The Murphy Builders Site

Please bear with me, I'm a relatively new owner with little building experience and airplane knowledge. Bop P. suggested I review archives on the subject, which I did, but I still have a couple of questions.

First, what is preference, strobes or lights and why. Bob mentioned you can buy build your strobe kits for $39 U.S., does anyone have a supplier name and number or part number.

Once again any suggestions or comments are muvh appreciated.

Thanks, Aurele
Rebel 063

Aurele, Strobes or Nav lights, that is the question! Nav lights are a requirement if you plan to do any night flying, but are not required in the day time. They do give some help for other aircraft to detect your position but usually only on very dull overcast days. Strobe lights on the other hand really help other planes to see you, even on bright days, so if you want to be seen and only fly daylight, they would be the priority. Landing lights that are made to flash on and off also really help detection when you are coming down final or even joining the circuit. Don't know where to get cheap strobe kits (I always use Aeroflash or Whelen products with Aeroflash having a very nice Nav/Strobe/Position tip unit (also about $700cdn/set, which is about half of what Whelens cost). To make your landing lights flash you don't need one of those megabuck STC flasher units! All you need is a extra switch to choose steady or flashing and a $2.49 Chrysler signal light flasher unit (old style 69/70's, 2 connectors). The switches are wired as follows: From the circuit breaker the wire goes to the switch marked landing lights. From the output of this switch you then feed the steady/flashing switch and the output of this switch goes to the lights. The flasher units 2 terminals are connected to the 2 terminals on the steady/flasher switch. When the steady/flashing switch is in the off position, the lights will flash as the power has to go through the flasher unit. When the steady/flashing switch is turned on, the lights will stay steady as the flasher unit will be by-passed!
Hope this helped,
Wayne

-----Original Message-----
From: Aurele Lavigne <alavigne@ntl.sympatico.ca (alavigne@ntl.sympatico.ca)>
To: murphy-rebel@dcsol.com (murphy-rebel@dcsol.com) <murphy-rebel@dcsol.com (murphy-rebel@dcsol.com)>
Date: Monday, November 15, 1999 8:29 PM
Subject: Lights


Please bear with me, I'm a relatively new owner with little building experience and airplane knowledge. Bop P. suggested I review archives on the subject, which I did, but I still have a couple of questions.

First, what is preference, strobes or lights and why. Bob mentioned you can buy build your strobe kits for $39 U.S., does anyone have a supplier name and number or part number.

Once again any suggestions or comments are muvh appreciated.

Thanks, Aurele
Rebel 063

One supplier for build-your-own strobes is:

Great Plains Aircraft,
P.O. Box 545,
Boys Town, NE 68010

www.greatplainsas.com or ---> email: gpasc@earthlink.net

Thay have sold these at Oshkosh for years - the unit mounts in the
wing tip, with just 12 volt wiring out to it (or you could put just one on
top of the fuselage or tail ....).

They are $29.95 US, plus $5.25 S&H Possibly cheaper in quantity ;-)
They are variable rate (60-300 flashes/minute), draw only 2 amps, but price
does not include lense or housing. Some builders have used plastic pill bottles
for lenses & covers .... (or you could buy the Aeroflash lense & mount ...)
I doubt that these strobes meet the FAR-23 requirements (!!), BUT they WILL
greatly increase the visibility of your Rebel !

I think Dave James built a couple of these ... Any comments ????

.....bobp

-----------------------------orig.------------------------------------------
At 07:46 PM 11/15/99 -0500, you wrote:

Please bear with me, I'm a relatively new owner with little building

experience and airplane knowledge. Bop P. suggested I review archives on the
subject, which I did, but I still have a couple of questions.

First, what is preference, strobes or lights and why. Bob mentioned you can

buy build your strobe kits for $39 U.S., does anyone have a supplier name
and number or part number.

Once again any suggestions or comments are muvh appreciated.

Thanks, Aurele
Rebel 063
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>

<META content=text/html;charset=iso-8859-1 http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META content='"MSHTML 4.72.2106.6"' name=GENERATOR>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Please bear with me, I'm a relatively new owner with little
building experience and airplane knowledge. Bop P. suggested I review archives
on the subject, which I did, but I still have a couple of
questions.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>First, what is preference, strobes or lights and why. Bob
mentioned you can buy build your strobe kits for $39 U.S., does anyone have a
supplier name and number or part number.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Once again any suggestions or comments are muvh
appreciated.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Thanks, Aurele</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Rebel 063</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

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Archives located at:
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The anticollision light needs to be visiable for 3 mile in daylight hours

At 01:47 PM 11/17/99 -0500, you wrote:

One supplier for build-your-own strobes is:

Great Plains Aircraft,
P.O. Box 545,
Boys Town, NE 68010

www.greatplainsas.com or ---> email: gpasc@earthlink.net

Thay have sold these at Oshkosh for years - the unit mounts in the
wing tip, with just 12 volt wiring out to it (or you could put just one on
top of the fuselage or tail ....).

They are $29.95 US, plus $5.25 S&H Possibly cheaper in quantity ;-)
They are variable rate (60-300 flashes/minute), draw only 2 amps, but price
does not include lense or housing. Some builders have used plastic pill

bottles

for lenses & covers .... (or you could buy the Aeroflash lense & mount ...)
I doubt that these strobes meet the FAR-23 requirements (!!), BUT they WILL
greatly increase the visibility of your Rebel !

I think Dave James built a couple of these ... Any comments ????

.....bobp

-----------------------------orig.------------------------------------------
At 07:46 PM 11/15/99 -0500, you wrote:

Please bear with me, I'm a relatively new owner with little building

experience and airplane knowledge. Bop P. suggested I review archives on the
subject, which I did, but I still have a couple of questions.

First, what is preference, strobes or lights and why. Bob mentioned you can

buy build your strobe kits for $39 U.S., does anyone have a supplier name
and number or part number.

Once again any suggestions or comments are muvh appreciated.

Thanks, Aurele
Rebel 063
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>

<META content=text/html;charset=iso-8859-1 http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META content='"MSHTML 4.72.2106.6"' name=GENERATOR>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Please bear with me, I'm a relatively new owner with

little

building experience and airplane knowledge. Bop P. suggested I review

archives

on the subject, which I did, but I still have a couple of
questions.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>First, what is preference, strobes or lights and why. Bob
mentioned you can buy build your strobe kits for $39 U.S., does anyone

have a

supplier name and number or part number.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Once again any suggestions or comments are muvh
appreciated.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Thanks, Aurele</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Rebel 063</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

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Doug Martin
greyghost@powernet.net
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Hi Francine

Murphy buys the landing light kit from Trevor. Same price no matter
where you buy it.

When I was younger, one landing light was sufficient. I put them in both
wings though, partly so I can alternately flash them and partly cause
night seems to get darker (or something...) as I age.

That was someone else who was mixing the Whelens and Aeroflash. As I
understand it the brightness is mostly a function of the power supply
energy. The coiled Whelen xenon tube should be able to absorb more
energy or alternately last longer for a given flash energy. Everyone
seems to agree that the Whelen system is brighter than the Aeroflash
system but I've yet to fing out how much brighter or if it really
matters. Even a cheap homemade unit seems pretty bright to me at night.
The Whelen's are probably better in daylight.

Ken

Francine Desharnais wrote:

Hi all,
- Has anyone invested in a Murphy landing light kit? How does it compare
with the kit from Trevor Yaworski?
- Is the wing rib spacing for the Elite the same as the Rebel? (Elite
wing is 4" longer).
- Are people typically happy with only 1 landing light, or is 1
light/wing a significant advantage?
- Ken Lehman: you mentioned earlier that you're using (or planning to
use?) Whelen wing tip lights with Aeroflash power supplies. Any update
on how that set up is working out for you?
- Mike: the check is in the mail!

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Hi all,
- Has anyone invested in a Murphy landing light kit? How does it compare
with the kit from Trevor Yaworski?
- Is the wing rib spacing for the Elite the same as the Rebel? (Elite
wing is 4" longer).
- Are people typically happy with only 1 landing light, or is 1
light/wing a significant advantage?
- Ken Lehman: you mentioned earlier that you're using (or planning to
use?) Whelen wing tip lights with Aeroflash power supplies. Any update
on how that set up is working out for you?
- Mike: the check is in the mail!

Thanks,
Francine
Elite 583



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Francine,

The Murphy landing light kit <IS> made by Trevor ! They are
reselling his, at the same price, as a service to builders.

Trevor's kit has 2 bulbs, and this is enough for most folks.
Should install easily in the Elite wing - outer bay, or 2nd one.

If you have a light on each wing, you can use a flasher to
alternate the landing lights - this will GREATLY increase your
visibility to other aircraft, and prolong bulb life, too. It <IS>
a bunch more work, though, for the Elite. On the Rebels, builders
are mounting the halogen lights in the wing tips, for ease of
installation & maintenance - you can't do that on the Elite tips,
because of their shape.

Not sure, but suspect the wings are the same spacing - the
extra 4" likely comes from different root fittings or tips, unless
there is a splice in the skins !! (Aluminum sheets are 12 feet long ...)

The Aeroflash strobes now have a nice streamlined clear cover
that looks more aerodynamic than the Whelen - and cheaper, too !

.....bobp

---------------------------orig.-------------------------------------------
At 09:35 PM 11/27/00 -0400, you wrote:

Hi all,
- Has anyone invested in a Murphy landing light kit? How does it compare
with the kit from Trevor Yaworski?
- Is the wing rib spacing for the Elite the same as the Rebel? (Elite
wing is 4" longer).
- Are people typically happy with only 1 landing light, or is 1
light/wing a significant advantage?
- Ken Lehman: you mentioned earlier that you're using (or planning to
use?) Whelen wing tip lights with Aeroflash power supplies. Any update
on how that set up is working out for you?
- Mike: the check is in the mail!

Thanks,
Francine
Elite 583



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Hi Ken !

Just an aside - you might find a nutritional supplement of
Bilberry and Lutein will improve your night vision, and prevent
macular deterioration .....

Bilberry was a supplement given to night fighter pilots
during WW II ....

.....bobp

-----------------------------orig.-------------------------------------
At 09:23 PM 11/27/00 -0500, you wrote:

Hi Francine

Murphy buys the landing light kit from Trevor. Same price no matter
where you buy it.

When I was younger, one landing light was sufficient. I put them in both
wings though, partly so I can alternately flash them and partly cause
night seems to get darker (or something...) as I age.

That was someone else who was mixing the Whelens and Aeroflash. As I
understand it the brightness is mostly a function of the power supply
energy. The coiled Whelen xenon tube should be able to absorb more
energy or alternately last longer for a given flash energy. Everyone
seems to agree that the Whelen system is brighter than the Aeroflash
system but I've yet to fing out how much brighter or if it really
matters. Even a cheap homemade unit seems pretty bright to me at night.
The Whelen's are probably better in daylight.

Ken

Francine Desharnais wrote:

Hi all,
- Has anyone invested in a Murphy landing light kit? How does it compare
with the kit from Trevor Yaworski?
- Is the wing rib spacing for the Elite the same as the Rebel? (Elite
wing is 4" longer).
- Are people typically happy with only 1 landing light, or is 1
light/wing a significant advantage?
- Ken Lehman: you mentioned earlier that you're using (or planning to
use?) Whelen wing tip lights with Aeroflash power supplies. Any update
on how that set up is working out for you?
- Mike: the check is in the mail!

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We are building an Elite and purchased two sets of landing lights from
Murphy. The quality is fine and the instructions are adequate. We will
use Aeroflash nav/position/strobes and elected to mount the strobe power
unit behind the landing lights (in the second bay from tip) for future
access. If 4 small notches are cut in one of the fixed light frames the
power supplies can be slipped through. The power supply is bolted to a
bracket which is riveted to the front of the main spar. Removing both
lamps gives access to the power supply for both hands. We will need to
extend the strobe HV leads some but that is easy. Two sets of lights also
gives an alternate when a lamp burns out on approach. Each of the 4 lamps
will be switched separately to manage electrical load. Other reasons for
mounting the power supply as stated is to avoid running HV past the fuel
tanks and not having to remove the wing tips for maintenance. (We also
added an extra inspection hole in the bottom wing skin for aileron tip
hinge access). As a final note, refer to the cable charts in the FAA
maintenance and repair manual for wire sizes. The 100 watt lamps draw 8.5
amps and from the table will require #10 wire for 1/2 volt drop in the
Elite. Similar uprating applies to the other circuits.
Ralph Baker / Sue Scouten
P.S.- Don't forget to use a drill configured for plastic on the landing
light lens.

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