Q re Instrument lighting upgrade by Aero Enhancement: anyone with experience?

The club to which I belong is upgrading the instrument lighting in one of
our 182s. I've been doing the research side of this.

All was going well. We ultimately decided upon the panel overlay product
from Aero Enhancement, and started looking at shops to do the installation.
And here's where I took a bit of a shock.

Two shops - both of whom we've worked with - quoted about 8 hours for the
install and "minimal" times for template fitting. The "template fitting"
is something that occurs once, twice, or perhaps three times. AE sends a
template from which they'll be building the panel overlay. The template is
"fitted", and any errors are marked for correction. The template is sent
back to AE. If there are corrections, they produce a new template and send
it for another fitting.

The two shops to whom I spoke, and AE, claim that fitting is a trivial
affair. I just took them at their words (and didn't think much about it).

But when I got a price from a third shop - one that claims to have worked
with AE's panel overlays before - I got a *much* larger quote (8 hours vs.
20-30 hours). This third shop has worked with AE's panel overlays in the
past, and even likes them. But this shop told me that the process is far
more involved than AE claims.

So now I'm dealing with a conflict in the information I've received. And
that brings me here. Does anyone have experience with the AE panel overlay
product? I'm very curious as to what the installation - and template
fittings - took in terms of time and effort.

Thanks...

Andrew

Andrew Gideon wrote:

So now I'm dealing with a conflict in the information I've received. And
that brings me here. Does anyone have experience with the AE panel
overlay
product? I'm very curious as to what the installation - and template
fittings - took in terms of time and effort.

Am I to understand that *nobody* here has experience with Aero-Enhancement's
instrument lighting? Hmm.

- Andrew

Andrew Gideon wrote:
Andrew Gideon wrote:


So now I'm dealing with a conflict in the information I've received. And
that brings me here. Does anyone have experience with the AE panel
overlay
product? I'm very curious as to what the installation - and template
fittings - took in terms of time and effort.


Am I to understand that *nobody* here has experience with Aero-Enhancement's
instrument lighting? Hmm.


I've admired their products at Oshkosh and filed a mental note to check with
them if I ever was in a position to do a panel overhaul. No direct experience
with them, though.

How about contacting them directly and asking for references?

Dave
Remove SHIRT to reply

Dave Butler wrote:

How about contacting them directly and asking for references?

I did that. I've called a few companies that have worked with these in the
past. Unfortunately, I received mixed comments on the installation
process.

Consistently, everyone likes the result. But I've had time quotes varied
from 8 hours to 20-30 hours. That's a little worrisome to me.

I was hoping to get a wider field of commentary here.

- Andrew

Have you considered the nulite system? I liked what I saw at their booth at
OSH last summer. They're like $40 each and require only a logbook entry.
Perhaps not quite as cool as the AE panel but they're way cheaper and really
just as functional.

http://www.nulite.net


Just my $.02

-Brian


"Andrew Gideon" wrote in message
online.com...
The club to which I belong is upgrading the instrument lighting in one of
our 182s. I've been doing the research side of this.

All was going well. We ultimately decided upon the panel overlay product
from Aero Enhancement, and started looking at shops to do the
installation.
And here's where I took a bit of a shock.

Two shops - both of whom we've worked with - quoted about 8 hours for the
install and "minimal" times for template fitting. The "template fitting"
is something that occurs once, twice, or perhaps three times. AE sends a
template from which they'll be building the panel overlay. The template
is
"fitted", and any errors are marked for correction. The template is sent
back to AE. If there are corrections, they produce a new template and
send
it for another fitting.

The two shops to whom I spoke, and AE, claim that fitting is a trivial
affair. I just took them at their words (and didn't think much about it).

But when I got a price from a third shop - one that claims to have worked
with AE's panel overlays before - I got a *much* larger quote (8 hours vs.
20-30 hours). This third shop has worked with AE's panel overlays in the
past, and even likes them. But this shop told me that the process is far
more involved than AE claims.

So now I'm dealing with a conflict in the information I've received. And
that brings me here. Does anyone have experience with the AE panel
overlay
product? I'm very curious as to what the installation - and template
fittings - took in terms of time and effort.

Thanks...

Andrew

Brian Sponcil wrote:

Have you considered the nulite system?

Yes. I saw this at the Expo in Philly as I recall, and liked it.

I think what pushed the club's mx chief to the AE solution is that it
handles *all* the instruments, including those of "odd" size and shape, in
one lump sum. I know that an aspect of AE's solution that I liked was the
battery backup.

- Andrew