Piper Wing Lighting

Has anyone had any experience with the 'skylight' brand of wing lighting?
I
have never heard of it until today when I saw it in a flyer for Cherokee
Pilots
Assoc. I have been looking at wingtip lighting... but it's pricey. The
skylight lighting is mounted into the leading edge, rather than the
wingtips
and is about half the cost of the wingtip set up. Thanks.

They are a popular option for Cherokee Six, Pathfinder and Dakota drivers,
cuz our wing-tip gas tanks preclude the installation of the more common
wingtip landing lights.

I've been eying them longingly for the last couple of years, but have never
actually spoken with anyone who has them installed. The guy who makes them
is apparently very "old school," and he has neither email nor a website.

But the price is sure right. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who
has experience with them, too.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

: I've been eying them longingly for the last couple of years, but have never
: actually spoken with anyone who has them installed. The guy who makes them
: is apparently very "old school," and he has neither email nor a website.

Jay, I have flown 2 different Arrows with these lights. They're really good.
One of these Arrows has the cowling landing light completely faired over.
That's probably good for another knot or two...
Both these airplanes have a split switch for the landing lights now. You can
run either the left, right, or both. Put some HID's in there, and they'll
last 5,000 hours to boot.
--
Aaron Coolidge

Jay,

I put them on my Six back in '97. They are great, especially on a Six since
the pavement illuminated by the stock nose light is mostly obscured by the long
nose. Yes the parts are cheaper than the replacement tips, but you'll make up
the difference in the install labor. As I recall, the install was about 20
hours. They come with Q4509 lamps, which last a long time in the tips. I've
only replaced one bulb in some 800 hours, and I have them on flash on every
flight.

My install is a bit unique. The lights come with a split rocker switch that is
marked L and R, intended to connect to each wing light so you can control them
independently. The recognition flasher comes with an additional switch, and it
essentially connects electrical switches in parallel with the L and R
switches. If you follow the STC wiring, you have to add two new switches to
your panel. On mine, we added a pair of Piper relays under the seat in place
of the L and R switches in the supplied connection diagram. The L-R switch
supplied was put in the panel in the place of the original landing light
switch. The L side is connected to the existing nose light circuit, and also
to the coil on both of the added relays so that when L is on, all 3 lights come
on (L=landing light). The R side of the switch is connected to the recognition
flasher box, so when it is on and the L side is off, the wingtips alternate and
the nose remains off (R=recognition). Each light has it's own pullable
breaker so I can individually turn off lights if I need to (although the nose
light has to be on to turn on the wing lights since the nose circuit powers the
relays). The advantage is one switch operates all the lights and there are no
new switch holes to make in the panel (the split L-R rocker switch matches the
original grey rocker switches in size and shape).

Jay Honeck wrote:

Has anyone had any experience with the 'skylight' brand of wing lighting?
I
have never heard of it until today when I saw it in a flyer for Cherokee
Pilots
Assoc. I have been looking at wingtip lighting... but it's pricey. The
skylight lighting is mounted into the leading edge, rather than the
wingtips
and is about half the cost of the wingtip set up. Thanks.

They are a popular option for Cherokee Six, Pathfinder and Dakota drivers,
cuz our wing-tip gas tanks preclude the installation of the more common
wingtip landing lights.

I've been eying them longingly for the last couple of years, but have never
actually spoken with anyone who has them installed. The guy who makes them
is apparently very "old school," and he has neither email nor a website.

But the price is sure right. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who
has experience with them, too.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

--
--Ray Andraka, P.E.
President, the Andraka Consulting Group, Inc.
401/884-7930 Fax 401/884-7950
email
http://www.andraka.com

"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, 1759