Lights that won't damage your wallet too much and won't take too much battery power either:
1) Bright Blue detail lights (BL-BlueS42)
These wing or rotor arm detail lights will give nice blue detail to airplane wings or multi-copter rotor arms. A good way to improve orientation when flying around the field in fading light.
Will connect directly to your LiPo balance connector (or the main connector of course), or can be connected with the help of the low cost Turnigy relay switch or the Pico switch radio controlled relay, to give on/off capability.
2) Three molded Headlights. Each lamp at 1.2W / 90 lumens each, so 270 lumens in total, to give good visibility at day-time or night-time.
Again easy connection direct to the battery, or can use the low cost Turnigy relay switch or the Pico switch radio controlled relay, to give on/off capability.
Note if connecting to the LiPo battery always use the outermost connections (as shown in the picture) so as not to unevenly drain the LiPo cells.
Please do come and see more detail at Bluelight Technologies
Comments
For really bright we've been playing around with the Cree 3000 lumen LED module. The problem is getting rid of the heat. Big heat sink means weight too of course. But the Cree light is similar in brightness to a HID car head lamp. Will post up some information about that later on.
The LEDs are 5050 type, 60 LEDs/m
Thanks for spotting the error, will check and correct it
This kit is actually a very good value - you get the LED drivers and 3 lights.... tempting!
BTW - there's an ERROR on the voltage in the description says "5v to 12.6v" - 12.6v should be 26v? 4.2v*6 = 25.2v
(In fact the supply can be anything from 5v to 12.6v, so can use directly with any 2s~6s LiPo, or other such as LiFe)
x 3 : Super bright headlight (plastic module with 100° lens) + driver
x 3 : 3 feet (92 cm) cable + 3 pin connector per light
x 3 : Heat sink + stick pad (optional to use if poor airflow)
@Mike would be cool to see how you end up using them and night flight video- If you need weight of light let me know I can weigh it later tonight. It's actually very light I think - didn't mean to hijack this thread - just advising a fellow enthusiast on what I found.
Can't tell if the OP has 5050 smd LED's or 3528 which arent as bright. After about 30ft up, the light doesnt really shine on the ground anymore, but looking at the quad you an still see it great.
@Mike. I recently received these from Banggood (eeerrr I always hesitate when I write that name). I wanted to check them out. Well, turns out they're very decent. Of course, don't expect super accurate optics, there's some "spilling" of the spotlight but for multirotor use it should be ok. Just don't point it at people or vehicles, they're very bright and may blind you momentarily. A good plus is that they're not heavy. I tried them on 3S, specs say they go all the way up to 80v. I'm going to order another one and mount them on my quad
http://www.banggood.com/Universal-Motorcycle-Headlight-Electric-Car...
Did something like this on my 3dr quad. I just soldered power and ground to my 3s pdb, works fine. Dont need to worry about draining lipo cells that way. Used sections from the reels you can get from amazon
Yes it is important, that's why we show (and state on our site) to use the outside most connections since these are the same as connecting to all cells. I will amend the post to make this more clear.
Great post aside from one major safety issue. I would suggest reading: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/complete-guide-on-lipo-batteries
It is really important that you don't unevenly discharge a lipo.