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9th And 10th Structured Training Flights -- Strobe Report

Chaosrider2

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Jun 10, 2021
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Gardnerville, NV
9th STF

I had gotten my strobes by the time I was ready for this. I decided to do two flights that day, the first one to areas that were at the edge of my VLOS, BEFORE I put the strobes on, to set my "visual normal", and then put the strobes on shortly thereafter, so the comparison would be fresh in my mind. So, no new ground. I went up to buzz around the Guardian Rock formation for a bit, and got a little closer.

10th STF

Those Firehouse strobes ar very impressive little units, a battery mated to a little PC board. The on-board micro USB port for charging works great! The pre-cut squares of 3M adhesive were easy to use, even with my chubby stubby fingers.

Unfortunately, the experiment was a failure. Looking at the Mini-2 more closely, I realized that there were very few good options for mounting the strobes. I ended up mounting it on the back, near the center. It tuns out the stylus that came with my bought-to-drone Samsung Galaxy S20 Note was very convenient for pushing the little button to turn the strobe on.

ZAP! Probably better to cover the strobe when you turn it on, or your eyes will be in for a big surprise...

I had been skeptical about being able to see the strobe with it mounted on top, and that skepticism turned out to be well justified. By the time I got to 100 ft up, I couldn't see the strobe AT ALL, except for an occasional blip after hard braking. I'm sure it was visible from above, and the strobe might have been a big help if I was trying to find the drone on the ground, but as a way to aid the in-flight visibility of the drone, it was a complete and total failure. The results were the same with the sky as the background, and with the canyon wall as the background.

Looking more closely aftre the flight, I thought about mounting the strobes on the side, but that would interfere with folding the legs. I realized that even where I had put it on the back, it would have interered with the propeller protecting strap. I concluded that there's one, and only one, spot on the Mini-2 that might work:

Securing it to the backside of the battery compartment hatch.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I was a bit reluctant to do that, since the hatch wasn't intended to be a load bearing structure, but the strobes aren't that heavy, and they're easy to remove if you decide that you want to.

So sometime this weekend, I'll do the test!

:)

TCS
 
Chaosrider2 how did you go with your flight on the weekend. I also have a problem keeping track of my drone during vlos. The moment I look away to check the screen and then look back, I have a devil of time relocating the drone. I bought a cage device that fits to the underneath of the mini, nearly tore off the casing when I went to pack up. May have to tweak that one. Look forward to your response.
Regards
 
…I concluded that there's one, and only one, spot on the Mini-2 that might work:

Securing it to the backside of the battery compartment hatch…
Earlier today I came to the same conclusion, stuck some velcro on the battery lid of a Mini2, but haven’t had a chance to test in our record-breaking temps. Did you test it?
 
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Chaosrider2 how did you go with your flight on the weekend. I also have a problem keeping track of my drone during vlos. The moment I look away to check the screen and then look back, I have a devil of time relocating the drone. I bought a cage device that fits to the underneath of the mini, nearly tore off the casing when I went to pack up. May have to tweak that one. Look forward to your response.
Regards
My situation is a little different, because I fly in a canyon. Without modification, my VLOS limit is 800 ft easy, 900 ft with serious concentration. What I would do was to fly out toward the ridgeline, always keeping the drone over a specific point...tree, rock formation, whatever...on the opposite side of the canyon. That way, if I lost sight of it briefly, all I had to do was increase the elevation a bit...and there it was! The ground reference point told me exactly where to look.

Still, I wanted more.

I bought the Firehouse strobes, which are very elegant little devices. There aren't a lot of good places to attached a strobe on the Mini-2, and I put one of the white strobes on top.

Completely useless!

OK, not completely, but far from what I was expecting.

So I took that strobe off, and put the red one on the back of the battery hatch.

Transformation!

Against the background of the opposite canyon wall I can maintain VLOS out to 1000 ft, easy. I haven't had a chance yet to test the edges of that.

When I do, I'll report back!

:)

TCS
 
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Earlier today I came to the same conclusion, stuck some velcro on the battery lid of a Mini2, but haven’t had a chance to test in our record-breaking temps. Did you test it?
Yes, great success, see last post.

It's been outrageously hot here too (Carson City, NV).

For the last week or so all of my flying has been of the "Dawn Patrol" variety!

:)

TCS
 
Thanks TCS! Looking forward to trying this out.
 
My situation is a little different, because I fly in a canyon. Without modification, my VLOS limit is 800 ft easy, 900 ft with serious concentration. What I would do was to fly out toward the ridgeline, always keeping the drone over a specific point...tree, rock formation, whatever...on the opposite side of the canyon. That way, if I lost sight of it briefly, all I had to do was increase the elevation a bit...and there it was! The ground reference point told me exactly where to look.

Still, I wanted more.

I bought the Firehouse strobes, which are very elegant little devices. There aren't a lot of good places to attached a strobe on the Mini-2, and I put one of the white strobes on top.

Completely useless!

OK, not completely, but far from what I was expecting.

So I took that strobe off, and put the red one on the back of the battery hatch.

Transformation!

Against the background of the opposite canyon wall I can maintain VLOS out to 1000 ft, easy. I haven't had a chance yet to test the edges of that.

When I do, I'll report back!

:)

TCS
Look forward to it. Not much stress on the battery cover I assume.
regards
 
Look forward to it. Not much stress on the battery cover I assume.
regards
I was worried about that. When the hatch is closed, I don't think there are a lot of opportunities for it to wiggle around and get loose, or damage the hatch.

No problems so far, will report back if anything happens in this regard.

Thx,

TCS
 
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