVs that had a mix of LED and traditional strobes.

In clear conditions, the LED's are not brighter. They are simply more visible under those conditions due to the duty cycle being longer. Strobes are in fact brighter but of shorter duration. The same goes for wig-wag lights, they are generally more visible under good weather conditions.

Under poor visibility conditions, the traditional strobes win hands down. In those cases I could see the RV's with traditional strobes where I completely lost sight of RV's with LED strobes.

There's a reason why LED's have not replaced flash bulbs in high-end camera flashes.
 
Paul from Flyleds said:
This is the exact opposite comment to the feedback I receive about our Flyleds products!
Click to expand...

I'm sure this may indeed be the case with the Flyleds products. Not so with the AeroLEDs Pulsars that I have.

My test was pretty subjective. Power them both up, side by side, inside our galvanized steel-clad hangar (read shiny, reflective walls). The AeroLEDs Pulsar was bright, no doubt, but I could still look at the experiment as it sat on my workbench. The Whelen Xenon flash tubes required that I look away - just too much for the eyes in a confined environment with highly reflective surfaces all around.

Yes, both were powered from a lab power supply at 13.8VDC.
 
You might want to verify the age of the power supply. They use electrolytic capicators that don?t like to sit in storage unused for long periods of time. I don?t have data to support how old is to old, but in my experience if the PS sits for more than a couple of years unused, it may have a noticably shortened life. I also seem to recall that Wheelen has a procedure to reform the capacitors if the unit has been not powered for an extended time.
 
I had the Whelen A600 series with a power supply in each wingtip. I had two power supplies go bad in a short period and power supplies were expensive with used ones even going for several hundred dollars. I found a set of used AeroLED on this site and have been very happy with the weight savings, reduced amps and maintenance free service.
 
Keep what you have. They are not as " must haves" as all the gizmo chasers out there, but you will be easier to see when it matters. I purchased a set of Whelens from a guy that " upgraded " Two weeks later I get a text saying he wished he kept the better and brighter Whelens

Newer is not always better.

Jackz
 
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