AirCav11
May 27, 2004, 08:28 PM
Hi,
I posted the below on another site in response to a question from Luc, and thought someone here might be able to use the info as well. I had made a comment in a different post about a rotating beaconin relation to the weight of my aircraft, and Luc said:
-------------------------------------------
rotating beacon with control unit :confused:
can you tll us more? where to find? price?
thx
-------------------------------------------
Note: I fixed the links below on 5/28/04
Rotating beacon info
Hi luc,
I spent a lot of time looking into scale type lighting that would work for the Corona. :cool: The best scale rotating beacon is made by Vario, but is too large for the corona. It's made more for a .40 and above size ship. Vario rotating beacon (http://sitewavesonline.net/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=Vario&Product_Code=10%2F96)
Starwoodmodels.com makes a lighting harness for scale machines. But they are for .30-.90 size aircraft.
The best strobe type lighting system is made by Curtek. This is an entire wiring harness that pulls 5 volts from the receiver. Left, right lights, tail stobe, top strobe, and landing lights for around $55. You can even use a receiver channel to control the landing light.Curtek Systems (http://www.curtek.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=1&cat=1&page=1)
Take a look at some of their demos. I bought mine from Greg McNair (curtek@charter.net or gmcnair@charter.net) He's a great guy and helped me figure out what color lenses and extra lights I wanted. Same price as manufacturer. By the way this is the same Greg McNair that is way out of control :cool: with his notion of SIZE in Model aircraft, as in this thread:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=234074 :D
I did buy the Curtek system for all of the lighting except the rotating beacon. I'm using one of DarthDrk's Huey fuselages to build as scale a Huey on the Corona airframe as I can manage. Therefore, I wasn't happy with a strobe light for the rotating beacon. I flew real Hueys and Cobras long ago and they use a light that rotates (not a strobe).
One drawback of all the lighting systems built on small LEDs, is they are not very visible in daylight, but are quite bright at dusk and at night.
The rotating beacon that I'm using is made by RAM and called a Mars Rotating Beacon, cost $22 + shipping:
Mars Rotating Beacon (http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXDZ88&P=ML)
The RAM web site is: http://ramrcandramtrack.com/index.html
He (Ralph) makes a lot of different lighting stuff for R/C.
What the RAM control unit does is ramp the intensity up and down slowly. The effect is pretty good. Much better than a strobe, and close to a light that rotates. The light is a high iintensity bulb (not an LED), very bright and is clearly visible in daylight. :D
There is one drawback. It requires 9 volts. It comes with a 9 volt battery, but that adds 1.5 oz, which is a lot. :( I did fly it this way for awhile.
There are a couple of solutions to the extra battery/weight problem. One is to add a 9 v voltage reg and draw from the main flight pack. What I did was use two Super-Ultra Bright LEDs (around 10,000 mcd) that were each rated at 2.4 v 20 ma. I hooked them up in series in place of the high intensity bulb, and then hooked the control unit to the power on one of the 5v receiver channels. This works fine and is clearly visible in daylight. I had previously talked to Ralph at RAM and he confirmed his electronics would work on 5 v, but the bulb required 9.
The Super-Ultra Bright LEDs came from All Electronics at $0.75 each. They're in series in order to handle the 5 v. Feeding one them the 5v directly won't work. Ask me how I know. :eek: Remember to respect their polarity (they have plus and minus leads).
All Electronics super-ultrbright Led (http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=340500&type=store)
I think RAM's high intensity bulb is a little brighter, but the Super-Ultra Bright LEDs do a good job. I may eventually get around to trying a 9 volt voltage regulator out to see if I like it any better.
Here's another one. I have not used or seen this unit. It seems expensive. It does use super bight LEDs that are designed to send the light out to the sides instead of straight ahead. But it is a Strobe unit.
Scale strobe lights (http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/t100601p1/)
Yeah, yeah I know, pretty obsessive, don't you think. My problem is I can still see the real thing in my mind, so seeing a strobe just doesn't work for me when it's a Huey. :) Civilian aircraft usually have strobes, so there the only problem is it being bright enough during daylight. It all depends upon what effect you're trying to achieve.
"Air Cav son, Air Mobile" (Robert Duvall)
Allons, :D
jim hill
I posted the below on another site in response to a question from Luc, and thought someone here might be able to use the info as well. I had made a comment in a different post about a rotating beaconin relation to the weight of my aircraft, and Luc said:
-------------------------------------------
rotating beacon with control unit :confused:
can you tll us more? where to find? price?
thx
-------------------------------------------
Note: I fixed the links below on 5/28/04
Rotating beacon info
Hi luc,
I spent a lot of time looking into scale type lighting that would work for the Corona. :cool: The best scale rotating beacon is made by Vario, but is too large for the corona. It's made more for a .40 and above size ship. Vario rotating beacon (http://sitewavesonline.net/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=Vario&Product_Code=10%2F96)
Starwoodmodels.com makes a lighting harness for scale machines. But they are for .30-.90 size aircraft.
The best strobe type lighting system is made by Curtek. This is an entire wiring harness that pulls 5 volts from the receiver. Left, right lights, tail stobe, top strobe, and landing lights for around $55. You can even use a receiver channel to control the landing light.Curtek Systems (http://www.curtek.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=1&cat=1&page=1)
Take a look at some of their demos. I bought mine from Greg McNair (curtek@charter.net or gmcnair@charter.net) He's a great guy and helped me figure out what color lenses and extra lights I wanted. Same price as manufacturer. By the way this is the same Greg McNair that is way out of control :cool: with his notion of SIZE in Model aircraft, as in this thread:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=234074 :D
I did buy the Curtek system for all of the lighting except the rotating beacon. I'm using one of DarthDrk's Huey fuselages to build as scale a Huey on the Corona airframe as I can manage. Therefore, I wasn't happy with a strobe light for the rotating beacon. I flew real Hueys and Cobras long ago and they use a light that rotates (not a strobe).
One drawback of all the lighting systems built on small LEDs, is they are not very visible in daylight, but are quite bright at dusk and at night.
The rotating beacon that I'm using is made by RAM and called a Mars Rotating Beacon, cost $22 + shipping:
Mars Rotating Beacon (http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXDZ88&P=ML)
The RAM web site is: http://ramrcandramtrack.com/index.html
He (Ralph) makes a lot of different lighting stuff for R/C.
What the RAM control unit does is ramp the intensity up and down slowly. The effect is pretty good. Much better than a strobe, and close to a light that rotates. The light is a high iintensity bulb (not an LED), very bright and is clearly visible in daylight. :D
There is one drawback. It requires 9 volts. It comes with a 9 volt battery, but that adds 1.5 oz, which is a lot. :( I did fly it this way for awhile.
There are a couple of solutions to the extra battery/weight problem. One is to add a 9 v voltage reg and draw from the main flight pack. What I did was use two Super-Ultra Bright LEDs (around 10,000 mcd) that were each rated at 2.4 v 20 ma. I hooked them up in series in place of the high intensity bulb, and then hooked the control unit to the power on one of the 5v receiver channels. This works fine and is clearly visible in daylight. I had previously talked to Ralph at RAM and he confirmed his electronics would work on 5 v, but the bulb required 9.
The Super-Ultra Bright LEDs came from All Electronics at $0.75 each. They're in series in order to handle the 5 v. Feeding one them the 5v directly won't work. Ask me how I know. :eek: Remember to respect their polarity (they have plus and minus leads).
All Electronics super-ultrbright Led (http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=340500&type=store)
I think RAM's high intensity bulb is a little brighter, but the Super-Ultra Bright LEDs do a good job. I may eventually get around to trying a 9 volt voltage regulator out to see if I like it any better.
Here's another one. I have not used or seen this unit. It seems expensive. It does use super bight LEDs that are designed to send the light out to the sides instead of straight ahead. But it is a Strobe unit.
Scale strobe lights (http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/t100601p1/)
Yeah, yeah I know, pretty obsessive, don't you think. My problem is I can still see the real thing in my mind, so seeing a strobe just doesn't work for me when it's a Huey. :) Civilian aircraft usually have strobes, so there the only problem is it being bright enough during daylight. It all depends upon what effect you're trying to achieve.
"Air Cav son, Air Mobile" (Robert Duvall)
Allons, :D
jim hill