Jabiru LED landing lights.

[Dreamliner]

Hi all, greetings.

 

I Have been a reader for some time now, and yes I am a Jabiru owner, 170c, and yes I have had engine troubles recently. But that is part and parcel of flying.

 

Has any member replaced their 55 watt halogen landing lights with led's ?

 

 

[frank marriott]

Yes, they create RF. Makes it impossible to mute the VHF radio most of the time.

 

There may be different ones available, but the "cheap ones" off the shelf [that fit straight into the existing mount] are RF generators.

 

Playing with ferrite beads etc has some effect but I gave up eventually.

 

 

[Dreamliner]

Thanks members for your reply. Plan to install the lights mid August. Jabiru mentioned about the radio problem but only with some LED's and have not chased the matter up.

 

There is a supplier in the states that sell LED's but at $250 us its a bit steep.

 

I like Deborah's idead.

 

Michael

 

 

[David Isaac]

The old adage ... You get what you pay for. Properly filtered circuits will obviously cost more.

 

 

[Keenaviator]

I've got LED wing tip strobes/nav lights combined. Not cheap from Aircraft Spruce but the work well with no induced radio interference. Laurie

 

 

[Dreamliner]

Thanks for the feed back.

 

Have installed a set of lights from superbright LED's, type MR16 CW48smd: cool white, $15.00 US each, they fit within the Jab light fitting BUT are not waterproof. So I had some clear glass cut from our local glass company, placed and glued it in the inside front of the aluminum retaining ring. No problem at all.

 

On testing no radio or other electrical interference generated by the LED's. The LED's were marked to comply with EU & American standards.

 

works great as daylight running lights but untried as night landing lights.

 

 

[mkennard]

Thanks for the feed back.Have installed a set of lights from superbright LED's, type MR16 CW48smd: cool white, $15.00 US each, they fit within the Jab light fitting BUT are not waterproof. So I had some clear glass cut from our local glass company, placed and glued it in the inside front of the aluminum retaining ring. No problem at all.

On testing no radio or other electrical interference generated by the LED's. The LED's were marked to comply with EU & American standards.

 

works great as daylight running lights but untried as night landing lights.

Can you put a link in please.

 

Is this doable under LSA?

 

 

[Ultralights]

i have a LEd landing light on my Savannah, its a single 55 watt LED, about 2 cm square, no RF noise at all. similar to the ones you see in the LED floodlights you can now buy

 

 

[Patrick Normoyle]

Ultralights, where did you get them from and what did you use ?

 

 

[Ultralights]

actually i got it from my neighbour, who runs an electronics recycling business. next time i see him, ill ask where others can get those LED's

 

 

[Dreamliner]

The lights came from https://www.superbrightleds.com/.

 

I also installed a Kuntzleman Electronic LED Wig wag module, price was about $60.00 US, including postage. Link to Kuntzleman is http://www.kestrobes.com/beacon.htm

 

 

[eightyknots]

i have a LEd landing light on my Savannah, its a single 55 watt LED, about 2 cm square, no RF noise at all. similar to the ones you see in the LED floodlights you can now buy

I have never heard of 55 Watt LED lights. 55 Watts of LED power is super, super bright!

 

 

[rankamateur]

i have a LEd landing light on my Savannah, its a single 55 watt LED, about 2 cm square, no RF noise at all. similar to the ones you see in the LED floodlights you can now buy

Rob, does the original quartz halogen one cause RF radio problems? Will my strobe controller cause a similar problem, that is one thing I haven't thought to consider.

 

 

[RFguy]

LED replacement- What are people using for this  6 years on ?

 

Is there something special about the size or is it a bog standard MR16 50W 12V halogen unit ?

certainly the halogen unit there right now in my J230D  will pull a good 5 amps.

An LED one should do 3x better on power, making more room for the other electricals.

?

Yes, they have th epotential to make alot of noise , especisally if they are a cheap, non recognized chinese junk brand

they need ferritre sleeves and likely a local 10nF capacitor across their sockets.... I will you know how I go.

 

There was a post :

[Jabiru7252]

My halogen light causes no interference - why would it? The strobe doesn't either though some can. The strobe electronics fried not long after I bought my plane so I replaced with a cheap unit from Dick Smiths. (A burglar alarm unit). Cost $40 as opposed to $350. Been working great for the last 10 years.

[RFguy]

There are a couple of OSRAM 7W LED 630 lumens MR16s  at Bunnings. I'll also get the Phillips brand, similar specs, and report on how they go. 

630 lumens is a pretty good number. they're all 60 deg throws.

 I'd think 30 deg spread  was most use of the light though.

 

The alternator output leads (2)   intermediate crimps have been rather hot. I will deal with what I am doing abotu it in a separate post. Just got this plane, have a few things to sort out in the electricals. Mechanically it is super.

There is one thing I found I did not like that may be in alot of jabs and is a fire hazard, I modded it before I  flew it.

Need to talk and discuss with a few other operators I get too excited. Needs to be an AD if it is widespread installed. More later on this . A firewall penetration issue. 

 

Edited December 21, 2020 by RFguy

[kiwiaviator]

On 21/12/2020 at 2:09 PM, RFguy said:

There are a couple of OSRAM 7W LED 630 lumens MR16s  at Bunnings. I'll also get the Phillips brand, similar specs, and report on how they go. 

630 lumens is a pretty good number. they're all 60 deg throws.

 I'd think 30 deg spread  was most use of the light though.

 

 

I'll be really interested in how these go RFguy. My J230 halogen has died. I upgraded a Tecnam P2002 in NZ with an approved LED kit. Expensive however save the constant replacement of halogens.

[RFguy]

The 7W OSRAM worked . 

Was a plug in replacement. 

Current draw is down from 5 amps to 0.75A ... so there is now heaps more margin when you are low in RPM and the battery is not charging.

7W, MR16 12V DAYLIGHT color, 630 lm.  I think DAYLIGHT is better than WARMWHITE for this application.  angle (60 deg) seems reasonable) . 

 

Depending on the housing on the jab, you might have to file down the outer metal rim of the LED light to fit half a mm or so. but it should outlast the plane.... no noise detected from it. 

the housing of the jab landing light on the strut is fibreglass, the two little self tappers there that hold the front lamp cap on, careful with their torque....

 

 

Model Name	Globe LED MR16 7w 12v 60d 630lm DL Dim
Model Number	4058075291461
Material	Glass
Colour	Day Light

[kiwiaviator]

On 01/01/2021 at 10:22 AM, RFguy said:

The 7W OSRAM worked . 

Was a plug in replacement. 

Current draw is down from 5 amps to 0.75A ... so there is now heaps more margin when you are low in RPM and the battery is not charging.

7W, MR16 12V DAYLIGHT color, 630 lm.  I think DAYLIGHT is better than WARMWHITE for this application.  angle (60 deg) seems reasonable) . 

 

Depending on the housing on the jab, you might have to file down the outer metal rim of the LED light to fit half a mm or so. but it should outlast the plane.... no noise detected from it. 

the housing of the jab landing light on the strut is fibreglass, the two little self tappers there that hold the front lamp cap on, careful with their torque....

 

 

Model Name	Globe LED MR16 7w 12v 60d 630lm DL Dim
Model Number	4058075291461
Material	Glass
Colour	Day Light

I finally got around to installing this. (Doesn't help when you live 1200kms away from your aircraft. Does anyone have any hanger space in Newman?!) Works great from a brightness and power draw perspective however it unmutes the radios something chronic. Guessing I should start chasing earthing?

[RFguy]

Hi Kiwi aviator. Mine does not affect the radio. AFAIK !...Did you get the Osram ? 

Next time I am at plane I will take the wiz bang instrument out to the plane (worth more than the plane) and see how much rubbish is being emitted.

 

These things tend to emit in pulses, and harmonics, and where the harmonics land depends on the temperature of the device

There may be 100 'spurs' spread over VHF AM band- like tips of a comb- and that comb moves around, so it will hit some channels and not others, and then change with temperature.

 

glen

 

 

[kiwiaviator]

Definitely got the Osram Glen. You must have a pretty good spectrum analyzer or your 230 didn't cost much 🙂 Look forward to what you find out.

 

Kev 

[RFguy]

ha ha. I will buy another from Bunnings and put it in the chamber in the lab and see what it does. This way, there will be no guessing and math based definitive solutions .
Might just need a line of ferrite beads over the wires behind it, that can be threaded on.  Will get you a picture in the next couple of days. will geta few different brands. cheers
 

[planedriver]

Fantastic!

I just love to see how guys on these forums help each other, and try to solve problems.

Well done!

It's all about watching others backs, and trying to keep us all safe.

Edited February 21, 2021 by planedriver

[Bosi72]

Not sure about Jabiru, but for many GA aircrafts, the standard is PAR36.

I found John Deere tractor LED's in combination with RF chokes very effective, low consumption, low temperature, low stress on switches/wires, much higher lumens than regular filament lights. 

[RFguy]

Well.
The lamps in question DO meet the standard. But for radio , that usually means still needs to be 10m away even if meets spec. 

The radiated rubbish comes off the wires, not the lamp itself. 

 

The EMF was approx 3uV/M. enough to open a VHF radio within 3 or 4meters of the wiring.  Its low, but not low enough. 

 

Use of a single large ferrite slab cable clamp choke  killed it by x10.  Also, pairs of smaller clip on chokes also did the job, also. Probably what is mechanically easiest is suggested.  I will pull mine apart and investigate best  means of locating these chokes (as close to the lamp as possible). 

 

it should be understood that the lamps do get to about 50 deg C  over ambient... (OK, that's better than >300 over ambient for the halogens) 

Kev- send me a message with your postal address and I will post you some bits gratis

 

cheers

pic -  (using the Rigol SA which is fine for this job... in my TBTC-3 TEM cell.)