The International Cessna 170 Association

53 C is a 1950 A model. I have a landing light switch that, as far as I know, has only one ON position. So, do I have two landing lights? Also, Im considering replacing my burned out 4509 with Aero-lights LEDS. I have searched the forum and read what I found about TSO/PMA etc. Any of you recently changed? Thoughts?

Your aircraft is only wired with one wire to the both lights and therefor only one switch for both of them. One is focused on the ground for taxiing and the other farther out. I think at some point in later year models Cessna added the second wire. If you add the second wire, you can remove the tab that blocks the double throw switch so both sides can be used so one or both lights can bu operated with the same switch already installed in the panel.

I went with the Alpha Beam LED PAR36 Landing and Taxi light. Same bulb for both. 5000 hour life. Not inexpensive, but not as expensive as some. I've been told they are extremely bright in the daytime, where I use them for collision avoidance in the high traffic areas under our Class B.

Aimed per the specs I found on this site for the airplane.

I'm happy with them.

As an after thought I thought you might like to see the results. Dark night outside my hangar with no surrounding lights. Taxi aimed at ground, landing focused distance.

Thank you for the lights in action . pretty impressive . I will be in the USA in the new year so I will purchase them then . All of my lights still work but one has gone all white .
So what are specificationsof te newlights ?

I bought mine through Aircraft Spruce.

Here is the page with all the info:
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... glight.php

I tried two types, Prometheus and Grote LED replacements for incandescent lamps and found them extremely useful for collision-avoidance.... but quite diminished for purpose of illuminating runways, taxiways and objects. The blue-white spectrum and focus of them did not provide sufficient "scatter" effect (for lack of a better term) to illuminate a wide area, which is what I want when operating in dark areas.

The above photos are good... but if compared to the same scene illuminated with incandescents... I suspect a large difference would be obvious, expecially in the periphery.

I removed them and sent them to others who wanted to see for themselves and one recipient agreed with me and re-sold them. I don't know about the other recipient.

BTW, the Grote was half the price but similar performance as the expensive FAA/PMA units (which I don't believe are required for non-commercial ops.)

And, one can buy ten incandescents before the price of one LED' is reached. In light (pardon the pun) of the irregular/intermittent use of landing/taxi lights....Cost comparison is not in favor of LEDs yet, IMO.

George, I agree with you on the led replacement landing lites. I do not do nite ops anymore and find the led lites with the goodie flasher for collision avoidance to be very cost and safety effective. The Chinese gentleman that asked me what I was using the led lites for was very interested when I told him that the wig wag should be built into the lite. I see them on the market now, for a reasonable price. I like to support Aircraft Spruce but between freight and the Canadian loonie I have to price check

gahorn wrote: ...
And, one can buy ten incandescents before the price of one LED' is reached. In light (pardon the pun) of the irregular/intermittent use of landing/taxi lights....Cost comparison is not in favor of LEDs yet, IMO.

Del put two new 4509 bulbs in ‘98C during the recent rebuild, and they were both burned out before the first 50 hours. (I left them on full time for anti-collision). At $20 each, that’s at least 80 cents/hour for landing/taxi light bulbs. The LED replcements from Spruce at $275 each come to 11 cents an hour IF they last the advertised 5000 hours. Even if they don’t, they’ll only have to last less than 700 hours to break even, not counting the aggravation of ordering and replacing the incandescents twice per year.

RIgid Industries R-plus series LED PAR36, 3400 lumens. Approximately $220 from Spruce. They have a spot and a diffuse. Superior to 4509s in every way except color, which I find to be too cool, which washes out color details. But they light up the ground from 500' agl and a good way down the runway. I leave them on full-time for anti-collision and I'll never have to replace them, unlike 4509s, which last about 20 hours.

4509's are rated at 100W for a life expectancy of 25 hours. They were intended for landing/taxi light use. Using them for continuous anti-collision purposes will result in disappointment as already mentioned. If you DO use them for that purpose, then the "wig-wag" mod will add considerable life to them according to the "wig-wag" folks... claims of 300 hours are sometimes made. I haven't seen any reviews on that matter.

The 4509s from aviation sources often result in prices around $20-$25 each. The same lamp in TungSol, Wagner, and other brands than GE from automotive sources is not only legal, but also a lot cheaper. I bought them at a local auto parts store for $5.95 each.

I should also remind (for those who've not been reading the forums for long) that I have a dual landing/taxi light installation, the original on the left wing and a mirror-image copy on the right wing. As part of that mod I do not use 4509s for my taxi lamps... I use GE 4461's which are PAR 36 motorcycle headlamp sealed beams. They have a "diffused" lens which give a broader/wider beam for taxying and also serve in congested areas for anti-collision purposes as they have a much longer design life. They also draw less amps (60). This might not work for everyone but I have really enjoyed the set-up and can enthusiastically endorse the work done by Del Lehmann in Mena. (Here's where I was "outed" by Richard Pulley over the mod with pics and description.) http://cessna170.org/forums/viewtopic.p ... riginality

DaveF wrote:RIgid Industries R-plus series LED PAR36, 3400 lumens. Approximately $220 from Spruce. They have a spot and a diffuse. Superior to 4509s in every way except color, which I find to be too cool, which washes out color details. But they light up the ground from 500' agl and a good way down the runway. I leave them on full-time for anti-collision and I'll never have to replace them, unlike 4509s, which last about 20 hours.

Did you use the spot or diffuse? Or one of each?

I have a couple of friends that have replace the original landing & taxi lamps with led's purchased from Larsenlights.com. The ones they both bought are listed in the website under "Tractors/Combines or Work Lights". One of these fellows purchased an led landing lamp from Spruce and a taxi lamp from Larsen. Standing about 20 ft in front of his plane (during the daytime) there is no apparent difference in output, however I personally have not seen either plane at night. The other owner replaced both of his lamps with the Larsen lamps. Both owners are happy with the performance of them. I don't have the part #/model # for them at hand right now, but the bulbs are $30 or less each. Not trying to make a sale for Larsen, but it is an acceptable option to save $$.

I have one spot and one diffuse. The spots throw enough light to the sides for landing and ground ops, but I went with one diffuse for anti-collision. I'm satisfied with how they work, but don't know if I made the right choice. It would have been good to try it both ways.

I think this has been touched on before but goodiesforpilots has replacement LEDs. For about a hundred bucks you can get a flood taxi light as well as a spot light plus the flasher to wig-wag a light.

I've seen the taxi light and was impressed.