From "General Aviation Airworthiness Alert" FAA AC 43-16 Long/Vari-EZ Landing Lights
October 1992
Some owners/builders of the Long/Vari-EZ are relocating the landing lights from under the fuselage to a position outboard in an attempt to improve lighting for night landings. Several instances have shown where the builders have created a separate cell in the fuel strake for the landing light. The submitter of the Malfunction or Defect Report stated that this is a poor choice for a device that generates so much heat.
Even without a fuel leak, the amount of heat generated by these lights in such close proximity to 26 gallons of fuel is very risky. If a short circuit should develop and the fuse or circuit breaker fails to trip, the short could cause sufficient heat to melt the resin and dissolve the foam that seals the tank causing a fuel leak into the light housing. A fuel leak from a simple bulkhead seam flaw could also cause ignition simply from the heat of the light. High amperage circuits and heavy amperage consumers should never be placed in or around fuel lines or storage cells.