New Whelen LED Lighting for Experimental Aircraft

Nothing New

mike newall said:

And then the thread died.................

How did the tests go ?

Where do guys stand now, a year or so later ?

We are about to spec up the lights for our 8 and the cost saving is very attractive.

But hey, we aren't allowed to fly at night, or in IMC in ANY homebuilt in the UK.

They're looking at night, but it will be a while I think.

Click to expand...

Jeff Argersinger sent me a PM after he posted about sending me a set of lights to test - but I didn't see it until several weeks later (wasn't checking my PMs very often at that time). I then tried to contact Jeff via PM, phone, and E-mail but I never got in contact with him. I suspect that he concluded that there was nothing to be gained by having me do an informal test.

I don't know anything beyond that - sorry. I had already bought a set of the AeroLEDs lights anyway (which are TSO'd now by the way) so I really wasn't too concerned about the Whelen lights other than just natural curiosity.

flying for 1.5 years on them

I have been flying on the Whelen LED lights since July, 2010. Since I have always been pilot in command in my airplane I have never been outside it when it was in operation. Given this I can give some information, though anecdotal only.

As far as operation is concerned, they work great. To be expected, there is minimal voltage drop. They were easy to install. I ran one power wire (I believe it was a 20 or 22 gauge wire) for the nav lights and one for the position/strobe out to each wing tip and one power back to the trailing edge of the rudder for strobe. I also ran a sequencing wire to each light to synchronize the strobes. I grounded to the airframe at each light fixture so not much ground wire needed.

I have specifically asked others to describe how bright the lights were. Everyone I have asked has said they were very bright. The strobes are especially bright. I did install some red and cyan reflective material behind each light within the enclosed wingtip light area. This also increased the brightness of the nav lights.

I know none of my comments are based on any scientific examination but I do believe the Whelen LED's are very adequate for my needs.

I have them installed on my non-flying airplane and they are certainly bright. I don't have a calibrated eye that can measure foot-candles, and can't yet do any side-by-side comparisons with certified aircraft, but I can't image they are too dim for real world applications. As said, they are light in weight and easy to install.