DIY Night blades

[SlowWhite]

710 V-Blades - and so far I've ordered the COPPER Tape, and the 1S 80MAH batteries that Mudbogger said to use. - wasn't able to fine 1/16th tape only the 1/8th which (it's been a while) but if I split that in half isnt' that 1/16th?

I just need to find the Shrink Wrap and which LED's to use. The website Mudbogger listed the min order quantity is 3000.

On my link here: which ones do I use Mudbogger said "0603" -" 0805" in his post but are the ones in Fig2 and Fig3 the ones he's talking about here?
http://onlinecatalog.digikey.com/Web...kCode=dik08flx# (page 2560)

[SlowWhite]

Going to a larger LED?

Spec wise at www.Kingbrightusa.com going from the 0805 LED (2.0mmx 1.2mm) to a
1208 LED (3.0mmx2.0mm) doesn't seem like much of a difference

At least for me - I'm looking to use White for the most part - with Blue

But out of all the different ones can someone explain or tell me exactly which ones to use.. I ready that the Higher the MCD the brighter is it? but how does that effect the power drain? I'm by all means a noob at electrical terms, etc so plain english would be awesome.

[flyinfool]

You need to look at the data sheets for the LED.
On the data sheet will be listed the mcd (brightness) the voltage range and the current draw.
The current draw in ma (mili Amp) tells you how much power it draws.
You can have a LED that gives 10 mcd at 20 ma or 1000mcd and still only 20ma.

For 710 blades I would use more than an 80mAh battery.
If you use 4 LEDs that draw 20ma each that will give you a draw of 80ma.
Since you only want to use a max of 80% of the battery capacity that means that you can have a max of 48 minutes of on time.
Depending on how efficient you are at getting everything turned on, the heli started, walk out to the flight line, do your flight, walk back to your pit, and get everything turned off, it is easy to have 15 minutes of on time per flight. That would give you 3 flights per charge.
If you use more than 4 LEDs per blade your time goes down.

As far as the size of the LED, that also in not related to either brightness or current draw. Ya I know, that just makes it more confusing.
Since you are not well experienced with electronics I assume that you are also not real skilled at soldering components. Because of that I would recommend that you stick with the bigger LEDs, like the 1208. I am very good at soldering and have a very expensive weller soldering station with the smallest tip available and still had a hard time with the really tiny LEDs (1.0mmx0.5mmx0.5mm). Not to mention that I could not even see it with my naked eyes. Ya I know I'm old, and the wolves are after me....

I hope I didn't just confuse you too bad


As far as the copper tape is concerned.
I just got an email from GC Electronics which is the only company that I have been able to find that made the 1/16 wide tape. They have discontinued it. 1/8 is now the thinest that they make.

[SlowWhite]

Flying fool thanks for your help - I am pretty good at soldering after working on my Xerogear lay out over 2 weeks spending about 4hrs a day soldering.

as for LED's I came across this one on www.kingbrightusa.com website it's a weird one and I'm thinking the light points sideways and not up, still has a viewing angle of 120

But if I'm reading it right has an MCD Rating of 1200 and still only 20mah
It's under there PLCC2 - There part number is AA2810RWS/Z

also is there anything wrong with notching out the tips side of the blades and resessing the LED's in the blade?

or how about this part # - APTK2012RWC/Z-F01

[SlowWhite]

This maybe bad idea but i have a bunch of Xerogear that I've recked either during a crash or testing, and I can unsolder the Led's off the strips, Which gives me Green, Red, Blue, or Amber colors already,

and after my first attempt I realized that they must have a resistor in line cause a straight 2S 800mah 22C pack no resitor burned up a blue Led in 3 seconds.

So my question is when soldering in a resistor does one end have to touch the LEd or just so long as it's in line someplace it'll work. and will a 1S pack not require a resistor?

[flyinfool]

A 2S 800mah 22C pack no resistor????
I am surprised that the LED lasted as LONG as 3 seconds.
Typically you need about a 25 ohm resistor with a 1S pack for a blue LED.

The resistor can be anywhere in line.

You are right the AA2810RWS/Z does have the light come out the side.
It looks like you can still use them on the blades and still point the light straight up.
Just make sure you glue them down.

I would not try to notch the blades, the raw edges of carbon are conductive and you may have issues with shorting if you are not real careful.

[SlowWhite]

I was out today flying with out Night Blades and am really happy I put in a 2nd battery for the rear section of th heli (1 battery for tail/half skids, other for canopy and other half skids) cause my front battery came un-velcro'd and shut off the front sections.

But man I really love night flying, as far as conductiveness what can i do to help prevent this, I'm making my night blades out of a set of V-Blades and I've read and heard they aren't good unless you can do something to stop the Conductiveness of them.

As always really appreciate all the imput, and time everyone is taking to answer all my questions.

[flyinfool]

On my TT blades the carbon area was also conductive, the white tips and root were fine.
I sanded them lightly with 400 wet just to get rid of the gloss and then gave them a light clear coat to insulate them.

Redundancy of power for lights on a night ship is a good thing. My last night ship had 13 circuits of light each with its own battery. It ended up as a 10+ lb R50. It was not uncommon to lose one or 2 lights in a flight, but I rarely noticed it till after I landed. The new night ship that I am working on will have a few less batteries but a lot more lights.

[SlowWhite]

do you have to sand the whole area where you are building (ie: copper wire, battery, LED) or just under where the LED is going?

[SlowWhite]

I got my Copper tape in today it's was the last roll of 1/8th inch Fry's electronics had in stock. It said 6 feet,

But after I got started on my blades I was only able to cover 1 side and the battery extensions. And I ran out of tape... anyway to cheat on the negative side?

[SlowWhite]

I just wanted to pass on that if you have any old Xerogear LED strands you can de-solder the LED's from there strips and use them for DIY night blades.

Using 1Sx80MAH 15C pack I had 1 blue LED on for 5 minutes with no signs of issues and I wasn't running any resistor.

I also just checked the brightness The 1 LED on 1S with out a resistor is the same brightness as my Xerogear strips on 3S packs.

Which is awesome cause I wanted my night blades to be the same brightness as the rest of my LED kit.

[flyinfool]

Yes you can run the blue LEDs direct from a 1S LiPo.
Where you get into trouble is that the Led is rated for 3.3 to 3.7V, and will draw the advertised 20mA at 3.5V. A LiPo fresh off the charger is 4.2V. At 4.2V the one led can draw around 65mA, and at the 3.7V nominal, you will draw around 35mA.
Now if you use 5 of these with no resistors that is 325mA at the starting voltage of 4.2 and 175mA at the nominal of 3.7V.
With those kinds of current draws, you will not hurt your 15C cell, but you will have very short battery life and may have to charge after every flight.

[flyinfool]

You need to get more tape.
Do you have a pic of how you managed to use up 6' of tape on one side of a blade.
It should take about 1.5 rolls for a whole blade set.

You do not need or want to sand the blade to put down the tape and LED.
When you sand the blade the carbon can get exposed an make the blade surface MORE conductive.
I sanded mine as prep for a clear coat to make the surface NONconductive.

[flyinfool]

I kind of had this info buried in an earlier post and though I would make it its own post.

I have noticed that it is getting harder to find places with the copper tape in stock, so I contacted GC Electronics, the maker of the copper tape.

P/N 22-507 which is the 1/16 wide copper tape, has been discontinued with NO replacement available or expected.

P/N 22-509 which is the 1/8 wide x 6 feet long, copper tape, has been discontinued. they will have a replacement available for this which will be P/N 22-511 and will be 1/8 wide x 20 feet long. This new P/N is not yet available, they are waiting for all stock of the old P/N to be used up out of the system before bringing out the new.

There are several manufacturers of the 1/8 wide or wider tape, but GC was the only brand of 1/16 wide cooper tape that I was ever able to find.

So, if you like the 1/16 wide copper tape and spot some in stock, snag it quick cuz when it is gone it is gone forever. If you want to use 1/16 wide you will have to get out the straight edge and exacto knife and slice it down yourself.

[SlowWhite]

I found a place that had 3 rolls of the GC 1/8th tape late last night so I bought up there inventory of it.

Also i didn't use all 6' on one blade I was doing both at the same time, I am trying my very best to use the same length's of wire, exact same placements of pieces, and same amount of solder to hopefully less'n my work when it comes to balancing the blades.

Sofar I have 2x Blue LED's on each blade, and all the positive wire ran for both blades, I also have the connectors installed.

Basically the only things left are to run the negative wires out the connector's to the LED's. And then heat shrink them, however I still haven't found a place that sells that large of Heat Shrink. I contacted the Hobby shop in Tenn. But it's a holiday and I'm sure I won't get a responce till monday.

FYI - I used the connectors out of my crashed set of MS-Composit Night Blades in the hopes the charger that comes with them will work (since it was for a 1 cell watch type Lipo battery) so far seems to be working I have it on the charger now.

I'm hoping there isn't something wrong with 1 of my batteries as 1 was always able to light up the LED's where as the other never seemed like it had a charge.

but if it doesn't work I'll just replace it with a larger MAH pack - have any websites that are 1S but larger MAH?

[SlowWhite]

I came across this website for single Cell batteries thought I'd pass it along - they also carry shrink wrap in the size needed. Only thing I'm seeing is something about certifications? anyone know what that's about

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...S&Category=489


And they even sell chargers, 1S packs up to 9000mah - but like always I know nothing about "C" ratings, inputs, outputs, etc. So help from a more knowledgable person on which packs to go with would be greatly appreciated.

I want to use 3 LED's on each blade - 2 blue LED's for the main disk and then a White LED for the underside, or possibly 2 whites, and 1 blue, won't know which till the white LED's get here and I can start testing, etc.

[Finless]

Also check these little watch or hearing aid rechargables....

Check here.... these recharge-ables are just coming out.
I tore a set of dead Align night blades apart and found a watch battery that was lion and said rechargeable... So you could use the Align blade charger too!

http://shopping.microbattery.com/Rec...eries-Chargers

http://shopping.microbattery.com/Pow...category=15559



Bob

[flyinfool]

Bob those are interesting but the biggest one is only 30mAh, that will not last very long with a couple of LEDs, and you will need 3 of them per blade.

PowerOne Accu plus Ni-MH Rechargeable Hearing Aid Battery Size 13, 1.2V 30mAh, 2 batteries. $39.95.

The cells that I am using are from http://www.batteriesamerica.com/newpage8.htm
P/N LP452030P6H 200 mAh

[SlowWhite]

I thought the ones that Bob posted would be great for a set of Tail Blades. using only 1 LED or something.

Also wanted to pass on as far as Shrink Wrap Goes - tower Hobbies has Shrink Wrap for Batteries, I bought the "Parma 2.5" " - still waiting on my order of Copper Tape to show up - UPS says it'll be here Monday.

Was out last night flying and for the first time I actually had some issues with orientation. I put on 2 more feet of Amber on the tail and test flew it last week or the week before but wasn't fully dark (bright moon, and a building next door had there lights on) and didn't have any issues - however last night was out about 9:30 and it was pitch black. It was almost as if the tail was now too bright.

I'm still not flying night blades only the Xerogear and glow sticks for now. Any idea's? hopeing with night blades it'll help with orientation. But the orienation wasn't which way the heli was upright or inverted, was just which way it was heading. Kind of more like instead of North to South it's like SW or NE kind of thing not exactly 100% the direction I was thinking it was going.

[flyinfool]

The blades do help a lot with orientation.
Make sure that the front and back of the heli are different colors so that you can tell what direction it is pointing. Same for top and bottom, but the top and bottom colors are usually handled on the main blades.