External ARM and GPS LED kit for safety

So after receiving the protective case for the APM it was very difficult to see the GPS and ARM lights as a number of people have said.

So in just a short time (probably 30 minutes), I put together some external LEDs (orange for ARM and blue for GPS) and encased it in a protective case. The GPS LED is receiving the signal from A6 and the ARM LED is receiving the signal from A4.

The LEDs are 10mm, the case is 57mm wide and 27mm tall and fits quite easily on the sonar arm - whether it stays there or not is another question. I can make the case a little smaller, but it doesn't look that bad for 30 minutes work.

There were very minor and easy modifications required to the params within mission planner. Highlighted in the image below - changing LED_MODE to 3.

Edit: I have included the bit table I used to calculate the LED_MODE. Thanks to Scott Berfield and his post.

Bit Number

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 = 1 Motor LEDs On/Off

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 = 2 GPS On/Off

0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 = 4 AUX Function On/Off

0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 = 8 Beeper On/Off

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 = 16 Low Battery Flash – fast/slow

0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 = 32 Motor LEDs NAV blink On/Off

0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 64 GPS LEDs Nav Blink On/Off

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 128 Not used

Hope this is useful to some people.

Cheers,
David.

Thanks for the comments all.

@ Stefano, yes, that was the bit table I used. The next thing I'm considering is including a hi-vis rotating light for low battery. There are already other alternatives (which are sound based, or via OSD) for that, but not hi-viz so it's on the list. But could make an easy add-on for my little kit.

@ Doug - The kit It does fit nicely on the sonar arm, but I would like it a little shorter. But hey, maybe that's version 2 and will probably include the rotating warn light for battery. Btw, nice work on the receiver deck. Looks good.

@ Charles, I haven't seen any superbright LED strips of that LED size (10mm), do you know of them? As for weight, yeah, it would probably save a little, but I think mine weighs only approx 30 grams as it is.

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Comments

Rad Buda November 17, 2016 at 2:07pm

HI, large led like yours can draw 60-70 mA , maximum apm load is 40 mA . How did you overcome the limitation ?
Marooned May 6, 2013 at 6:45am

Stefan:

It used to work as a sub-control:

        if (200 <= g.rc_7.control_in && g.rc_7.control_in < 400) {
            copter_leds_aux_on();                                                       //if sub-control of Ch7 is high, turn Aux LED on
        } else if (g.rc_7.control_in < 200) {
            copter_leds_aux_off();                                                      //if sub-control of Ch7 is low, turn Aux LED off
        }

but now looks like it's just CH7 controlling COPTER_LED_1 on/off (if AUX flag is set).
Stefan Gofferje May 5, 2013 at 4:05am

What does the AUX LED do? I haven't really found anything about that on Google...
Moderator

David Anders January 12, 2013 at 11:29pm

Thanks for the comments all.

@ Stefano, yes, that was the bit table I used. The next thing I'm considering is including a hi-vis rotating light for low battery. There are already other alternatives (which are sound based, or via OSD) for that, but not hi-viz so it's on the list. But could make an easy add-on for my little kit.

@ Doug - The kit It does fit nicely on the sonar arm, but I would like it a little shorter. But hey, maybe that's version 2 and will probably include the rotating warn light for battery. Btw, nice work on the receiver deck. Looks good.

@ Charles, I haven't seen any superbright LED strips of that LED size (10mm), do you know of them? As for weight, yeah, it would probably save a little, but I think mine weighs only approx 30 grams as it is.
Stefano Santucci January 12, 2013 at 10:38pm

i have found status led description here

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/adding-external-led-indicators-...
Charles lakins January 12, 2013 at 6:01pm

thats cool indeed!

i think i would use a 3-5v led strip on the side for space and weight saving

but i love project boxes too :)
R. D. Starwalt January 12, 2013 at 5:49am

Itis neat that you used the sonar bar for your receiver mount.

I took a differenct approach and build a receiver deck for my home-brew 3DR machine.

Good mod! Thank you for sharing.

-=Doug
avionics January 12, 2013 at 5:04am

Good job David.
Stefano Santucci January 12, 2013 at 12:56am

great ... where can find different mode setting?
Wessie January 12, 2013 at 12:02am

Super cool, thanx David

This reply was deleted.