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I just finished installing Tom Anderson's LED light kit in place of the original Grimes incandescent light bulbs. What a huge difference! In 23 years of renting, I never rented a plane that had decent cockpit lighting. I made it my pet peeve that if I ever owned my own plane I would have good cockpit lighting. I've been an owner for a year now and now I can finally see every instrument easily at night. Had I known I could make such a difference just by spending $50 I would have done it the first week I had it! I've attached the flyer with all the details.
I installed the kit a little over a month ago and it's a great investment. I too can see all of the instruments at night and I don't burn my hand if I have to touch the unit...like with the incandescent bulbs.
Unfortunately Mr Anderson is a member of the SWPC technical committee and I have been on the receiving end of his vitriole when some of us were trying to improve the SWPC forums.
I was just looking over this thread and was thinking the exact same thing Curly! I had to laugh! I too have been on the recieving end of one of Anderson's tirades and will wait and see if anyone else comes up with something like this to purchase from. LOL
Saw some real nice ones at Tamarack Air in Fairbanks for $20 ea. http://www.tamarackair.com/ Lots of LED interior light kits available now. I see Aircraft Spruce also has a large selection.http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/...g_cockpit.html Like mentioned above LED lights use very little power, don't get hot and last for a very long time. A little modern technology trickling into our airplanes.
The thing I like most about the Anderson kit is that it's literally as easy as changing a light bulb. No wiring, no screws. Just take the old bulbs out, put the Andersons in the same socket and you're done. If it takes you five minutes to do it, you're doing too much hanger flying in between bulbs (if there's such a thing as too much hanger flying!)
I also installed Tom's map light kit a year or so ago and was very impressed by it. I would suggest buying his kit as it's a nice clean package all in one place. Besides, he is a short winger -still- and I like giving credit to those that came up with the idea. You could probably come up with the pieces separately but probably would spend about the same in the end anyway. Just my $.02
That being said, lots of LED replacements available for standard incandescent light bulbs but they can be a bit pricey up front. Just Google "LED bulb" with the bulb # you're looking for and you can find a bunch. I've been thinking about changing the small bulbs in my eyebrow lights over my instruments but at $6/each (times 20+ bulbs), I can't quite justify it in my head. However, I really do like the idea of changing the Navigation lights to LED once I found out how much current draw the original bulbs have. Still pricey at $32.50/each but doable in my head but still not pulled the trigger. Just don't do that much night flying....yet.
“Seek advice but use your own common sense.”
― Yiddish Proverb