Larry said, 

> "I've been flying with "cheap" strobes for 13 years now, never use them
. . ."

I've got cheap strobes too - the ones Steve & Linda sold in kit form
(minus the lighting fixture) for around $35.   I ended up buying four.  I
use one for a "rotating" beacon on the bottom of the plane (FAA says it
can be top or bottom.  Actually FAA says with strobes a beacon is not
required at all . . . but I like the looks of it when it's all lit up.) 
Flash rate is adjustable so I just turned it down all the way so it looks
like it's rotating.  I leave that switch "on" all the time as a back-up
reminder to turn the master off in case I've forgotten.   The wingtip
strobes are integrated into the position light fixture, "piggyback" as
you said.  Power supplies are mounted on each side of the fuselage down
in that dark corner next to the front spar (see picture).  There _IS_ a
limit on wire length from power supply to bulb - each foot of wire adding
some resistance until so much accumulates that the bulb won't fire. 
Brightest performance is, as you are presuming, having the PS next to the
bulb.  With mine however, there was no noticible difference to my eye
between bulb brightness whether next to PS or separated by the short
distance from wing root to tip.    Those "aviation quality" strobes you
are considering may have some distance limitation.  I'd read their
installation manual since limitations are likely to be specific to the
manufacturer . . . which means we peanut gallery people won't have
anything solid to offer.

Great Plains stopped selling the $35 kits so for back-up I ended up
buying (and collecting)several very inexpensive strobe kits on eBay -
none of them for aircraft specifically as I recall but as Socrates once
said, "All strobes are fair when the candles are dim."  I've got them on
my "spares shelf" in the hangar against the day that I have another power
supply failure.   One can find some amazing electronics on eBay for
ridiculously low prices . . . as you of course already know.  We all know
as well that anything marketed for aviation specifically is going to have
a 400%++ mark up.  Look at oxygen equipment for example.  Sheesh . . . . 


Two questions Larry:  Why is it that you "never use them."?  

Also, if they work well . . . and I assume they work at least as well as
mine which work great . . . why are you going to "aircraft quality" if
what you've got works just fine?  Trying to keep up with Jeff Scott and
his fancy wig-wags?
 
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