Glacier Girl, Thanks for experimenting to verify this. Do you want to try one more experiment?

I am not sure about this, but in doing some research since my original post I read that if you wanted to power the lights from a seperate power source, you the could connect the battery directly to the lighting system or ESC, and just remove the power(red) wire from the ESC receiver lead to isolate the two power sources. Can any one confirm this???

On a side note: I grew up about an hour from Middlesboro KY where they restored and kept the Glacier Girl for several years. One saturday I drug my wife to see her at the airport, and all I can say is that she is spectacular. Icannot imagine the thrill of flying in her.