I'm looking for ways to enhance visual orientation of my quad.  Right now all I've got is green props up front and black in the back.  So if it is close enough, I can tell which side is the front.  But I need better.  Looking for what others have done and any suggestions.  This is my current thought:

I'm thinking about going with red and green for the sides. This would entail red and green props, and painting the side of the arms very bright red and green.  Just the side faces of the arms. I would then also work in some red and green super bright LEDs for each side. The colored props however only work if I stick with ABS plastic and never use carbon fiber. I'm thinking with the lights and paint, the props may not matter much.

The front would be white.  Not sure if I would paint the front faces of the arms white, or just leave them natural aluminum.  I would put in two death ray bright landing light type LEDs on the front.  Since I'm a nerd, I would use a transmitter channel to change them from flashing to steady on.

The back I'm thinking blue.  Mainly because that's the only reasonable color LED left.  I could paint the rear face of the arms blue, and put in blue LEDs.

I'm thinking this will give me good orientation from pretty much any distance. And the landing lights in the front would pretty much be the "when all else fails" light.  Simply rotate the yaw until you see them, cause they'll be visible in all conditions.  Now you know you're looking at the front.

IMG_20140310_193906.jpg?width=750

IMG_20140308_212453.jpg?width=750

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • I use red and green leds from dimension engineering.   Red on the left, green on the right.  They are easy to see in full sunlight.

    • I really wanted those. Especially because of the customizable nature of the controller. But their LED specs didn't seem very intense. And daytime use is my primary requirement. So you have the LEDs from DE and they're visible in daylight from 500-1000ft away?

      • Get these. http://www.dimensionengineering.com/products/delight-ultra-bright-led

        They are very bright. I am not sure about 500+ feet though, but 100-200 feet with the sun in my eyes is ok. Other than that you could buy some 1w cree leds and wire them yourself.

        • That's what I was looking at that I wanted to be brighter.  I ended up ordering some 1 watt LEDs from Flytron.

This reply was deleted.

Activity