Lights for you copter

Rick~K

Free Bird
I don't know if anyone has found these but here's my F550 with LED's.. I seen the strip type before but while I was at Walmart last night seen these in the automotive section in :white,green,and blue. They have test battery's and a switch for "Try Me". I don't know if these are brighter than the hobby type but I wanted bright light for daytime also, I'll try them today and report back. The LED's have 3M stick back, can be cut to length, and the good part is you can test them before you buy. They come in two sizes, these are two 10" and 10' of wire for @ $16.00.

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Rick~K

Free Bird
Nice find. We'll be interested in finding out how they work.

I just made a test flight, I noticed a little less flight time from the extra drain and couldn't see the LED's after it was @ 60yds away but this was in bright sun and I was wearing my sunglasses. I think it will be better in lower light and definitely night.
 

astr0b0y

Member
Hobbyking has different colours of these in metre lengths, blue are the brightest, for around $5. I have some on my 550 running 4S directly into the strips. Even though they are rated for 12V they seem to be holding up under 4S.
 

NYREPS

Member
I am also looking for LEDs for my f450 was thinking of getting a few strips from eBay but just don't know how to wired them yet and how to power them up
 

Rick~K

Free Bird
I am also looking for LEDs for my f450 was thinking of getting a few strips from eBay but just don't know how to wired them yet and how to power them up

Most of them have black wires, and one has a white strip, this one is positive (+). you can solder it to where your battery power cable solders to the board on your 450, the other wire is negative (-).
 

NYREPS

Member
Hmmm good idea I was gonna power them up on the battery charging plug,now I gotta find the LEDs I need for the quad ...do you know what size LEDs I should get 3m or 5m ,I am planning to put the LEDs on the side of the arms not the top or bottom I think its pretty hard to put led on the bottom with all the ESC,s in the way.
 

NYREPS

Member
Ok I was just thinking by soldering the wires to main power board there is no way for me to turn off the LEDs ,what I mean is when i mount the gopro to the 450 I don't want the LEDs on anyway I can put a switch to turn the lights on and off.
 

Rick~K

Free Bird
yes, the LED's don't do much in bright light. You could turn them off or on when you wanted.
 

I use the LED Strips that have a sticky backing on mine, and all my customers build. I use red (Left), Green (right), and Blue (rear). I power them directly to the F550 power dist board, and run 4S. I have never had an issue with the over voltage, even though they are rated at 12v. 16v makes them burn a little brighter hehehe. During the day they help, but they do get harder to see the further out you get. Send me a PM and I can probably put together a kit for you to include the 4 strips, and silicon wire to get them lit. Take care, Patrick

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AEA737

Member
Has anybody heard about a short on those Hobbyking LED? I mean, all the connections are exposed. Should you have something metallic contact both of them while powered up it could be a disaster. I plan to solder them to the battery connector. What precautions should I take, apart from not mixing + and - ;-)

Thanks

Javier
 
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Has anybody heard about a shorting those Hobbyking LED? I mean, all the connections are exposed. Should you have something metallic contact both of them while powered up I could be a disaster. I plan to solder them to the battery connector. What precautions should I take, apart from not mixing + and - ;-)

Thanks

Javier



I like to use a drop of Hot Glue or Silicone it is very easy to remove with a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol or a finger nail and IMO will prevent shorting from being possible.
 

jrlederer

Member
AMP, that setup looks fantastic! Just to confirm my suspicion, but th reason you don't outfit the leading arms with lights is to avoid discolouring photographs and or video by having light contamination? Anyway, keep up the good work...looking sharp!
 

Eoin

Member
I use hot glue on the exposed solders as well. I also use 1N4007 diodes for each arm where the led lead is soldered to the PDB as polarity protection. This has the added benefit of dropping the voltage down .7v for each led strip.
Eoin
 

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