Advice on landing lights?

We're looking at installing landing lights on our Rans S6S. The ones offered
by Aircraft Spruce are a bit big, about 5" diameter. I'm trying to find
something a bit smaller but equally effective. Does anyone here know what
(if any) requirements a landing light has, such as beam angle, width,
brightness etc??

The Hella Micro DE Xenon looks like a really interesting option. Less than
3" diameter, low power (35W) but very high light output and resilient to
vibration. See:
http://www.hella.com/produktion/Hell...o_DE_Xenon.jsp

Anyone used this? Good or bad? Any alternatives that are equally small and
effective?

Thanks!
Rob

I know that the XV-36 light offered by XeVision at
http://www.aerovisions.com/pic/XV-36-SL-new.jpg will meet the FAA
requirements for brightness and light pattern. It uses the D1S bulb xenon
arc bulb which is better than the D2S commonly used in automobiles since it
has the starting ballast integrated into the base of the bulb. This means
that you don't have to run the 20kV starting pulses through cables from the
power supply to the lamb. It uses the PAR36 (parabolic reflector) design
form which is a 4 5/16" diameter bulb. Thhis is the same as the common
GE4509 type incandescent bulb used in many, many aircraft. There is a
35watt and a 50watt version available. The 35watt is plenty, and will put
out many times the useful light of a PAR36 incandescent bulb. The bulb will
run much cooler than an incandescent, to boot! Actually, the 35watt and the
50watt both use the same bulb. They just drive it with more power for the
50watt version. This will obviously shorten bulb life. They advertise 2000
hours of bulb life with the 35watt version. This should last for years and
years in the typical aircraft in which the landing light is not used
continously. But with this long lift I would use it all the time for
enhanced collision avoidance. They also offer the XV-23 which is only 2.3
inches high and is rectangular, also 35 or 50 watt. All of there light come
in both landing light pattern or taxi light pattern. The landing light
pattern is a more narrow beam and the taxi light is spread out for a wider
illumination area. These lights are not cheap, about $550 through places
like Aircraft Spruce, but you get what you pay for. I think I saw a xenon
arc light offered by Chief Aircraft for about $350 but found out that the
lens and reflector is plastic. The Xevision light has a "real" glass lens
and a metal reflector. I spoke with the guy that makes the lights and
distributes them through XeVision, Aircraft Spruce, etc. He knows his
stuff. He also is a Glasair pilot. The usual disclaimer: I have nothing
to do with the sale of this light. I am just offering information about
what I found to be the best non-incandescent lamp available for aircraft.
"Rob Turk" wrote in message
news:AmQxf.3664$zc1.3603@amstwist00...
We're looking at installing landing lights on our Rans S6S. The ones
offered by Aircraft Spruce are a bit big, about 5" diameter. I'm trying to
find something a bit smaller but equally effective. Does anyone here know
what (if any) requirements a landing light has, such as beam angle, width,
brightness etc??

The Hella Micro DE Xenon looks like a really interesting option. Less than
3" diameter, low power (35W) but very high light output and resilient to
vibration. See:
http://www.hella.com/produktion/Hell...o_DE_Xenon.jsp

Anyone used this? Good or bad? Any alternatives that are equally small and
effective?

Thanks!
Rob

"Harvey Spencer" wrote in message
news:%0%xf.6967$CV.2345@dukeread03...


I know that the XV-36 light

Who is the actual manufacturer of the bulb itself? The person or company
that actually fabricates them from raw materials and sells them in box lots?

Jim

In article ,
"RST Engineering" wrote:

"Harvey Spencer" wrote in message
news:%0%xf.6967$CV.2345@dukeread03...


I know that the XV-36 light

Who is the actual manufacturer of the bulb itself? The person or company
that actually fabricates them from raw materials and sells them in box lots?

A potentially new vendor adds his voice! "-))

Why not? $500 a bulb sounds a bit like a rip-off to me.

Jim



"john smith" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"RST Engineering" wrote:

"Harvey Spencer" wrote in message
news:%0%xf.6967$CV.2345@dukeread03...


I know that the XV-36 light

Who is the actual manufacturer of the bulb itself? The person or company
that actually fabricates them from raw materials and sells them in box
lots?

A potentially new vendor adds his voice! "-))

"RST Engineering" wrote in message
...

"Harvey Spencer" wrote in message
news:%0%xf.6967$CV.2345@dukeread03...


I know that the XV-36 light

Who is the actual manufacturer of the bulb itself? The person or company
that actually fabricates them from raw materials and sells them in box
lots?

Jim


One of the vendors for this is Philips. See:
http://www.eur.lighting.philips.com/...cts_xenon.html

Rob

"Harvey Spencer" wrote in message
news:%0%xf.6967$CV.2345@dukeread03...
I know that the XV-36 light offered by XeVision at
http://www.aerovisions.com/pic/XV-36-SL-new.jpg will meet the FAA
requirements for brightness and light pattern. It uses the D1S bulb xenon
arc bulb which is better than the D2S commonly used in automobiles since it
has the starting ballast integrated into the base of the bulb.
[SNIP]
These lights are not cheap, about $550 through places like Aircraft Spruce,
but you get what you pay for. I think I saw a xenon arc light offered by
Chief Aircraft for about $350 but found out that the lens and reflector is
plastic.

Thanks for all the details, Harvey. I had looked at XeVision but found the
price kinda steep. The Hella ones sell for about $350 each and are a bit
smaller. Unfortunately they are usually offered in pairs ($699) for car
owners.

Rob

"RST Engineering" wrote in message
...

Who is the actual manufacturer of the bulb itself? The person or company
that actually fabricates them from raw materials and sells them in box
lots?

Jim

Another one is General Electric (www.gelighting.com). A search on Google
also turns up many manufacturers in the Pacific Rim area...

Rob

"RST Engineering" wrote in message
...
Why not? $500 a bulb sounds a bit like a rip-off to me.

This is for a HID with the starting ballast and power supply built into the
bulb, so you don't have any expensive power supply to buy, right? If you
can hook a 12 volt line to the bulb, and take off, then that sounds like a
bargain. (if that is all you need)
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

This is for a HID with the starting ballast and power supply built into the
bulb, so you don't have any expensive power supply to buy, right? If you can
hook a 12 volt line to the bulb, and take off, then that sounds like a
bargain. (if that is all you need)

Since you must effectively buy a brand new ballast and power supply every
time you need a new bulb, it somehow seems (to me at least) to fail the
"bargain" test.

Vaughn