Xenon HID landing and taxi lights finished

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cnpeters
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Xenon HID landing and taxi lights finished

Post by cnpeters »

I rolled my own xenon HID landing and taxi lights. I started with the DW 100w halogen kits, then acquired used ballasts and new D1R bulbs from ebay. Why? Far less load (35W) and brighter than the 100w halogens in a side by side test. I like the reflected brighter light better than halogens. I will probably be at engine overhaul when bulbs burn out. Plus, just bitchin' lights IMHO.
I made bulb mounting plates and JB welded them to the par36 reflectors, then did bench testing outdoors to adjust and find the proper bulb depth/focal length. Metal and rubber spacers were then epoxied, bulb clamped, ballast mounted. Don at DW has the lights sitting way back in the leading edge for the RV-9 compared to other RV's - I moved them forward at least two inches without problem to increase lateral light dispersion.
I used a flood type lens for the taxi light (Don has these - not on the order sheet - just ask), and added a side reflector to increase lateral dispersion. Everything was mounted and tested with a power supply - works great. See the website (Kitlog site under my name) for appropriate entries and a bunch more pics if interested - click on "Wings" in the right side navigation box for the full list of entries. The landing light is from 5/21-26, and the taxi light 6/25-30. Pete Howell from MN has the same type bulbs and ballasts in his RV-9A - he reports no noise except for a few seconds when turned on.
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Close up of bulb base with mounting plate, spacers, and hold down bracket I fabricated.


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This is the wide beam taxi light - the only difference is the refracting lens. Note the side reflectors - one I had to leave off - couldn't fit with leading edge lens in way.

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A little blurry, but house is 300 feet away. This is the landing light spot pattern.

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Jumper cables and car used at first, but now have nice 13.8v power supply. Ahh, retina burning power! May set up both on a wigwag (yes, you can wig wag xenons with the right device).
Carl Peters
RV-9A
N92RV (reserved)
Fuselage
http://www.mykitlog.com/cnpeters/

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captain_john
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Post by captain_john »

Carl, Very nice!

I really like the blinders!

Nice work!

:) CJ
RV-7
Garmin G3X with VP-X & a TMX-IO-360 with G3i
It's all over but the flying! 800+ hours in only 3 years!

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smithhb
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Re: Xenon HID landing and taxi lights finished

Post by smithhb »

cnpeters wrote:Pete Howell from MN has the same type bulbs and ballasts in his RV-9A - he reports no noise except for a few seconds when turned on.
Carl, the lights look GREAT! I can see you have put in quite a lot of time in the design and fabrication. One thought... during my R&D I tested using some RMI/EFI shielding fabric and wrapped it around the ballast. It makes a HUGE difference. If you would be interested, I could send you a piece to use. I doubt the noise will be going away.

http://www.flightinnovations.com/images/R&D/070620c.JPG
Bret Smith
9A Flying (N16BL)
Blue Ridge, GA
http://www.FlightInnovations.com
APRS Tracking: http://www.flightinnovations.com/tracking.html

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cjensen
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Post by cjensen »

VERY impressive Carl! The work looks outstanding! I'm jealous... :werd:
Chad Jensen
Missing my RV-7...
Vertical Power support
920.216.3699
http://verticalpower.com

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cnpeters
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Post by cnpeters »

Thanks, guys. And Brett, thanks for the offer. I'll test first and see how it comes out. I did buy the same ballasts that Pete Howell installed, and he has been flying with them for a bit - no noise except just a few seconds at startup.
Carl Peters
RV-9A
N92RV (reserved)
Fuselage
http://www.mykitlog.com/cnpeters/

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