Hey guys I got this little 3W 4LEDs LED Module LED Indicator for my quadcopter.
It works great. In fact the Leds are too bright that I had to cover the red/blue/green leds with
Anti-static_ESD_shielding_bag which you get when you order any kind of board, sensors, etc.
I left the white led uncovered because it is the brightest one, too bright for up close use, so I decided to use it as a Armed-Beacon which flashes when the copter is armed for easy spotting of the copter, specially when I fly at fields which are surrounded by trees, and for me its easier to stop a blinking led than a solid one.
I had to modify the Ardupilot 3.2.1 to get the led to flash like a beacon, I know my way around code, but I'm not an expert, so at first I traced where the functions were coming from, I added some sample code I found on google the generate the flashing, but it uses delays to accomplish what I wanted, then I found out it was not a good idea, cause it pauses all functions of the apm, so I looked into timers, which it was the way to go. I started doing all this with the Ardupilot 3.0.1, when I moved to 3.2.1, I found out that they got rid of LED_MODE and the developers changed the whole procedure [for good cause], finally I made it work,and compile with Arduino, the code might look lame but hey, I'm a newbie.
Red=Armed
Blue=GPS
Green= for future use
White= VERY BRIGHT
Ardupilot Pilot - Copter 3.2.1 with Led-Beacon when armed for easy spotting when flying at fields surrounded by trees
I've edited the file from the ardupilot-master 3.2.1 then uploaded it with arduino.
\ardupilot-master 3.2.1\ardupilot-master 3.2.1\libraries\AP_Notify\ExternalLED.cpp
Here's a sample video but Youtube uploaded low-res
i'ts hard to see the flashes. I'll update the video when I get one with better quality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prTLVMB0yoY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
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