On Tuesday, December 13, 2016 at 4:40:59 PM UTC-6, bumper wrote:
On Tuesday, December 13, 2016 at 12:36:49 PM UTC-8, Steve L wrote:


I fly Experimental so the bike light idea appeals to me along with the fact there is no wiring and the price is nice too. Any recommendations on which is the best and which one has the strobe effect?
Best, Steve

Steve,

I ride road bicycle at night through the summer to avoid UV, so have Fenix bike headlight and strobe taillight as well. The problem I see for glider use is the relatively narrow beam angle. On a roadway, it looks bright to other traffic and the narrow main beam is good. Move off to the side, not so much.

I have AeroLed landing and taxi LED lights on my Husky. Two on each wing for wig-wag operation. Some guys put two landing lights each side for even better landing off-field visibility. I run all four in flight. The taxi lights have a broader less intense light than do the landing lights, they are both the same wattage 36 watts each IIRC. Standing off to the side of the Husky checking how the light look, the taxi lights are MUCH more visible than the landing lights - walk more to the front of the plane and the landing lights are brighter of course.

Schleicher sells leading edge LEDs for the vertical stab as an option. It's done nicely. Only thing I don't like about it is you can't just unscrew it to replace should it become damaged.

I have Aeroled strobes on the Husky as well. Much more efficient than Whelan power supply and Xenon tubes, but those LED strobes would suck a 9 volt dry in no time. If you had to go with batteries, I'd be looking at a couple of rechargeable Lion 18650's or so - they usually don't go poof - - hopefully.

OK, all good tips... Thanks so much!