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Motor LED's

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Nov 27, 2018
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Apart from their use during calibration, do the motor led's serve any other purpose.
The revised manual does state that they flash very rapidly when there is a low battery indication.
BUT, you also get vibration and sound on the ST16 for that.
My reason for asking is that I have purchased some prop protectors and when they are fitted these led's are no longer visible.
I am considering drilling a hole in the base part of these protectors to alleviate this possible problem
If there is no real need to see the motor led's during flight I won't bother
Any ideas, info???
cheers
 
They are mainly there for orientation, so that you know which way the craft is pointing at a glance. Should you lose video and GPS for any reason that will be very helpful in guiding your craft home.
 
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Just drilling holes from the bottom will limit you on the led being visible to a limited degree. I have a set of protectors but I do not use them because I like to be able to see led's on the arm. It would be totally experimental to tap into the led wires on each arm and run a set to leds to the part of the prop protector the obstructs the stock leds. Do this with extreme caution if you attempt this and if you do not have any electronic circuit building experience do not attempt. you must know the exact voltage and current and get the polarity correct.
 
They are mainly there for orientation, so that you know which way the craft is pointing at a glance. Should you lose video and GPS for any reason that will be very helpful in guiding your craft home.

I've also just bought a couple strobes, one red and one white to help alleviate the orientation problem plus I also have fitted a 520 shell and some orange tape, all to assist with visibility.
Haven't decided yet where to fit the strobes
 
The LEDs are useless beyond about 50 feet distance particularly in daylight... as far as the strobe mounting, may I suggest on the landing gear with these:

Aerial Pixel Strobe Mounts
 
Yeah, they’re of little value in daylight; they’re just not bright enough. In Civil Twilight however, I can see them very well.

I don’t change things or add things unless it’s to meet a need. I did not like the lighting as it came from the factory. All my life I’m used to the standard layout: Red to port, Green to starboard, and white aft. I moved both white lights from the front to the rear (no lights up front), replaced the blue port light with one of the aft reds. I have 1 blue and 1 red light leftover, unused. I got a Firehouse Arc2 strobe that attaches with Velcro to the rear, facing out and down, only attached during Civil Twilight flights.

When I fly during Civil Twilight, the bird is well lit and that strobe is seriously bright. Don’t look at it turning it off or on. Looks pretty cool with the nav lights and anti-collision strobe.
 
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I'm gathering that the motor led's are somewhat redundant when flying so I won't modify the prop protectors.
Based on general conformity I will place the red strobe on the left (sorry port) landing gear, facing up, and the white strobe on the right (starboard) gear, facing down.
That will give me a good visual orientation of the bird.
I only fly during daylight hours and usually early morning at the moment due to the excessively high temps.
It's actually illegal to fly when dark here unless you have special casa (Australian Aviation Authority) license and approval for the time and day which you have to get 3 days prior......what!!!!!
That's as I understand it.
Is that correct JohnH??
 
I'm gathering that the motor led's are somewhat redundant when flying so I won't modify the prop protectors.
Based on general conformity I will place the red strobe on the left (sorry port) landing gear, facing up, and the white strobe on the right (starboard) gear, facing down.
That will give me a good visual orientation of the bird.
I only fly during daylight hours and usually early morning at the moment due to the excessively high temps.
It's actually illegal to fly when dark here unless you have special casa (Australian Aviation Authority) license and approval for the time and day which you have to get 3 days prior......what!!!!!
That's as I understand it.
Is that correct JohnH??
Yes that is correct Typhoon Pete,
With my Cree Strobon lights I have a Red for the rear and a white for the front. I have positioned them with Velcro on the battery latch with a downward orientation and like wise to the nose under the start button. Although I am licensed ,we have had no need for a night time flight, we use these during the day for orientation purposes and have had great success with them as they are exceptionally bright. After a full charge they last the 2 hrs they state and some more, the product is great and I don't think that the advantage of using other ones would warrant the time spent doing the mods. There is also a clip you can get for them to put on the legs went lifted up, don't forget that you are mainly looking up for the position of the H and it's orientation. But have not had a job that requires night clearance yet but that would be another learning curve . Johnno Hennessy. Keep flying on the green side of the Grass.
 
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Yes that is correct Typhoon Pete,
With my Cree Strobon lights I have a Red for the rear and a white for the front. I have positioned them with Velcro on the battery latch with a downward orientation and like wise to the nose under the start button. Although I am licensed ,we have had no need for a night time flight, we use these during the day for orientation purposes and have had great success with them as they are exceptionally bright. After a full charge they last the 2 hrs they state and some more, the product is great and I don't think that the advantage of using other ones would warrant the time spent doing the mods. There is also a clip you can get for them to put on the legs went lifted up, don't forget that you are mainly looking up for the position of the H and it's orientation. But have not had a job that requires night clearance yet but that would be another learning curve . Johnno Hennessy. Keep flying on the green side of the Grass.

Thanks for that Jonno.
Insight appreciated
Cheers
All the best for 2019
Pete
 
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The LEDs are useless beyond about 50 feet distance particularly in daylight... as far as the strobe mounting, may I suggest on the landing gear with these:

Aerial Pixel Strobe Mounts

I find the Cree and Aerial pixel strobe mounts to work just fine on the motor arms. I have flown with 5 such mounts, giving forward and rear orientation. Very helpful this time of year with the gray skies, snow sometimes, and early dusk.

I have to experiment with the angles though, tilting up a bit so the strobe does not affect the camera exposure.

Works quite nicely.

Jeff
 

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