GE 327 LED Replacements - PIREPs Wanted
Searching for LED replacements of the GE 327 bulb is only getting hits from vendor sites and nothing by owner perspectives that I am able to discover.
Anybody convert their GE 327 panel lights to LED? If so, are any manufacturer's better at handling dimming than others?
Personal goal is to lower electric load where longer bulb life is a bonus. Economically, a filament bulb still wins from a cost perspective, but that is not the point.
Comments
I think I have replaced the same bulb as you are asking about just GE52 is the 12 volt number.
I am a big guy, keep putting my knee through the brittle plastic on the lower lip of the panel when adjusting my seat. Total removal of the plastic is likely this summer as part of the 50 year rebuild, whether intentional or not it is likely to be broken off. Here is a photo of my EGT gauge with a red NON dimmable LED. We fly like this, it is not excessively annoying or even noticeable inflight. I am thinking about some black watercolor pain to lessen the brightness. It has not been that bad so we have done nothing and it provides a little light in the footwell.
I got my bulbs from SuperBright LED’s
The white light below the Circuit breakers is from the hangar lights.
1973 Arrow II factory AC removed
G5’S, G275, GNX375 Still can get lost.
Update.
Installed this in the landing gear indicators:
https://www.aero-lites.com/product-page/28V-MF-Indicator
Only one I was able to find in green.
Not sure I like it. While compatible with dimming, that is an arguable feature. Day mode is incredibly bright and Night mode is still brighter than the filament bulb on its Day mode.
Bought enough to replace all the green annunciator lights, but am rethinking this idea as the output is too intense for my comfort. Will keep them in the gear lights as they are somewhat obscured by the yolk.
These specific bulbs were explicitly designed for indicator and annunciator applications. I might try the other design which spreads the light more to observe whether this effectively tames the intensity enough for my taste.
swapped out all my post lights with the Aero Lites, Work fine with cessna dimmer system, no noise interference. Am old school on post lighting LOL. You know, depending on color of your panel, differences will vary. My Alon was tan, and i did light grey on my cessna.. Black or darker colors will give you different results most likely. I found lighter colors better as i aged. Try some experimenting.
48 yrs A/P IA DAL aircraft inspector. 172N
Update.
Just installed the 'post' style LED (https://www.aero-lites.com/product-page/327MF) in the annunciator locations. Light output with the panel switch in 'Day' setting is comparable to filament bulbs, so good news there. With that, the 'annunciator / indicator' LED bulbs were yanked.
In 'Night' setting, the 'post' style LED is a bit brighter than the filament bulb and will get some night flights just to make sure I am still good with the effect. As the filament bulbs barely produce light in night mode when pressing the 'Test' button, having a slightly brighter LED bulb seems like it is more desirable than the current behavior.
Next nut to crack is the dimmable locations. Noted that the Aero Lites do a good job with dimming, but that is not my focus in this application. Concern lies in that the plane uses a transformer to actually do the dimming (one each for the panel, gauges, and switches), and the question is whether the transformer will like the reduction in load.
I have replaced the GE53 bulbs in the front panel with LED lights as well as the overhead flood light. I used bulbs from Superbright LED and they worked with the Piper dimmer.