Idea for Navigation lights on the H

[Chris McMillan]

This subject could have come up on another forum, so apologies if it has.
Having a fair bit of time on my hands in a non flying sense, I started to consider what some newer flyers (me too) have raised as a potential problem. That is working out the orientation of the craft at distance, especially when not using "smart" mode, and learning to use the sticks as we should.
It seems to me the H has a good set of coloured lights under each motor, so when they can be seen they can be a big help. Mainly hovering directly above, and not very high! It has a rear light, that changes colour depending on various factors, but again, not sure of viewing distance for that.
The other day whilst driving, in the daylight, I saw a small, very bright light coming toward me. When I got closer it was a cyclist with a tiny white "strobe" type light on his bike. That got me thinking of using one of those on the front of the H, so that at least you can tell when you're looking at the front. I'm aware of the green arrow on the ST16, but there's something about a visual contact that's reassuring.
Here's one idea I found, any thoughts?
Mini White Light 4-Mode Waterproof USB Rechargeable LED Bicycle Light - Black + White

 

[GlenT]

I'd just swap out the OEM ones on the front with a couple of super bright white LED's and angle them forwards. I have some very bright red LED strips (Gryphon Dynamics) on my large hex, and trust me they are bright. But at a fair distance they too are hard to make out on a bright day as the beam angle on them is narrow.

 

[Chris McMillan]

Hi Glen, What do you call a fair distance?

 

[GlenT]

Ah I would say approx 100m and it starts to become hard to tell. I have the strip LED's on the two rearward arms on about a 45deg angle. When they point directly at you they are good for longer but it's not that often it's in that sweet spot.
On a dull day it's much better of course.

 

[JohnL]

This subject could have come up on another forum, so apologies if it has.
Having a fair bit of time on my hands in a non flying sense, I started to consider what some newer flyers (me too) have raised as a potential problem. That is working out the orientation of the craft at distance, especially when not using "smart" mode, and learning to use the sticks as we should.
It seems to me the H has a good set of coloured lights under each motor, so when they can be seen they can be a big help. Mainly hovering directly above, and not very high! It has a rear light, that changes colour depending on various factors, but again, not sure of viewing distance for that.
The other day whilst driving, in the daylight, I saw a small, very bright light coming toward me. When I got closer it was a cyclist with a tiny white "strobe" type light on his bike. That got me thinking of using one of those on the front of the H, so that at least you can tell when you're looking at the front. I'm aware of the green arrow on the ST16, but there's something about a visual contact that's reassuring.
Here's one idea I found, any thoughts?
Mini White Light 4-Mode Waterproof USB Rechargeable LED Bicycle Light - Black + White

No no, that's not the way to go about it all, son. See my post further down.

 

[JohnL]

Chris, on almost every homebuilt quad or hex I have ever made, I have always installed Strobon strobe lights to the two forward facing arms that I was able to control from my Tx (ie, on/off). The complete "plus" here is that when turned on you can spot your MR from even a mile away, and you know that if you see two strobe lights blinking towards you that means the nose of the vehicle is pointed towards you. If you don't see the strobing lights, you can yaw the vehicle until you do, then take whatever action you deem appropriate. Here's a link to something I've used in the past:

STROBON v2 Navigation Light (WHITE) - Flytron

These are great only if you have access to your sUAV's Rx as you need to plug the servo cable leading from the strobe into it. This provides both a signal to control from your Tx and power. The big problem with this setup is that unless we are able to easily open the Typhoon and access the Rx PLUS have a physical switch plus programming in the Tx, this system all of a sudden becomes useless.

I follow Flytron on Instagram and see that they are coming out with a sort of "stand alone" strobe that uses a very tiny little battery and therefore does not have to be powered from the vehicle. The big problem I see with this is that there is no way to turn off the strobe while in flight, which may lead to issues while one is filming. Anyway, I sent a note off to the tech folks at Yuneec some months ago asking (a) is it possible for a customer to add strobes lights as I described above hooking in the Rx and (2) would they consider offering this as an option in the future. If I ever get a reply, I will post back here and the other forums I follow (mostly RC Groups and Multirotorforums.com). HTH at least a little.

 

[Chris McMillan]

Just what I needed, thanks....please keep in touch if possible.
Cheers

 

[Chris McMillan]

Chris, on almost every homebuilt quad or hex I have ever made, I have always installed Strobon strobe lights to the two forward facing arms that I was able to control from my Tx (ie, on/off). The complete "plus" here is that when turned on you can spot your MR from even a mile away, and you know that if you see two strobe lights blinking towards you that means the nose of the vehicle is pointed towards you. If you don't see the strobing lights, you can yaw the vehicle until you do, then take whatever action you deem appropriate. Here's a link to something I've used in the past:

STROBON v2 Navigation Light (WHITE) - Flytron

These are great only if you have access to your sUAV's Rx as you need to plug the servo cable leading from the strobe into it. This provides both a signal to control from your Tx and power. The big problem with this setup is that unless we are able to easily open the Typhoon and access the Rx PLUS have a physical switch plus programming in the Tx, this system all of a sudden becomes useless.

I follow Flytron on Instagram and see that they are coming out with a sort of "stand alone" strobe that uses a very tiny little battery and therefore does not have to be powered from the vehicle. The big problem I see with this is that there is no way to turn off the strobe while in flight, which may lead to issues while one is filming. Anyway, I sent a note off to the tech folks at Yuneec some months ago asking (a) is it possible for a customer to add strobes lights as I described above hooking in the Rx and (2) would they consider offering this as an option in the future. If I ever get a reply, I will post back here and the other forums I follow (mostly RC Groups and Multirotorforums.com). HTH at least a little.

Hi John, do you know if the Strobon v2 is as bright over the same distance as Strobon Standalone?
I've tried 2 or 3 different brands, but not getting any daytime distance from them.

 

[JohnL]

Hi John, do you know if the Strobon v2 is as bright over the same distance as Strobon Standalone?
I've tried 2 or 3 different brands, but not getting any daytime distance from them.

They're the same 3W LED. Why don't you contact the folks over there and ask them few questions? They also hang out at this thread over at RCG, although I'm not sure they've been very active there lately.
STROBON PowerLED Strobes from Flytron - RC Groups

 

[LooseSid]

They're the same 3W LED. Why don't you contact the folks over there and ask them few questions? They also hang out at this thread over at RCG, although I'm not sure they've been very active there lately.
STROBON PowerLED Strobes from Flytron - RC Groups

Not much love for Flytron on there!!

 

[Chris McMillan]

They're the same 3W LED. Why don't you contact the folks over there and ask them few questions? They also hang out at this thread over at RCG, although I'm not sure they've been very active there lately.
STROBON PowerLED Strobes from Flytron - RC Groups

I did that John, but they were anything but helpful...
This was their reply...
"Depends on the day light brightness, your pupil size and sun direction.
So, there is no way to talk about distance at daylight."

My pupil size???
Hang on I'll get a tape measure!

 

[JimBobNW]

This thread is getting a little old.

Has there been any news or breakthroughs on improving the navigation lights. I've just started flying the YTH and it was immediately apparent that the existing lights are a bit anemic With Yuneec great attention to detail, I'm surprised this got through their quality control.

 

[banned user]

This thread is getting a little old.

Has there been any news or breakthroughs on improving the navigation lights. I've just started flying the YTH and it was immediately apparent that the existing lights are a bit anemic With Yuneec great attention to detail, I'm surprised this got through their quality control.

A few of us here have the stand alone ones and are happy with them, STROBON Standalone - Flytron

 

[PatR]

If one was adept at wire splicing they could add LED strip lighting by tapping the grey colored wires at the flex joint at the arms. They would of course first have to identify the positive and negative wires.

For the record, there's a difference between anti collision and position lighting.


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[Grimsin]

There is that aux button on the ST16... that does nothing as far as i can tell... would be nice if it could be set to an rx channel...

 

[Drone_Video]

There is that aux button on the ST16... that does nothing as far as i can tell... would be nice if it could be set to an rx channel...

Some body posted a while back that "Yuneec had a surprise" for us related to that Aux button... hopefully a good surprise.