On a moonless night coming back to Florida we landed in Georgia for a fuel stop at a rather dark airport just south of Atlanta.  As we touched the wheels I saw a deer out of the corner of my eye about 30 feet off of the left wingtip.  I came to the conclusion that if we had better landing lights we would have had a better chance of seeing the deer well before we had committed to land.  Also reflecting back to a memory when one of the line guys took me to see what the 11′ alligator did to the Piper Navajo that hit it back at Orlando Executive I figured it was time to do something.  Our stock Van provided halogen lights needed replacement. 

The first remedy was to install a Flyleds single spot in each wingtip.  They were a drop in replacement for the factory Van setup.  After a little riveting and some heat sink past, they were ready to install.  At $50 a piece they represent a great value for the effort and cost to install vs the additional light they provided.  I also added the Flyled Wig/Wag board when I installed the single spots.  They were an improvement over the stock light but still left a bit to be desired. 

After making the commitment to install something that would cost a bit more money and time I looked at the available options.  I did not like the idea of cutting the leading edge of the wing to install a Duckworks  style light so the Flyleds Works kit ended up being the best viable option of the available solutions.  I ordered the kit during Oshkosh and scored some free shipping!  Woohoo!

First light iteration:

Aeroled Pulsar NS (nav/strobe) in the wingtips, AeroLED Suntail, and factory Van halogen wingtip landing lights

Second iteration:

Aeroled Pulsar NS (nav/strobe) in the wingtips, AeroLED Suntail, and Flyleds Single Spotlight wingtip landing lights

Third iteration:

Flyleds “The Works” Kit (nav/strobe/landing lights in the wingtips and Flyleds “Tail Light-kit” in the tail.

Without question I can say the lights are 3 times brighter (there are now (3) lights in each wingtip vs the previous single spot.

Aeroled Pulsar and Flyled single spot from iteration #2 prior to upgrade to “The Works”.

Archer wingtip antenna.

Template for The Works kit on left, trimmed wingtip on right with area marked that needs an ear to be added for 4th nut plate.  This material was trimmed for the original install.

Glassed in tabs to accommodate the 4th nut plate for each landing light board.

This is showing the un trimmed landing light board on the wingtip.  Lots of material gets belt sanded away.

This is the Hammond 1591XXSSFL box trimmed to fit the board.  I mounted the board inside with some nylon bolts after tapping the molded standoffs to accept them.

I test fit the cover then trim the boards over and over to make sure the circuit boards did not rub the cover.  Trim, them trim some more.

I did not like the strain relief for the lower plug so I added a zip tie base to the wingtip and zip tied the wires onto it.