SteFly Canopy Flasher Green

From a legal point of view, nothing changes. In Europe, EASA Standard Change CS-SC036b (INSTALLATION OF VISUAL AWARENESS LIGHTS) continues to regulate the installation of canopy flashers, without restricting the LED color.

Also in competitions that are based on the COMPETITION RULES FOR GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIPS from the German Gliding Federation DAeC, it is only written that the canopy flasher must be clearly visible from the front in daylight flying conditions. And due to the brightness of green LED light this is the case!

Highlights of Function and Design

• 6 green LEDs of latests generation with a peak wavelength in the range of maximum perceptibility for the human eye. Thanks to the aluminum heat sink, these can be operated at very high currents for maximum brightness.
• The light beam formed by the lenses warns oncoming aircraft, especially from the front
• At the same time, the high-performance LEDs produce enough light to widen the angle of reflected beam, so that aircraft appearing diagonally in front of your own glider are also warned
• Stray light is not absorbed by the housing, but is instead reflected by the high-quality Reflective foil, as used on road signs. Therefore all the light coming out of the LEDs contributes to warn other pilots.

Green, Red, Green

The IGC's decision meant we had to develop a red canopy flasher. Due to the significantly higher waste heat output, we had to increase the size of the heat sink compared to the first generation of green canopy flashers and adapt the electronics to the higher power to achieve a comparable brightness.

Now we can use the housing optimized for the red canopy flasher and the revised electronics for the new green canopy flasher as well. Compared to our red canopy flasher, the light output increases by approx. 50%.

Relative brightness sensitivity curves describe how the human eye perceives brightness as a function of the light colour (red curve: perception during daylight; blue curve: perception in dimmed conditions)

Design Aspects

By arranging the individual LEDs at the smallest possible distance from the canopy glass and having the housing follow this curved contour, maximum space is left under the housing, e.g. for the ventilation flap. The flasher can be mounted far forward on the canopy. Together with the small dimensions, this allows the pilot to maintain a full view to the front. The canopy ventilation is also obstructed as little as possible.

There are again several housing shapes to choose from so that we can always offer the best solution for the individual canopy curvatures and space requirements of different aircraft types.

Aluminum Housing for Thermal Management

Red LEDs produce a lower luminous flux compared to green LEDs with the same energy input. The energy that is not converted into light must be dissipated into the environment as waste heat. This requires an efficient waste heat concept and, in particular, a heat sink with a large surface area made of a material with high thermal conductivity. All plastics have a very low thermal conductivity of 0.23 W/(m*K) for nylon, for example. Aluminum, on the other hand, has a thermal conductivity of 220 W/(m*K) - that is 950 times better! A heat sink made of plastic is nearly useless and can only be used as a design element. Thanks to its greater thermal mass, an aluminum heat sink absorbs the heat emitted by the LEDs with every flash and continuously transfers it to the cooler outer surface of the heat sink. From there, it is absorbed by the ambient air.

In a nutshell:

• We rely on a milled aluminum heat sink for optimum cooling of the LEDs
• Perfect heat transfer for long LED life and high light output even in summer temperatures and with high solar radiation, because a cooler LED has a higher degree of efficiency
• Thanks to the heat sink, the 6 high-performance LEDs can be operated with a current and brightness that would be far from possible with a plastic heat sink
• The housing of the flasher is black anodized and provides the SteFly logo .

The housing also convinces with many other details:

• The front part of the housing is manufactured in a 3D laser-sintering process made from high-performance polyamide .
• To visually check whether and exactly when flashes of light are emitted, an optical light guide was integrated into the heat sink
• Double-sided 3M VHB acrylic tape reliably connects canopy flasher and acrylic glass

Control Box: The smart connection to FLARM

What is good for visual awareness also has a disadvantage: the more powerful the LEDs, the more care must be taken to ensure that no one (especially children) looks directly into the flash light from a short distance. We have therefore decided to only offer our LED flasher for gliders in combination with a control box. It evaluates FLARM signals and enables the LEDs to begin flashing automatically as soon as the aircraft is in the air. After landing, the canopy flasher switches off automatically. This only requires that the ACL switch on the instrument panel is set to "On". We deliberately did not use a control LED, which is usually attached to the back of the canopy flasher, to avoid reflections in the canopy. However, when the ACL switch on the instrument panel is flipped, the SteFly Canopy Flasher signals that it is working properly by two short, reduced-brightness flashes.

Quick and Easy Installation - Even During the Gliding Season

Canopy Contact for Side-Opening Canopies

Connecting Canopy Flasher and Control Box by cable is complicated for sideways opening canopies, because clamping the cable during closing needs to be avoided. Sideways opening canopies are common for gliders manufactured by Schempp-Hirth. That's why we offer a special canopy contact. A module with three spring contacts is attached to the canopy near the frame using double-sided 3M VHB adhesive tape. The counterpart is screwed onto the instrument cover. When the canopy is closed, electrical connection is implemented between control box and canopy flasher. 

If cable ties are applied during the canopy flasher installation, there must be provided a cable loop (at least 10 cm) in the area of the predetermined breaking point connector. The reason is that in the event of an emergency jettison, the canopy is now able to detach about 10 cm from the aircraft until the connection cable between Control Box and Flasher is fully tensioned. This ensures that canopy and fuselage disconnect from each other under all circumstances.

Firmware Updates Control Box

V01r15 April 2024:

V2.0.1 Februar 2025:

V2.0.2 April 2025: