Want to start night flying but don't know how !

[Nigelp]

Hi Guys,

Because of working hours I can only fly in daylight 1 day per week !!!!! Obviously, night flying is the way to go.

I have been reading all the threads but haven't really picked up much information - other than that I need more than 3 or 4 LED's.

I see that Canuck engineering does a 15 LED 'DIY' set, but there is no information on total weight etc.

My intention would be to dedicate my 32" wingspan, 8 ounce (AUW) R/E Super Dart XS, made out of 6mm flat plate Depron foam. To power the LED's I would need a separate power source (the plane uses a 3S 320mAh lipo for power - don't think there would be any to spare for the LED's - although I could fit a 3S 800mAh lipo if necessary)

Would appreciate any help you can offer.

Nigel

[Atom1025]

I dont see any 15 light setup, only 5.

Each 5 lite setup weighs 24-25g each. The wire is where all the weight comes from so as you trim to length you will lose a lot of that weight.

You can do it yourself to get it lighter but it doesn't get any simpler then that. I know how to do all the work myself but I dislike it. Thats why I use the canuck setups, saves time and aggravation.

[anatoly]

You can do it yourself pretty easily if you have some basic soldering skills, and you don't even need a separate power source. Both of my night planes I just plug into receiver power with no problem. I have 9 LEDs on the UFO, 13 on the GloStick.

[Nigelp]

Anatoly,

Thanks for your help, it is much appreciated.

I can solder - no problem, but it might be better for me first time round to go with some 'ready made' lightweight systems.

I will try and email Canuck Engineering and see what they can come up with.

Will let you know how I get on.

Nigel

[anatoly]

Nigel,

If you do feel like wiring up your own LEDs for receiver power, you can use the LED wizard (http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz) to calculate the resistor values for 5 volts.

In any case, the calculation for power draw goes something like this:

Each LED draws about 20mA (per hour) if wired in parallel, so with a 320mAh battery over a 10 minute flight, it's really only drawing 20*(10/60) or 3.33 mA over that duration. So if you have 10 LEDs in parallel, they only draw about 33 mA over that 10 minute flight, which maybe reduces your flight time by a minute. This is why you shouldn't worry too much about the power draw even on a small battery.

-Anatoly