[sm=idea.gif]Maintaining Day/Night Orientation with Navigation Lights

I noticed that maintaining orientation of the Draganflyer was mentioned several times in this thread. That is one of the first issues that I encountered when my helo was around 25 ft+ horizontally or vertically (when not directly overhead) from me. I didn't know if I was coming or going. So, the first thing I did was to attach navigation lights, an LED strobe to the tail, a nose light to the front and two wing lights. I actually learned how to fly this helo at night because of these lights. As if it wasn't hard enough in the daytime, right? So I fly much better at night because of the ease of navigation with these lights. You can't even see the frame but the lights are very bright. As for day flying, I have found that green and/or deep blue is/are the best color(s) to use for bright days because it contrasts the best with the blue sky when your helo is 300 ft+ horizontally or vertically (not necessarilly directly overhead either) away from you. If you want to fly 300+ feet horizontally I would definitely recommend using wing lights in addition to the nose light to have 3 staring at you when you're nose in. There's no mistaking where the nose is when using these lights. These things are so bright at night, anyone who didn't know the scale of the helo would think that a full size plane was on approach at a distance when looking at it. Once again, in daylight, green and deep blue are also great to have as nav lights for the nose firing straight down when at altitudes of 500+ ft with a tail strobe. I currently use 2 nose lights (blue & green), two wing lights (white), a tail strobe (white), port (red), starboard (green). It truly looks like a UFO when flying at night. I was flying in some dense fog in an open field about 3 weeks ago and all of these different colored light beams cutting through it was really a sight. I am currently making a custom wiring harness and separate power supply (4 rechargeable Lipoly button cells) for 4 more white landing lights that will fire straight down and be controlled from my transmitter as needed. These super bright LEDs can be bought at a custom RC light provider or most outfitter type stores like REI. If you go with the keychain lights, make sure to get the ones with a built in switch so they will constantly burn. Ultimately, the custom lights and harnesses are the way to go because of the varations of colors and SFX that they offer like multi-colored strobes, etc.. They are a bit more expensive but are worth it! I have sent my helo to at least 1000 ft on a very calm night and was able to see the lights only, predominantly the strobe. It was so high that I couldn't even hear it in the dead of night. Of course the more lights you have the more visible your helo will be in day or night but especially at night. Another cool idea that I'm going to try at night is to put LEDs firing up under the rotors. The existing lights already partially illuminate the underside of the rotors so I can't imagine what a direct light would look like! I wonder if a phosphorous component could be mixed with the PVC when rotors are made. This would produce glow in the dark rotors. Maybe glow in the dark film, laminate or decals would be easier.

One thing that I have noticed with some other LED setups that I have seen in this thread is that the lights are mounted on the motor arms behind the motors! That does you absolutely no good because you're not getting the full intensity of the LED beam as with a head on orientation. The solution is to simply put the nose light either on the front strut or hang it below or to the side of the motor. The wing lights need to be mounted to the frame facing forward or at least hanging down below the motors to be visible from the side. I guarantee the difference is like night and day! One other note, I would not recommend tapping into the DF power supply for two reasons. The first is that you will reduce flight time no matter how minimal. The second is that if the light circuit fails and you are flying at night, uh, you are screwed!! If flying at night and you are at a high altitude, a considerable horizontal distance and/or over trees, etc., you will more than likely never see your bird again. But with an independent light circuit they will stay on even up in the trees after the fuse blows from jammed rotors. Been there!! If it wasn't for the LEDs, I never would have found my helo!

Night Flight Nav Lights Demo Videos
[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/NIGHTFLIGHTLIGHTS.asx]Night Flight Lights![/link]
[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/NIGHTFLIGHT1.asx]Night Flight 1[/link]
[link=http://161.58.78.36/asx/helo/skylink/rc/NIGHTFLIGHT2.asx]Night Flight 2[/link]

The demos below were done before I added the wing and colored nav lights. I'll post some updated video with the additional lights soon. These were shot with my digital still camera during the last few minutes of daylight which is the best time to shoot the flyer with lights because the lights are visible on the DF frame silhouetted against the sky.

(click OR right click, save as these links)
[link=http://198.65.158.133/demo/helo/flight1.avi]Nav Lights 1[/link]
[link=http://198.65.158.133/demo/helo/flight2.avi]Nav Lights 2[/link]


Custom RC Lighting
www.maxxlights.com

Princeton Tec Pulsar II item# 671104 - Keychain Switched LEDs (very affordable)
www.rei.com

Google Search Princeton Tec Eclipse/Eclipse II (both have 2 strobe settings & detachable heads)