Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Need a wing tip nav light assy including red lens

I need a wing tip nav light assy having a hell of a time trying to fix an inop light. I also dropped the lens (red) and broke it. I will be swapping assy from other side tommrow to make sure it not wiring. I have done all the groundwire stuff its reading 12 volts and ground is ohming good. New bulb no fix. I really hate the light assy on these airplane wish I could replace with Leds but I way too cheap for that.

No need to mess with the other light, if it works leave it alone. Then you won't drop another lens!
Actually, that will tell you that everything in the panel (the switch, fuse/power) is OK
Check the "bad" side with a volt/ohm meter. You can see if you are getting power to the socket. Bypass the ground to see if the ground wire is bad.
The only things that could be wrong are:
1)open "hot" wire 12V+
2) open ground wire, attaches to end rib under wingtip fairing
3) corroded socket
4) burned out bulb
Sometimes it's as simple as a crimped terminal lug breaking off a wire

At annual this year while the wing tips were off for ACF50 application I took the opportunity to replace all the seized screws in the nav lights so that should the need arise I COULD change a bulb if needed. When I finally got them out of the wingtip I found that BOTH sides had the soldered ground wire hanging on by just one strand of wire. Easy fix with the unit out.

PSA Enterprises [psaenterprises.com] has the clear plastic lenses for cheap and the colored LED bulbs to accompany them....IF you can get 'em past your AME, up yonder in CN.

Time to upgrade?

I did everything you said. I am getting 12 volts at the light assy and tried a new bulb no help. I even replaced the hardware holding the ground wire to its grounding point. I am taking with me to the plane a double ended ohm meter lead so I can bypass the ground wire like you suggest. Will let you all know what I find. I worked on avionics on C-141s for 20 years and have never been so flustrated by a problem on a plane.

If you get 12V at the socket, everything is good except....the socket, or bulb. Make sure the "new" bulb is actually good, they have been known to be bad from stock....and make sure it is 12V and not 24V. They look the same.
Make sure the contact for the bulb is actually "contacting" the bulb. Only 3 faults on a DC circuit...open, short, high resistance.

As those bayonets are handed - you can't try the bulb the other way up in the socket.

Maybe you have one of those damnable filaments that tests good on the meter because of the orientation you held so the filament made a circuit - but when installed in a different orientation - the filament hung away from its support and didn't make a circuit.

Shake the bulb while you have it on the meter.

Had a fuse like that once too.......

still need a wing tip nav lite? I gotta bunch of em. What's it worth to you? Red or green?