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Landing light recommendation needed

I bought an RV-8 with leading edge lights installed. They are so anemic as to be useless and until I get them replaced I will not be flying at night. They are not even bright enough to taxi the aircraft safety. I'm looking for a recommendation of something that actually works so that I can open up the other half of the 24-hour flying window. Brighter is better so long as it stays within the 5 amp breaker limit. I would prefer a drop-in solution if one is available. pic of current light is attached. Thanks for the help
 

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I bought an RV-8 with leading edge lights installed. They are so anemic as to be useless and until I get them replaced I will not be flying at night. They are not even bright enough to taxi the aircraft safety. I'm looking for a recommendation of something that actually works so that I can open up the other half of the 24-hour flying window. Brighter is better so long as it stays within the 5 amp breaker limit. I would prefer a drop-in solution if one is available. pic of current light is attached. Thanks for the help

I have never seen a strobe on the inside of the leading edge landing light bay.

For the landing/taxi lights look into Flyleds.com

Triple spot light would be good and an easy R/R option.
https://flyleds.com/products/#!/Triple-Spotlight/p/127860087/category=0

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For even more light and also a good option for the TD 8 look at the Combo Leading Edge Landing/Taxi light.
https://flyleds.com/products/#!/Combo-Leading-Edge-Landing-Taxi-light/p/109859298/category=0

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Just took delivery of the FlyLED's combo lights for my -8, still under construction. FlyLEDs does not make the mounting brackets, they recommend the Duckworks mounts, so you're already more than half way there. For the combo landing/taxi light, they recommend the round lamp duckworks mount. It looks like you may have the rectangular mount, but that may not be a real problem.
 
FlyLED

I think part of your solution depends on where your position lights are located. Do you have position lights on the wingtip? If so, you should be able to move your strobe to a wingtip location without too much additional work.

The landing and/or taxi light in the leading edge (and the "flattened" round washer retaining the light) suggests you have (or had) the Duckworx light.

I just replaced my Duckworx reflector with the same light that ArlingtonRV mentioned above. (You need to purchase the supplemental panel to fill the hole left by removal of the Duckworx reflector.)

BTW, if anyone wants my Duckworx reflectors with installed HID bulbs / power supplies, let me know. Taker pays postage! The FlyLED lights are noticeably brighter than HIDs.
 
I do have position lights and also strobes on the wingtips. The extra strobes in the landing light leading edge must be for added effect in a head on encounter.
 
Hi Mark

Our Double Spot lights are as close to drop in as it gets, however with two Combo lights you get a whole lot of light aimed correctly for landing coming from both wingtips. Then when the tail is on the ground you have lights aimed for taxiing again coming from both wings, so you can still see down both sides of the runway and taxiways.
Your existing light bracket can be removed from the wing with just four screws, and you can then easily enlarge the hole to suit the Combos out on the bench.
You would need to upgrade your breaker to a 10 amp with two Combos.

I've never seen strobes in the leading edges either! It would be great for extra recognition, but I note they also nicely block ~20% of the light coming from the landing lights! I'd remove the extra strobe heads and keep them on the shelf for when the wingtip strobes fail.

A much better solution for improved recognition is to wigwag the landing lights instead. The apparent movement of the light from wing to wing is the eye catching part and is more visible during the day than a short strobe flash.
We can help you out there with either the Wigwag Module or the Wigwag Switch.


 
Can't go past FlyLeds

I replaced the standard halogens in my -7 with Pauls Combo set and WigWag module a couple of years back (BC - before COVID). I did need to make a minor adjustment to the existing mounting brackets to accommodate the slight larger LED board.

I'm absolutely rapt with them and have no issues seeing the runway when landing/taxiing at night, nor does anyone miss me in daylight :D

I will be replacing my Whelen strobes and nav lights with Pauls "The Works" wingtip kit when funds allow.
 
ordered

How does that song go?...faster horses, older whiskey, younger women and more lumens coming out of the leading edge of your wings for landing at night...something like that.

I ordered a pair of the flyLEDs combo lights plus a 10 amp breaker to accommodate the increased load. Can't wait to get them installed and will update here once I do.
 
I bought an RV-8 with leading edge lights installed. They are so anemic as to be useless and until I get them replaced I will not be flying at night. They are not even bright enough to taxi the aircraft safety. I'm looking for a recommendation of something that actually works so that I can open up the other half of the 24-hour flying window. Brighter is better so long as it stays within the 5 amp breaker limit. I would prefer a drop-in solution if one is available. pic of current light is attached. Thanks for the help

Question - do you know what size the power wire is going out to your wing landing lights? A 5 amp CB will protect a 22 awg wire, even considering the length of the round trip to your wing tip. I’ve never heard of anyone using a 22awg wire to power their landing lights. Should be more like 18 awg or more, which would be protected by a 10 amp CB/fuse, as Paul (FlyLeds) mentioned for his bright landing lights. If you have a fatter wire in your wing than 22 awg, just trade that 5 amp CB for a larger one and upgrade your lights.
 
The plot thickens

Opened up the CB panel to replace the 5A breaker and found that the wiring from the breaker to the power distribution panel is not of the appropriate gauge to support 10A for the length involved. Wire from the switch is suspect too. Wire in the wings is good. More problems to solve.
 
A much better solution for improved recognition is to wigwag the landing lights instead. The apparent movement of the light from wing to wing is the eye catching part and is more visible during the day than a short strobe flash.
We can help you out there with either the Wigwag Module or the Wigwag Switch.



This is what I have, and yes the wigwag is very obvious even in the daytime.

I am using the Flyleds 6 pack lights so they draw a bit more amps but if you are going to replace the wire and breakers anyway----

And, the service from Flyleds is top notch++
 
Question - do you know what size the power wire is going out to your wing landing lights? A 5 amp CB will protect a 22 awg wire, even considering the length of the round trip to your wing tip. I’ve never heard of anyone using a 22awg wire to power their landing lights. Should be more like 18 awg or more, which would be protected by a 10 amp CB/fuse, as Paul (FlyLeds) mentioned for his bright landing lights. If you have a fatter wire in your wing than 22 awg, just trade that 5 amp CB for a larger one and upgrade your lights.

I replaced the wiring from the bus with 16 Gauge ((about 4'long). Wires in the wings are 14 gauge and about 11' long and only need to carry 4 Amps each. Last step in the wiring is to replace the wiring from the power distribution box to/from the Landing Light switch (about 4' total). I have 14 gauge wire for that. calcs show sufficient for 8 amps from breaker through switch and 4 amps to each wing. All protected by a 10 amp breaker.
 
Finally done

Took me a while (two years) because I was having too much time flying and didn't want to take the airplane down for mod. But finally got it done over the Christmas break. Two FLYLEDs Combo lights...one in each wing leading edge. Here is the finished project. Very pleased with it. Lots of light both near and far. There is so much light that I am not sure that the taxi-light diffusers are even needed. The mounting bolt pattern on the ribs allows two options of the canting angle for the Duckworks bracket. As an initial setup I set one light to each of the angles. The left wing LL is canted more downward than the right wing LL. Intial impression is that I will end up putting them both on the upward cant position. I have not flown her at night yet but I have done some taxi tests and some high speed taxi runs down the runway to get the tail off of the ground to see what I can see. All looks well illuminated. I did notice that I have some canopy glare from the backup Dynon D3. No surprise there since I mounted in on top of the glare shield. The plan will be to cover it or shut it down during night TO and Landing. The first night flight will be an early morning flight so that if there are any issues I can just wait for the sun to come up and then land.

The only issue with the install was that my leading edge opening and the rib openings were too small for the Combo light to fit through once the taxi light was mounted to the main board. I had to do the final assembly of the taxi light and mounting to the Duckworks bracket with the components inside of the wing, reaching through the leading edge opening and biggest rib openning and looking through another rib openning. Tedious but doable.

The only issue on the final product (not much of one) is that the lights pull 3.7 amps each independently (external power source at 14 volts), which is very close to the advertised 4 amps per combo light. However when running both lights at the same time they drop to about 2.8 amps each. This might be related to the external power source and not the lights or wiring. I put a lot of effort into upgrading the wiring to make sure that it is adequate. I was not expecting that much amperage drop at the light. I am puzzled but not concerned...there is a lot of light and that is what counts...the rest is academic.
 

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The first night flight will be an early morning flight so that if there are any issues I can just wait for the sun to come up and then land.

Since you said you haven’t flown at night for a while, perhaps a little night dual is appropriate. Remember, you’re supposed to be able to land at night without a landing light (it’s not required equipment).
 
Since you said you haven’t flown at night for a while, perhaps a little night dual is appropriate. Remember, you’re supposed to be able to land at night without a landing light (it’s not required equipment).

A while back we received two emails in the same week with a similar message, one from Australia and one from the States. Both customers had been up doing night practice, and after their first landings both of their instructors said things along the lines of "Are you kidding me? That's cheating! Those lights are staying off for the next landing!"

I took that to be two more positive reviews for our lights!

 
A while back we received two emails in the same week with a similar message, one from Australia and one from the States. Both customers had been up doing night practice, and after their first landings both of their instructors said things along the lines of "Are you kidding me? That's cheating! Those lights are staying off for the next landing!"

I took that to be two more positive reviews for our lights!


One of those cfi’s might have been me! As I said previously, I don’t think landing lights are really needed for landing/takeoff at most airports. But taxiing is another story. Lots of smaller airports have poorly or unlit taxi/ramp areas, real black holes. I have the FlyLEDs in the wingtips, and taxiing at night is hugely better than with the stock Vans landing lights.
 
Paul's (and Flyboys) customer service is another reason to go with Fly LED's.
I misunderstood the availability of the wingtip strobes floodlight feature in the package I put together.
An email to Paul was answered immediately. He had already sent an email to Blake at Flyboys offering a solution.
A short time later I got an email from Blake that a different chip was on the way.
Problem solved and I got a lighting feature that I really wanted.
 
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