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From our west coast contributor
Well... its a nice addition but not as good as you think... what we have seen 'em do is use LED's... the super white bright along with a few yellow ones... which then shine on the wing leading edge... where they have a flat black painted swatch to see if it turns white... makes it light up pretty good... low current and you can put one on each side if you use the same plate which has the gear mirror extending forward from the wing... but for ice detection... some have just installed a LED right into the wing leading edge... red on one side.. green on the other... (although we have seen 'em use bright white and/or blue leds also) and when it gets cold enough to ice.. the LED either goes out... or gets iced over... and can't be seen anymore... neat little addition... and they use the little 1/8 inch ones... so its not like your going to be drilling a big hole... most are mounted inside a rubber grommets or a LED holder that snaps into the little hole you made...
Of course a 337 form properly filled out and certified is necessary for the above.
another thing they have done is replaced the lights under the wings or door.. with LED's also... seems that they don't use much power and can provided a lot of light... If your plane doesn't have any lights under the wings... you can put the LED's into one of the inspection covers... and use it that way... works pretty good... and not much current drain... using 24 volts... and a dropping resistor... or with enough LED's ... direct.. Just remember to turn 'em off when flying.. or you will be tagged as a UFO... and could be shot down.. grin
These are available as an STC'd item.
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