Landing Gear Indicator lights dimmer (rheostat)

ronaldjhansen

ronaldjhansen

New member
I discovered something on my 14-19 maybe eveyone else takes for granted... The dimmer switch that appears to not do anything when the gear is dow, dims and turns off the anoyingly bright gear up indicator lights. How did I discover this you ask... Night take off and when the gear went up the red lights flashed then went dark... IFR departure, picking up clearence no time to worry about silly lights, maybe blew a fuse... o.k. got my cleaence, leveled off and tried to figure out what happened... turned the rheostat and pow right back on!! with three levels of dimming or off... nice feature, never read about it or heard mention of it... no more red lights glaring at me for hours at night, I am happy!!! Ok lets see what happens when we come in for a landing.. turn the rheostat so the red lights come back on at the lowest level... gear down... green lights... try dimming or turning the green lights and yes the rehostat appears not to function... just like I had determened on prior attempts to adjust while on the ground. Oh but I was wrong, this is (as Bill Gates would say) a feature!!! Why would you dim or turn off your green lights, you always want to see them. Happy landing and tuck N6561N away for the night, ready to enjoy a four day weekend of flying!
 
And of course tonight it is back to doing nothing... Any one know what fails on these? The rheostat on the panel lights still has three levels of dim and off.
 
If it's an original 1950's part, it's most likely a variable resistor with a mechanical wiper. They get dirty or worn and although it *might* be cleanable, it's best to just replace it.
 
Ron, this may sound redundent but check page 16 of the Bellanca Cruisemaster POH (14-19). I obtained a copy from the club and Pg 16 shows just the landing gear wiring diagram. Item 8 shows your rheostat running through all the gear switches to the red and green lights. Page 40 shows the whole nine yards. These crates have been around a long time and people have changed things. When I first got mine it was a true mess. I rewired half of the plane. Press on-- Lynn the crate :)
 
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