Strobe Light

[Guest bateo]

G'day Guys,

 

I just noticed yesterday my strobe was not working, I am pretty sure it is the bulb as all wires are connected but is not showing any amperage.. Am just wondering where would I find a strobe light for a Tecnam P92..? (in this country)

 

 

[Guest brentc]

You'll need to find the brand I would suggest. Can you take a pic of the controller box or strobe itself for us? One of the cheaper more common varieties is the Single Magnum. It might be one of these.

 

 

[Guest bateo]

Yes I could take a photo of the strobe.. Its got 2 semi-circle cylinders with the single wire in the both of the cylinders.. I am not sure how to tell if it's blown as it looks ok?? but I figure it is as all wiring etc is ok..Is there a way to change the configuration to another strobe or would it just be easier to find a replaceable.. as its rather small

 

 

[Guest brentc]

try aircraft spruce here http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/el/strobes_strobesystems.html

 

and see if you can see your strobe there.

 

If you enter 'strobe' in the search box you might find it.

 

You don't necessarily need to buy it off them, however it might guide you in finding the brand.

 

Also try www.wicks.com

 

You probably need to locate your power box and find out whether it's actually working, rather than the bulb. Take care if you're using a multi-meter as it might blow it to bits with the high voltage.

 

They often put the power boxes indise the fuselage behind the seats which is away from the radio gear.

 

 

[Guest Yankee Boy]

If you are checking the strobe without the engine running, then there may not be enough voltage. Try running the engine and have someone look to see if it is working.

 

 

[johnm]

strobe lights gone ? - been there done that

 

Box of tricks generally behind rear vertical vinyl bulkhead behind seats

 

New box of tricks can cost about $ 650

 

Or alternatively - in this instance - tricks within box - theres probably a few - found dead capacitor - cost $ 40 plus labour

 

 

[Dieselten]

A strobe unit consists of an inverter to turn DC into AC, a voltage-multiplier circuit to raise the AC to about 400 volts, a dump-capacitor (high-voltage electrolytic type usually) to store the high-voltage, and an oscillator circuit to regularly fire a small pulse into the trigger transformer.

 

The dump-capacitor is connected directly across the Xenon tube, but until the gas inside it is ionised, no current will flow, and it takes a good deal more than 400V to ionise Xenon. Our stored charge of 400 volts waits patiently...

 

Enter the trigger-transformer and a third electrode, either a wire wound around the tube in a spiral, or a plated-on electrode on the outside of the tube. When the oscillatopr fires a short-duration pulse into the trigger-transformer, the transformer sends out an equally short pulse of several KV into the electrode - enough to ionise the Xenon. Now the stored charge in the dump-capacitor flows through the strobe tube itself, holding the ionised gas (Plasma, the fourth state of matter) in this state for perhaps a millisecond, possibly much less. The ionised gas emits an enormous amount of light as electrons which have been raised to higher "orbitals" fall back to their natural state in the lower "orbitals", emitting photons as they shed their extra acquired energy. This is the intense flash of light we see.

 

As you can see, strobes are not ridiculously simple and there is a fair bit of electronics inside each unit, as well as a potentially dangerous high-voltage in the inverter/voltage multiplier section. Fault-finding is best left to qualified technicians.

 

One test you can do is to listen closely to the strobe control unit and see if you can hear a faint whining sound...that's the sound of the inverter powering up and charging up the high-voltage section. If there is no whine, then chances are the inverter is stuffed...again a job for a technician as inverters use positive feedback to go into oscillation.

 

Another check is examine the unit closely for broken wires or components that have become loosened from the printed circuit board. I built some strobes for a microlight and spent hours re-soldering cracked joints due to vibration. I had to literally glue several components down with Silastic to solve this problem.

 

Unless you are electronically-qualified or savvy, I'd suggest getting a professional electronics tech to examine the unit.

 

 

[Guest J430]

Unless you are flying at night, I would suggest remove the unit and gain some usable weight.

 

Unless you have strobes like they have on a Boeing or Airbus machine, during the daylight they are next to useless, you will still see the plane before any strobe.

 

I know some will argue the point, but seriously, try looking for a Tecnam or a jabiru with one, they are only visible on the ground.

 

J;)

 

 

[Whack777]

The strobe on my Jab was not working (having just picked it up). On investigation I found an inline fuse tucked inconspiculously under the instrument panel. It was the fuse... Maybe I am stating the very obvious..... but for what it's worth.

 

Regards

 

Wayne

 

 

[BigPete]

J430 - I agree with your observation. I have never been drawn to an aircraft in daylight by its 'strobe.

 

Always sound, look, yes there he is and, yes I think he has a strobe flashing.

 

regards

 

 

[Guest coyote2]

Tecnam Strobe

 

Check the wiring in the verticle fin. Tecnam have habit of not using rubber grommets for wiring through ribs.Been there done that.