Bicycle lights on Mavic Mini

lowellton · Jul 2, 2020

Just bought Arella x50 30 lumens. Hope this work. Only Canadian$
Just wondering how many lumens is recommended for MM. thanks

scro · Jul 2, 2020

A lot of drone specific lights are much brighter than this (Lumecube quote 500 lumens, Firehouse Arc 2 600lumens)

The power required depends very much on how you want to use the light so it's difficult to recommend a specific number of lumens. During darkness lower power lights can be seen a lot further, during the day you need much brighter lights.

I have a topeak headlux 10 lumen light (Topeak Headlux Helmet Light - 10 Lumen | BIKE LIGHTS | Evans Cycles) I tried it on my MM and it certainly made it visible out to 100m or so in complete darkness. I didn't try any further as I didn't want to hit anything. Also, it was very directional: with the light beam pointing at me I could clearly see it. Side on it was nearly invisible at about 100m. During the day it was pointless, and as a "headlight" so that the drone's camera could see things in front it was also useless. It only really started to light up things enough for the camera to see them when less that 1m away from them.

lannes · Jul 2, 2020

300 lumens for visibility

scro · Jul 2, 2020

lannes said:
300 lumens for visibility

Daytime visibility? Night time? what range? omnidirectional, or directional? These all affect what light power is required.

10 lumens was enough "for visibility" ...Buuuut... that was at night, at relatively short range and with a fairly focused beam.

I'd agree though, 300lm seems a reasonable output for lights. I'd expect that to give beyond 100 meters daytime and a good bit further at night with a hemisphere visibility.

pelagic_one · Jul 2, 2020

lowellton said:
Just bought Arella x50 30 lumens. Hope this work.

I have the same light on my son’s bike, so I’m thinking it’s a pretty heavy assembly for the Mini, with not a lot of brightness/lumens. Please share your observation once you’ve tried it out, and what light you eventually purchase for it.

lannes · Jul 2, 2020

scro said:
Daytime visibility? Night time? what range? omnidirectional, or directional? These all affect what light power is required.

10 lumens was enough "for visibility" ...Buuuut... that was at night, at relatively short range and with a fairly focused beam.

I'd agree though, 300lm seems a reasonable output for lights. I'd expect that to give beyond 100 meters daytime and a good bit further at night with a hemisphere visibility.

I use 2 strobon cree's for visibility in most conditions, I believe these are the lightest most compact available.

STROBON Cree® Standalone

This product is compatible with the latest FAA and CAA anti-collision lights rules for drones. It can be seen from at least 3 miles at night. Strobon Cree® Standalone is the brightest navigation strobe solution for enclosed drones like: DJI (Phantom, Inspire, Mavic, Spark, Mavic Air, Mavic...

store.flytron.com

lowellton · Jul 2, 2020

scro said:
Daytime visibility? Night time? what range? omnidirectional, or directional? These all affect what light power is required.

10 lumens was enough "for visibility" ...Buuuut... that was at night, at relatively short range and with a fairly focused beam.

I'd agree though, 300lm seems a reasonable output for lights. I'd expect that to give beyond 100 meters daytime and a good bit further at night with a hemisphere visibility.

The farthest i flew is 2.5 kilometers

Deleted member 103366 · Jul 3, 2020

Iannes, thank you for the UK strobe site. Do they sell the holder too? My searches couldn't find any

lannes · Jul 3, 2020

PhiliusFoggg said:
Iannes, thank you for the UK strobe site. Do they sell the holder too? My searches couldn't find any

You have a choice of whether the holders go on the legs or arms top or bottom, I'd go for the lightest holder

lowellton · Jul 3, 2020

pelagic_one said:
I have the same light on my son’s bike, so I’m thinking it’s a pretty heavy assembly for the Mini, with not a lot of brightness/lumens. Please share your observation once you’ve tried it out, and what light you eventually purchase for it.

I will. Its red color

dj101 · Jul 5, 2020

I guess these aren't technically for visibility at a distance and more for indoor navigation, but might also work. One downside. Gotta have top installed...