Flashing Lights?

[Maddog]

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My setup has a strobe with on off switch, front/rear led lights, foldable leg extensions, prop guards.

Dave, welcome to the forum! That's a nice setup- some other members here have the Polar Pro front/rear led's but felt they were too dim to see in bright sunlight at any distance. I have been looking at that strobe but it was either $60 or $90 last time I checked.

Is it a strobe with a xenon flash tube or does it use LED's?

How visible is it at say, 200 ft. altitude in sunlight?

My design uses two 10W LED's that are quite visible in bright sunlight. So far, they are the brightest I have seen. I've been waiting to hear about the strobe you have as some of our members have purchased it.

 

[Dave gonzales]

Dave, welcome to the forum! That's a nice setup- some other members here have the Polar Pro front/rear led's but felt they were too dim to see in bright sunlight at any distance. I have been looking at that strobe but it was either $60 or $90 last time I checked.

Is it a strobe with a xenon flash tube or does it use LED's?

How visible is it at say, 200 ft. altitude in sunlight?

My design uses two 10W LED's that are quite visible in bright sunlight. So far, they are the brightest I have seen. I've been waiting to hear about the strobe you have as some of our members have purchased it.

I purchase polarpro led lights,

Dave, welcome to the forum! That's a nice setup- some other members here have the Polar Pro front/rear led's but felt they were too dim to see in bright sunlight at any distance. I have been looking at that strobe but it was either $60 or $90 last time I checked.

Is it a strobe with a xenon flash tube or does it use LED's?

How visible is it at say, 200 ft. altitude in sunlight?

My design uses two 10W LED's that are quite visible in bright sunlight. So far, they are the brightest I have seen. I've been waiting to hear about the strobe you have as some of our members have purchased it.

I purchase led lights from polarpro and strobe from amazon, the Polar Pro led come with a flat connector plug the fits the solo bottom accessory port, so then I Saudered red and black to polar plug, the led's snap on the front and back they are good for about 120 Feet up not much with my eyes but I really purchase them because of the plug it comes with , the strobe is bright during daylight which is really the light I prefer, but the led's are really just for show and look cool and most important come with the connecter plug for the aaccessory port., the strobe was $60 on amazon.

 

[Dave gonzales]

I purchase polarpro led lights,

I purchase led lights from polarpro and strobe from amazon, the Polar Pro led come with a flat connector plug the fits the solo bottom accessory port, so then I Saudered red and black to polar plug, the led's snap on the front and back they are good for about 120 Feet up not much with my eyes but I really purchase them because of the plug it comes with , the strobe is bright during daylight which is really the light I prefer, but the led's are really just for show and look cool and most important come with the connecter plug for the aaccessory port., the strobe was $60 on amazon.

I did not know about what type of plug for the accessory port until I bought the led's I'm wondering where and what model # if they sell this plug somewhere.

 

[Dave gonzales]

I did not know about what type of plug for the accessory port until I bought the led's I'm wondering where and what model # if they sell this plug somewhere.

Oh I also added a small on off switch for the strobe light, so that I have ability to turn off when I don't want to be seen by hunters or some other rif raf.

 

[PdxSteve]

I did not know about what type of plug for the accessory port until I bought the led's I'm wondering where and what model # if they sell this plug somewhere.

This is the plug: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...qgba8kBa6TtehVWNIeLFx3lhQ48lSxiSCqywLxSV2eg==

Unfortunately everywhere is sold out until next month when they get a new batch from the factory. Lots have been waiting since everywhere has been out of the connector for 2 months now and we need them for making dev boards.

Here's the info on the accessory bay (which shows the connector part number)
Accessory Port | 3DR Solo Development Guide

 

[Maddog]

This is the plug: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/JAE-Electronics/TX24-30R-6ST-N1E/?qs=/ha2pyFaduiqgba8kBa6TtehVWNIeLFx3lhQ48lSxiSCqywLxSV2eg==

Unfortunately everywhere is sold out until next month when they get a new batch from the factory. Lots have been waiting since everywhere has been out of the connector for 2 months now and we need them for making dev boards.

Here's the info on the accessory bay (which shows the connector part number)
Accessory Port | 3DR Solo Development Guide

@PdxSteve - I think I can help you out here. I too was using those plugs to make my lights. I called Mouser and found the following plug which is the same plug except the metal pins and the two plastic parts on the back are about 1/4" longer than the other plug. I just cut them shorter for my use.
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/JAE-Electronics/TX24-30R-12ST-H1E/?qs=/ha2pyFaduheJpDJKtQvJku/RLhMB0jvRsLRMNKtD0SOnoTrbwvKIRS%2bow3Zzrcr

They have 795 available immediately- hope this helps.

 

[Maddog]

I purchase polarpro led lights,

I purchase led lights from polarpro and strobe from amazon, the Polar Pro led come with a flat connector plug the fits the solo bottom accessory port, so then I Saudered red and black to polar plug, the led's snap on the front and back they are good for about 120 Feet up not much with my eyes but I really purchase them because of the plug it comes with , the strobe is bright during daylight which is really the light I prefer, but the led's are really just for show and look cool and most important come with the connecter plug for the aaccessory port., the strobe was $60 on amazon.

Thanks Dave! I wasn't able to find that strobe on Amazon- can you give me a brand name or part number?

 

[PdxSteve]

@PdxSteve - I think I can help you out here. I too was using those plugs to make my lights. I called Mouser and found the following plug which is the same plug except the metal pins and the two plastic parts on the back are about 1/4" longer than the other plug. I just cut them shorter for my use.
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/JAE-Electronics/TX24-30R-12ST-H1E/?qs=/ha2pyFaduheJpDJKtQvJku/RLhMB0jvRsLRMNKtD0SOnoTrbwvKIRS%2bow3Zzrcr

They have 795 available immediately- hope this helps.

That's a great find! Are you saying they would sit taller when mounted on a circuit board? Any way you might be able to take a good pic of it, or a few from different angles? I need them to mount on the 3DR dev boards, and if they sit taller on the board, then the board may not be flush against the bottom of the solo and spacers might need to be used to screw the board into the 4 mounting holes in the expansion bay meant to hold expansion modules.

Here is a barebones breakout board for only the plug module, with the pins labeled which match back up to the Accessory Port | 3DR Solo Development Guide pins: OSH Park ~ Solo 3DR Bus Accessory Connector Breakout
You can order them there for a few bucks, and would get 3 for a minimum quantity. Might be useful and tidy things up a bit for what you're doing.

Here is the full 3DR breakout board reference, which are a bit more expensive since they are larger than 3" square: OSH Park ~ 3DR Solo Accessory Breakout X1
It has a cutout for the gimbal as well as the mounting holes to connect to the Solo. This is more stable than above since it actually gets screwed onto the solos body. There are 4 additional screw holes meant to mount an additional board. This board also has the PWM channels (6-8) broken out, along with the serial interfaces directly to pixhawk and the onboard computer, as well as the CAN bus (uavcan).

 

[Maddog]

Here ya go Steve:
View media item 229View media item 230View media item 231View media item 232

 

[SurfnSkate81]

I'd love to complicate this further...

Could we have a red beacon start flashing when the motors start and the strobe start up when Fly is initiated? And obviously turn off when motors are cut after landing.

And to go one step further integrating with something like the polar pro lights but have a way to turn the on/off with maybe pressing A & B buttons at the same time?

That would be something really pushing the whole 'Solo is an expandable platform' statement.

 

[Dave gonzales]

I'd love to complicate this further...

Could we have a red beacon start flashing when the motors start and the strobe start up when Fly is initiated? And obviously turn off when motors are cut after landing.



And to go one step further integrating with something like the polar pro lights but have a way to turn the on/off with maybe pressing A & B buttons at the same time?

That would be something really pushing the whole 'Solo is an expandable platform' statement.

On the Polar adapter top of plate there are 4 Sauder points a negative and positive for each set , I tap into one set for strobe, there are other contacts on solo and polar plug but you would have to have schematic to see if the contacts have that capability..I added a small push button on off switch between strobe wires and polar plug.

 

[PdxSteve]

I'd love to complicate this further...

Could we have a red beacon start flashing when the motors start and the strobe start up when Fly is initiated? And obviously turn off when motors are cut after landing.

And to go one step further integrating with something like the polar pro lights but have a way to turn the on/off with maybe pressing A & B buttons at the same time?

That would be something really pushing the whole 'Solo is an expandable platform' statement.

Sure, but its a lot more complicated. Most of the lights currently available are only using the power coming from the expansion bay and don't interact with the solo at all. Using the UAVCAN interface, you have access to all of those things so you can program it to behave differently when the Solo enters different modes, etc. I have an arduino communicating with the Solo via the expansion port, so it's definately doable. A lot more expensive though because you are talking about a secondary computer talking to solos computer, rather than just "dumb" lights using power.

 

[RichWest]

A lot more expensive though because you are talking about a secondary computer talking to solos computer, rather than just "dumb" lights using power.

Curious, present day development cost for said hardware, what is the cost for the populated expansion board and arduino?

 

[PdxSteve]

The 3DR Reference Dev expansion board with hardware installed is about $25. I'm actually using a Teensy 3.2 which is Arduino compat but a lot more powerful, which is around $20.

 

[RichWest]

The 3DR Reference Dev expansion board with hardware installed is about $25. I'm actually using a Teensy 3.2 which is Arduino compat but a lot more powerful, which is around $20.

I appreciate the info. In the big picture that's really an amazing price for the DIY crowd to work with. Again this is what makes Solo equally amazing as an aerial platform.

 

[PdxSteve]

The dev board isn't actually needed. It's basically a break out box for the connector to make development easier, and also has separate plugs for the CAN/UAV bus, serial ports (to talk to pixhawk and the computer) and pwm channels (which aren't connected unless you connect them internally in the solo)

 

[SurfnSkate81]

Sure, but its a lot more complicated. Most of the lights currently available are only using the power coming from the expansion bay and don't interact with the solo at all. Using the UAVCAN interface, you have access to all of those things so you can program it to behave differently when the Solo enters different modes, etc. I have an arduino communicating with the Solo via the expansion port, so it's definately doable. A lot more expensive though because you are talking about a secondary computer talking to solos computer, rather than just "dumb" lights using power.

This should be something that 3DR could have incorporated from there end.

Would be a great safety feature.

Steve, wondering how much something like this might cost to develop and produce?

 

[DattaGroover]

Thanks John. I've seen strips of LED's on eBay and at helipal.com but I don't know how visible they are during daylight.

I did find a white strobe for drones but it's $90.00 US.
DS-3--1 Side Wire Drone Strobe

Looks like that's dropped to $70.
HAs anyone tried this? I would love something I can see in daylight form 1200 feet away.

 

[DattaGroover]

There likely will be a made for solo strobe, ive talked to Colin and they talked about implementing it in a meeting this week.

meanwhile I just got this : Locator Beacon

Ive yet to mount it or try it in the day as ups just delivered it. You can get different colors, i got clear, its pretty bright looking from above.

Any word on that from 3DR? It would be a great thing to have!

 

[DattaGroover]

This one (Mentioned by MadDog) above, claims 1 mile daylight visibility, 10 milesat night:
DS-30--1 Drone Strobe
I'm tempted to upgrade with this for $70.