Soon, I’ll be installing the overhead fresh air plenum. I’ll need the have the lights fitted before I get to that point. I looked at Oshkosh for some good LED map/courtesy/flood lights. I found a bunch but as is the case with many things aviation, just because it goes in an airplane, you can usually add a zero to the price. What should cost $12 ends up costing $120.

$110 lights
$130 lights
$145 lights

See what I mean? But just like the door linkage…  Something I know about.

Here’s what I did. I found a light for boats. A Perko 12v light.

I bought 4 of these at a marine supply store. Now this fixture has a 12volt incandescent light inside (I’m going to have a 28v electrical system). But that didn’t matter because I just wanted it for the plastic.

I removed the bulb, mounting hardware and wires.

I purchased a dozen high intensity white and red LEDs at (of all places) superbrightleds.com.

Now I was venturing into uncharted territory. To have circuit boards manufactured would have cost me about $100. I discovered a way to make them myself. I created the layout using a free PCB (Printed Circuit Board) design program I found on the internet.

Now here’s a neat trick: If you print the layout on slick, shiny paper, it transfers to the circuit board better. Finally a use for all those clothing catalogs my wife gets in the mail.

I picked up a blank copper clad circuit board and Radio Shack.

Then I put the paper on the circuit board and using a regular clothes iron, transferred the ink to the card. The paper comes off by soaking the whole thing in water for a couple minutes and then it goes into an etching solution (purchased at Radio Shack) for 20 minutes.

I cut out the individual, circular PCB and epoxied it to the back of the light fixture. Then I drilled the holes for the LEDs, resistors and leads and started soldering.

This first one was a “proof of concept” prototype. I just wanted to make sure the design worked. So I pretty much slapped it together and installed some test points instead of wires.

I SAID it was a prototype. It’s not SUPPOSED to look pretty.

Red

White

WooHoo!

One thing I didn’t like was when I soldered the components in the solder would run all the was along the trace. On real PCBs there’s a “solder mask” that contains the solder. Then I discovered that you can create a poor-mans solder mask using glass paint from the hobby store. This is paint that you can use on glass to create a stained glass effect. After painting it on, you bake it in the oven to cure it. After that, you got a solder mask.

Here’s a “production” model.

Total cost for the for lights: About $50.