correct as is Nav light reflections showing even when nav lights are turned off

[Diesel_Thunder]

Noticed this last night when I was flying in multiplayer. Preparing for an air to air engagement I turned off my lights. After a few minutes I noticed that it looked like my nav lights (wing,tail, fuselage) were still on. I double checked my switch settings and looked again and saw that the lights themselves were indeed turned off, but the reflections were still showing as if they were on. It would also follow the switch settings for the most part.

Light master switch OFF or NORM - reflections are present

When set to flash, the reflections would flash.

The reflections would also follow the bright/dim switch setting as well.

 

I don't have a track as I was in multiplayer, but can post one if needed. Here are some screenshots showing this:

 

Two more screenshots:

[Tholozor]

With the WING/TAIL switch in the OFF position, wingtip lights can be controlled with variable brightness with the FORM knob.

[Diesel_Thunder]

Correct as is?

How in the world is this correct? The lights are switched off, yet still appear as if they are turned on. They also follow the flashing and dim switch settings. Nothing should be lit, or cast light, if they are switched off.

EDIT: The formation knob position caused the lighting confusion. New post below. 

Edited November 6, 2021 by Diesel_Thunder

[Deano87]

Your lights are still turned on. You need to rotate the middle rotary at the bottom of the panel from NORM (3 o clock) to OFF (9 o clock).

[Tholozor]

1 hour ago, Diesel_Thunder said:

Correct as is?

How in the world is this correct? The lights are switched off, yet still appear as if they are turned on. They also follow the flashing and dim switch settings. Nothing should be lit, or cast light, if they are switched off.

The wingtip lights still operate with the switch in the OFF position under control of the FORM knob for variable intensity (the WING/TAIL switch positions for BRT and DIM are fixed intensity). This is correct as-per the actual flight manual.

[Diesel_Thunder]

This must be a new change then (I've had the Viper since spring of last year), as this was not normal behavior that I have been accustomed to. Starting to wonder if the formation light knob is now set to full by default on a cold and dark start. I haven't ever touched that knob for normal ops before, just used the switches, and the master mode and strobe knobs.

[Tholozor]

56 minutes ago, Diesel_Thunder said:

This must be a new change then (I've had the Viper since spring of last year), as this was not normal behavior that I have been accustomed to. Starting to wonder if the formation light knob is now set to full by default on a cold and dark start. I haven't ever touched that knob for normal ops before, just used the switches, and the master mode and strobe knobs.

The FORM knob defaults to maximum on cold start.

[NorgeNate]

On 10/24/2021 at 5:54 PM, Tholozor said:

With the WING/TAIL switch in the OFF position, wingtip lights can be controlled with variable brightness with the FORM knob.

Unless there was an update to the real world lighting system in the jet in the last 8 years this is modeled wrong. The formation light knob can only control the white formation light just behind the NLG and the tail-flash lights on either side of the tail.

 

On 10/25/2021 at 12:19 AM, Deano87 said:

Your lights are still turned on. You need to rotate the middle rotary at the bottom of the panel from NORM (3 o clock) to OFF (9 o clock).

The "master" switch controls power to the lighting system.

In "off" everything is powered off.

In "covert-all" all lights are set to NV levels.

In "covert A-C" only the anti collision is in NV mode.

In "covert form" only the formation lights are in NV mode.

In "norm" all lights have power to them but can be controlled individually.

The anti collision knob controls the different flash patterns.

The flash-steady switch is for the wingtip, intake, and tail formation lights

The wing/tail fuselage bright-off-dim switches are for the same formation lights but for day or night ops without NVG's

The IFR knob is for IFR lights which are the pin light on the leading edge vertical stab and the aft facing light just aft of the canopy

So, OP may be right. I still need to check myself though.

EDIT: Just checked and yeah, the lighting system is not modeled correctly.

EDIT 2: It appears that the tail light just above the exhaust is not working at all. That one is white (US) and blue/green (EU) and is part of the wingtip and intake light circuit.

Edited October 26, 2021 by NorgeNate

[NorgeNate]

I'm curious, since this post is labeled "Correct as is" Should a new topic be made since it's definitely NOT correct?

 

Edit:  Well, maybe not completely wrong. Checked the -1 and I'll be damned! That formation knob and wingtip dimming setting is new to me. I'll admit, we had the older light control panel in my day and I can't recall the system working that way.  My bad! 

Something seems off about the upper IFR lights though. I don't think they are part of the fuselage circuit and only come on with the IFR switch.

 

Edit2: Never mind me, I'm an uninformed idiot. Everything works as is except the lower tail nav light. I'll crawl back into the hole I came out of and disappear. 

 

Edited October 26, 2021 by NorgeNate

[Deano87]

1 hour ago, NorgeNate said:

Edit2: Never mind me, I'm an uninformed idiot. Everything works as is except the lower tail nav light. I'll crawl back into the hole I came out of and disappear. 

Nooooo please don't disappear, having people with real F-16 experience is valuable around here! Just remember that they made 4500+ of them over a 40+ year period and some things have changed quite a lot over that time.

[Diesel_Thunder]

@NorgeNate Thank you for the insight!

The formation knob behavior certainly lends to confusion, especially compared to the Hornet. I still think the default position of the knob has changed recently, leading to my initial post on the subject as it made the lights behave in a way I wasn’t used to at all. 

[NorgeNate]

On 10/26/2021 at 11:14 PM, Deano87 said:

Nooooo please don't disappear, having people with real F-16 experience is valuable around here! 

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I have a tendency to beat myself up when I make mistakes. I don't usually go for long, just long enough for the embarrassment to wear off and/or I forget I did or said something stupid. Cheers!

[Diesel_Thunder]

For those that may run across this, I made a video detailing the operation of all the exterior lighting on the Viper. The confusion with how the formation knob interacts with the rest of the lights gave me the idea for this one, and I hope others find it useful.

 

[Tholozor]

1 hour ago, Diesel_Thunder said:

For those that may run across this, I made a video detailing the operation of all the exterior lighting on the Viper. The confusion with how the formation knob interacts with the rest of the lights gave me the idea for this one, and I hope others find it useful.

Nice video! Small caveat to the anti-collision light though: positions A, B, and C are still visible to the naked eye, it's only their strobe pattern that differs from 1 through 4. Position A will perform a 1-2 flash pattern, position B performs a 1-3 flash pattern, position C performs a 6 flash pattern.

[Diesel_Thunder]

On 4/5/2022 at 11:57 PM, Tholozor said:

Nice video! Small caveat to the anti-collision light though: positions A, B, and C are still visible to the naked eye, it's only their strobe pattern that differs from 1 through 4. Position A will perform a 1-2 flash pattern, position B performs a 1-3 flash pattern, position C performs a 6 flash pattern.

Noted, and thank you for clarifying! I'll edit that segment of the video and upload the updated version.