DIY Night blades

[SlowWhite]

FlyingFool - I want to try a resistor but not sure what size and what kind to get?

can I just put one in say on the Possitive side so it hits all 4 LEDs? if I can do just that then what size ohm, etc and what kind do you recommend?

[flyinfool]

The xerogear resistors will be to much resistance.
The xerogear resistors are sized to drop 12V down to the 3.5V that the LED needs and you only need to drop 3.7V down to 3.5V. The xerogear resistors will most likely be very dim.

With the correct resistor there is very little difference in brightness between a resistor and no resistor but the current draw drops dramatically.

I used DigiKey P/N RHM27.0CRCT-ND, it is a 27Ω, 1/8W, 0805 case, super cheap price. $4.33 gets 200 resistors (lifetime supply?) of them, (sorry I already sold off my surplus to other blade builders) Use one for each LED.

You could use just one resistor in the power line, I looked into doing that on mine, but I could not find the correct value to make the whole thing work right and did not feel like messing with a variable resistor that could move or fail in flight. It was much cheaper, faster, and easier to just do it right with individual resistors for each LED.

It does not matter if the resistor is on the positive or the negative side of the LED.

[SlowWhite]

do you have picts of your blades and resistors? just curious how you did yours

[flyinfool]

Here are some pics of my blades.
The tip LED is a T1 size leaded LED, reinforced with JB Weld.
The rest of the LEDs are set up with 3 on each side of the blade and the resistor for each LED is on the opposite side of the blade from the LED.

The LEDs are still so bright that I can not get my camera to focus on them.

I hope this helps.

[SlowWhite]

did you glue the resistors down after you soldered them?

[flyinfool]

Yes
I soldered them first, then cleaned all of the flux off, then hit them with a drop of medium CA.

[EatMorePizza]

absolutely awesome. i want to do that. thanks!

btw get the lipo from here. i used these single cell lipo for little motorized boats. there 2 dollars each!

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s..._single_cell__

[mikebilyk]

im looking for some copper tape, anyone know where i can get ahold of some?

FYI dont order from oselectronics.com/

I ordered 6 rolls of copper tape from them almost 2 months ago and have heard nothing from them, with no response to emails or phone calls.

[Pinion]

Go to any big chain craft store and go to the stained glass section. I bought a roll 18 yards long and 1/4 inch wide for $7 bucks. The copper tape is easy to cut with scissors into thin strips.
I got the final pieces in today to finish my night blades so I hope to finish them up tomorrow and fly them tomorrow night....

[marked23]

http://www.electronix.com
This place has 1/16" stuff.

Edit: They fixed their shipping costs issue after an email from me. ...A hopeful harbinger of good service.

[Pinion]

Finished my night blades... Using 100 mah bats and three led's on each blade. Blue, Red, Green (leds removed from some xerogear light strips)
with one 18 ohm resistor on each blade. I am getting 80 minutes with 30% left on the pack.

They look great with my xerogear lighted fuselage. Many times brighter than the align blades I bought for my Trex 450.....

[SlowWhite]

here is a video of my Night Blades (used Xerogear's Blue LED'sx4 per blade, and 1 white LED from kingbright per blade)

the rest is all Xerogear Kit.

MOV032 (2 min 0 sec)

[jrlederer]

that is definitely the brightest night setup I've seen yet. what kind of extra battery are you using to power that animal?

[SlowWhite]

I have 2 Gaui 3S 800mah packs. 1 for the canopy and skids and 1 for the tail boom.

17feet of Xerogear LED"S plus 4 LED's on each main blade.

Tested it out at Joe Nall get at least an hour of Lite Time on the 3S batteries and 40 minutes currently on the main blades however I was out 2 weekends ago for over 3hrs just turning them on right before a flight and after the flight.

[Jill74]

Good set up SlowWhite! i agree with jrlederer.









_________________________________

ToYs FoR ThE BiG MeN

[micks70]

This is my set up Trex 600 Nitro. This is all Xerogear but the tail blades.

Mick's Excellent Night Time Adventure (5 min 22 sec)

[flyinfool]

Well I finally flew my DIY blades. (sorry no pics or vid, yet)
WOW, they are so bright that whenever the blades were between me and the rest of the heli, I could not see the heli clearly. Lost orentation a couple of times because of it. My heli WAS known as one of the brightest ever seen at our field, it is just that the blades made it look very dim.
I guess that that makes it time to brighten up the rest of the heli and see if I can blind someone other than me.

Time to order a lot more LEDs for the rest of the ship.

[SlowWhite]

micks70 - looking good! hope I'll see ya at black sheep this year.

[Timberwolf]

Originally Posted by marked23

http://www.electronix.com
This place has 1/16" stuff.

Edit: They fixed their shipping costs issue after an email from me. ...A hopeful harbinger of good service.

great job finding more of the 1/16 wide tape, They do have it. I ordered 6 rolls!!!. Can't wait to get started making my night flyer!!!
have to get my LED's and shrink wrap and batteries yet, but its a start!!!
hope to be flying with the SWARM guys nest year at IRCHA, what a blast it was.

[gerard_nl]

Originally Posted by gerard_nl

did a simular job for kicks last year on 50 sized woodys (just to try the concept)

works fine





held up fine @ 1950 rpm and mild 3d stuff.

never found the time to do it on carbons.

ps i found the use of many colours bas for orientation in the air.
would go for 2 clusters up, 2 down, in 2 colours next time.