More LED Light Goodies Arrived

In response to a suggestion from a member on the EAA forum related to my LED light project (link in a previous post), I ordered a couple of different versions of an 1156 replacement LED light that is designed to replace the existing front or tail light/turn signal lights in our cars. IN response to an inquirey by me about a proper weather proof solution, the suggestion was to use a 3 watt 1156 replacement LED light that has its own lense cover. I ordered 2 of those in addition to two other 1156 lights without a lense cover that have a total of 45 SMD (Surface mount devices) attached in front and all around the circumferance of that light. The former light with the lense contains a single red LED in the front. Here is pic of both of them wired up to a couple of different connectors that I also purchased:

The non-lensed 45 SMD light is on the top of the above pic, and the bottom one is the lensed single LED version of the 1156. Each one is mounted in a different style base connector that I am also evaluating for my application.

Then next couple of pics came our real blurry so sorry about that, but you can still get the idea:

45 SMD light:

And the Lensed single LED:

And now for the fun part. Here is another short video test of 4 lights all wired up to the strobe controller and ready to "fire." These are all 3 watt lights, and I All I can say is HOLY COW!. These are definitely almost blinding up close, and certainly can be seen from a considerable distance I think (tests pending). The whole thing is wired up to a 9 volt battery, so I can only imagine what a full 12 volt supply will look like. I think that these lights are the winners for my application. At first I thought that the 45 SMD light was putting out a lot more light, but when I wired all 4 of them together they seem to be about the same or fairly close. I still like the 45 SMD better because I can use a reflector of sorts to allow all the sideway light to be redirected back out to the front if I so desire. Having lights on the sides should help with viewing angles on the side of the aircraft.

Either way, with all four of them wired together the effect is just too cool for school!

One last building note. I also recently found what I consider to be a great solution for some padding on my leading edge wing jig. Originally I was just going to use some electrical tape to line the jig to repvent scratches and dings to my leading edge skins, but was not too thrilled about that solution since there was really no cushion effect. Then I found some fiber-type material that I purchased that I thought would work until I opened it and realized that this stuff was about as close to scotch brite pad as you can get without actually being one. So I had a DUH moment, and realized that I certainly did not want to use this stuff to line my jig. then I finally found some latex rubber weather sealant at HD aviation supply, and this stuff looks to be exactly what I was looking for.

I sanded out my cutouts for the jig to leave approximately 1/8 inch gap on either side. this weather strip is 1/8" thick x 3/4" wide if you keep both sides of it attached as it comes in the package. the package dimensions it gives are 1/8" x 3/8", which is exactly one half the width as you see it in the package. Turns out that it is designed to fit into tight spaces so you are supposed to separate the two halves when using it for its intended purpose. For my application I will just leave both sides together, and it will fit nicely inside my 3/4 inch thick jigs to provide jsut enough cushion and abrasion protection as I prep the leading edges and the fuel tanks for assembly.

And finally one last pic of the bayonet mount that I seem to prefer for may application so far: