Landing lights

Kevin_Conklin · January 17, 2026, 1:47am

I am looking at a Duckworks landing light for may Waiex. I know many people have used them. Looking for recommendations - just one on the right wing? One on both wings?

Thanks.

Bryan_Cotton · January 17, 2026, 1:59am

I don’t have Duckworks but I like one on each wing. I run them in wig-wag mode a lot.

Kevin_Conklin · January 17, 2026, 2:03am

I have the wiring in the right wing, I’ll add the wiring in the left wing before I button it up so I have that option should I decide to go that route.

Bryan_Cotton · January 17, 2026, 3:08am

sonex1517 · January 17, 2026, 3:16am

I installed Duck Works in both wings. Recently, I splurged and bought one FlyLED “Seven Stars” for extra oomph. It is nearly blinding.

Like Bryan, I use Wig Wag mode - almost exclusively. The birds here are a constant hazard and supposedly react to wig wags.

For the Speedster we are wiring both wings for lights but have not decided what to do yet.

daleandee · January 17, 2026, 5:32am

I installed the Duckworth lights, one in each wing but had difficulty getting them to wig-wag. So I bought some LED lamps from Amazon and installed them. They were awesome:

Wig Wag LED Landing Lights - YouTube

But in the spirit of Mr. Cotton and weight savings I removed those a couple of years ago and installed the ones linked below. They appear to be nearly as bright but have less power draw and save quite a bit of weight. I used the Duckworth brackets to mount them and even trimmed some weight off of the brackets:

Lightronic 3.5" Round Flush-Mount Off-Road LED Pods Light, 6000K Cool-White, Long-Range Spot Beam, Reverse & Backup Light for Jeep, Truck, UTV, ATV, IP68 Waterproof, 12V/24V, 2-Pack - Amazon.com

Dunno if this helps …

Dale
3.0 Corvair/Taildragger

Kevin_Conklin · January 17, 2026, 2:52pm

So you find those 1800 lumen LEDs you linked to on Amazon to be bright enough?

Based on your video, it looks like you used the rectangular light kit (might have been the only one that Duckworks offered at the time). I see that Duckworks currently has two Sonex mounting kits available - the rectangular kit and the round kit. It seems that it doesn’t really matter which one to use since the 3rd party LED wouldn’t use the PAR 36 form factor reflector anyway.

And those new LEDs you reference look like they will flush mount to the Duckworks reflector/panel.

Regarding the wig-wag module, I found one from FlyLED that looks great, which one are you using?

Kevin_Conklin · January 17, 2026, 2:58pm

Those lights - - 9000 lumens ! Wow! They are pretty pricey though, and after spending what I did for the TSO’d tip lights I am attempting to constrain costs. I could always upgrade to them later.

Bryan_Cotton · January 17, 2026, 3:32pm

Check out what I did in this archived thread:

There are a bunch of awesome LED lights on Amazon but they tend to have heavy extruded heat sinks. But we are sheet metal mechanics and can overcome that. Pick your lumens, amps, and go for it.

Kevin_Conklin · January 17, 2026, 3:52pm

Thanks for the info!

ampzapper · January 17, 2026, 4:06pm

I put in wig wag lights in mine as it seems worth it for visibility. Used Duckworth rectangle kits with FlyLEDs double spot lights, their mounting plates, one diffuser plate for taxi, and wig wag module. I haven’t flown yet but so far am satisfied with the install.

For the FlyLED parts I ordered from Flyleds LED Lighting Kits – Flyboy Accessories since it looks like FlyLEDs is charging tariffs.

daleandee · January 17, 2026, 5:04pm

Kevin_Conklin:

So you find those 1800 lumen LEDs you linked to on Amazon to be bright enough?

They appear to be nearly as bright as the older ones. The specs say the first ones I used were 2600 & the later ones are 1800 lumens. But the power required was greatly reduced as the older ones were 2.85A as contrasted with the new ones at 1.0A. Weight was reduced as the new ones are less than 1 lbs. each.

I had the older Duckworth HID lamps that had the bulb and ballast unit that had to be mounted in each wing.

Based on your video, it looks like you used the rectangular light kit (might have been the only one that Duckworks offered at the time).

I believe you are correct. If you look at the linked video you can see those brackets, which would be quite easy to make from a bit of scrap as they are only two pieces that fit between the ribs.

And those new LEDs you reference look like they will flush mount to the Duckworks reflector/panel.

Yes they do. I only needed a couple of bolts to attach them to the brackets.

Regarding the wig-wag module, I found one from FlyLED that looks great, which one are you using?

There is a photo of it in the video. Here’s a screen shot:

image1313×576 79.5 KB

As a Sport Pilot I don’t fly at night so these are used for day VFR in wig-wag mode for visibility and safety. With the old ones I had a pilot tell me they were so bright that they were “distracting.” I said, “that good!”

Hope this helps …

Dale
3.0 Corvair/Taildragger

Bryan_Cotton · January 17, 2026, 5:08pm

I’ve got one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/ABLE-Sho-Me-Pattern-Strobe-Flasher/dp/B007VS0EDM

Kevin_Conklin · January 17, 2026, 5:11pm

So you did the double spots on both wings? They state they are 2A/per spotlight, so that’s 8A total if one set in each wing?

Kevin_Conklin · January 17, 2026, 5:35pm

Lots of great information and ideas. Thank you all. I think I will go this route (unless someone jumps in and tells me I am out of my mind):

Duckworks install kit (rectangular)
LED light (from Amazon - I like the one referenced by Dale)
FlyLEDs Wig Wag Module

This seems to be the most cost efficient for now, while still giving me the option to upgrade the light units themselves in the future.

ampzapper · January 17, 2026, 5:50pm

Doubles in both wings. They’re 2A per double assembly, so 4A total for having them in both wings.

daleandee · January 18, 2026, 1:35am

FWIW … here’s a couple of pics I found of the installation of the smaller lights in the Duckworth brackets:

Dale
3.0 Corvair/Taildragger

Kevin_Conklin · January 18, 2026, 3:24am

Out of curiosity, for those doubles from FlyLED, did you run 18/4 wire cabling to them (2 conductors each) or did you wire them together and run 18/2 (or a different gauge wire)?

ampzapper · January 18, 2026, 3:54am

The board for the doubles only require one set of power connections. There are two terminals each for +12V and GND but the second one is so you can daisy chain a second light. Based on the Van’s forum and the FlyLEDs page noise is not an issue with these so there’s only one 18 ga wire for power that runs the wing through the ribs and the ground is done locally on the outboard rib.

Kevin_Conklin · January 18, 2026, 4:09am

With that setup, you don’t have the ability to turn on the taxi (diffuser covered lens) light only - correct? Both on or both off? No matter what I end up using, I plan on running all grounds back to the grounding block, not for noise but to avoid pesky grounding issues.