I'm a newbie to ICS and the proud owner of a Comanche 250. I've decided to go the LED route by replacing my nav, stobes, position & landing lights. My choice - Aeroleds. Before I made my investment, I wanted to know if anyone had any experiences with their LEDs.

Welcome to Comanche ownership!

I chose drop in Whelen landing light LEDs for the twin and have been happy with them.

Got the twin tail Whelen LED because I saw another twin on it and liked the visibility.

Not familiar with your choice. Very happy with LED increased visibility of the aircraft under a busy class B space.

Hope to hear more on this.

Thanks for the welcome Pat!

I've heard nothing but good things about the Whelen landing lights. Aviation Consumer rated them very well, only second to the Aeroleds. Currently Whelen does not offer an all LED nav/storbe wingtip light, although they say it's on the way. Not sure if that translates into weeks, months or years.....

 

Matt,
Just a comment on the landing/taxi light suggestion. It doesn't work! The cone of darkness will still be in front of the aircraft because the light is recessed in the wing, and the structure of the wing skin and tip prevent a wider beam. By adding a taxi light to a wingtip position, you waste much of the light illuminating the wing ribs, not the runway or taxiway!
-Zach

I placed my order today for the Aeroleds wingtip & landing lights. I'll be sure to post an update after installation for anyone who's interested.

Thanks Maurice, I'll be interested in how it turns out.

I replaced one wingtip light with the Whelen Prometheus light. I keep it on all the time since the power draw is so low and the life is so long. On landing it's easy to compare it against the old style Q bulb. The Whelen is a very white (versus yellow) light. They both seem to light up the runway the same distance, but the white light seems brighter. It also makes objects reflect the white light back more, so things like the center line and other airplanes tails when taxiing show up better. More of a subtle improvement than a step change one. I'm not going to go out and replace the other wingtip light until it dies, but when it does, I'll probably put in another LED even for the extra cost.

I have the Aeroleds nav/position/strobes, installed on my bird and I love them. You will need a dedicated line for the strobes however. If you don't already have them (and I didn't) the fix is relatively easy. What I did was install what is equivalent to a 12V car door opener switch. Actually 3 of them, one for each nav light strobe and one for the tail strobe. I don't have the model # with me now, but if you're interested let me know and I will get you the info when I go the hangar this weekend. I hope this helps, sorry for the untimely post.

I would suggest running another wire through the wing for the strobes. I doubt that you would be able to find
any inspector to approve of the car remote. I am not sure how difficult the extra wire would be to install but it has been done before and maybe someone here can give you some tips on making it easier to do.

Gary

Ps here is a tip from the technical tips section.

Wingtip Strobes (Dec 2011)
Q Is it possible to run wires through the wing of a Comanche for wingtip strobes?
A Yes, it can be done. One method is to locate and identify the current Nav light wire, cut it and attach both your strobe wires and a new Nav light wire to it. Next pull all these wires through the wing using the old Nav light wire. When you do this, make very sure the wires are securely fastened to the old Nav light wire. You do not want them to come loose in the middle of the wing.
Cliff Wilewski

As an update..I got my Aeroleds nav/pos, tail pos/strobes & landing lights in. My 250 is currently at the shop for the install. I'll be sure to post an update along with some pictures soon.

Finally got all of the Aeroleds LEDs installed and I have to say I am more than pleased. My 250 lights up like a Christmas tree! Well worth the investment. Should you decide to go with Aeroleds' products, do not purchase directly from the company - their price point is higher than the vendors. I purchased through Gulf Coast Avionics. Be prepared to wait several weeks though. Apparently Aeroleds is selling more lights than they can build.

Thanks for sharing.

Saw you are close by - are you going to the Clifton Maintenance session April 12-14?

Pat,

I'm not going to make the trip to Clifton.

Sorry I'm too late for the OP in this thread but another vendor for quality LED lights is Aveo Engineering. The have a rotating beacon replacement called the Red Baron that is very small and bright and cheaper than both the Whelen and Aeroled option. Their wingtip nav/position/strobe assembly is called the Ultra Aurora and is excellent too. I just installed these on another aircraft type but my IA did it under a Minor 337. Nice stuff and is guaranteed for life.
http://www.aveoengineering.com/index.ph ... n-products