So I have my electric glider (Phoenix Evolution) with more and more LED lights. I love night flying!

I've been looking at the fiber-optic items on hobbyking and was wondering - how do you power them? In their description it calls for five volts. Also, hobbyking's fiber-optic cables have a receiver plug. So you power them off of a receiver? What if you want to run many fiber-optic cables?

I run my LED's off of a separate 3 cell 800mah battery. If I buy fiber-optic cables I would want to run them off that battery or a separate battery. I don't really have any more room in the receiver I use to plug in fiber-optic cables.

For those of you that use fiber-optics, how do you have them wired up and powered?

Thanks

They are designed for powering from a receiver, hence the servo plug. If you do not have sufficient room left on your receiver you could consider some Y leads. The current draw for these "fiber optic" cables is not stated but is unlikely to be much if they are only single LEDs, perhaps about 30mA. This is very little compared to the current draw from a standard servo.
How many servos and of what type/size do you already run from the receiver?

Originally Posted by electrotor

They are designed for powering from a receiver, hence the servo plug. If you do not have sufficient room left on your receiver you could consider some Y leads. The current draw for these "fiber optic" cables is not stated but is unlikely to be much if they are only single LEDs, perhaps about 30mA. This is very little compared to the current draw from a standard servo.
How many servos and of what type/size do you already run from the receiver?

I have 4 servos. Also I have leds blinking in the receiver -

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=23792

4 servos, yes, but what type/size? Micro, mini, standard, analog, digital? There's a huge difference in the current drawn which ultimately has to come from somewhere and that somewhere will be the BEC part of the ESC.

Let us assume a max BEC current of 3A
The Hobbyking LEDs you linked to are 2000mm long which at a current of about 400mA/metre will draw 800mA
If each of your servos draws 500mA there's another 2A gone and you're nearing the 3A max. but with still a little headroom.
However your servos may draw quite a bit more or quite a bit less. Can't tell till you let us in on the secret of what they are.

I think they are 4 9g servos.

These servos will require about 200mA (being generous) so total servo current use will be 800mA.

800 + 800 = 1.6A

The BEC in your ESC should be easily able to provide the current required for the Hobbyking "fiber optic" cables.

just to give you another option
try some rgb strip leds and controller,
you have a choice of so many different colours they can flash,fade and allsorts..

Originally Posted by dazza44

just to give you another option
try some rgb strip leds and controller,
you have a choice of so many different colours they can flash,fade and allsorts..

I have a strip leds/controller on my glider. I got it from hobbyking. It's pretty cool. I can turn them off and on from my TX. Now I want to experiment with fiber-optics. I guess I'll order a few dollars worth from hobbyking and try them out.

let us know what there like..
be a different option if anygood and if they bright enough to see.
im using h/k strips on bottom and rgb strips on top.
looks cool static leds underneath with flashing rgbs on the top controlled by tx switches for each set..

Originally Posted by HoosierGuy

I have a strip leds/controller on my glider. I got it from hobbyking. It's pretty cool. I can turn them off and on from my TX. Now I want to experiment with fiber-optics. I guess I'll order a few dollars worth from hobbyking and try them out.

I had some of the fibre optic from HK laying around for the last 6 months or so,as I never thought they looked bright enough,but I ran out of led`s,and was trying to light up a Multiplex Merlin,so I started putting the fibre optics on it.I taped them on with blenderm,as I didn`t know how they would turn out.I got a real pleasant surprise when I turned them on and turned off all the lights in the garage.I couldn`t fly it,since it is foggy tonite,but definetally bright enough to see,and kinda a softer light than the bright led`s.It actually looks really nice.I also added 2 strobed on the wing,and it looks cool!the only problem i ran into was that the clear/fibre optic part of it pulls out of the end of the led pretty easily.I first tried some zap,but it didn`t hold,so i tried some heat shrink,to no avail,so i just wrapped them a time or two with electrical tape and they were fine.I am addicted to the night lites,and am ordering more right now...The fibre optic kinda look like the glow necklaces they sell,but a little brighter,and easy to follow the curves on the plane.I ran mine off an extra chanell in the reciever,split once for strobes,and wired 5 colors of fibre optic lights together by soldering!Definite worth the money,at least for me.

On second thought,after flying with the fiber optic,they look ok up close,but they are actually too thin to see well at nite....just tried them,they are ok,not super great.They would probably be good for something real slow and flown close in.

Originally Posted by radman615

On second thought,after flying with the fiber optic,they look ok up close,but they are actually too thin to see well at nite....just tried them,they are ok,not super great.They would probably be good for something real slow and flown close in.

thats good to know.
wont bother with those then i fly quite a distance at night and high.

They look cool,and bend all around the airframe,plus give off a cool light at the very end,but it was pretty hard to see.Plus,I had it on a Merlin,which is kinda small,but it is a slower flyer,and it got hard to see at about 100 ft away.I would say that 3 led`s off of the strip,mounted on each wing,would show up better than the 5 fiber optic 1m that I put on the plane.On the plus side,I flew a 100in foam glider that I put 5 strips of blue,red,green,and yellow led`s on,and WOW!That was majestic!I think I am hooked now too!

night flight is just amazing,ive had ppl who can see mine flying about a mile away,
and ppl come visit the flying field as they can see it from the town and wonder what the hell it is and follow the plane..
try some of these rgb leds on your plane..
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...trol_Unit.html