Brantel
Well Known Member
I bought a pair of 35W HID lights from Ebay to replace the bulbs in my 55w Duckworks kit that was a set of fog lights converted to use with their brackets. I got the 6000K H3 bulbs because I wanted white white light. The 55w halogens always looked very warm in color. The HID kit was advertised as a "Digital" ballast kit. After looking at a million sites selling these things it seems that almost all of them are clones of one another and or made by the same shop in China. The kit I bought was ~$37 delivered for the pair. I did open the ballast after I received them and they do appear to be mostly electronic but there was a small transformer in there. The inside was sprayed/potted with a rubber coating so it was hard to tell what was really in there.
Anyway....I mounted the ballast to the back of the Duckworks bracket using the mounting bracket that came with the kit. I did modify the bracket somewhat to cut off extra that was not needed. The wiring was simple as pie.
After mounting everything and turning them on, I can honestly say that these things are at least three times brighter than the 55w halogens. Here is a comparison, the left side is the HID, the right is the 55w halogen:
Here they are straight on with the beam:
Same shot with the old 55w:
I had to leave the airport before it got dark so I did not get any other pics.
One thing...I tried to wig-wag these after they warmed up but that was a no go!!! They will not wig-wag with the NAPA flasher relay!!! Maybe they would with one of the solid state wig-waggers but they won't with the NAPA relay. It just buzzed and sounded like it was going to fry itself so I stopped trying after a second or two.
I have always been afraid to try and regain my night currency (never had it in a TW airplane) with those dim 55w halogens. Maybe now I can give it a whirl.
Can any of you with TD's fill me in on how you like your lights pointed? I need a baseline to start with before I go out and give it a whirl!
Anyway....I mounted the ballast to the back of the Duckworks bracket using the mounting bracket that came with the kit. I did modify the bracket somewhat to cut off extra that was not needed. The wiring was simple as pie.
After mounting everything and turning them on, I can honestly say that these things are at least three times brighter than the 55w halogens. Here is a comparison, the left side is the HID, the right is the 55w halogen:
Here they are straight on with the beam:
Same shot with the old 55w:
I had to leave the airport before it got dark so I did not get any other pics.
One thing...I tried to wig-wag these after they warmed up but that was a no go!!! They will not wig-wag with the NAPA flasher relay!!! Maybe they would with one of the solid state wig-waggers but they won't with the NAPA relay. It just buzzed and sounded like it was going to fry itself so I stopped trying after a second or two.
I have always been afraid to try and regain my night currency (never had it in a TW airplane) with those dim 55w halogens. Maybe now I can give it a whirl.
Can any of you with TD's fill me in on how you like your lights pointed? I need a baseline to start with before I go out and give it a whirl!
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