L.E.D. Navigation/Strobes/Interior Lights

[T. C. Downey]

These are now direct replacement items for the incandescent bulbs

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/e ... kkey=12239

[GAHorn]

Ryan, it appears you have most of the parts needed. What you are missing is a small "brad" which is soldered onto the end of a wire, which passes thru the hole in that nylone spacer/spring/etc., which forms the center contact for the bulb. YOu could make your own.
I have a bag full of spare parts and I'll try to look at it this next weekend to help you complete the job.

[Ryan Smith]

Ryan, it appears you have most of the parts needed. What you are missing is a small "brad" which is soldered onto the end of a wire, which passes thru the hole in that nylone spacer/spring/etc., which forms the center contact for the bulb. YOu could make your own.
I have a bag full of spare parts and I'll try to look at it this next weekend to help you complete the job.

Now we're getting somewhere. I apologize for not articulating better in my first post. I look forward to seeing what you've got, George.

[T. C. Downey]

Ryan, it appears you have most of the parts needed. What you are missing is a small "brad" which is soldered onto the end of a wire, which passes thru the hole in that nylone spacer/spring/etc., which forms the center contact for the bulb. YOu could make your own.
I have a bag full of spare parts and I'll try to look at it this next weekend to help you complete the job.

I simply place a 1/8th inch copper tube in my flaring tool and flare it, then flatten the flare. stick the wire thru it and solder.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Even easier. Go to the hardware store and buy some small flat washers. Outside diameter not so big that it will come close to shorting against the lamp socket side. Inside hole a little bit bigger than wire gauge. Tin wire then tin washer filling the hole with solder. Reheat tinned washer till solder is liquid and force tinned wire through melted solder. Let cool. Clip wire protruding from solder to make nice lamp contact. This is how many lights are wired on Lionel trains.

[GAHorn]

Even easier still...... form a small loop in the end of twisted wire at a 90-degree angle to the wire....and solder it into a solid loop... and you're done!

[LBPilot82]

Ok so I guess I got bored and decided to get on board with the whole LED thing. I started with the most painful one... landing/taxi lights. I must say, I am impressed. The original incandescents ran 15.9amps and the new LEDs are 3.9. Pretty impressive. I used one beam landing light and one spread taxi light. Runway visibility at night during landing and taxi isn't exactly night vs day but it is an improvement over the incandescent in my opinion. A few weeks later my tail light nav bulb died and now I've decided to change over everything. I used the lights George recommended on the nav and interior lights (which are impressively bright!). Today however, I ran into a problem I am hoping some of you ohm's law experts can help with. I put in a 1156 base 36 LED red beacon light and now the motor doesn't run. I can't recall if the light and motor are wired in series or parallel but since changing the bulb results in the motor not running, my guess would be parallel. If this is the case, what would be the fix? I should be able to install a resistor in parallel with the bulb to push more current through the motor but this would defeat the benefit of less current draw on the system right??? What about if I change the wiring to put the LED and motor in series? Would this make the motor run too slow or reduce the brightness of the LED? What do the experts think?

Thanks in advance

[GAHorn]

It depends. It sounds like your beacon is in series...not parallel. You don't say which model beacon.

1-But.... if you remove the bulb entirely...will the motor run?

2- Are you sure the motor runs with the incandescent bulb installed?

[LBPilot82]

Went back to the hangar today and the motor and light are indeed wired in parallel. The beacon is a grimes although I don't know the model. The motor runs just fine with or without an incandescent bulb installed which confirms it being wired in parallel. It sounds to me like the only solution is to install a resistor across the LED but as I said before, this would defeat the purpose of installing the LED in the first place. Either that or I could wire it in series with the motor. The problem with that is both the light and motor currently use the beacon base as a ground so I would have to isolate one of them. Any thoughts?

[cessna170bdriver]

Richard,

It sounds like you may have more than one problem. If the motor and light are in parallel (and I have no reason think that they wouldn't be) then the motor should run regardless of what kind (or whether) there's a bulb installed.

[DaveF]

What's the circuit inside the beacon? Is it just the motor and lamp in parallel? If so, the symptoms you describe make no sense! Both the motor and lamp should always see 12V and should operate independently of each other.

If there's a resistor (intentional or unintentional) in series with the beacon assembly, then maybe the LED is pulling down the voltage so the motor doesn't run. Measure the voltage across the motor with the incandescent and then with the LED.

Or maybe the LED unit chops the voltage enough to cause trouble for the motor. Try putting a big capacitor across it.

[Kyle Wolfe]

If you are looking for brighter dome lights....the answer is beautifully simple. Read the article I posted in The 170 News....but save yourself the trouble of hard-wiring it into the system, because the flat-LED-light-board comes with the appropriate adapter to simply replace your existing dome light.
It's almost too bright and uses much less electricity.

I bought a dozen of them direct from a mfr'r for less than $10. I'll try to post a link.

dome light.jpg

George - I see some on Amazon. How many leds did you go with that's too bright?
What base size/number is required to match up with the current bulb housing?

[GAHorn]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-x-12V-Panel- ... 67&vxp=mtr

This will demonstrate how easy this can be. Simply remove your existing dome lamp..., install the adaptor, plug the panel of led's into it and stick it behind/above your present dome light lens. VOILA!

This seller will send you ten of these w/free shipping for $12. If that's too bright.... simply cover some of them with black elect. tape or paint them black or dig 'em off the backing panel.

[lowNslow]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-x-12V-Panel- ... 67&vxp=mtr

This will demonstrate how easy this can be. Simply remove your existing dome lamp..., install the adaptor, plug the panel of led's into it and stick it behind/above your present dome light lens. VOILA!

Hey, wait a minute - we don't talk about eBay on this forum.

[GAHorn]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-x-12V-Panel- ... 67&vxp=mtr

This will demonstrate how easy this can be. Simply remove your existing dome lamp..., install the adaptor, plug the panel of led's into it and stick it behind/above your present dome light lens. VOILA!

Hey, wait a minute - we don't talk about eBay on this forum.

We don't post active auctions on airplane parts (unless we are the seller and are also a TIC170A Member.)