bicyclop(at)pacbell.net
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 Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 9:43 am Post subject: Rolling my own WigWag Circuit (with timer)...need help. |
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Howdy Andrew,
The one thing you should consider first is that the MR-16 sized HIDs, while brighter and cooler than the halogens, still suffer from the same undersized reflector. Getting the light pattern you want for landing and taxi just isn't going to happen from the wingtips. Even though they are very bright, they just don't project that well. The larger reflectors of the Duckworks style leading edge lamps work better at focusing the light where you want it. It's not just about how much light, but also about how well can you focus and project it.
Another thing to think about is that your position and strobe lights are probably going to be in the wingtips, right? You'll have interference, in that the strobe/position lights will be in the way of the light you're trying to throw out in front of the plane from those little bulbs.
I fit my RV-6 (project) wingtips for MR-16 halogens and experienced the fit and interference problems and the lack of usable light and chose to go back to wing leading edge lighting. I also fit MR-16 sized HIDs into some homemade enclosures mounted to the retractable gear of another plane (the absolute biggest lights we could fit), so I'm not just supposing about the beam pattern deficiency - I've seen it. In my flying 6A, with Duckworks rectangular lights, I've flown several hundred hours with 55w halogens, wig/wagging, which were adequate for both recognition and landing/taxi. When they burned out, I replaced them with 100w bulbs and, as you might expect, there was a noticeable improvement. You'd probably be very happy with HIDs in the leading edges, but my educated guess is you'd be pretty disappointed with the MR-16s in the wingtips.
You are correct about wig/wagging being a good safety feature. Over the city, with flight following, other aircraft almost always report me in sight before I see them. The tower controller at my home airport has also made very positive comments about his ability to find me, with a glance.
Pax,
Ed Holyoke
On 10/18/2010 7:23 AM, Andrew Zachar wrote: [quote] Warning: The following is LONG and may be borderline too clever and complicated for an OBAM airplane, but I'm having fun with the experiment for now...
(Also, you can read the following with embedded pictures/video at http://n999za.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/rolling-my-own-wig-wag-circuit/ and then http://n999za.wordpress.com/2010/10/17/wig-wag-fail/)
Let's get started.
Over the last couple months, I’ve been eyeing various landing and taxi light setups, trying to figure out what I want to do for my airplane. I’m not super keen on the leading edge landing/taxi light setup right now, so I want to focus on putting all the lights in the wingtips. There is a Van’s wingtip landing light kit that puts two MR16 sized bulbs in each wingtip. Supposedly, you can aim one set forward for landing (also recognition) lights, and aim the other set down for taxi. I’ve read on the forums that people haven’t been too thrilled with this setup using the standard 35W and 50W halogens that van’s provides (Is that what they provide?). Something about not getting enough light on the centerline of the aircraft, where you need it for landing. I have also read, however, that with the MR16 HID upgrades from somewhere like www.planelights.com or duckworksav.com, there is plenty of light to go around.
But then we come to wig-wag. I think wig-wag (pulsing lights) for the landing lights is a requirement safety wise (for me), so I am planning on incorporating a wig-wag circuit into my landing lights.
I
[b]
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