Blogs

In my past blog post "Tinkering with Neopixel LED-strips" and "Control high power LEDs (1W, 3W) from the APM 2.5 LED output", I have described a bit how to work with WS2812 Neopixel RGB lightstrips and how to control high-power LEDs with the APM. Yesterday night was the first latenight test flight with the installed system. The brightness of the Neopixel modules I made (3 LEDs each plus an 8 LED "360° beacon" on top of the copter) is pretty nice. At the front is a blue 3W LED (run by only a 1W driver to conserve energy and keep the heat in check) with a Flare lens from LEDIL. The flare lens has a very narrow vertical but a wide horizontal divergence. I mounted it turned 90° to serve as an indicator if the copter is heading straight towards me. Normally, the LED-driver's modulation input is connected to the APM's GPS LED output but for this test, I connected it to my light. controller.

If somebody feels the need to complain about safety because of me walking/flying on the road... I live in a residential area at the border of a 20,000 people small town in Finland. At 2345h on weekdays there are no cars driving or pedestrians walking here ever.