Hey folks,

I have an Axe CP, which uses 252mm Wood/CF blades, 32mm width, 2mm mounting hole, and 4.8mm thick. I've been looking around for a set of the really nice LED/battery integrated Main Rotor blades. I also see the lighted rope options for the frame as well, those seem pretty nice.

All the sites I've found so far offer 325mm blades as their smallest size, obviously that's a bit bigger than what this little Micro Heli has stock.

Anyone know of any good options out there? What kind of battery life should I expect with lighted frame off the main battery?

Thanks...

Whelp, on another board someone forwarded this link to me, and 1) considering they're CF, and 2) they're lighted, I couldn't pass up the thought. Sooo...

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0001P?&I=LXMGL4

They're a little smaller than the stock blades, however considering I've been trimming the Axe CP blades for damage for the past few months, I've realized that this bird will fly just fine with shorter main rotors.

I'll post some pics when I get 'em flying....

I have not yet acquired lighting for the frame, however I will likely go that route on the next paycheck.

Yup, a little shorter length is no big deal. I saw some night flying blades in RC heli mag that are programmable! So like you can spell out phrases on your blades!!!! These were 325's, I think.

What magazine? I WANT SOME!!! Any online stores sell them? That would be awesome to spell out like, stand back or something haha.

it was RC heli. Very cool. I want some...

Meh, couldn't find them on their site. Oh well

This is the link for the EL wire for Micro and Full-Size Helis..

http://helihobby.com/html/extras.html

Heh.. I've received my new Venom Night Blades... Here we go:
(Keeping in mind I fly an Axe CP)

1. They're pretty nice. They're actually just the same length as the Axe Stock blades. They're a little smaller in width from leading to trailing edge.
2. They're thicker at the mounting hole than the stock Axe blades. You'll need to sand off about a millimeter total.
3. They're deeper from the post inward, and you'll need to trim down at least a milimeter of CF to clear the blade grips smoothly.
4. If you're going to order these blades, you'll need the Blades, the power link pins, and the seperate charger.

...and with some patience, sandpaper, and a good blade balancer, you get this: (See attached)


I'll be ording the EL wire soon.

Hey folks, so here's my Axe bird all finished up with all it's new lights.

This is the total part listings:

Venom CF Night Blades, 245mm
Align EL wire, Blue and Lime Green
Align EL driver
3 x Photon II LED Keychain lights

And the video, side profile (with a not to pretty landing, but it's ok):

http://rcuvideos.com/item/8G1LNDMZQ5B1KSHT

Best of luck to any and all who try the same or similar.

[8D]

So what was your total build cost? (I'm more interested in the cost of all the EL wire, and the driver)
What powers the EL driver, your receiver?

The above photos and video:

Align EL wire 7.99$ x 2
Align EL Dual driver 7.99$
MicroDeans matched pair 3.00$
-- EL wire powered off Main 1320mAh 11v TP Lipos
-- Installed micro toggle for quick main battery disconnect, and deans above for light disconnect.
-- www.helihobby.com

Venom 245mm CF LED blades 90.00$
Venom Charger 12.00$
Power Pins 3.00$
-- Venom blades are PC board and battery integrated molded CF blades. Each blade has it's own 3 LED array and permanent battery.
-- Tower hobbies

Photon II Keychain LEDs 16.00$ x 3 retail (I got them for 8$)
-- each light individually powered by 2 x CR2016 button cells.

scotch tape (for layout)
Hotglue and Med. CA, and zipties for setup

-----------------------------------
NEW Version in the works, with one more EL wire (Orange for skids), but required second EL driver.

(Note to all: be careful when installing EL wire, with respect to the beginning and ending terminations of the glowing part. I leanred the hard way that you can flex the hell out of the EL wire itself into pretty tight bends, but DONT flex near the endcaps unless you give yourself about a 1cm buffer of wire. I didn't, and smoked my second wire driver because the EL wire shorted at the feeding end. )

Be sure to post some pics when you get the orange set up please! I'm thinking about going green on the tail instead of lime, and maybe orange on the frame.

I don't mean to bring this thread back from the dead, but I have a question about the align light rope and driver. I installed one rope on the tail and decided to see how it looked. I plugged it in it glowed a brilliant orange and then it went out, the driver no longer makes its funny little noise and nothing lights anymore. Did I bend it to tight (not close to the end at all) or did I get a faulty driver? The dirver got kind of hot (enough to soften the adhesive on the velcro) but didn't smoke. Any tips or help would be greatly appreciated.

Yeah man if it softened the adhesive enough to notice and it's not "buzzing" anymore it's probably a faulty driver. Call align US and have them replace it, or see if your distributor will give you some feedback. Sorry to hear about that, I know how much it sucks when you get something cool set up, then it stops working

Thanks for the fast reply, Is there any way I can test the rope to see if it took out the rope in the process?

I'm afraid the only way I know of is to hook it up to another glow driver. Unfortunately if you had another to test it with you wouldn't be asking this so... [:@]

Maybe some of the other crazy electrical guys here have an idea of something to try hooking it up to. I couldn't even tell you the voltage you need, so...

Thanks for the help, I tried to email Align us but it didn't go through, oh well Ill try again later. I would just order another one from heliproz but the shipping will be more than the driver.

I emailed Align US and they basically told me where I could stick the driver. I just emailed heliproz hoping for a little more sympathy and maybe some help.

Well this is the response I got from heliproz: "I believe the cold light string driver is really designed to be run off of 9 volts or less. (though the packaging doesn't specify voltage) I've heard of people using a 3 cell lithium battery, but ONLY if two light strings are attached to the driver. Otherwise the result will be what you have described. My suggestion to you would be to purchase a small 2 cell lithium battery to power your light string, or if you really want to use 3 cell, make certain you have connected both light string ropes." Kind of disapointed in the customer service of Align and Heliproz at this point. Any recomendations where I should get a new driver?

Mmm I didn't even think of that. I assumed you were running the driver off of a ESC/BEC or your receiver , which would've reduced the voltage to it. Makes sense now.

Heliproz usually has pretty good customer support. I've had nothing but good service with them. Sorry to hear you're having problems. I'm not really sure where else you might look. I've shopped with www.helidirect.com before too, but I'm not sure if they carry them.

Good luck

I don't see them at helidirect, but thanks. Is there any way I can run them on less voltage off of the stock eflite 4in1 in my blade CP?

NitroHog,

Check out this link, this is where I'm getting my EL wire & drivers from, there cheaper than the ALIGN stuff, larger varity of colors, diameters & lengths.
[link=http://www.thatscoolwire.com]Coolwire[/link]

Shadow