anyone !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

dont put 3S through 12V LEDs, its way too bright and will hurt your eyes

 

From what I hear use a separate battery for lights not off your rx... as the lights can short and you don't want to take out your electronics

 

600 or 700 sized heli , best size to see and have more blades available.
LED's from Hobby King $6 a meter
2 cell Lipo using ec3 or dens connectors

And have funn

 

Thanks to all

What type of connectors is everyone using between the canopy and frame to aid removal

 

Hey that makes sense @Manyc there is alot of carbon on an airframe and one small short could ruin your bird. This also gives me reasoning to suggest running two different circuits for LEDs incase one shorts/open cct.

Also having an electronics background - the more leds you run in series the higher voltage required to drive (also color makes a difference). So when you buy the LED strips do you buy them as 12v runs and parallel them up to the battery source?

Just curious..

 

from what I hear.. most people get the hobbyking strips.. can run at 3s.. but they run them at 2s... most run off I dedicated pack from what I read. I suppose if the lights short, would still have the main and tail blades to help land her...

 

2s 1500amh lipo is the go hobby king $6 LEDs
It's best to get your night blades in a combo battery & charger
and 2hrs to set it up then go fly it's great fun you must do it lol.

 

got all my parts for the gobby 630.. just need to get it working, then get the night blades... yeah baby!

 

Cool mate you will love night flying we always have a good time

 

I'm setting up an E7SE night rig. Definitely eager to fly her at night, I've wanted to do this for a long time. Got the Rotortech Aurora mains, Radix 106 night tails, and a pile of LEDs... all that's left is to put it all together!

 

Do's

- Spend time considering colour choices and layout
- Consider colour of your night blades and how that will contrast against the boom or canopy colours
- Plan your project in stages (stick all the LED strips in one go, do all the soldering as a separate stage)
- Use a separate dedicated battery (if you use your RX pack the LED strips will dim as your servos draw load from the RX battery)
- Consider future servicing of the tail gears and things like that. Use connectors (EC2, JST, Servo Plug, etc) to allow you to easily remove the boom
- Use night blades with replaceable batteries if possible (batteries dying INSIDE night blades will give you headaches)
- Test the night rig during the day, fly it, with all the lights on. If the lights magically "turn off" during the night it can be a tedious situation to deal with

Don'ts

- Don't run 3s unless you're using something like a Dalcon. If you are having ALL LEDS on ALL THE TIME, 2s is a better choice and it won't overpower your night blades and look like a blurry orb of light when high up / at a distance
- Don't try to make your own night tail blades
- Don't fly in very unfamiliar places, last thing you wanna do is hit a goal post with your precious rig
- Don't over complicate the setup, the KISS principal will give you the best results and most amount of enjoyment.

 

Good info Timmy.
Yes you can use a 3 cell battery provided you add a small brushed speedy to adjust the brightness according to your taste . Some even use a remote kill switch to turn the leds on and off, but this does not comply with the KISS principal.
To me the most important item is general lighting , wether it be a good flash light, lantern or even a cap light. Its very hard to even plug in batteries or start a nitro in pitch darkness!

 

Build started should be interesting when done

 

So what do people run for collective on their night setups? Looking at going 13 /13.5

 

Thinking of putting a simple "nav" light l.e.d. setup on Nano CPx.... Simple and light weight. The usual left/red right/green with a white up front for a "spot". If nothing else, this should help maintain correct orientation at a distance since Nano is hard to see anyway.