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zortness · 11-27-2013, 11:13 PM

Finally got my night time setup in the air for a quick test.

Pictures and Video here

*edit* Didn't know the amazon links would overwrite the text. Maybe someone should fix that in the thread preview =)

On each main blade:
100mAh battery
All LEDs and resistors are 1206 size
2x Blue on top
2x Red on bottom
4x 270 ohm resistors
3-pin micro server plug male, special female plug with loop from pin 1 to 3 to turn on lights

Batteries and plugs held on with double sided tape, then covered with heat shrink tubing.

On the tail:
6x Green LEDs
6x 270 ohm resistors
Copper tape
2-pin mini JST battery plug

The tail uses a 180mAh battery that I scavenged from a cheap coax heli, mounted under the receiver.

Pulls around a bit in the air, so I'll keep tweaking it, but pretty happy with the visibility so far.

Amazon and Ebay links:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Micro-1...item27daeba96b
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BXHXJD4/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008MX8WQ6/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ICY2H4/

rodo1268 · 11-28-2013, 04:10 AM

AWESOME!!!

kavic5150 · 11-28-2013, 08:59 AM

Nice job on the 250 size night blades. Not an easy task.

Did you weigh and balance them?

zortness · 11-28-2013, 10:55 AM

Thanks!

Yup, weighed and balanced. 15.9g for each of the main blades.A bit heavy for the 250, but I like this setup better than some of the other lighter attempts I made. First try was using CR1220 button cell batteries, but I could only power 2 LEDs, and not for a long time (pics attached). I might try to make a set of night blades for my Solo Pro 180 and v120d02s using the button cells.

kavic5150 · 11-28-2013, 11:20 AM

There are some mighty small lipos out there if you google hard enough. Like 20 or even 10mah. No need to use yesterdays tech and sling around the extra weight of button cells IMHO.

At least for main blades. Off the shelf night tail blades seem to use them for some reason.

Usman · 11-28-2013, 08:26 PM

That is really cool how you made your own setup. I plan on doing the same hopefully for my Blade4503D. Hopefully its not too tough

HankAz · 11-29-2013, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Usman

That is really cool how you made your own setup. I plan on doing the same hopefully for my Blade4503D. Hopefully its not too tough

You are in the right spot plenty of help here.

zortness · 11-29-2013, 04:16 PM

Any idea how to search for those smaller lipos? I haven't had much luck. I think the 100mAh would be more appropriate for a 450 than the 250.

Usman · 12-03-2013, 03:14 PM

Thanks, this certainly is the place. I might as well ask for a good set of night blades for my Blade4503D, can anyone come up with a good list of things I would need....like the right size components; lights-batteries, excertera? Thanks !

kavic5150 · 12-03-2013, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zortness

Any idea how to search for those smaller lipos? I haven't had much luck. I think the 100mAh would be more appropriate for a 450 than the 250.

I did some searching the other night but was unable to find 10 and 20mah single cell lipos. Jayconsystems no longer has them in stock.

Finding single cell 50mah and up is easy enough. On ebay just do a search for "3.7v lipo" or even "3.7v battery." From there just sort by price low to high.

Usman · 12-03-2013, 04:53 PM

Gotcha, then I would just use the components in the first post of this thread?

zortness · 01-05-2014, 10:59 PM

Just FYI. Had a crash the other night. While hovering inverted, the pinion gear spun on the shaft, moved up, shredded the main gear. Pretty instant loss of power and plowed into the grass.

It's likely due to the increased pressure put on the blades with these large batteries protruding from the top, exacerbated while inverted. I'm thinking the 100mah batteries I have on there are too large for this little guy to handle.

crizyal · 01-07-2014, 09:03 PM

Nice!

kavic5150 · 01-08-2014, 05:18 AM

I'm not so sure that a few extra grams near the root of a 250 would be a problem. Going from 100mah to 50mah cells will only save a couple of grams.

Guys flew the Gaui 200 with 5 blade heads and no upgrades except for the stock v1 esc which wasnt up to the task.

You might want to look into grinding a small flat spot on the motor shaft. I suspect there isnt one. The grub screw inside the motor pinion has a small sharpened cup which usually bites into whatever metal its tightened down on. But in the case of a hardened motor shaft all it does is flatten the end of the grub screw.

I would make a thread in the 250 helicopter section. Other Trex 250 owners would know better than me, I'm not familiar with that model.

zortness · 01-08-2014, 12:56 PM

Yea, there's no grub screw on the stock 250 pinion gear, it's a "glue-on" style. I will likely replace that entire setup soon, but I just wanted to throw this out there as a warning to the 250 night flyers.

I don't think it's the weight of the batteries, is the disturbance in the control surface on top of the blades, which is significant percentage wise to the size of the blades in these small helis and at these super high head speeds. I definitely noticed a drop in performance while inverted with the night blades on, but didn't think much of it until my gears stripped. Smaller batteries mean less surface area disturbance.

GravityJunkie · 01-09-2014, 07:50 AM

I agree with Zort. I have the perfect regulators kit with the 50mah batts. It's a fine kit, but I could notice a definite difference with the batts on the small blades of my Gaui X2. The lift has been cut down, it's noticeable to me in flight. There is no way I would go up in battery size.

11-27-2013, 11:13 PM	#1 (permalink)
zortness Registered Users Join Date: Jan 2011	T-Rex 250 Pro DFC setup Finally got my night time setup in the air for a quick test. Pictures and Video here edit Didn't know the amazon links would overwrite the text. Maybe someone should fix that in the thread preview =) On each main blade: 100mAh battery All LEDs and resistors are 1206 size 2x Blue on top 2x Red on bottom 4x 270 ohm resistors 3-pin micro server plug male, special female plug with loop from pin 1 to 3 to turn on lights Batteries and plugs held on with double sided tape, then covered with heat shrink tubing. On the tail: 6x Green LEDs 6x 270 ohm resistors Copper tape 2-pin mini JST battery plug The tail uses a 180mAh battery that I scavenged from a cheap coax heli, mounted under the receiver. Pulls around a bit in the air, so I'll keep tweaking it, but pretty happy with the visibility so far. Amazon and Ebay links: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Micro-1...item27daeba96b http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BXHXJD4/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008MX8WQ6/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ICY2H4/ Attached Thumbnails

11-28-2013, 10:55 AM	#4 (permalink)
zortness Registered Users Thread Starter Join Date: Jan 2011	Thanks! Yup, weighed and balanced. 15.9g for each of the main blades.A bit heavy for the 250, but I like this setup better than some of the other lighter attempts I made. First try was using CR1220 button cell batteries, but I could only power 2 LEDs, and not for a long time (pics attached). I might try to make a set of night blades for my Solo Pro 180 and v120d02s using the button cells. Attached Thumbnails

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11-28-2013, 04:10 AM	#2 (permalink)
rodo1268 Registered Users Join Date: Aug 2012	AWESOME!!!

11-28-2013, 08:59 AM	#3 (permalink)
kavic5150 Banned User Join Date: Jan 2010	Nice job on the 250 size night blades. Not an easy task. Did you weigh and balance them?

11-28-2013, 11:20 AM	#5 (permalink)
kavic5150 Banned User Join Date: Jan 2010	There are some mighty small lipos out there if you google hard enough. Like 20 or even 10mah. No need to use yesterdays tech and sling around the extra weight of button cells IMHO. At least for main blades. Off the shelf night tail blades seem to use them for some reason.

11-28-2013, 08:26 PM	#6 (permalink)
Usman Registered Users Join Date: Feb 2013	That is really cool how you made your own setup. I plan on doing the same hopefully for my Blade4503D. Hopefully its not too tough

11-29-2013, 04:16 PM	#8 (permalink)
zortness Registered Users Thread Starter Join Date: Jan 2011	Any idea how to search for those smaller lipos? I haven't had much luck. I think the 100mAh would be more appropriate for a 450 than the 250.

12-03-2013, 03:14 PM	#9 (permalink)
Usman Registered Users Join Date: Feb 2013	Thanks, this certainly is the place. I might as well ask for a good set of night blades for my Blade4503D, can anyone come up with a good list of things I would need....like the right size components; lights-batteries, excertera? Thanks !

12-03-2013, 04:53 PM	#11 (permalink)
Usman Registered Users Join Date: Feb 2013	Gotcha, then I would just use the components in the first post of this thread?

01-05-2014, 10:59 PM	#12 (permalink)
zortness Registered Users Thread Starter Join Date: Jan 2011	Just FYI. Had a crash the other night. While hovering inverted, the pinion gear spun on the shaft, moved up, shredded the main gear. Pretty instant loss of power and plowed into the grass. It's likely due to the increased pressure put on the blades with these large batteries protruding from the top, exacerbated while inverted. I'm thinking the 100mah batteries I have on there are too large for this little guy to handle.

01-07-2014, 09:03 PM	#13 (permalink)
crizyal Registered Users Join Date: Feb 2012	Nice!

01-08-2014, 05:18 AM	#14 (permalink)
kavic5150 Banned User Join Date: Jan 2010	I'm not so sure that a few extra grams near the root of a 250 would be a problem. Going from 100mah to 50mah cells will only save a couple of grams. Guys flew the Gaui 200 with 5 blade heads and no upgrades except for the stock v1 esc which wasnt up to the task. You might want to look into grinding a small flat spot on the motor shaft. I suspect there isnt one. The grub screw inside the motor pinion has a small sharpened cup which usually bites into whatever metal its tightened down on. But in the case of a hardened motor shaft all it does is flatten the end of the grub screw. I would make a thread in the 250 helicopter section. Other Trex 250 owners would know better than me, I'm not familiar with that model.

01-08-2014, 12:56 PM	#15 (permalink)
zortness Registered Users Thread Starter Join Date: Jan 2011	Yea, there's no grub screw on the stock 250 pinion gear, it's a "glue-on" style. I will likely replace that entire setup soon, but I just wanted to throw this out there as a warning to the 250 night flyers. I don't think it's the weight of the batteries, is the disturbance in the control surface on top of the blades, which is significant percentage wise to the size of the blades in these small helis and at these super high head speeds. I definitely noticed a drop in performance while inverted with the night blades on, but didn't think much of it until my gears stripped. Smaller batteries mean less surface area disturbance.

01-09-2014, 07:50 AM	#16 (permalink)
GravityJunkie Registered Users Join Date: Sep 2010	I agree with Zort. I have the perfect regulators kit with the 50mah batts. It's a fine kit, but I could notice a definite difference with the batts on the small blades of my Gaui X2. The lift has been cut down, it's noticeable to me in flight. There is no way I would go up in battery size.

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