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Strobe control unit mounting locations.

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Darryl Legg

Joined: 08 Nov 2007
Posts: 18
Location: Darwin, Australia

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 1:53 pm Post subject: Strobe control unit mounting locations.

Greetings builders,

Am just trying to decide on mounting locations for the strobe control units, whether to place in wing tips or behind the seats. Behind the seats seems a good location for easy access, but would the length of wire out to the strobe lights pose any problem, or would the wire need to be double insulated etc?

  

Thanks for your time guys and gals.

Darryl

jaybannist(at)cs.com
Guest

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:10 pm Post subject: Strobe control unit mounting locations.

Darryl,

 

 If locating the strobe power supplies behind the seats is such a good idea, I wonder why Zenith didn't recommend it. My guess is that it presents the possibility of all kinds of electrical interference (which double insulation wouldn't fix). Why not mount it where Zenith recommends?  If you do, you need not worry about electrical interference. If you are concerned about access, you can always put an access panel in the aluminum part of the wingtip.  

 

 Jay in Dallas

 Do not archive

 

   

 

   

 

 --

Gig Giacona

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 1416
Location: El Dorado Arkansas USA

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:13 pm Post subject: Re: Strobe control unit mounting locations.

Wing tips. Lots less chance of radio interference.

_________________
W.R. "Gig" Giacona
601XL Under Construction
See my progress at www.peoamerica.net/N601WR

georgerace

Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 788
Location: Albion, MI

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:49 pm Post subject: Strobe control unit mounting locations.

Darryl ask:

"Am just trying to decide on mounting locations for the strobe control

units, whether to place in wing tips or behind the seats. Behind the seats

seems a good location for easy access, but would the length of wire out to

the strobe lights pose any problem, or would the wire need to be double

insulated etc?"



Your best mounting location is at the wing tip, close to the strobe/running

light.

I ran a continuous piece of Belden Microphone Cable, fully shielded with

both braided shield and belfoil coating.  The wire also contained two 16

gauge stranded wires as well.  I ran the strobe on one wire, the running

lamp on the other.  Grounded both ends of the shielded cable to the

airframe.  Even with the radio receiving a very weak signal could not hear

any noise from the strobes.  You can see pictures of my install and the

access panel for future service if needed at:

http://www.mykitairplane.com/MyCH701  There are about 600 pictures there on

line to view.



George

_________________
Check out my CH-701 project at:
http://www.mykitairplane.com

tigerrick(at)mindspring.c
Guest

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 3:13 pm Post subject: Strobe control unit mounting locations.

Before you go to the hassle of mounting up the strobe flash units and the power supplies, you might want to consider the new AveoFlash units which combine position lights, strobes, and smart power supplies in a single externally mounted wingtip unit. If you were at OSH earlier this year, you might have seen me excitedly running around with one of these elegant units and a 9V transistor battery, which powers it just fine! So far, Dream Aircraft, Zenith, RANS, and a few other manufacturers have already decided on these as OEM units. True Flight Aviation has ordered up the Aveo stuff for the reintroduced Tiger, since the stuff is already certified in Europe.



I know this sounds like a commercial, but this was the coolest thing I've seen in years. I'll be pulling my position lights/strobes and power supplies out of my 601 XL wingtips, the position light from the tail, and replacing the whole thing with the Aveo units. Most likely I'll follow suit by replacing the two landing lights with the Aveo high intensity LED landing light arrays as well. With the position lights, the strobes, and the landing lights all turned on, the current is well under a measly two amps (most of the current going to the landing lights).  With a Corvair engine that lives or dies by battery power, I really want to keep my aggregate current load as minimal as possible.



Yeah, I know I'll have to drill out some wingtip rivets to do this, but I think it's worthwhile. Anybody need a conventional set of lights and strobes?



One more thing. I've contacted Aveo USA about putting together a group buy on these units, and we're planning on doing just this at Corvair College #13.  All we need is five orders to take 10% off the top.  It's not cheap at around $660 for a pair of integrated wingtip strobes and position lights, but that includes everything you need.  There are only four wires to hook up, a ground, power for the strobes, power for the position lights, and a wire that syncs up the strobe flashes with any other installed Aveo units.



You can check this stuff out at aveoengineering.com, and read my brief review on the KITPLANES blog at http://kitplanesmag.blogspot.com. If you do a search on "aveo" it will come right up, with a photo of the wingtip unit happily running off of a little transistor radio battery.



Rick Lindstrom

N42KP



--

bryanmmartin

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 1018

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 4:02 pm Post subject: Strobe control unit mounting locations.

I have my strobe power supplies installed under the seat pans, one on  

each side. I can easily access them through the spar bolt access panel  

in the seat pan. I have a two wire shielded cable running from the  

power supply to the lamp on each wing tip with the shield grounded at  

both ends. I have no strobe noise in the audio from the radios at all.  

I can hear some strobe noise in the intercom circuit if I turn the  

intercom volume way up, but at normal volume it is not noticeable. I  

would also recommend using a shielded wire to feed power to the strobe  

power supplies,  I didn't do this and that might be why I get the  

small amount of noise in the intercom.



The most important thing to do is make sure your audio cables are  

properly shielded and that the shields are all grounded at one end   

only at a common point such as the intercom or audio panel. Also, the  

mic and headset jacks should not be grounded and the shields should  

not carry any of the audio signal. Separate audio supply and return  

wires should be used inside a common shield. These procedures will  

prevent most of the problems with noise in the audio circuits.



The rule of grounding shields at only one end only applies to audio  

and data signal wires, all other shields should be grounded at both  

ends. Shields on audio and data wires are to keep noise from getting  

in to the wire, shields on other wires are to keep noise from getting  

out of the wire.



 	  Quote: 	
		   



 Greetings builders,

 Am just trying to decide on mounting locations for the strobe  

 control units, whether to place in wing tips or behind the seats.  

 Behind the seats seems a good location for easy access, but would  

 the length of wire out to the strobe lights pose any problem, or  

 would the wire need to be double insulated etc?

 

 Thanks for your time guys and gals.

 Darryl


	


-- 

Bryan Martin

N61BM, CH 601 XL,

RAM Subaru, Stratus redrive.

_________________
--
Bryan Martin
N61BM, CH 601 XL, Stratus Subaru.
do not archive.

Larry Hursh

Joined: 16 Feb 2008
Posts: 125
Location: Edwardsburg, MI (near Elkhart, IN)

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 4:43 pm Post subject: Re: Strobe control unit mounting locations.

Speaking of grounding, I was talking with my DAR about the nav/strobe light configuration.   He asked me if I have grounded them directly to the airframe?  I told him I had because that is what it showed in the photo guide.  He asked me if I would do him and myself a big favor?  He asked me to spend a few extra dollars and buy enough wire to run the grounds for the lighting back to the cabin and use a grounding block there.  He went on to explain, over the years, they have found out using the air structure as the ground, sets up the aircraft for excessive corrosion.     

I have to take his word for it, since I'm a newbie here.  (Please don't shoot the messenger!!)   I personally think this gentleman is a total wealth of knowledge and I feel blessed having him watching over my shoulder! (Thanks Lowell!)

_________________
Larry Hursh (N650LM Reserved)

"One rivet at a time......one day at a time.."

CH650 (Converted from CH601XL)
1/2 done with fuselage
will be Corvair Powered

4RCSIMMONS(at)comcast.net
Guest

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 5:23 am Post subject: Strobe control unit mounting locations.

FWI,



I struggled with the grounding of wing components through the frame onlyand a friend informed me:



The Volkswagen Bug in the 60's relied on frame grounding. They were best when they were new and it was done hill after that.



With this I took the weight penalty (small) of running a ground wire to all the components in my wings.



Do not Archive



--

Thanks,

Rich Simmons

601 XL Canopy fitting

agbeyer(at)sbcglobal.net
Guest

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 9:07 am Post subject: Strobe control unit mounting locations.

Hi guys,

 

  

I have been using The Aeroflash Nav/Strobe system on my 601 HDS for a little over four years.  The control boxes are mounted between the center wing section and the outer wings.  I had a landing light and a taxi light mounted in the left wing for almost that same amount of time. I do a lot of night flying and because of the high draw of the two GE 4509 bulbs and the Nav/Strobe lights I had to watch the amount of time I had these lights turned on during long taxis or low RPM times.  The Jabiru alternator is a 1:1 ratio and does not charge, or charges very little, until you have higher RPM.  It is not like an external alternator with a 2:5 or 3:1 overdrive ratio like your car or most marine engines. 

  

Like Rick said "This sounds like a commercial", but it's not.  While at the show in Oshkosh I was looking at all the different light set-ups.  I bought two LED lights (4 LED's per), one for landing and one for taxi. (SEE PICS Attached)  I did not buy the one with 8 LED's because I have to set them at two different angles.  Because of the hight nose angle of the HDS during landing I set one with a slight down angle and the other level to the ground for taxi. With the old set-up I would use one light at a time, but with the new LED's they are both on at once.  The old lights would draw about 8 Amps. each and the new ones draw 9 tenths of an Amp.  With both on at the same time they are brighter than one of the 4509's.  The beam of light is much wider than the old ones so even the taxi light set level works as a landing light.  I did not run any more wires to control the new lights.   The switch I used for my taxi light is now used to control both lights in their Wig/Wag mode.  The company I bought from is called AeroLEDs http://www.aeroleds.com/. "What a difference in current draw". 

  

While at the AeroLED both I also looked at their new AERO-PULSAR Nav/Strobe/Pos wing tip lights that they were still developing and they said that they should be out by the end of this year.  They had a show special --  If you paid $200 down they would knock off $150 from the list price, and if you didn't like them when you got them you would get your money back.  Because these are also LED's they will draw a lot less Amps compaired to the Aeroflash lights I am now using.  With the new lights I will not need my tail light,  but they said they are working on an LED tail/strobe light that will fit my mount.  I will be installing a new tail light when they are available (The more strobes the better). 

  

Happy LED user, 

  

Al from Oshkosh 

601 HDS    Jabiru 3300 (365 Hrs.) 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   From: Rick Lindstrom <tigerrick(at)mindspring.com>

To: zenith-list(at)matronics.com

Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 5:12:34 PM

Subject: Re: Strobe control unit mounting locations.



--> Zenith-List message posted by: Rick Lindstrom <tigerrick(at)mindspring.com (tigerrick(at)mindspring.com)>



Before you go to the hassle of mounting up the strobe flash units and the power supplies, you might want to consider the new AveoFlash units which combine position lights, strobes, and smart power supplies in a single externally mounted wingtip unit. If you were at OSH earlier this year, you might have seen me excitedly running around with one of these  elegant units and a 9V transistor battery, which powers it just fine! So far, Dream Aircraft, Zenith, RANS, and a few other manufacturers have already decided on these as OEM units. True Flight Aviation has ordered up the Aveo stuff for the reintroduced Tiger, since the stuff is already certified in Europe.



I know this sounds like a commercial, but this was the coolest thing I've seen in years. I'll be pulling my position lights/strobes and power supplies out of my 601 XL wingtips, the position light from the tail, and replacing the whole thing with the Aveo units. Most likely I'll follow suit by replacing the two landing lights with the Aveo high intensity LED landing light arrays as well. With the position lights, the strobes, and the landing lights all turned on, the current is well under a measly two amps (most of the current going to the landing lights).  With a Corvair engine that lives or dies by battery power, I really want to keep  my aggregate current load as minimal as possible.



Yeah, I know I'll have to drill out some wingtip rivets to do this, but I think it's worthwhile. Anybody need a conventional set of lights and strobes?



One more thing. I've contacted Aveo USA about putting together a group buy on these units, and we're planning on doing just this at Corvair College #13.  All we need is five orders to take 10% off the top.  It's not cheap at around $660 for a pair of integrated wingtip strobes and position lights, but that includes everything you need.  There are only four wires to hook up, a ground, power for the strobes, power for the position lights, and a wire that syncs up the strobe flashes with any other installed Aveo units.



You can check this stuff out at aveoengineering.com, and read my brief review on the KITPLANES blog at http://kitplanesmag.blogspot.com. If you do a search on "aveo" it will come right up, with a photo of the wingtip unit happily running off of a little transistor radio battery.



Rick Lindstrom

N42KP



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rjscep(at)yahoo.com
Guest

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 3:47 pm Post subject: Strobe control unit mounting locations.

 	  Quote: 	
		   I am involved in a Glastar project besides my 701. We mounted our power

 supply and circuits out on the furthest rib where the wing tip is mounted

 it works fine and we can get at it too.....Do not archive


	


--- On Wed, 12/17/08, Darryl Legg <dlegg(at)tpg.com.au> wrote:



 	  Quote: 	
		   From: Darryl Legg <dlegg(at)tpg.com.au>

 Subject: Strobe control unit mounting locations.

 To: zenith-list(at)matronics.com

 Date: Wednesday, December 17, 2008, 9:53 PM

 

 Legg" <dlegg(at)tpg.com.au>

 

 Greetings builders,

 Am just trying to decide on mounting locations for the

 strobe control units, whether to place in wing tips or

 behind the seats. Behind the seats seems a good location for

 easy access, but would the length of wire out to the strobe

 lights pose any problem, or would the wire need to be double

 insulated etc?

   

 Thanks for your time guys and gals.

 Darryl

 

 

 

 

 Read this topic online here:

 

 http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p 19845#219845

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