Old Landing Lights etc?
 

Hi guys,what`s the voltage and wattage of the "headlights" (for want of the correct word) on passenger jets,the ones that blast half a mile through the mist on the approach? I do fancy a pair of them on my truck cab roof! And is there a source of such parts,e.g. passenger jet breakers yard type place,where I could find some,there must be lights which still shine but can no longer be legally used on airliners. In fact not just lights but all technical things,eg switches valves or whatever,come on,there must be a source,I`m sure lots of folks would love to know! Ta in advance XX Jerry

I'm sure they are not 12v lamps. Possibly 28v. In your truck you'll probably need to use an inverter for EMF boost.

24V, 400W, but that's on the small stuff.

You must understand, EVERYTHING to do with aviation is extremely expensive. Think of a ridiculous price for a part - any part - and add a nought, and if it's for a helicopter, double your answer. For this reason, when an aircraft is scrapped, nothing that can be recycled is left behind.

Landing lights are replaced on condition, which in my experience usually means they are replaced when they fail. Because of the power consumption, they need cooling, which is provided by an airstream flowing over it, probably at a couple of hundred knots. What sort of speed are you thinking of doing?

Now there may be an answer to the cooling isuue; run them at half voltage. Now let me see, that works out to about...

...a fairly dark light, I would imagine.

Thanks Farmer & Barit for rapid response,I shall dream on, Jerry

I have had problems of lights heating up and blowing when guy's took too long to check the lights on a service check. You have about 10--15 mins on the ground before the lights go.
If you know any mechs in the industry he should have no problem getting you a set.
Although I'm sure you could find something similar for cars at Canadian Tire. Good luck.

Generally the landing lights run on 28 Volts a.c. and, although most are around 800 Watts, can run up to 1.5 KW. We are seeing some 6.2 Volt quartz halogens these days.

Expect to pay US$250 and upwards for an ordinary sealed beam unit with an airworthiness tag. That's just the lamp, mountings and fittings are extra.

One of our technicians at Brize Norton rigged a VC10 nose taxi light in the rear window of his Cortina. He used it to persuade following cars to dip their headlights...

One of our technicians at Brize Norton rigged a VC10 nose taxi light in the rear window of his Cortina. He used it to persuade following cars to dip their headlights...

ROFLPMSL

Fantastic. Did it fry his alternator?

Nope. The nose taxi light was 26 Volt/500 Watts and a Cortina has a 12 Volt system.

Think about short bursts of light and rechargeable emergency light power packs...

The law suit should make interesting reading after some poor sod has his retina burned out by one of you clowns.

I have had flight crew flash their lights at me when I was just disconnecting the headset/pin. Gave em a fright when I plug back in again and scream, ARGHHHH, MY EYES, MY EYES I'M BLIND!!! :rolleyes:

DON'T DO IT IT AIN'T FUNNY!:mad:

Nor is driving up behind someone with your headlights on full beam... :hmm:

Another handy trick is wiring a manual bypass switch into the brake lights. You get some interesting results by switching the brake lights on when you're being "tailgated".

Blacksheep - you need to get out a bit more! :ok:

Back to the question....
 

Try e-bay there's always a oad of ex-aircraft junk on there - can't guarantee the serviceability though...lamps are easy enough to get hold of through the stores!

How true Bus, how true... :8

But I have two weddings to pay for in the summer. :{

I'll bet, prefer the brake peddle myself, stops me running into the car in front when I'm tailgating:ok: