Comparison of LED strobe / rear position lights

[Dan Langhout]

Through an odd set of circumstances, I ended up with two of the new all LED rear position/strobe lights intended to replace the ubiquitous Whelen A500 used on the rudder fairing of our RVs - a PosiStrobeXP from Aveo Engineering and a Suntail from AeroLEDs. Since I have both of these units, I thought I would do a little direct comparison of them for your enjoyment. You can get information on both of these lights from their websites:

http://www.aveoaviationlights.com/

and

http://www.aeroleds.com/

Suntail on the left, PosiStrobe on the right.



A few disclaimers: I don’t claim that my testing methods are particularly valid. I don’t have a certified and calibrated lab so my results are probably worth what you paid for them. For background on my test setup, methodologies, and my obsession with this topic, see THIS thread. The only thing I can say is that I am testing both units the same way with the same test setup. Also, I have no affiliation with either of these two companies - I'm just an RV-7 builder who wants to use LED lights on his plane!

Basically, all I am trying to do with the tests is to get a warm fuzzy that these lights are probably compliant with the FARs and are quiet enough electrically to use on our planes. I do not expect to measure the light output to the nearest 0.25 candela! To give me that warm fuzzy, I am looking for something north of 20 candela on axis for the position light component and at least 500-600 peak candela on axis for the anti-collision. If you go look at the FAR for the anti-collision lights, it requires a minimum of 400 effective candela for the worst case coverage angles. But if you go dig through the math of how the effective intensity is calculated, it’s obvious that your peak intensity must be significantly higher. 500-600 seems to be a reasonable minimum.


So what were my results? Here are the light intensity measurements all taken on axis at a distance of 12”:

PosiStrobeXP

Position Light Only: 29fc ~= 29cd

Strobe Only: N/A

Strobe + Position Light: 265fc peak ~= 265cd peak


Suntail

Position Light Only: 30fc ~= 30cd

Strobe Only: 596fc peak ~= 596cd peak

Strobe + Position Light: 625fc peak ~= 625cd peak

Note: The PosiStrobeXP runs the position light anytime the strobe is on so I was unable to get a “strobe only” measurement for it.




The electrical noise test is a little more subjective. I used my Icom A24 handheld radio for these tests rather than digging out my Icom A210 and antenna like I did the last time around.

Results:

The PosiStrobeXP does generate some noise that is picked up on the A24. It appeared quiet at a distance of about 3.5 feet but you could “hear” the strobe as you got the antenna closer until it essentially blanked out the reception with the antenna next to the light or the wires feeding it.

The Suntail was absolutely dead quiet everywhere as far as I could tell. I could even lay the A24 antenna on the light or the wires feeding it and there was no noise at all.


FWIW

[N787KV]

I have been talking to Nat at AeroLED and you basically confirmed what he has been telling me. It's what I'm planning to put in my 7a. Thanks for the test.

Peter Richmond

[CJK]

Thanks for the comparison -- your results make me glad I ordered one of the Suntails for my -10 earlier in the week!

-- Chris

[rleffler]

Now if we can get AeroLeds to produce a version of the Suntail without the position light, perhaps that will drop the price some more to use as wing tip strobes.

[flickroll]

I have been waiting for Aveo to come out with their embedded wing tip lights. Glad I waited - RF noise on Aveo products is a non starter for me. I'm going to wait for OSH before I do anything. The AeroLED products do look promising.

[az_gila]

....I'm glad you held out during the long discussions on your previous measurement thread.

It's now showing results....

[Dan Langhout]

Originally Posted by flickroll

I have been waiting for Aveo to come out with their embedded wing tip lights. Glad I waited - RF noise on Aveo products is a non starter for me. I'm going to wait for OSH before I do anything. The AeroLED products do look promising.

In all fairness, the radio antenna did have to get pretty close to the light before it became a problem. What surprised me a bit was that when I tested the original, lower powered, PosiStrobe back in December, it appeared to be totally quiet electrically although at that time I was doing the test with an A210 panel mount instead of a handheld.

[Dan Langhout]

Originally Posted by az_gila

....I'm glad you held out during the long discussions on your previous measurement thread.

It's now showing results....

I guess I just can't let it go!

[flickroll]

Dan, do you know the street pricing of both the AeroLED and the Aveo combo tail position light/strobe? The AeroLED tail unit is 395 , I wonder if the Aveo unit is similarly priced. One thing I do not like about the Aveo unit that you reported on is the inability to run the strobe by itself.

[Dan Langhout]

Originally Posted by flickroll

Dan, do you know the street pricing of both the AeroLED and the Aveo combo tail position light/strobe? The AeroLED tail unit is 395 , I wonder if the Aveo unit is similarly priced. One thing I do not like about the Aveo unit that you reported on is the inability to run the strobe by itself.

Aircraft Spruce has the Aveo PosiStrobeXP for $306.00. I think Aveo has other sales outlets around the country but you'd have to get with them on prices.

Yeah, their both pretty expensive! But this is new stuff. It eventually comes down.