Align 450L Dominator night flying

[prokyon]

Hi guys,

I'm wondering what is some equipment that people use on their 450L for night flying. Is 450L too small to be modded?

It runs 360mm main and 68mm tail blades. I haven't found any 360mm main night fly blades, only these 325mm ones from Align:
http://www.heli-world.com/hs1242-ali...agnhs1242.html

So far it looks like my option is stick on LED lights for main blades and a bright light which lights up the tail rotor.

If anyone has a 450L already tricked out, please post some pics here.

[kavic5150]

Why not do some diy night blades? Supplies will end up costing $30 to $40 but that will cover many sets of blades.

Timtreo used to do night blades for folks on HF but hes been missing in action for quite some time now. And I think if you ask, there might be someone over on RCG that still does custom night blades.

As for off the shelf night tail blades I've only seen them for 550 size helis and up. And they use small button cell lithum batteries which just doesnt appeal to me. I like to work with the full 4.2v and minimal resistors, nice and bright so I can fly to the far side of the football field with no problems.

Those glow in the dark tail blades will easily get lost next to led strings, even with 2s lipos.

[prokyon]

I'm not sure how I feel about sticking something _onto_ the blades. Which spin. Fast. If something comes off at that speed, it's like a sling shot.

So what do you do for tail blades? Just wrap LED lights around the boom, put a nice bright light on the fin and call it done?

[LoveToFly1]

the light kits for blades will not come off with centrifugal force bud....no worries...way too many of they out there flying just fine for you to worry about that. you have to remember, the led's, and the copper tape weighs nearly nothing. something that doesn't weigh much, doesn't build up much energy when spinning.....

[prokyon]

Hmm, good point! Is it hard to learn how to make my own night blades?

Still doesn't solve the problem with tail blades... I was thinking of shining the light at the tail rotor for this.

[kavic5150]

The first time I made a set of night blades it wasnt hard at all. It was just awkward. What you really have to pay attention to is any unpainted parts of CF blades, usually the edges. These can be conductive and will need to be covered with good quality clear tape, not the dollar store variety.

Also the copper tape is a bit finicky to lay down. Start by applying one end near the blade root and hold that in place, stretching it a bit as you go and going over it with a fingernail or credit card as you apply it. Also it can be removed and re-stuck a bit to get the positioning just right.

If you want I can link a few of my old posts and provide some ebay links for all the supplies you'll need.

For 360mm blades I would recommend anywhere from 70mah to 130mah single cell lipos. 70mah is plenty if you want to keep the led count and weight down to the bare minimum. Check out the lipo dimensions too, the flatter the better. Those long single cell lipos for small helis arent so great as they would be awkward to apply IMO.

Also check out the DIY night blades sticky at the top of this section. Good stuff there but its a long thread.

When the blades are done you will need to either apply a bunch of small drops of CA to the leading edges of the copper tape as well as a few key spots, the switch if any, and the charge port.

[kavic5150]

Oh, and no worries about components flying off of diy night blades. I've never had any leds come off except when they've come in contact with trees and bushes.

I did have a set of wood night blades separate at the roots, but both blades were still illuminated. They just landed several meters apart.

[prokyon]

Alright, thanks!

What would you do for tail blades though? I'm paranoid about seeing the tail rotor...

[kavic5150]

Led strings on both sides of the rear stabilizer and on either side of the tail boom should be more than enough to see which way the tail is pointing. You could even use different colors on either side.

Those glow in the dark tail blades have a 5mm UV led shining on them to stay charged. And the problem with that is eventually it will be shining directly at you. It will not cause a loss of orientation but its distracting and bad for your eyes.

Also I've noticed that the bugs really like white, green, purple/UV and blue leds. But they will shy away from orange and red. Not that it matters much, bug guts will end up on your night blades regardless.

[prokyon]

Originally Posted by kavic5150

Led strings on both sides of the rear stabilizer and on either side of the tail boom should be more than enough to see which way the tail is pointing. You could even use different colors on either side.

Those glow in the dark tail blades have a 5mm UV led shining on them to stay charged. And the problem with that is eventually it will be shining directly at you. It will not cause a loss of orientation but its distracting and bad for your eyes.

Also I've noticed that the bugs really like white, green, purple/UV and blue leds. But they will shy away from orange and red. Not that it matters much, bug guts will end up on your night blades regardless.

Hahaha, bug guts, huh? OK, my blades will only have white, green, purple and blue LEDs then ;-) I'll be wiping blood from my blades after each flight, like Rambo (mosquitoes)