"bstanton" null.com wrote in message
...

My original post was intended to start the process of
looking at the problems I would encounter, so I had not done
a lot of work on the practicality of the project.
Nonetheless, since the plane originally had lights, it seems
reasonable to expect that this is possible to do.


Well, it's certainly possible to run position lights, but that's not enough
today, today you also need an anticollision light. When your airplane was
built wiring for navigation lights was factory-installed standard equipment.
Navigation lights, landing lights, radio gear, battery, and a wind-driven
generator were optional equipment. You said there are lights on each
wingtip and the fin, are there actual lampholders there or is there just a
mounting pad for them? I have a 7AC, they were also pre-wired for position
lights but I never saw one that had them. The mount pads are clearly
discernible under the fabric, however.



As to your questions, I've thought a bit about power
requirements. There are three position lights. I've seen
LED systems that draw less than 1.5 amps total for the three
lights. The strobe LED system I looked at had specs of .4
amps at 24 volts, so it's probably close to twice that at 12
volts, say 2.5 amps for the whole system if I spend lots of
cash for an LED based system. I currently use a single 8 AH
sealed lead acid, and could afford the weight of two more of
those, so an hour flight seems possible with some margin and
that still leaves a fully charged backup battery and my comm
battery.

Does anyone here have current draw specs for standard lights
and strobes?

When I first considered this, I hoped I could just replace
the bulbs, and substitute a sealed lead acid for original
dry cells. It didn't take much work to confirm I'd need to
install at least a strobe, and it looks like a wind
generator is probably also needed to get it back to its
original certified condition. Does anyone know of any
aircraft flying at night using only batteries?


Do you have the type certificate data sheet for your airplane? That would
specify what electrical gear was available for installation.

I own a Champ' but like most Aeronca owners I've become a bit of a buff on
the whole line. I've seen many photos of pre-war Chiefs with the mount pads
for position lights quite discernible but without the actual lights. I've
seen some with position lights installed but without a wind-driven
generator, so it was certainly possible to operate them with just a battery.
The only Chief I recall seeing with a wind-driven generator had it mounted
above the cabin, but that was the Chief Johnnie Jones used on his
transcontinental flight in 1938 so it was probably not the standard
installation. That generator looked significantly larger than others for
this purpose.