After reading about it time and time again, I finally took the plunge and bought some LEDs for some night flying. I wasn't sure what plane I wanted to use or how much I wanted to spend. One of the guys on the forum boards suggested Celebration Lights. These lights are used for parties, balloons and such. You get 12 to a package for about $10 from Wal-Mart. The package says that they last for about 8hrs.

These were perfect for me since I was not sure I was going to enjoy the night flying thing nor was I sure how much I wanted to spend setting up a plane. So I got my "all purpose" EStarter and some masking tape and got to work. I used about 5 for the first test, two under the wing one on the rudder and one on the bottom by the cowling and one on the top between rudder and the wing.

Flight Report:
I had no problems getting her up to altitude, I didn't get too crazy, just high enough to avoid trees and light posts.
Orientation was not that bad but I kept her close, I had only white lights but I could see how having different colors could be helpful. I didn't fly for too long it was getting a little cold (31 deg) but I am hooked on this night flying stuff. Winter is almost here and with the days getting shorter I can still get my flying in. Now to try this on my SLofly 28 and see if I can fly a little night 3D!


I highly recommend these LED's they are inexpensive, portable between planes, and very bright. Since I have several LED's I can experiment with different configurations on plane. I probably will get a better LED or glow wire system but for the time being this is cheap fun!

Very cool indeed. YOu might also talk to someone over at the Michaels craft store..sometimes they have the glow sticks mini's on sale for $1 a package of 15. cant beat that....Looks good....

How big are these? How much do they weigh?

Could you post a pic next to a dime or something?

Thanks!

Your wish is granted!

You, Sir, are a scholar and a gentleman!

A tad bigger than I'd hoped but it looks like they should do nicely for what I have in mind.

A trip to W-M tomorrow...

Thanks.

what isle are they under ????????????? the leds

I guess I did leave out that little tid-bid of information. You would look the whole store over and never find these. In fact I had to look it over twice.
Go to the craft section and look under wedding crafts/cakes/decorations. Look carefully you can overlook the package if your not careful. Hope that helps!
Dak...

Forget the celebration lights, they are wayyyy to heavy, get these, (See picture) from here!!! I use these on my Slow Stick, I have a total of 40 lights on mine, you can read a newspaper with it 10 feet away! Oh, and the price, $6.82 and free shipping, what a deal!

Gary

Gary;
did you attempt to wire directly to your RX or battery yet? I'm just cuirous how this turned out... DEFINATLY INTERESTED!

Originally Posted by Dakrat

I guess I did leave out that little tid-bid of information. You would look the whole store over and never find these. In fact I had to look it over twice.
Go to the craft section and look under wedding crafts/cakes/decorations. Look carefully you can overlook the package if your not careful. Hope that helps!
Dak...

I found them and bought two packages of 12. Five of the 24 were dead. I returned them to Walmart and had to go through two more packages of 12 and found 13 of those 24 were dead. I guess there is a definite shelf life on the batteries these things use.

Ok. I just got back from the EF Expo here in Phoenix and these little lights were amazing. They come pre packaged ready to plug into your RX and will cut your flight time by a whopping 15 seconds. They are around 25 bucks and will outlast your plane. They are fully programable with your extra channel and even have several deals that will get you more lights. The lights are the same type on of LEDs that are on a blinky ballancer if you have one but come in various color combos and even have landing lights that you can control....check them out here at this web address

http://flightlights.net/RcPlane.htm

zilla

Originally Posted by zillacapt

Ok. I just got back from the EF Expo here in Phoenix and these little lights were amazing. They come pre packaged ready to plug into your RX and will cut your flight time by a whopping 15 seconds. They are around 25 bucks and will outlast your plane. They are fully programable with your extra channel and even have several deals that will get you more lights. The lights are the same type on of LEDs that are on a blinky ballancer if you have one but come in various color combos and even have landing lights that you can control....check them out here at this web address

http://flightlights.net/RcPlane.htm

zilla

Those are real cool but they aren't really for night flying but rather "dusk flying."

Originally Posted by Prof100

Those are real cool but they aren't really for night flying but rather "dusk flying."

I dont know..I saw them in person and they are very bright. might have to get a set and see...