Lighting For Your Heli

[helihathnofury]

Guys, don't know how many of you would be interested, but I was doing some searching for lighting for my H-Rex. Specifically, I wanted a single flashing white high brightness LED for under my heli to assist seing it in low light levels and dark backgrounds. I came across this site
http://www.lightingforaeromodellers.co.uk/

The guy who runs it, Ross Mansell, is most helpful and will basically make up anything you want. There is a very comprehensive stock of miscellaneous lighting available.

Mike

[mnwizard]

Nice stuff! Unfortunately he doesn't ship to the US.

[Heli Yea!]

[Salamander]

Hi Guys,

One of the reasons that I do not ship to the US is the cost of postage/insurance. It really is expensive and very often exceeds the cost of the goods!! Fedex/USPS/DHL etc are even worse than Royal Mail/USPS. Postage charges bug me as do those people who charge a handling fee!! - heck..they charge for goods/post and charge extra for stuffing it in a packet!! (and we have not even discussed the currency differences!!) . I recently stopped importing from Germany due the very poor exchange rate of the £ and the €uro - and the German postal rates to the UK are quite expensive at the best of times!!

I feel quite sure that a really diligent search in the US will bring some excellent lighting for your models . . remember...high MCD (millicandella) ratings do not necessarily mean wide angles of view..YOU NEED HIGH MCD AND WIDE ANGLE ( 30 degs plus) and remember.,.a lot of people sell lighting and few know what the technicalities of various optoelectrics are. . .they just sell them . .you buy them.. & from then on your on your own!.

HIGH POWER lighting devices may well need a heatsink which usually will be too big to use on a model . . no heatsink=hotship=fire and whatever you do..never plug HIGH POWER TYPES into your receiver..they sometimes consume 350 milliamps to 1 amp!! (1000milliamps) from a battery supply!

. . . Last of all..some lights including standard types have a built in lens that focuses the light..it can cause bad irritation of the eyes if directly looked into from less than 6 feet and HIGH POWER TYPES are so intense they will harm the eyes without a focussing lens So..beware!

A HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

Ross M
Lighting for Aeromodellers (UK)

[Heli Yea!]

Thanks for the tips Sallamander!

[skunkworx]

There's a guy I met in CA that has the scale heli lights for his helis. I think that may be what you're looking for. I'll see if I can dig up his info. Also, you might try checking out Xerogear. You can cut them down to 2" lengths and wrap them around parts of the heli. Super-low drain and stupid easy setup! Trust me, you won't have any trouble spotting these things.

[mnwizard]

Interesting info, thanks Ross!

[Salamander]

Last tip for lighting this year!

If soldering wires/resistors to LEDS..hold the Led upside down and firmly, by sticking the business end of the lighting device down into a lump of Blue Tack (TM). It leaves the legs of the Led in the air and you can use just two hands..not three as is usually requiredand if the legs of the device are too long for the position you are mounting it..then ONLY cut the positive leg first (USUALLY the longest leg -) and join the wire AND THEN cut the neg lead and join on the wire AND do not forget to insulate the joints with 1.5mm diameter heatshrink (ok then..1/8th or 3/16ths).

. . . .and so to bed..the man in red will be here soon.

Happy Christmas! (Again)

[Ian 777]

Thanks Ross I was just fumbling around with 'three hands' this very night, fitting my lipo saver, wish I had read this first

Merry Christmas