Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers
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Pulsar NSP Breaker size
I recently added AeroLED Pulsar NSP wingtip lights. These have the Nav / Strobe / and Postion lights all in 1.
My strobes work great, but the NAV lights pop the breaker in several minuites of use. I can imediatly reset the braker and get several more minutes of use before it pops again.
The directions say to budget 5 Amps per strobe and .5 amps per NAV. Since I have 2 wingtip lights, I read that as 10 Amps for Strobe and 1 Amp for NAV.
I installed the lights with 18ga Wire (Calls for 20-22 but I already had 18 ran) and a 10 amp tyco breaker/switch for Strobe and a 1 amp tyco Braker/switch for NAV. All lights have a ground wire run back to the main ground inside the fuselage.
All wires and connectors look fine, nothing is warm. When I calculated the brakers, should I have added 20% like you would with home wiring? What are others using with the AeroLED Pulsar NSP lights?
Thanks for your input
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mark Schoening on
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You can "fuse" the wire size, instead of the appliance. That is what you are trying to protect, the wiring.
So fuse for 18 ga wire. Believe I used 4 amp fuse (ATC) and had no problems.
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Permalink Reply by Brad Payne on
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Thanks Mark. That makes sense.
You're educating me on the wire vs appliance made me think I should have looked it up in the Bingels books. He echo's your comments and has a chart on pg 296 in the Yellow book covering wire gauge vs braker size. 18ga = 10 amp braker. That should be way more then needed, so I ordered a new 5 amp.
Thanks again!
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Permalink Reply by Jim and Amelia Isaacs on
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I have the strobes only and use a 10 amp breaker, no issues after a year plus of use. I understand fusing for wire size but am curious as to how going to a smaller amp breaker will solve the problem. Won’t the smaller breaker just trip sooner if you have a fault somewhere? Appreciate a follow up post after a few flights.
Thanks and Merry Christmas
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Hi Jim,
I am going to a larger breaker, not smaller. I have a 10 Amp on my strobes which is fine and I wont be changing that. I currently have a 1 Amp on my NAV and that is the one poping. While the lights are all in 1 housing, the NAVs and Strobes each have their own power leads, switches, and breakers.
I will be swapping out the 1 amp for a 5 amp on the NAVs. I could go up to 10 amp based on the wire size I used, however the NAV lights claim they only take .5 amp each, so going to 10 Amp breaker sounds like overkill to me.
I'll report back once I get in a flight with the new breaker. Merry Christmas!
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Sorry I’m awake now!
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No problem Jim. I've been there! I threw out a lot of numbers and details that perhaps made it more confusing then giving the complete picture.
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I worked on a few things yesterday and despite the bad weather, I taxied around the airport for 15 min with the strobes and NAV lights on without issue after changing the breaker out.
Ready for night flight. Thanks for the help!
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