Installed Strobe Lights on Mavic Pro

[NITEWULF]

This is what I have been doing.

 

[NITEWULF]

I also have them oriented in this fashion so that there is a bit of syncronous knowledge with the manned aircraft. That way both myself and the other pilot are on the same page and know which way it is facing along with the direction of travel.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

On arm with velcro.Tried close to and far away from lens.Video looked like disco show.

Any particles in the air be they dust, moisture (cloud / fog) or even auto pollution haze, yeah it's going to reflect and pick that up badly.

When I get my strobes sometime soon (hopefully) I am thinking velcro mount, up the top of the front legs directing slightly outwards (red / port / left, green / starboard / right), and 2 whites on the back.
I don't do any more than late sunset to near dark, so thinking that strobing should not be too much of an issue, though I am looking att he Firehouse ArcII 4 leds.

Have to confirm later if the antenna in front leg(s) might be affected by the strobe electronics / any slight magnetic field type problems.

If it was REALLY an issue, I'd look at those new skids available, leave leds permanently on those and fit / remove skids for flights that need the extra VLOS benefits.

 

[Thomas B]

Any particles in the air be they dust, moisture (cloud / fog) or even auto pollution haze, yeah it's going to reflect and pick that up badly.

When I get my strobes sometime soon (hopefully) I am thinking velcro mount, up the top of the front legs directing slightly outwards (red / port / left, green / starboard / right), and 2 whites on the back.
I don't do any more than late sunset to near dark, so thinking that strobing should not be too much of an issue, though I am looking att he Firehouse ArcII 4 leds.

Have to confirm later if the antenna in front leg(s) might be affected by the strobe electronics / any slight magnetic field type problems.

If it was REALLY an issue, I'd look at those new skids available, leave leds permanently on those and fit / remove skids for flights that need the extra VLOS benefits.

I. have not had anything occur to suggest any interference with antennae or any function of my M2P or my MPP. I have my ARC2s just underneath the drones front nav lights, on the front legs ( not arms). They are in Aerial Pixel mounts and work this way with the PolarPro landing gear. I have had zero problems. I have a white ARC2 facing rear on each rear arm also.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

FH duals w/ Aerial Pixel holders on MPP.
Clean.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Perfect spot for them I think @RadioFlyerMan

 

[redserv]

FH duals w/ Aerial Pixel holders on MPP.
Clean.

Awesome, do you pick up the strobes when flying at night in the camera??

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Awesome, do you pick up the strobes when flying at night in the camera??

I dunno. I just got them on and haven’t tried a night flight yet. My main reason for the strobes is to maintain VLOS when I’m at low altitude with a non-contrasting background. Sometimes I do some precision maneuvering between trees. It really helps.

If the weather is good tonight, I’ll try it and get back.

 

[redserv]

I dunno. I just got them on and haven’t tried a night flight yet. My main reason for the strobes is to maintain VLOS when I’m at low altitude with a non-contrasting background. Sometimes I do some precision maneuvering between trees. It really helps.

If the weather is good tonight, I’ll try it and get back.

Thank you, appreciated.

 

[NITEWULF]

FH duals w/ Aerial Pixel holders on MPP.
Clean.

Maybe it's just me, but if the strobes are blocked by the holder, isn't it negating the flash into one specific corridor instead of a wide angle? In a few of the images of your set up, it would appear that the holder protrudes beyond the led.

 

[Thomas B]

Maybe it's just me, but if the strobes are blocked by the holder, isn't it negating the flash into one specific corridor instead of a wide angle? In a few of the images of your set up, it would appear that the holder protrudes beyond the led.

Likely there will be dispersion of the light noticeable if there is appreciable dust in the air

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Maybe it's just me, but if the strobes are blocked by the holder, isn't it negating the flash into one specific corridor instead of a wide angle? In a few of the images of your set up, it would appear that the holder protrudes beyond the led.

True. But not that bad. What I don’t see on one side, I see on the other. That’s why I did two strobes each front & back.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Thank you, appreciated.

Just came in from my night flight. My FH duals worked fine. No strobe interference under what I consider normal use.

However, if you point the gimble up as far as it will go (above horizontal), you will see the strobe reflection off the props when you yaw (the gimble turns in the direction of yaw). When the gimble is at about 45 deg down and you are within a few feet of the ground, you see the reflection off the ground. I then went up about 120 ft and pointed the gimble down about 45 deg towards the house. No strobe lights visible. I then hovered at 5 feet and took a video of the house about 30 ft away with the gimble level. No strobe lights visible.

I went up about 300 feet or so, and 3000 ft out. When I turned so the side of the MPP was towards me, the visibility of the strobe was reduced but still very clear in the night sky. And with the front or the back directly towards me, it was very clear. I'm sure I could have gone out a couple of miles with no loss of visibility.

As far as day use, for me they solve my problem of close proximity flying against a non-contrasting background. I went out 150 ft and about 5 feet off the ground, and I see it's orientation and position clearly.

They do work to a limited extent for normal altitude, daylight flying. I lose them at about 1100 ft out at 200 ft AGL. But high altitude, daylight flying is not why I bought them. This whole thing started when I was taking shots at a water fall, down in a valley. I'd fly maybe 300 ft away up river and totally lose sight against the river embankment lined with trees. It's amazing how quickly you can lose sight.

But now I'm happy, the sun is shining, and we had wieners for lunch!

 

[redserv]

Just came in from my night flight. My FH duals worked fine. No strobe interference under what I consider normal use.

However, if you point the gimble up as far as it will go (above horizontal), you will see the strobe reflection off the props when you yaw (the gimble turns in the direction of yaw). When the gimble is at about 45 deg down and you are within a few feet of the ground, you see the reflection off the ground. I then went up about 120 ft and pointed the gimble down about 45 deg towards the house. No strobe lights visible. I then hovered at 5 feet and took a video of the house about 30 ft away with the gimble level. No strobe lights visible.

I went up about 300 feet or so, and 3000 ft out. When I turned so the side of the MPP was towards me, the visibility of the strobe was reduced but still very clear in the night sky. And with the front or the back directly towards me, it was very clear. I'm sure I could have gone out a couple of miles with no loss of visibility.

As far as day use, for me they solve my problem of close proximity flying against a non-contrasting background. I went out 150 ft and about 5 feet off the ground, and I see it's orientation and position clearly.

They do work to a limited extent for normal altitude, daylight flying. I lose them at about 1100 ft out at 200 ft AGL. But high altitude, daylight flying is not why I bought them. This whole thing started when I was taking shots at a water fall, down in a valley. I'd fly maybe 300 ft away up river and totally lose sight against the river embankment lined with trees. It's amazing how quickly you can lose sight.

But now I'm happy, the sun is shining, and we had wieners for lunch!

Thank you Radio for such comprehensive testing. I am happy the strobes worked for you. I will be mounting mine to my mavic soon

 

[NITEWULF]

I am going to try and take a video of mine in flight, is the only way to upload it to comments via a YouTube video link?

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I am going to try and take a video of mine in flight, is the only way to upload it to comments via a YouTube video link?

Correct, needs to be hosted somewhere, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

I uploaded a couple of crude videos of my night flight. If you see any flash, it's reflecting off the windows.

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[CNYdronepilot]

I. have not had anything occur to suggest any interference with antennae or any function of my M2P or my MPP. I have my ARC2s just underneath the drones front nav lights, on the front legs ( not arms). They are in Aerial Pixel mounts and work this way with the PolarPro landing gear. I have had zero problems. I have a white ARC2 facing rear on each rear arm also.

I am using @Thomas B 's lighting/ mount strategy on my M2P as well. Glad to hear it should clear Polar Pro landing gear - I haven't taken the plunge yet on the PP gear but was my only potential concern about ordering the Aerial Pixel front leg mounts.

 

[Reelman67]

Will the front strobe be picked up in the camera while doing night videography??

I think so. Will have to reposition the front lights. Flew tonight with the strobes for the first time. The lights are being picked up by the camera. Bummer!

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

It thought at night for sure the LEDS (esp ARCII 4 led) would be visible fitted to arms, even with angled mounts that point them straight ahead.
Daytime might be ok, except perhaps with any sort of airbourne pollution, exhaust haze, dust, or any moisture like fine fog.

I think velcro on the upper leg could work, outer edge under where the stock front LEDs are . . .



If where the red X is here isn't angled out enough, and a pad of urethane adhesive to hold velco on isn't enough to angle out a tiny bit more,
maybe it can be modded to be hard wired ???



. . . putting the new ARCIIs over the existing led placement ?

Would be neat if they could be charged (or run directly) via the main battery, it should make negligible different to flight time.
Obviously a hack would be needed to have them stay on all the time for the front ones while filming or taking a photo . . .
Dilemma there as DJI have them turning of then for a reason, so maybe it's just better to aim them wide and hope for the best during daylight and dusk shooting.

I was even thinking at one stage about making them myself, as there are plenty of YT videos of how to make LED strobes.