DIY Night blades

[mudbogger2]

Once you have the led's mounted be sure to test the led's. I usually test each one as I go. Don't forget to solder each jopint where the copper circuit tape meets!

If everything is working put the heat shrink over the battery. Cut out a hole for the connector and balance the blades.

[mudbogger2]

Now you can use the male deans connectors as on/off jumpers. Also get another one to make up a charge lead. Test out in the daytime then have fun with your new night blades!

[Raven_darkcloud]

My first attempt is done. I replaced the deans with sip (single inline package) sockets to fit standard chargers and connectors. the cell is a 220 mah from my lhs. just slightly larger then the 90mah fall river cells. you can get the sip sockets at digikey they come as a strip that has scoring to pop off the length you want. I have extra if some one wants a pair or 2 for night blades. I got the leds from lsdiodes.com I now have planes to use some of this stuff for scale lighting so I will be ordering more diodes.

[siavreg]

I just want to make sure I do this right, the resistors go on all the lights. Its hard to see in everyones pics how this is done. Can someone post a close up of the resistor and how its soldered?
Thanks

[mudbogger2]

You only need a resistor if you use a red colored led. The White, blue and green led's do not require a resistor.

Just solder the resistor inline with the led on the power side if you use a red led. Also be sure to use some CA on the resistor to make sure it stays put.

[siavreg]

Thanks

[iflymyhelishigh]

can i do this on my 450 woodies

[mudbogger2]

Yes you can!
A smaller battery is better. 45-50 mah works well. Only use 2-3 led's.
Some have built the led's into the wood for a cleaner look.

[cdrking]

I have tried a couple of different types of these DIY blades and found that too many lights is not the way to go. It is too distracting inflight to have several BRIGHT lights spinning around. Keeping it simple is the way to go IMO.

Also are you guys checking spanwise AND chordwise CG when building these blades?

Thanks,

Jeff

[siavreg]

I didn't check chord balance just overall balance and they fly perfect. Not saying this is the right way to do it but they seem to fly fine for me.

[derekandjennys]

Now how about turning them on and off during flight?

[chris6414]

Turning on and off the tip lights require a slip ring for a spinning contact. too complicated if you ask me.

[SB]

Originally Posted by chris6414

Turning on and off the tip lights require a slip ring for a spinning contact. too complicated if you ask me.

That is one way, but that requires a bit of mechanical work.
i built a wireless connection to my blades, its short range from the swash plate it reaches about 3 inches, works like a dream, and there is plenty of power in the LiPo on my blades to run the little micro controller!!!!

[chris6414]

That sounds like the way to go. I am trying this with some 550MM Mains for my Hawk Sport and have the 5MM bright clear LEDS. I'm only using them because I have a bag of them and I am using some old phone chord wire which I guess is like 32 gauge maybe. I stripped the covering off to inspect the blades because they came with the helo and looked used. The blades look solid and they will need the epoxy under the blade root caps anyway. I drilled some tiny LED lead holes in the end of the blades. The round shape of the LED should not have too much effect of the aerodynamics of the blade. I plan to mount a 60MAH LiPo to power each Led and will color the top red and leave the bottom clear for orientation. I agree with using few LEDS as required. I have been flying at twightlight allot lately and I have nav lights on my canopy and red belly and tail flashers and a three LED spotlight under the chin. I can almost fly it this way until full darkness but without seeing the blades I sometimes feel like I am slipping into vertigo. I also made a rotating beacon with a slip ring(lead) style design with an LED Ca'd to the top of an ole Coax servo motor with the planetary gearbox on top. It has good scale spin speed and can be seen way out there. It is switchable with a pico switch from ch 7 and powered by the coax's ols 2S battery. came out pretty good but it really needs blade tip lights and any more light would be clutter. I may even take off the flashers but it looks so cool when I come in and hover taxi with the lights on and spot lights up the smoke.. Wish me luck

[jackheli]

After much consideration and going through several different brands of blades that did not perform I decided to make my own.

I couldn't find 1/16" copper tape so I had to cut strips from a wider reel. I couldn't find the SMD resistors locally either, so I settled for what I had. I used four pins on the connector instead of three so I could polarize the wires. I also made some cool switches from pcb dip-switches.

Here are some pictures... The only issue I have is that current draw is too high for the sum of the currents of the LEDs. Maybe the carbon v-blades are conducting and adding to the load? With 340mAH batteries I get about 15 minutes of time. I measured draw and it is at around 400mA, which doesn't make any sense. Maybe v-blades are not suitable for this project? Not sure what to do since the option would be to start all over... Guess I'll have to recharge between flights...

[jackheli]

Well, flew them today. THESE BLADES ROCK!

Super visible and awesome tracking, etc. etc.

No problem with the battery either. Got a lot of flights on one charge, no problem.

Using white LEDs on the bottom was a great idea. Helps a lot in seeing the ground.

YEAH

One tip, though: line up your header connector with the edge of the blade. Don't let it sticking out. Figure how I found out?

[flyinfool]

Nice job, looks good.

Yes some carbon blades are conductive on the surface of the blade.
Some copper tape has a conductive adhesive and some has a non conductive adhesive.

I was going to use all 1/8 wide tape since that is all I can find.
I don't know if I have the patients to strip it down to 1/16.

I am about to start building a set and the surface of my blades are conductive, so I will clear coat them before I start.
I am debating doing another clear coat after just to protect things.
With the high humidity that we have hear the blades will be getting wet every night out.

[jackheli]

Watch out not to get the blades too heavy with all that coating. What brand are you using? I will be nice to compile a list of blades that are conductive on the surface.

I was thinking of replacing the copper tape with 30AWG wire that could be gooped to the blades and then coated. The insulation melts fairly easily with the application of the solder iron tip so soldering the LEDs should be a breeze. Using some insulation tape under the LEDs should isolate everything pretty nicely...

[flyinfool]

The clear coat should not add more than a couple of grams.
I just need enough to seal the surface.
I am using an old set of TT carbons.
When I put the probes from my ohm meter on the surface in the carbon area it shows very low resistance, Over the white area is showing open, so I only need to clear the carbon areas.

As for the water proofing at the end, I plan to use an airbrush and just use enough clear to do the job.
So neither clear coat will cover the whole blade.

Hmmmm......
I suppose that I could just put the first clear coat down with the air brush, just where needed, to save a little more weight. But I think the copper will weigh more than the clear either way.

[jackheli]

Show us your work once it is done