Flashing Lights?

Maddog · Mar 7, 2016

Well, I wound up with a controller in a 3D printed "box" which screws into the expansion port so it won't fall out.

It controls 1 or 2 10W LED's. I chose to mount one on the front and one on the back of Solo which gives the best visibility from the ground. The rear one is mounted with 3M VHB tape so it's not going anywhere. The front, with industrial Velcro. I mounted mine with Velcro so it can be removed for Solo to fit into the backpack. It could be mounted with VHB tape but you would need to cut out a small space in the backpack foam.

The LED's can be mounted anywhere on Solo by changing the length of the power lead. Each lead plugs into the controller with a small battery-type plug. The LED's are mounted inside a plastic housing with a lens which increases the visibility to the sides. They can be mounted without the housing as well.

I don't know the weight but the entire system is very light. The LED's are MUCH brighter than any other "R/C aircraft-drone" LED's I have seen. The DS-30-1 "strobe" mentioned in post 120 might be as bright or brighter but I have no way to compare them.
(According the manufacturer, the DS-30 is actually 4 LED's under one lense). True high-voltage strobes are becoming a thing of the past.

Comments welcome.
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DattaGroover · Mar 8, 2016

Let me know how that works. How far away is your Solo in Daylight when you can no longer see the flash?
I went ahead and ordered the one mentioned above (4 leds under 1 lens). They clam a full mile in daylight, but I have my doubts.

Maddog · Mar 8, 2016

DattaGroover said:
Let me know how that works. How far away is your Solo in Daylight when you can no longer see the flash?
I went ahead and ordered the one mentioned above (4 leds under 1 lens). They clam a full mile in daylight, but I have my doubts.

The last test I did Solo was at 200' altitude and 500' away. Still visible at 750' but barely with my eyes. (I'm nearsighted) At that distance Solo is just a speck in the sky.

(I posted a crappy video somewhere back in this thread. I found it very difficult for my camera to keep Solo in focus at long range).

In actual practice, 500' is about my limit for using Solo. The flash was visible in bright daylight but I discovered the physical size of the light (LED) has a lot to do with visibility. (If Solo is a "speck" in the sky, the LED would be invisible if not illuminated.

White anti-collision strobes on commercial have a strobe tube that can be 5 inches long, for example. That is part of the reason they can be seen at long distances.

The small LED's on mine and the DS-30 will limit visibility despite their brightness. I don't know what that limit is but I'm very interested in the DS-30 performance. I saw the video and am very impressed. I might have bought one myself had I not been so far into developing my own.

Marich · Mar 8, 2016

Your comment about size of the light source being critical has me a'thinkin... what if some extremely reflective strips of material were applied to Solo's front and rear, and the lights were aimed at them?
Someone posted a pic of the perfect stuff here awhile back, a super-reflective black film that positively dazzled while reflecting.

Maddog · Mar 8, 2016

Marich said:
Your comment about size of the light source being critical has me a'thinkin... what if some extremely reflective strips of material were applied to Solo's front and rear, and the lights were aimed at them?
Someone posted a pic of the perfect stuff here awhile back, a super-reflective black film that positively dazzled while reflecting.

Well, my 1st thought is that light reflected off reflective tape would be blocked by the light source if it's between the tape and your line of sight. At other angles, it's bouncing off away from your line of sight.

I tried covering the battery with "irri-tape" once. It's multicolored reflective that's supposed to scare birds away. It's very reflective but I discovered that when Solo was flying you could not see the tape unless the Sun was in the right place and you got a sun reflection off the tape. Pretty bright but rare.

Marich · Mar 8, 2016

I'm giving this a try, actually.
My initial thought is to put the light - think I'll just call it the "bulb" - above the tape, angled directly towards it. That, or possibly completely separated from Solo entirely on some type of rod pointed back. Maybe even try crafting a homemade light bar of a sort.

nvpowerdoc · Mar 8, 2016

There are Strobes like this. I use it on my other multi-rotors...

STROBON Navigation Strobe (White) - Flytron

This link is more comprehensive:
LED Systems - Flytron

Maddog · Mar 8, 2016

nvpowerdoc said:
There are Strobes like this. I use it on my other multi-rotors...

STROBON Navigation Strobe (White) - Flytron

This link is more comprehensive:
LED Systems - Flytron

I have a number of their "strobes" which are actually 1W led's. They're just not bright enough for daytime use.

Maddog · Mar 8, 2016

Marich said:
I'm giving this a try, actually.
My initial thought is to put the light - think I'll just call it the "bulb" - above the tape, angled directly towards it. That, or possibly completely separated from Solo entirely on some type of rod pointed back. Maybe even try crafting a homemade light bar of a sort.

Let us know how it works out. I think you're going to "discover" that reflected light is never as bright as direct light.

DattaGroover · Mar 10, 2016

DattaGroover said:
This one (Mentioned by MadDog) above, claims 1 mile daylight visibility, 10 milesat night:
DS-30--1 Drone Strobe
I'm tempted to upgrade with this for $70.

Well, it came today. I will do some tests and let y'all know.

DattaGroover · Mar 21, 2016

DattaGroover said:
Well, it came today. I will do some tests and let y'all know.

I love the strobe - it increases visibility substantially. In daylight, I can see it on my Solo from 2000 feet out, 400 feet up. That was in overcast daylight - though I'm sure in bright sun it would be significantly less. Still, that's pretty damn good. That strobe is clear, and I'm thinking about a 2nd red one to help me determine the orientation at distance- plus It may make it even more visible.

RichWest · Mar 22, 2016

You'd have better luck having a different pulse rate rather than color being the difference...just saying. You'll get less light from the red filtered unit fwiw, if the wattage is the same.

SurfnSkate81 · Mar 22, 2016

I second what Rich said.

Acroduster · Mar 22, 2016

Datta's one is now down to $49. I'll be taking the plunge. How did you power it (them)? I'm considering using a standard 9-volt Li-ion battery to power it (it lists 4.2 - 11.5 VDC). Or did you plug into Solo's port for power?

Maddog · Mar 22, 2016

DattaGroover said:
I love the strobe - it increases visibility substantially. In daylight, I can see it on my Solo from 2000 feet out, 400 feet up. That was in overcast daylight - though I'm sure in bright sun it would be significantly less. Still, that's pretty damn good. That strobe is clear, and I'm thinking about a 2nd red one to help me determine the orientation at distance- plus It may make it even more visible.

Sounds most excellent! Does it have an on-off switch?

Where & how did you mount it?

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 22, 2016

nvpowerdoc said:
There are Strobes like this. I use it on my other multi-rotors...

STROBON Navigation Strobe (White) - Flytron

This link is more comprehensive:
LED Systems - Flytron

I use these on the birds I've built. The front arms have the dual LED board, with a solid green light and a white strobe. The rear I use a blue strobe only. I've found both the steady burning and the strobe flashes to be extremely visible, even at 400ft up and 2000ft away in daylight. After sunset, it looks really cool.

Maddog · Mar 23, 2016

Pedals2Paddles said:
I use these on the birds I've built. The front arms have the dual LED board, with a solid green light and a white strobe. The rear I use a blue strobe only. I've found both the steady burning and the strobe flashes to be extremely visible, even at 400ft up and 2000ft away in daylight. After sunset, it looks really cool.

You must have better eyes than "eye" do- I've tested those and found them to be too dim in daylight. At 2000', Solo is completely invisible- I don't think many people could see a 1W led that is only 5 mm/ 3/16" in diameter or even a group of them.

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 23, 2016

Full disclosure, my vision is 20/15 and these were on a heavy lift Y6.

Acroduster · Mar 23, 2016

Just ordered my DS-30-1. I called the proprietor to ask a few questions before doing so. He said when placed on the bottom of a drone, it is somewhat directional, i.e., it will be brightest in one direction, somewhat dimmer from the sides, and dimmer still to the rear. Also, he said it blinks at 1hz.

DattaGroover, I'm still curious on your power solution. I'll be looking at a few options. Maybe even using some stacked hearing-aid batteries for weight savings.

PdxSteve · Mar 23, 2016

You could use this step down regulator (I'm using one on the accessory bay) to step down to a regulated 9V/1A supply for the DS-30-1.
Pololu 9V, 1A Step-Down Voltage Regulator D24V10F9 ($7.50)
It will take up to 36VDC input and reduce it to 9VDC/1A (max)

Then you can buy the accessory bay plug here to plug into the bottom of the Solo: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/JAE-Electronics/TX24-30R-6ST-N1E ($1.18)
Pin 29 is GND, so that goes to the GND input on the polulu
Pin 30 is POS 12V to 16.8V, so goes to VIN input on polulu.
(more info on accessory bay pinouts here: Accessory Bay | 3DR Solo Development Guide )

Then VOUT/GND (same GND as input is using) outputs on polulu go to pos/gnd on the DS-30-1.

So it would just turn on/off with the solo, but you could also easily add a switch. It would have minimal impact on the battery, but it's hard to calculate since they only list the voltage and not the amps or wattage.