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New Product: Whelen LED landing light for your rectangle ~ Duckworks lights

Kahuna

Moderatoring
For many years, countless RV's have been operating with various halogen and quartz rectangle lights in their leading edges. This new Whelen LED landing light product is a direct drop in replacement for those and provides more light for you out front, with a low LED light power draw, in a form factor that is a very nice drop in replacement. Simply remove your lens, unscrew your light, crimp on a couple terminals to your wires, and screw this light right in. It utilizes your existing light mounting structure between the ribs and just replaces your rectangle quartz or halogen light with an inexpensive LED drop in solution. You may have seen Paul Dyes recent thread on his install of these. If your lens is getting old, fogged out, or cracked, you can also order a replacement leading edge lens kit as well.
The most frequent question I get with this light is "How bright is it?" Well I would characterize it as "more than adequate." The rectangle halogen quarts of the past I would put into the "adequate" category. This light in the "more than adequate" category, and the round light Whelen PAR 36 LED's as "Really Good." So this product falls in the middle. A very nice middle of the road solution to get you into the low power, quiet, long lasting, LED landing light, at a fraction of the cost of other solutions, with the quality of light you have come to expect from Whelen. Until Friday, Ill credit back your shipping CONUS if you order 2 or more.
Holler if you have any questions. Added some new videos in the store.
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Just installed mine today!

Kahuna,

I bought my replacement lamp and installed it this morning. It went very well although I knew that I was in trouble when the directions said that it was easy and could be done in 10 minutes. It was easy but, as usual, challenges popped up-none of which were the kit's fault. It looks great and is BRIGHT!

Thanks for the great product.

John
RV-8
 
Flasher...

Looks great but I am unable to figure out if flasher (B&C style) would work with these... Any insight?
 
Kahuna,

I bought my replacement lamp and installed it this morning. It went very well although I knew that I was in trouble when the directions said that it was easy and could be done in 10 minutes. It was easy but, as usual, challenges popped up-none of which were the kit's fault. It looks great and is BRIGHT!
Thanks for the great product.
John
RV-8

John, On the "challenges that came up", could any of the challenges have been helped with something in the kit or instructions? In other words, anything I can do differently to improve your experience?

Looks great but I am unable to figure out if flasher (B&C style) would work with these... Any insight?

Ive seen mixed results in the field. Wig Wag flashers(non-solid state) are very current dependent. They were designed with a particular current range to trigger the flashing mechanism. These much lower current draw LED devices often do not trigger the flasher. You cant even take anothers experience, as there are other factors that affect one persons success, and another failures of wig wag, even on the same flasher device. So my best advice on this is you can try it. Expect the worst (might not work), Hope for the best(It might). If it does not flash, you can always put in a purpose built device wig wag device for the LED lights. I sell a Whelen Solid State Flasher that was made specifically for this purpose. There is a video there of that device.
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Whelen rectangle LED landing light conversion

I'd like to convert the heavy electrical draw Whelen landing lights on my recently acquired RV6A with a drop-in LED conversion bulb and thought this old thread had the solution - but the link is dead. Does anybody know of an existing (affordable) solution? The Whelen brand LEDs are about $700/each at Spruce - which isn't in the budget.
 
FlyLED had several solutions that might work for you. not 100% drop in replacement, but pretty darn close, and Paul is a top notch guy to work with.
 
I'd like to convert the heavy electrical draw Whelen landing lights on my recently acquired RV6A with a drop-in LED conversion bulb and thought this old thread had the solution - but the link is dead. Does anybody know of an existing (affordable) solution? The Whelen brand LEDs are about $700/each at Spruce - which isn't in the budget.

I replaced the Duckworks halogen with this Whelen light; https://www.wilcoaircraftparts.com/searchresults.asp?Search=7168501&Submit=
I did have to make a different mounting plate instead of using the one it can with, no big deal.
It’s very bright, don’t look at it when it’s on.
 
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FlyLED had several solutions that might work for you. not 100% drop in replacement, but pretty darn close, and Paul is a top notch guy to work with.

I replaced the Duckworks halogen with this Whelen light; https://www.wilcoaircraftparts.com/searchresults.asp?Search=7168501&Submit=
I did have to make a different mounting plate instead of using the one it can with, no big deal.
It’s very bright, don’t look at it when it’s on.

Excellent - thanks to both of you for the info & link!. I'm going to remove one of the taxi lights tomorrow to verify the model and exact dimensions. Would love an exact fit LED replacement but the only thing I've seen is a Whelen LED (that might be the right one) that is $750 each!
 
FlyLED had several solutions that might work for you. not 100% drop in replacement, but pretty darn close, and Paul is a top notch guy to work with.
From FlyLED "Add our new Adapter Plate to your Double Spotlight order and you have the simplest drop-in option to upgrade your old rectangular halogen light(s) in your plane."
I don't know if you will be able to find a better drop in LED solution.
Some assembly is required. Contact Paul at FlyLED
https://flyleds.com/products/#!/Double-Spotlight/p/151025026/category=0
 
Turns out my RV6A has standard H6054 5"x7" automotive halogen dual beam headlights installed behind the wingtip plexiglass (see pics). The low beam is used for the taxi light and the high beam for the landing light. After some extensive review research, I've ruled out the cheap LED replacements that are sold most everywhere and am seriously considering these high-end ($200/each) replacements (https://youtu.be/8Mx48D9MtUg?t=74) because of their proven beam focus and brightness - and also in hopes that the high quality LED bulbs used will not cause any radio interference.
It's the radio interference issue that I've heard about that concerns me the most - but I found an automotive store that says they will allow me to return them if they cause interference - so I guess it's worth a try - UNLESS anyone here knows of a different LED replacement for the H6054 sealed beam bulb.
 

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Turns out my RV6A has standard H6054 5"x7" automotive halogen dual beam headlights installed behind the wingtip plexiglass (see pics). The low beam is used for the taxi light and the high beam for the landing light. After some extensive review research, I've ruled out the cheap LED replacements that are sold most everywhere and am seriously considering these high-end ($200/each) replacements (https://youtu.be/8Mx48D9MtUg?t=74) because of their proven beam focus and brightness - and also in hopes that the high quality LED bulbs used will not cause any radio interference.
It's the radio interference issue that I've heard about that concerns me the most - but I found an automotive store that says they will allow me to return them if they cause interference - so I guess it's worth a try - UNLESS anyone here knows of a different LED replacement for the H6054 sealed beam bulb.

In the process of putting two Baja Squadron Sports, replacing the car headlight in a buddy’s 4. Required a new mount that was easy to fabricate, but big improvement.
 
In the process of putting two Baja Squadron Sports, replacing the car headlight in a buddy’s 4. Required a new mount that was easy to fabricate, but big improvement.

If these replacements don't work out I will have to fabricate a mounting plate to accommodate a true aviation landing/taxi light set-up.
 
Just back from the hanger - where we installed the replacement LED bulbs. They were nearly 100% plug and play - we just had to grind down about 1/4" of an alignment tap on each light for it to slide into the existing mounting framework.
Both the taxi and landing lights (dual filament) are much brighter and whiter than the H6054 5"x7" automotive halogen dual beam lights they replaced - and are very nicely focused.
So far our testing indicates no radio interference.
I was hesitant to pay $200/each ($400 total) but am so far extremely pleased.
So if anyone else out there has H6054 5"x7" automotive halogen dual beam lights as their landing/taxi lights and wants to convert to LED - the Holley RetroBrights are a great option (https://youtu.be/8Mx48D9MtUg?t=74).
 
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