RivetBangers.com

After months of research as well as testing many different lamps, bulbs and ballasts, I am pleased to announce the availability of the finest RV lighting system as well as step-by-step installation documentation.

Through the gracious help from the fine folks at HIDFoglight.com I was able to test many different systems currently on the market and after rejecting all of them, I was finally able to secure a light system (HELLA) that meets all of my design requirements. Read about my R&D testing here.

Today I installed the wingtip lamps for my RV-9 and was very pleased with the final result. These things are BRIGHT! You can read about my install here:

http://www.flightinnovations.com/wings4 ... ht_Install

My goal was to find a suitable HID system for RV builders that was better built and cheaper than the current junk currently available. HIDFoglight.com will be offering these light systems (as well as a REALLY NICE retro-fit lamp for those with leading-edge systems already installed).

The best part is the lights will be cheaper, better built and more powerful (50-watts) than anything currently available. They emit VERY low EMI/RMI and the lamps and ballasts are built in Germany... not Taiwan.

Bret-

Thanks a lot for your R&D on wingtip HID lights. When you say low EMI/RMI, are they low enough to have a wingtip Archer style comm or nav antenna and not have any interference?

This news comes at a perfect time since I am about to start on my wintips. Thanks!

Mike,

As hard as we tried, the best we could do was reduce the RMI "bleed" to around 3 feet. ALL other systems and HID lights I tested were bleeding as much as 15 feet!

I plan to deal with this this way... I will have my Archer NAV antenna in my left wingtip. I will place the taxi light in this wingtip as well. The landing light will be in the right wingtip (with no other antenna).

When flying, I will not need the taxi light so it should not affect the NAV performance. I will only use the taxi light during ground operations. BTW, I am wiring my landing & taxi lights to a S700-2-10 (B&C) switch where down is OFF, MID position is landing light and all UP is BOTH landing light and taxi light.

Bret, that information is outstanding. Reading how you got to where you are with the lights and why, is priceless. The way you documented how you actually installed the lights is great. It will be very interesting to hear how they work with respect to EMI/RMI and heat once in operation. Thank you for taking the time to post this detailed info.