Flashing Lights?

Acroduster · Mar 23, 2016

Update: they guy texted me a picture of the shipping label about 4 hours after I ordered. Great service, for sure...

DattaGroover · Mar 24, 2016

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

Where & how did you mount it?

I installed an on-off switch. I mounted the strobe on the underside, in the 'accessory bay' ('cause someone had to do SOMETHING with that space).

DattaGroover · Mar 24, 2016

PdxSteve said:
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.

You may already know this, but there are also much smaller voltage regulators (I got mine at Radio Shack).

DattaGroover · Mar 24, 2016

Acroduster said:
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?

I powered it off the Solo, using a voltage regulator chip I got from Radio Shack. Sorry - I didn't think of taking photos when I had it open. I added a switch so I can turn it on and off according to my mood

Maddog · Mar 24, 2016

DattaGroover said:
I powered it off the Solo, using a voltage regulator chip I got from Radio Shack. Sorry - I didn't think of taking photos when I had it open. I added a switch so I can turn it on and off according to my mood [/QUOTE
Could you post a part # por favor?

DattaGroover · Mar 24, 2016

Here's the voltage regulator:
10PCS L317 LM317 LM317T 317 TO-220 Voltage Regulator 1.2V To 37V 1.5A: Vehicle Amplifier Fuses: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
Here's the switch:
Amazon.com: Uxcell a13070900ux1111 Toggle Switch (5 Piece): Home Improvement

The first of each I got at Radio shack. The above numbers are from Amazon for my second round (I'm adding a red strobe as well).

Maddog · Mar 24, 2016

DattaGroover said:
Here's the voltage regulator:
10PCS L317 LM317 LM317T 317 TO-220 Voltage Regulator 1.2V To 37V 1.5A: Vehicle Amplifier Fuses: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
Here's the switch:
Amazon.com: Uxcell a13070900ux1111 Toggle Switch (5 Piece): Home Improvement

The first of each I got at Radio shack. The above numbers are from Amazon for my second round (I'm adding a red strobe as well).

Thanks DG- you may find that regulator gets VERY hot but that's normal. Just make sure it doesn't melt whatever it's attached to. I was going to use a similar one but it got too hot to use inside a small enclosure.

DattaGroover · Mar 24, 2016

Maddog said:
Thanks DG- you may find that regulator gets VERY hot but that's normal. Just make sure it doesn't melt whatever it's attached to. I was going to use a similar one but it got too hot to use inside a small enclosure.

Thanks. I also got a heat sink for it- which should help.

DattaGroover · Mar 24, 2016

Acroduster said:
Update: they guy texted me a picture of the shipping label about 4 hours after I ordered. Great service, for sure...

In my experience- excellent service.

DattaGroover · Mar 24, 2016

Acroduster said:
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?

I popped him off a note this morning saying I noticed he just lowered the price, thinking maybe he'd sell me a second one at a discount to even out the price change. He offered instead to give me another one for free. That's pretty amazing!

PdxSteve · Mar 25, 2016

DattaGroover said:
Thanks. I also got a heat sink for it- which should help.

That's the main reason why I went with a small buck converter instead of a linear regulator. The buck converter is a lot more efficient, so less heat generated and no heatsink needed (for these low power levels). Here's a decent vid showing the difference:

DattaGroover · Mar 26, 2016

PdxSteve said:
That's the main reason why I went with a small buck converter instead of a linear regulator. The buck converter is a lot more efficient, so less heat generated and no heatsink needed (for these low power levels). Here's a decent vid showing the difference:

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Thanks!

DattaGroover · Mar 26, 2016

PdxSteve said:
That's the main reason why I went with a small buck converter instead of a linear regulator. The buck converter is a lot more efficient, so less heat generated and no heatsink needed (for these low power levels). Here's a decent vid showing the difference:

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Hmm. Pardon me if you posted this earlier, but do you have a link for this?

PdxSteve · Mar 26, 2016

See this post on the previous page: Flashing Lights?

DattaGroover · Mar 26, 2016

PdxSteve said:
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.

Thanks!
. . . and it might be a bit underpowered with 1A output. I'm on the road, so I'm not to where I can check the spec sheet of the strobe, but I think each strobe was almost 1A. Since that is a 10% of so of the time, it might be fine. For less than $10 there's not much to lose.

DattaGroover · Mar 26, 2016

PdxSteve said:
See this post on the previous page: Flashing Lights?

Got it

DattaGroover · Mar 26, 2016

DattaGroover said:
Thanks!
. . . and it might be a bit underpowered with 1A output. I'm on the road, so I'm not to where I can check the spec sheet of the strobe, but I think each strobe was almost 1A. Since that is a 10% of so of the time, it might be fine. For less than $10 there's not much to lose.

. . . and I could put in 2 to be safe.

PdxSteve · Mar 26, 2016

DattaGroover said:
. . . and I could put in 2 to be safe.

But the max output of the accessory bay is 1.1A
Accessory Bay | 3DR Solo Development Guide

12V to 16.8V. Maximum combined current off bus (pins 15 and 30) is 1.1A (fuse: 1812L110/24DR). Maximum combined power 18.5W.

I suppose you could spend $2 more and get a 2.2A regulator instead of the 1A I linked to earlier

Pololu 12V, 2.2A Step-Down Voltage Regulator D24V22F12

DattaGroover · Mar 26, 2016

PdxSteve said:
But the max output of the accessory bay is 1.1A
Accessory Bay | 3DR Solo Development Guide

I suppose you could spend $2 more and get a 2.2A regulator instead of the 1A I linked to earlier

Pololu 12V, 2.2A Step-Down Voltage Regulator D24V22F12

Didn't see that one. That would work. AND I'm not tapping off the accessory bay, anyway.

Acroduster · Mar 28, 2016

Got my regulator and strobe in Saturday. Still waiting on the accessory bay plug.

Made the mistake of lining up 4 AA batteries and holding the leads of the strobe to the ends. I saw spots in my vision for about 10 minutes after - and that was only 6V!