Landing / Taxi Light brightness issues and improvements for the DA-42

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XeVision
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Landing / Taxi Light brightness issues and improvements for the DA-42

Post by XeVision »

This is Dan Blumel from XeVision, we manufacturer the HID landing and taxi lighting systems DA42/62 and 50RG for Diamond Austria and Canada in Ogden, Utah.

We have an upgrade of a higher power ballast 50 watts instead of the stock 35 watt chosen by Diamond. We have offered it to them in the past, but for whatever reason they have stuck with the 35W. The 50 watt systems produce 65% more lumens output and is a simple ballast swap for these aircraft. The ballast controls bulb wattage, not the bulb like with incandescent or halogen technology. Only a minor modification is required to make this change.
There is an existing 337 for this change, a downloadable pdf here : https://www.xevision.com/hid_337.html scroll to find the DA42 and click the link for the sample downloadable pdf 337.

Another note, HID bulb output does degrade over time, so it could be on some well used aircraft the bulbs themselves are down to 60% output or even less and should be replaced to regain the original full 100% output.
A side note, many DA40s have been converted from Halogen to 50 watt HID in the past, we have an STC for that. Many members here would be familiar with that conversion. We have done close to 100 of them.
We do have an Ultra High Powered LED on the market now, but it's a round form factor Par-36 (4.5 inches diameter) it is our intention to develop a rectangular LED shape for Diamond as well for a replacement. The problem with the majority of LED's currently on the market, they all dim dramatically to 1/2 output or less after 5-10 minutes of use. This is not the case with our technology because we utilize active cooling.
I can provide certified optical test Lab based graphs to demonstrate this. These photos can be found on the similar DA-62 thread here.
Thanks, Dan
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Re: Landing / Taxi Light brightness issues and improvements for the DA-42

Post by TwinStarScott »

Hi Dan,

Just yesterday I went down this possible upgrade path again with my A&P/IA and his FSDO rep. referred him to the FAA Online Job Aid. Searching on “HID Lighting” within this document all references to HID lighting changes of any kind appear to require an STC, with no wiggle room whatsoever. This is disappointing news as it’s very clear the Seattle FSDO is no longer signing off on any field approvals (337’s). The 337 that is referenced for the DA42 in the link you provided above was done back in 2008 in Minnesota. When my A&P / IA mentioned this to the FSDO rep., his response was “a lot has changed since 2008” or something along those lines. As a side note, the last time my A&P was able to get a 337 approved by this same FSDO dates all the way back to the 2003 timeframe.

Is there any other U.S. based DA42 TDI owners who have received a 337 field approval for this safety improvement? And ideally if the work has been performed in any of the Western States. . .
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Re: Landing / Taxi Light brightness issues and improvements for the DA-42

Post by XeVision »

It's the same parts currently used by the factory, if upgrading an older DA42 (about 2008 or older) production.

We have an STC for the DA40. All DA 42's and now 62's and 50RG's ever built use 2 of our HID products.
The older aircraft used an older style ballast provided by us. The newer ones all use a newer style ballast also from us. The lamp assembly has never changed, the same bulb and reflector assembly from us has been used the entire time from the very beginning.
Hope this helps.
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