Night Ops on a Twinstar.
Photo courtesy of Garrison Aerodrome: www.rc-aero.com
NIGHT OPS installs on any airplane in just a few minutes, and can be transferred from airplane to airplane just as quickly. The system consists of 6 lamps and a power supply. The power supply can be placed inside the fuselage or taped to the outside if you don't have room. (I cut cavities in the fuselage of my foamies). Just remember to put the power supply and battery near the CG. Four of the lamps are flat (I mean REALLY FLAT). The flat lamps weigh 3.13 grams each and are .009" thick, .375" wide and 30" long. The flat lamps are attached to the wings with scotch tape. I've been putting 2 flat lamps on the top and 2 on the bottom of the wing. The other two lamps (wire lights) are round wires 3/32" in diameter by 12" long, and weigh 2.35 grams each. One wire light is taped on the perimeter of the fin and rudder (don't worry, they're very flexible) and the other wire light is taped around the nose (don't worry the "wire lights" seem to be indestructible). The power supply is .83 x .68 x 1.0 inches and tips the scales at 30.2 grams. The system runs for 8-10 hours on a 9 volt battery (the system draws about 85 mA). The lamps generate no heat or RF and are good for about 5000 hours of use. That's it, plug in the battery, turn it on and launch on your first NIGHT OPS.
This system is very, VERY bright. Much, Much, Much brighter than cyalumes. At the Banos Bash this last sunday, the airplane illuminated the slope as it flew over. You could distinctly see the hill being illuminated with the airplane at an altitude of 40 feet. "NIGHT OPS" is that bright. The airplane lit the slope well enough to shoot low approaches and touch and goes. The brightness for the lamps is listed as 19 FL or 65CD/m^2. I wouldn't know a foot lumen or a candela per meter squared if it walked up and asked to borrow a photon or two. The best way to describe how bright NIGHT OPS lights are is this: In my darkened room, with the airplane resting on the ceiling fan I can read a newspaper by the light of my "NIGHT OPS" airplane lamps. (I recommend turning the ceiling fan off prior to this experiment.) I guarantee that brightness will not be a problem. If you FLY for 5000 hours and your lamps burn out, you've got too much spare time and I am jealous, but I'll replace them free of charge.
The Night Ops system is $65.00+$3.00 shipping in the U.S.