David (N16FA) deserves credit from bringing up a fairly major shortcoming in the existing fleet, as the situation is crying for a better solution. Several years back I spoke with Dan Blumel at XeVision*, using my A&P's strategy to first try a lower cost solution. Which began by replacing the fading eleven year old, factory original, light bulbs. There was a very minor improvement, but not even close to what is needed.I'd also be concerned about 85 watts of heat (instead of 35W) being produced right under the pilot's seats; you could literally find yourself sitting in a "hot seat." wrote:
So I called Dan Blumel back, and it turns out there is a 50 watt power supply product his company also manufactures. This raises the lumens from the stock 3200 to 5300. Adding pulsing is also an option, which his company sells by the name of XePulse.
The drawback to both of these modifications, is of course, they would require a 337 sign off. So I asked my A&P / IA if he would speak to his contact at the Seattle FSDO about this. Not surprisingly, the answer was in the negative.
Costs at the time, without an STC, where:
50 Watt power supply = $580 + shipping
XePulse = $199
If memory serves, Dan did seem open to going down the STC path - if there was enough interest. The additional cost to the prices listed above would be next to impossible to predict at this point, should this STC ever become a reality.
Prior to CFIDave's "hot seat" concern, I had not given any consideration to this possible downside. Which got me to wondering:
1) the heat difference, on a hot day, experienced in the front seats between 50 & 85 watts?
2) if the pulse cycle was slowed down, would this further dissipate the heat associated with the higher wattage power supplies?
3) would an increase from 3200 lumens to 5300 lumens, be acceptable to most owners seeking this improvement (from a lighting standpoint)? And at a presumably lower cost.
4) are there any owners, living in other jurisdictions than Seattle, who would be willing to check with their local FSDO for the XeVision upgrade mentioned above?
https://www.xevision.com/
*XeVision is the landing light manufacturer for DAI