Beacon light

[NC Bill]

On trip home today I noticed the beacon on top of the empennage is out.

 

I've noticed some occasional "cackeling" in my headsets the last trip.

 

Turned the beacon "OFF" in flight home today and the "cackeling" stopped.

 

Any idea if replacing the beacon is likely to solve both problems?

 

Being LED I'm assuming there's more to the replacement than a bulb. What part(s) should I order? Is it "plug & play" such that I can replace it myself?

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Bill

[CT4ME]

Try this, from a previous post:

http://ctflier.com/index.php?/topic/345-where-to-buy-replacement-exterior-lights-strobes/

Tim

[Roger Lee]

It could be a bad connection. If not then a new light is in order. See the older post that Tim recommended for the website. It unscrews then it has a little silicone under it. Use a putty knife to get under the light and pry it up around the edges. Don't push so hard as to cut the wires. The new light is around $500. It is polarity sensitive to observe which wire goes to the proper light wire. The wires just unplug. This operation is very easy so don't sweat it.

 

 

After all this I hope we are talking about the position light on top of the rudder?

[NC Bill]

After all this I hope we are talking about the position light on top of the rudder?

 

That be the light.

 

Thanks Roger.

 

Hope you're enjoying Mexico. Did you fly yourself down?

[Roger Lee]

Trailered down and relaxing on the beach. There is WIFI in the area so I have the notebook computer to use. Satellite is set up for movies at night. Nice ocean breeze. Water is 72F, a little cool for my taste. 62F at night for sleeping. Perfect.

AND NO PHONE, perfect. Sitting on the (6am) early morning deserted beach with a Pitbull on each side for crab protection, priceless.

[Roger Lee]

I was just ask who was winning, the crabs or the Pittbulls. Pitbulls are winning by a big marrgin. Crabs are 0 for 3. You pinch a Pitbull on the lips and you have one angry critter to deal with, It's a shame someone hasn't told the crabs not to pinch them.

[Tad Olmsted]

That be the light.

 

Thanks Roger.

 

Hope you're enjoying Mexico. Did you fly yourself down?

Bill, we can switch it out when you get here if you want. It only takes about 10 minutes.

[Runtoeat]

Bill, if you look thru the forum, you'll find some posts regarding the comings and goings of my beacon and marker lamps. It has been poor connections at the red colored bullet connections ("+" and "-" connectors at the lights themselves and at various locations throughout the airplane) and also at the switch/breakers on the instrument panel. The switch/breakers are rarely excercised and these develop dirty contacts. Removing the breakers and then cycling these along with a few squirts of electrical contact cleaner into the push-pull end and the connector end solves this. My last beacon "outage" was caused by a dirty "beacon" switch/breaker. Of all of the problems I have seen, there has been one instance of a lamp being defective and this involved the left wing marker lamp which was replaced on my friend's 2008 CTLS. It is noted that my red beacon now has 4 or 5 burnt out LEDs but the light still works and it is hard to detect these burnt out LEDs unless you're close to the plane and look at the light. 400 hours is not good durability for such an expensive light that is supposed to last for many hundreds of hours!

[NC Bill]

Removing the breakers and then cycling these along with a few squirts of electrical contact cleaner into the push-pull end and the connector end solves this. My last beacon "outage" was caused by a dirty "beacon" switch/breaker.

 

This morning mx confirmed there was power to the "BEACON" panel switch, but they didn't remove the beacon to check if it's receiving power because it's glued on.

 

I'll try cycling the breakers when I'm at the hangar Thursday. Is the electrical contact cleaner something I can get at an auto parts store?

 

I learned today the replacement cost of that part from CT is over $1200! OUCH! Until then I thought $522 was high. NOW I remember why I sold my Cirrus! :unsure:

[Roger Lee]

Bill,

I sent you a personal post. Get from the light US distributor at $522. It is a complete sealed unit. If you bought a beacon from Spruce and needed the power supply which is separate they would be any where from $500-$1000. Ours is a solid state unit. It is polarity sensitive so watch where the two wires go. Then light isn't really glued, just some silicone to keep out water. Use the putty knife and pry it up. It is very easy and plenty of wire to pull out after you get it loose. That is where yo need to do a voltage check. When you get it up a working just put a little silicone sealer down and screw it in place and wipe any excess off. Very easy.

 

 

5 to 1 on the Pitbulls isn't bad. When it hits 7 to 1 I'm in.

[Runtoeat]

Bill, Roger has a good point and he's got a lot of experience. Removing the light and checking for voltage cuts right to the chase and may save you time by not messing with things upstream from this. You may try cycling the switch too since this doesn't take much time. If you need to replace the beacon and/or the marker light, follow Roger's advice and purchase your lights from the source he's provided. In the case where you may not find voltage at your light and cycling the switch doesn't get the light to work, please note that I too had power to my switch but found that there was no power going out to my lights. In the process of removing the connectors from the back of my switch, removing the switch from the instrument panel and squirting Radio Shack's "electrical contact cleaner and lubricant" into the switch and cycling it a few times got my lights working again. The Radio Shack cleaner/lube may be one of the last products one will find still being sold with carbon tet cleaner in it (good stuff but toxic - don't take any deep breaths when using). Another source for inoperative lights can be the electrical connectors that are spread throughout the electrical system. I have also found these to cause inoperative lights but only on one occasion and we will not go there unless necessary. Due to the cost of these little lights, I would suggest you do one final test if you suspect that you have a defective light. After you have assured yourself that the light is NFG and it has been removed from the plane, hook it up to a known good 12 volt source, insuring correct polarity is applied, and see if it truly is NFG. The thought here is that your multi meter may show 12 v. running to the light in the plane but there may not be sufficient current to power the light due to poor connections either in the "-" or "+" circuits.