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Looking for good flying strobe lights
- Thread starter earlbalentine
- Start date
The best one I found is the Lucorb tricolor. Bright, visible at three miles horizontal using my own eyes, and helps ensure you know which direction your drone is going at night.
Others I have tried either don't have broad coverage (only visible vertically), have magnetics that affect the drone compass (bad), or ask you to mount several to get the color feature for control at night.
Here's what I finally ended up with. I frosted the clear lens which helps to improve horizontal angles. The foil on top was helpful to increase viewable range, but I decided to remove it. Haven't done the 3 mile test without, but figure it's probably good enough.
Others I have tried either don't have broad coverage (only visible vertically), have magnetics that affect the drone compass (bad), or ask you to mount several to get the color feature for control at night.
Here's what I finally ended up with. I frosted the clear lens which helps to improve horizontal angles. The foil on top was helpful to increase viewable range, but I decided to remove it. Haven't done the 3 mile test without, but figure it's probably good enough.
ps: I've tried using bright strobes for daylight. They really don't help much. The brightest strobes become background noise at 750 feet. I was using the strobe above flying down into a canyon, looking straight down at it, 450 feet away, and the flash was not noticeable other than a light turning on and off. The drone was quite visible by itself at that range, too. In other cases, flying into other areas where the drone is against the sky, the flash is useless; and in places where the drone gets masked by a background, the strobe can help while you maintain eye contact, but once you lose visual on the drone, the flash is not helpful to "find" the drone again.
People swear by the Firehouse ARC V - and it's great, I have 2. I hate the Velcro mounting systems and 3d printed my own or, if I'm attaching it to a leg, I just use rubber bands.
I got a 3 pack of these on sale for cheaper than the ARC V - not as bright individually but the brightest of the budget strobes I tested.
You can also watch some YT reviews like this one.
I got a 3 pack of these on sale for cheaper than the ARC V - not as bright individually but the brightest of the budget strobes I tested.
You can also watch some YT reviews like this one.
Take a look...
I got the Firehouse Arc V. Works great at night for anti collision lighting required by the FAA.
I agree with @eEridani... they are very limited during the day. But try it out for yourself.
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We have tested many lights : the lume cube and the firehouse are the very best .
Easy to use , Water Proof and a small footprint .
These are the same lights that will be used in the Lumination Wet Suit for the Mavic 3]
There any many to choose from but I recommend this one below. Notice it has 5 Leds in each light.
Despite how bright they are , its not going to be seen as well as a Drone with A Rescue Jacket that provides a larger Silhouette in the sky.
Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain , Capture the Storm , and Land on Water.
Easy to use , Water Proof and a small footprint .
These are the same lights that will be used in the Lumination Wet Suit for the Mavic 3]
There any many to choose from but I recommend this one below. Notice it has 5 Leds in each light.
Despite how bright they are , its not going to be seen as well as a Drone with A Rescue Jacket that provides a larger Silhouette in the sky.
Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain , Capture the Storm , and Land on Water.
Last edited:
I fly a Mavic Air 2 and I'm quite satisfied with the four pack of Firehouse ARC V strobes.
I use the 3D printed mounts from Aerial Pixel.
3d printed
Products by drone pilots for drone pilots. In 2013 we started Aerial-Pixel as a drone photography and videography service. Since then we have grown to also provide vinyl graphics, apparel and 3D printed products for the drone industry.
www.aerial-pixel.com
I use the strobes during the day and they do help a little.
A lot better than a dot in the sky, it's a dot that blinks.
It's neat to watch the MA2 do a Sphere photo and watch the aircraft rotate and being able to tell which way it's facing just by the color flashes.
.
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You want small, best bang for buck, easily attach with velcro (3m dual lock) or mounts by msinger here on the forum or others . . .
Firehouse Technology ARC II . . . in white for daytime vis.
You won't see anything (except much larger ARC V) daytime, maybe up to a km at most, they all just blend in with a light sky.
I can say I can look up and see mine every time at about 700m - 800m.
They even do a 4 pack in whatever colour, but white is by far the best to see both day or night . . .
drone strobe lights
... JUST EMAIL THEM AND ORDER, TELL THEM YOU WANT 4 x WHITE ...
Firehouse Technology ARC II . . . in white for daytime vis.
You won't see anything (except much larger ARC V) daytime, maybe up to a km at most, they all just blend in with a light sky.
I can say I can look up and see mine every time at about 700m - 800m.
They even do a 4 pack in whatever colour, but white is by far the best to see both day or night . . .
drone strobe lights
... JUST EMAIL THEM AND ORDER, TELL THEM YOU WANT 4 x WHITE ...
vindibona1
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The ARC V kit of 4 strobes for $99 is a good way to go. The red/green strobes help for directional orientation and the white strobes are very bright and help spot where the your drone is and will improve the your ability to see your drone about 4x from the distance you can see it without strobes. The individual ARC V's usually cost about $35 each. It may be important to note that each strobe weighs 13 grams. No issue with a Mavic 2 and presumably Air2/s. On my Mini2 I have two smaller, lighter strobes and then usually only one white ARC V or ARC II on the bottom. In the daytime I only mount one white strobe on the bottom for my own visual reference, but at night one on the bottom, one on the top to aircraft can also see for collision avoidance. Firehouse strobe kit
I may try out a Lubcor tri-color light, mainly for my Mini 2... if I can find a way to mount it on the bottom and not block the vents.
I may try out a Lubcor tri-color light, mainly for my Mini 2... if I can find a way to mount it on the bottom and not block the vents.
Mounted on top, the tricolor is plainly visible 360 degrees in flight. Not when directly over you of course, but out a hundred feet it's visible 360. It'll dip out when full forward is applied, but when flying around it is very visible on top. I sanded the clear dome to improve the side visibility - the light cone now includes angles well below the drone plane of flight, but even the clear is bright enough to the sides because the tricolor has vertical reflectors between the three colors. And, being just one strobe to mount, makes using it painless.
I tried using a five led strobe --- it was marginally brighter than the Lucorb when pointed at you; but isn't nearly as visible at low angles. What good is a beacon if it can only be seen from directly overhead? Planes will be coming at the drone from low angles. So you need five of those beacon strobes to get reasonable 360 coverage.
The worst part of this is the FAA has no other rule for strobe lights other than visible at three miles. No requirement for it to be 360 like plane anti-collision lights. A laser pointer meets the current Part 107 night lighting spec. I even asked the FAA and they agreed with me... lol ... but added they don't recommend a laser.
I’ll put this up again. Daylight flying with any strobe will be questionable.
These are brighter than the FH.
These are brighter than the FH.
Amazon.com: Drone Strobe, 5 White Cree LEDs Drone Strobe for Night Anti Collision, Fits All Multirotor Quadcopter Drones Like DJI Phantom, Mavic, Spark, DJI Inspire 1 2, Matrice, 3DR Solo, Matrice : Toys & Games
Amazon.com: Drone Strobe, 5 White Cree LEDs Drone Strobe for Night Anti Collision, Fits All Multirotor Quadcopter Drones Like DJI Phantom, Mavic, Spark, DJI Inspire 1 2, Matrice, 3DR Solo, Matrice : Toys & Games
www.amazon.com
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These are my current favorites due to price and brightness:
TOPSUN Strobe Light
VIFLY Strobe Light
Many people claim Firehouse Technologies makes the brightest strobe lights. However, both of these are just as bright to my eyes.
You can find a complete list of commonly used strobe lights here.
TOPSUN Strobe Light
VIFLY Strobe Light
Many people claim Firehouse Technologies makes the brightest strobe lights. However, both of these are just as bright to my eyes.
You can find a complete list of commonly used strobe lights here.
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The Topsun as per @Starz and @msinger posts above does look good, if leds are = to FHT, then 5 leds on an ARCII type format is going to be good.
Light, small, easy to find a spot on any drone.
I’d like to see a plastic wrap on the Topsun though, even though one might not fly in drizzly weather, it’s sometimes you can get caught out there, not to mention salt air spray if over the sea.
This might be something that can be done later with a light film ?
Light, small, easy to find a spot on any drone.
I’d like to see a plastic wrap on the Topsun though, even though one might not fly in drizzly weather, it’s sometimes you can get caught out there, not to mention salt air spray if over the sea.
This might be something that can be done later with a light film ?
dronerdave
Well-Known Member
I have FH arc-II, Spark, Arc-XL, Arc-V and the Topsun strobes mentioned. We did a daylight test and nobody could answer which was the brightest between the Arc-XL (5 emitter) and Topsun. I do know the battery life with the FH model lasts longer in flight and they hold a charge longer than my Topsun while in storage but both slowly loose battery level when stored, just that the FH strobes last months where the Topsun lasts weeks before going completely dead. I mainly use the Arc V and Arc-XL (5 and 6 emitter) units on my fixed wing aircraft and am happy with them although they are a bit larger. The XL's I own have an audible alarm that goes off if no motion is detected to help locate a lost drone. The Arc-II's are small and because of the battery life, I prefer them over the Topsun. I do hate how small the power switch is on the Arc-II's compared to the topsun which has a much easier to use switch. I use 2 white and red/green on my Mavic.
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Interesting, I think these setups would just lose a little power over time / non use, but I always thought it'd be nice to see the strobes discharge a bit quicker, like our drone lipos, it's not good having them 100% charged (or close) for too long.
There's no real way to tell where they are at easily, just the hours operation and a guestimate.
Eg. if going out to fly where I think I'll use a strobe, I'll charge an ARCII (or for the Spark a Dual) when I charge up my drone / controller / ipad batteries.
If I fly 1, 2 ,3 batteries, or even up to 6 on the M1P, my FHT ARCII will still be going fine, I just won't bother charging or touching it until next flight.
Likewise, and possibly worse, the Topsun losing ALL their charge over weeks is no good either, and is probably worse for longevity of the lipo than having one sitting at 100% or close.
dronerdave
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I don't know, but my buddy had several Arc-2's and they still worked after sitting for almost a year. I always take my fixed wing LiPo's down to 30 to 40% when storing them. Some are 5 years old and as expected the older ones are starting to puff a bit.
I don't use the Topsun strobes any more and have 2 sitting in front of me that are dead. They still seem to hold a charge but I've never tested the old ones against a brand new one for its total run time. My FH-XL strobes were not used for about 6 months while sitting fully charged and they still work fine but as already mentioned I've never done a time test. My fixed wing stuff is used for maybe 3-8 minutes per flight and I might fly 10 or more times per day and the 2 year old Arc-XL's are holding up great.
I concur with DronerDave on the TopSun 5 CREE bare strobe. I was going to print a case for it that was form-fitting to the drone - but after just two weeks and the battery was 100% dead - took half an hour of charging just to get the charge light working. I sent it back for a refund.
But using my flash meter, the 3x3w LED Lucorb was a bit brighter than the 5x3.5w LED TopSun, and much brighter than the 2x?w LED DR-02 (which caused compass errors on my Air 2).
But using my flash meter, the 3x3w LED Lucorb was a bit brighter than the 5x3.5w LED TopSun, and much brighter than the 2x?w LED DR-02 (which caused compass errors on my Air 2).
Do a search. Plenty opinions. I happen to like Vifly as they are small, very thin an unobtrusive and as bright as any of the other “popular” strobes imo. I have one on top (FAA) and one on bottom (Droniac), I also have one on the rear covering the DJI emblem on my M2P. Using @phantomrains wetsuit provides me with a neat way to ride two tiny flashlights as “headlights” on the side which are super light and bright aside the front/mid using the support band that goes around the bird which secures small occlusive design foam pieces to stop water from dripping in behind the front arms. He once had a vid where he did this. Doesn’t hurt vid where mine are. So ya think I’m concerned about vlos. I’m just shy of looking like a Christmas tree. Lol.
Godspeed, Droniac Flysafe & Godspeed, Droniac
Agreed, Those are the ones I was speaking of in a post. Truly like them.
Zeprider
Well-Known Member
I purchased the Firehouse Arc V. I bought two by mistake. So... one on top. One on the bottom. She's quite visible.
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