One Landing Light or two?

How to keep the Cessna 170 flying and airworthy.

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VernH
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Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2017 8:49 pm

Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by VernH »

Thanks for all the replies and great advice. I will be ordering the Goodiesforpilots landing and taxi light as well as the WigWag switch. Since I am based in a busy class C and lots of military training it can only help.
Fly safe!

Vern
1950 C-170A N5453C sn 19487
Based in Pensacola, FL. 82J
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Kyle Wolfe
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by Kyle Wolfe »

Note:

I was told that the flood from goodiesforpilots comes with a pigtail while the landing has the normal 2 screws on the back.

As a result, you may have to do some wiring mods to the taxi light.
Kyle
54 B N1932C
57 BMW Isetta
Best original 170B - Dearborn, MI 2005
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DaveF
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by DaveF »

LEDs are improving rapidly. I installed mine a couple of years ago. I still love them, but I'd guess that whatever you buy now is better.
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Kyle Wolfe
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by Kyle Wolfe »

Some pics:
Attachments
Taxi only
Taxi only
IMG_2471.JPG (26.01 KiB) Viewed 28064 times
Taxi and spot
Taxi and spot
IMG_2472.JPG (20.77 KiB) Viewed 28065 times
IMG_2473.JPG
IMG_2473.JPG (24.16 KiB) Viewed 28065 times
Taxi light w diffuser
Taxi light w diffuser
IMG_2470.JPG (43.97 KiB) Viewed 28065 times
IMG_2469.JPG
IMG_2469.JPG (46.78 KiB) Viewed 28065 times
Kyle
54 B N1932C
57 BMW Isetta
Best original 170B - Dearborn, MI 2005
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brian.olson
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by brian.olson »

Just ordered the Goodie lights. 62C has two early-era LEDs that a previous owner installed that hardly throw off any light at all - I'm amazed at the difference in the photos other members have shared, and anything will be an improvement. In the interim while waiting for them to arrive, any detail you could share on the lighting "mod" for the pigtail?
Brian
1950 170A
N5762C s/n 19716
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brianm
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by brianm »

I just ordered a set as well. The 800 lumen Grotes I'm currently using are adequate but I would prefer brighter. I noticed that the photos on the website show screw terminals and the one that shows a pigtail has a big red "X" over it. Hopefully no mods will be required.
Brian M
N2669V - '48
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brian.olson
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by brian.olson »

Goodie Lights just arrived - wow, some fast service. On close visual inspection, neither light has the pigtail, both lights appear to have a high build quality. I'm anxious to install them in 62C and will report back with a "before" and "after", at least on the ground. Unfortunately I had shoulder surgery this past Monday which has clipped my wings for a couple weeks, so it will be a while before I can see them in flight.
Brian
1950 170A
N5762C s/n 19716
Pdogace
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by Pdogace »

I came across this website and seems these are drop in replacements with no re wiring required. I have not used them just some info to pass along. Hope to get them for my birthday or Christmas so will post a pirep after i install them.


https://www.aero-lites.com/

$75 a piece sounds like a good deal compared to $300. Not sure how much the goodies are.

Fly safe.
Preston
1954 C170B "Sweet Caroline"
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VernH
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by VernH »

Installed the new lights from Goodiesforpilots. Had a chance to use them and was very happy about the current draw and, of course, the visibility. Haven't used them at night yet. We will see about that. I don't fly at night much. I mostly wanted the visibility because I am based in a very busy Class C.
Attachments
Big difference from Halogen lights.
Big difference from Halogen lights.
IMG_2910-Scaled.jpg (17.34 KiB) Viewed 27920 times
Kinda odd looking Ill admit
Kinda odd looking Ill admit
IMG_2911-Scaled.jpg (21.98 KiB) Viewed 27920 times
Fly safe!

Vern
1950 C-170A N5453C sn 19487
Based in Pensacola, FL. 82J
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GAHorn
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by GAHorn »

Looking directly AT LED lamps that are "on" might appear brilliant as anti-collision .... but bear little resemblance to their effectiveness at illuminating runways, taxiways, and objects at night. The "shade" or temperature (Kelvin scale) can be so narrow that much of the objects will not reflect an image back to you in the cockpit for your eyes to see much. Photographs of scenes illuminated can be misleading as well. (After all, photographs are nothing more than reflected-visible light and the camera will make it appear better than in real life. Example: Ever notice how airplanes for sale never look as good in reality as their photographs depicted?)

For an object to be visible to the human eye there must exist a wide-spectrum which is reflected back to your retina. Most LEDs are not good at that.

Bottom line is ....that it may be inconvenient or unfortunate but .... personal viewing of the performance in actual operating conditions are necessary before you will know how effective they may be.

I've tried a few of them and resorted back to incandescent since land/taxi lights are intermittent electrical loads anyway (at least the way I use them). In congested areas I run my taxi lamps only (which are 60-watt 4461 units but quite noticeable as anticollision lamps.) Wig-wag of ANY lights will definitely improve visibility (but I found it distracting in haze... which is when I felt I most needed additional anti-collision lighting.)
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons. ;)
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gfeher
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by gfeher »

I switched to the Whelen Promethius Plus bulbs, one landing, one taxi lens. I think they are just OK. I didn't say "wow" when I first turned them on. I'm not thrilled with the cool white color, but then I don't know whether that color is better for collision avoidance than the traditional soft white color of the GE incandescent bulbs. My sense is that they are slightly less bright than the incandescents. But that may be because of how I perceive the cool white color vs soft white, as George explained. All in all, however, I'm glad I switched because I can now comfortably leave both bulbs on for collision avoidance without worrying about currect draw, heat buildup, and burning them out. If anyone finds a bright LED landing or taxi light with a soft white color like the GE incandescents, please let me know.
Gene Feher
Argyle (1C3), NY
'52 170B N2315D s/n 20467 C-145-2
Experimental J3 Cub Copy N7GW O-200
hilltop170
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by hilltop170 »

Pictures of standard incandescent par36 landing lights and AeroLED Sunspot 36 LX taxi lights at 65 feet. The tailwheel was jacked up about 18” to get the landing lights onto the adjacent hangar. The plane has right wing and left wing landing and taxi lights

It’s my opinion incandescent landing lights penetrate further than LED landing lights and I like the color of the incandescent light more than the LED. LED taxi lights look brighter as seen from another airplane for collision avoidance and draw much less current allowing continuous operation of the pulse-lights and they work just fine for taxiing.
Incandescent landing lights with 10° beam width
Incandescent landing lights with 10° beam width
LED taxi lights with 40° beam width
LED taxi lights with 40° beam width
Left wing Incandescent landing light, left, LED taxi light, right
Left wing Incandescent landing light, left, LED taxi light, right
Last edited by hilltop170 on Mon Jun 18, 2018 5:17 am, edited 3 times in total.
Richard Pulley
2014-2016 TIC170A Past President
1951 170A, N1715D, s/n 20158, O-300D
Owned from 1973 to 1984.
Bought again in 2006 after 22 years.
It's not for sale!
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GAHorn
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by GAHorn »

Aryana wrote:I just ordered a GE 4461 bulb on Amazon for $12 and looking forward to seeing the improvement from a diffused beam for taxiing. Thanks for the heads up George.
The reason I used that 4461 was for the diffused beam... but also keep in mind it was in conjunction with my modification to DUAL land/taxi lamps...adding a second set to my right wing.... keep in mind that my night operations are in a dark-hole, remote strip out here on the ranch.
The 4461 is only a 60 watt lamp. If you expect it to be as brilliant as the 100 watt 4509 you will be disappointed. If you only want a broader beam (but willing to accept less brilliance) then it will give you that.
The dual 4461's illuminate a much-greater area than the single 4509 previously existing...and do so with less amperage draw than the land/taxi lamps both-on ...on the left side only, as Cessna designed it. (120 watts versus 200 watts... the 200 being brighter but only on the left side, leaving the right side dark. I was needing the right side illuminated as well taxying around out here on the ranch.)
I'm not certain I'd be as satisfied with a single 4461 on the left side only. (On the plus-side...they are rated at 300 hrs instead of the 25 hrs of a 4509)
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons. ;)
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ghostflyer
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by ghostflyer »

Please do not bank on a 4461 giving you 300hrs. A aero club that I was working for a while ago was running them for a while here and sometimes they would get 30 hrs or 50 hrs then blow. The greatest number hours were 210 hrs . They had about 15 cessna 172 and about 4 cessna 182,s . So there was a constant flow of parts and they were always looking for reliability and cost effectiveness. Each aircraft had a hit list of issues so tracking was carried so,patterns could be drawn up and who was flying that aircraft .
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GAHorn
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Re: One Landing Light or two?

Post by GAHorn »

I don't bank on anything reaching TBO. But it's a darn sight better than 25 hrs.
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons. ;)
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