Replace gopro with spotlight

[Slozukimc]

Hey All. I have several drones that have gopro compatible gimbals. I want to mount an led spotlight in place of the camera. Anyone here done that? If so what light did you use? I am thinking about an led array mounted in a 3d printed frame the size of the gopro.

Thoughts?? I have searched the web and anything I find is crazy expensive.

Thanks, Mike

 

[jonbrotherton]

Hey All. I have several drones that have gopro compatible gimbals. I want to mount an led spotlight in place of the camera. Anyone here done that? If so what light did you use? I am thinking about an led array mounted in a 3d printed frame the size of the gopro.

Thoughts?? I have searched the web and anything I find is crazy expensive.

Thanks, Mike

It might be better to mount the light on a one axis tilt. The gimbal is pretty heavy and would need to be balanced just right.

There are 3d printable camera tilts on thingiverse that would work.

 

[Slozukimc]

It might be better to mount the light on a one axis tilt. The gimbal is pretty heavy and would need to be balanced just right.

There are 3d printable camera tilts on thingiverse that would work.

I will resort to that if I have to. I really want the option of keeping the drone still and controlling the spotlight with a slave controller. The light doesn’t need to be super bright. Bright enough to illuminate the area in front of the drone so I can see where it is going on the fpv cam.

 

[jonbrotherton]

I will resort to that if I have to. I really want the option of keeping the drone still and controlling the spotlight with a slave controller. The light doesn’t need to be super bright. Bright enough to illuminate the area in front of the drone so I can see where it is going on the fpv cam.

You could control the tilt angle with the Solo controller. This one connects to the Solo static mount. Servo Tilt GoPro style mount

 

[Slozukimc]

You could control the tilt angle with the Solo controller. This one connects to the Solo static mount. Servo Tilt GoPro style mount

Not using a Solo. I have a 3DR Y6 I want to use.

 

[jonbrotherton]

Not using a Solo. I have a 3DR Y6 I want to use.

Ah I assumed Solo. Still a Servo Pan/Tilt would be cheap and strong enough to handle a mountable flashlight. I like your idea of a GoPro shaped flashlight too but it seems like a lot more trial and error lol.

 

[Slozukimc]

Ah I assumed Solo. Still a Servo Pan/Tilt would be cheap and strong enough to handle a mountable flashlight. I like your idea of a GoPro shaped flashlight too but it seems like a lot more trial and error lol.

I have a cheap, off brand gimbal on my X8 that is getting replaced with the proper Tarot model so I have one to experiment with. I do have a couple Solo gimbals I could play with. I am picturing just the lens and led along with a heat sink mounted on the gimbal with a battery mounted to the chassis of the drone. Now to find the time to learn how to work the 3d printer. Lol

 

[Frank Foster]

Neat idea. How are you going to power the light? With a scale, and trial and error, you could get pretty close to the same balance, etc. as the Go Pro. Keep us posted

 

[Slozukimc]

Neat idea. How are you going to power the light? With a scale, and trial and error, you could get pretty close to the same balance, etc. as the Go Pro. Keep us posted

I will power it with a battery strapped to the drone chassis. I can then plug it in after the gimbal does it’s startup and save weight on the gimbal. Maybe starting out with a broken camera gutted out might be my best option.