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I just went through the joy of being confronted with a dead battery after accidentally turning one of the overhead lamps on and leaving it on for 2 weeks. Running the engine for 25 minutes and separately charging the battery didn't help. Had to order a new replacement battery (Concorde).

I know a similar incident and the logic (or lack thereof) of having the lamp not connected to the battery master has been covered in the forum before so focus is rather on the two following questions:

- Would leaving the lamp on for 2 weeks really irreversibly damage the battery? Or is the contributing factor the fact that the battery had been 4 years old prior to this happening?
- Given that I never really use it even during night flights, does disconnecting the lamps affect airworthiness in any way (presumably not) as long as I have a spare light source with me for night flights?

Wolfgang

Hi Wolfgang:

Yes, it is certain that leaving the overhead lamp on for 2 weeks will completely drain the battery. It probably would damage it irreversibly. You might consider what others (and myself) have done, which is to switch the incandescent lamps out for LEDs. The current draw of the LEDs is so low that you could probably leave one on for more than two weeks and not drain the battery (certainly much longer than with the incandescents, which will drain a battery in 24 hours).

Steve

Hi Steve,

I read somewhere in the forum that these lights can be replace by LED (T3-1/4 6V-28V) and that they are available on www.jacksonelectricsupply.com. Are these, the LED that you are using?

I'm just afraid of one thing = fire.
The thing that is frightening me the most in a light aircraft is electric or engine fire, and these lights are not validated by Diamond.

What do you think?

Other question: the switch of one of the 3 lights in my DA40 is not damaged and is not clicking anymore, so the switch is moving freely (not exactly freely because there is some friction, but no more clic from on to off position).
The bulb of this light is not working, or maybe it is disconnected, anyway it won't drain the battery.
Do you know if there is a way to repair this (to have the clic back), or the complete light has to be changed?

Thank you.

Arnaud.

astaib wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 1:17 pm Hi Steve,

I read somewhere in the forum that these lights can be replace by LED (T3-1/4 6V-28V) and that they are available on www.jacksonelectricsupply.com. Are these, the LED that you are using?

Arnaud: I switched mine so long ago, I forget where I got them. The source was mentioned in the old Diamond forum...

I'm just afraid of one thing = fire.
The thing that is frightening me the most in a light aircraft is electric or engine fire, and these lights are not validated by Diamond.

What do you think?

I think that the LEDs would be less likely to cause a fire - less heat generated if you accidentally leave them on, but it would be very unlikely either way.

Other question: the switch of one of the 3 lights in my DA40 is not damaged and is not clicking anymore, so the switch is moving freely (not exactly freely because there is some friction, but no more clic from on to off position).
The bulb of this light is not working, or maybe it is disconnected, anyway it won't drain the battery.
Do you know if there is a way to repair this (to have the clic back), or the complete light has to be changed?

I had the switch become intermittent on one of mine about 10 years ago. I looked for an OEM source. Turned out that the OEM (I forget the name) manufactured light assemblies for Mercedes, but I couldn't find a source to buy them other than Diamond ($$). I was able to clean it and restore the proper function. You may be able to do the same for yours, as the switch is simply a couple of spring metal strips.

Arnaud.

Good luck...

Steve

Arnaud:

Was eBay surfing and saw this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Diamond-DA40-1 ... 8248!US!-1

Might be worth having as a spare should yours prove non-repairable.

Steve

Steve wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2019 7:17 pm Arnaud:

Was eBay surfing and saw this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Diamond-DA40-1 ... 8248!US!-1

Might be worth having as a spare should yours prove non-repairable.

Steve

Thanks Steve, I ordered it on eBay !

Hey, we 'Legacy' DA40 owners have to stick together!

Hi Steve,

I just received the reading map light from the eBay link that you sent me.
I installed it with led light with success.

When I saw the bad condition of the one I replaced, I have decided to remove the 2 other ones to clean and check them.
There were still working but in a really bad condition too with a lot of mastic everywhere etc...

So I decided to replace them too.
I noticed a small logo on it that is the logo of the French car manufacturer: RENAULT.
Believe it or not there are plenty of them for 15€ on eBay France!!!

Another thing: all the 3 lights that I remove from my plane were without the smooth plastic cover. Thus they were with a lot of dried grass and dust everywhere (not good in case of a spark). I will reinstall them without the smooth plastic cover because the RENAULT version will come without it I suppose.

See you.

Arnaud.

Arnaud:

Glad you were able to get a replacement. I will have to try out my Google-fu on the Renault part. Is there a P/N listed for the Renault one? As far as the plastic boots, they were not original equipment on 2001 DA-40s like ours. They were added later to address pressurized air leaking through the lights from the vent plenum. You could obtain them from DAI if you wanted to install them...

Steve

Ok for the plastic boots.
This part were installed in several RENAULT such as the « scenic », the « espace 3 ».
There is for sure a reference but I use the keyword « plafonnier Renault scenic » plafonnier is « reading map light » in French.

See the eBay page: Arnaud