Thread: Position Lights

I have a position light on my 2005 CTSW that is just about ready to burn completely out. As I remember
these are quite expensive from Flight Design. Is there a cheaper alternative that is legal to use ?
I would appreciate any input.

Thanks
WB

WB, I replaced mine at the expense of FD. I just paid the install fee. I replaced both, one on each wing. They were about 40% burned out. You might want to look into that...

here they are at half the price

http://www.ntin.net/jhardy/EPL/EPLLightPage.html

thanks roger,

i was just about to order a new light at full price

I ordered nav and anti-collision lights today from Lockwood. I asked them to match the prices from the site above and they did.

Question about my red tail beacon. I noticed this was working intermittently. Looking into this, it is found that momentary application of a 12v test light across the wires (the shrink wrap was cut back to expose the soldered connections) makes a non-working beacon light up and work for a few minutes. After a few minutes, the beacon quits working. The test light is again applied momentarily across the wires and this starts the beacon working again. I note that the beacon and position LED lights have a voltage sensing capability where they will shut down if over 18v and come back when voltage is less than 18v. I would think that applying the test light would give a momentary voltage drop at the beacon? Don't know why this causes the light to come on? All investigation has been done without the engine running with battery charger hooked up and voltmeter indicating 13.8v. I have not noticed if the beacon works with the engine running but will look into this. Any thoughts?

The engine should be running for this test. I would run it at 3000 rpm to make sure the reg/rec is up at full output and nothing is siphoning any voltage that would affect the test. Only this way can you be sure. The voltage fluctuates too much without the engine running.

Jacob, thanks for the reply. Further checking shows only 2.5v at the light but 12.4v at the breaker switch. It appears that I have a pinched wire that runs from the switch to the light that will need to be repaired.

Update on ACL and position lighting. I have found that the bullet connectors used on my CTSW (and probably other CTSW's too?) were the cause of my problem. In particular, the criimping used on these connectors relaxed or was not sufficient to keep good electrical contact. This condition was fixed and my ACL tail beacon now works. My ACL does have about 5 LED's that are burnt out though. Inspection of another Flight Design (a 2008 CTLS) indicates that the red position light is burnt out and wiring is not the cause for this concern. Reading the threads here, it appears that our "long life" LED lights are not truely "long life" and are burning out at very low TIS. Looks like many owners are experiencing burn out or the circuit board inside becomes NFG in 2 or 3 years. Replacment of these lights, including the cost for A&P, is a serious financial "hit" for owners. with fairly new CT's.