Upgraded landing lights for CubCrafters Carbon Cub FX-3

[Neal]

Happy ending to this long crazy saga. Whelen/WAT had me do some tests, try a Ferrite noise reducer on the power lines like many of us remember seeing on USB cables, nothing worked. They suggested I swap left and right lights, things got worse. Whelen/WAT stepped up with their continued beyond amazing customer service and support and sent me two new lights. I installed them today and the noise was gone and everything worked great! Hallelujah!!!

So in the end, a pretty simple upgrade other than the heinously painful one I endured. Replace two breakers, replace landing lights, install the newer flasher that supports higher power and done. Would I do this again? Probably a nope! But these lights are 2.5 times brighter than what CubCrafters installed so that's a good thing for various reasons. CubCrafters is supposedly coming out with a retrofit kit, I doubt it will be cheap, but for those that want to put better lights in your cubs they have a path coming soon for you.

The end.

 

[Neal]

Flew this evening and noticed the landing lights on the runway and it wasn't even dark. It was dusk, maybe 10 mins after sunset and I've never seen the lights on the runway unless dark with the prior lights. Looking forward to a night flight soon to see how these new lights really "shine." Excited to have real light finally!

 

[XeVision]

For those building a CC still under construction, consider XeVision Par-36 (same size as OEM) XeTREME (extreme) LED. 100 Watt LED with built in strobe mode needing no switch modifications (unless switch is under rated). Just much larger feed wire 14 (most likely) or 12 awg feed wire and breaker replacement (10 amps breaker individually or 20 amp breaker for 2 lights combined). See the XeVision website for videos, the LED section not the HID section. Absolutely no RFI or EMI issues. 1/3+ mile useful illumination, ~10,900 Lumens each light, 322,000+ constant Candela (Candlepower) each as well. No power reduction dimming after 5-10 minutes like all the others from WAT (Whelen) or AeroLEDs. 3 standard modes, High, Low [60%] and strobe. Strobe is more effective than wigwag and proven more effective to avoid bird strikes (USDA research).

 

[XeVision]

XeVision® unmatched high-intensity LED and HID lighting technologies

Cutting-edge LED aircraft landing and taxi lights by XeVision®

www.xevision.com

 

[ve6yeq]

For my recently completed factory EX-3 build (CCK-2000-0148), I opted for the WAT lighting upgrade. This came as:

Description	P/N	Location
Parmetheus™ G3 Par 36 Landing Light	01-0772102-10	Left Wing
Parmetheus™ G3 Par 36 Taxi Light	01-0772102-15	Right Wing
ORION 550 Series Position / Anti-Collision Tail Light	01-0772070-V01	Tail
ORION 660 Series Forward & Tail Position/Anti-Collision Wingtip Light	01-0790877-02	Left Wing
ORION 660 Series Forward & Tail Position/Anti-Collision Wingtip Light	01-0790877-01	Right Wing

So the WAT Parmetheus G3 series lights are now default for the lighting upgrade option.

 

[Neal]

Interesting they are putting a TAXI light (higher diffusion) in one wing. It is NO GOOD unless angled down IMHO.

 

[ve6yeq]

I have not yet used the lights at night, so I am not sure if the positioning of the Taxi and Landing lights is different or if the purpose was just to increase situational awareness while landing.

 

[XeVision]

If they are using a 2 wire feed and not airframe for ground, you could use airframe for ground and repurpose the 2nd wire for a + feed. then just change the breaker. Basically double up the wires for better voltage drop performance.

If you really want the best output performance (turn night into day) you should be looking at the XeVision Extreme LED 10,800 Lumens 100 Watts, NO dimming to ~1/2 output as they warm up in 5-10 minutes. 322,000 Candela (Candle Power). They draw 100 watts each but useful illumination out past 1/3 mile (no joke). Also a strobing effect mode, much more effective for collision avoidance, especially scares off birds per USDA bird strike research. NOVEL 2 power wire feed needed for controlling 3 output modes, Full / Strobing / 1/2 - (not so offensively bright to others for taxiing) XeVision® unmatched high-intensity LED and HID lighting technologies