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Old November 29th 05, 12:53 AM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
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Default lamina position lights

I posted photos of some LED red and green wing tip position lights
he

http://w1.lancair.net/pix/Lamina-LED-Positon-Lights

The LED arrays are from Lamina Ceramics. These have a very wide
illumination pattern,
essentially Lambertian, and are so bright that without any lens they
meet FAA specs in the
forward direction. The FAA specs require much lower intensity off the
forward direction, so
these lights are way over spec for other azimuths.

I just used a series resistor to set the current. Keep it simple. One
amp for the green, two for the red.

Note that the standard Whelen bulb also uses 2 amps so these create no
more heat
than the bulbs. They make a LOT more red or green light, however.

I will attach the LEDs to the aluminum heat sinks I made with thermal
heat sink grease.

Also, you will see my strobes in the photos. These are public service
units I bought on E-bay.
I made a toroidal lens of D shape cross section to project more light
into the azimuthal plane.
The lens was made from 1/2 inch plexiglas rod. I heated it with a heat
gun and bent it into a curve.
I then cut the cylindrical inner surface on a milling machine with a
fly cutter.

These are for my Lancair 360, but a similar design would work on almost
any experimental.

Cheers.

--
Jeff Peterson