MA cloaking ability

[Spidy Air Man]

There is no point in wrapping the Mavic Air to increase it's visibility unless you're permanently flying it in beginner mode (limiting it to very close range). The moment you get ~50 meters away with any kind of background (trees, fences, etc) the Mavic Air will disappear regardless of what colour it is or what wrap you use. The only solution is flashing lights (hence all the strobe LEDs in this thread).

In the winter here we have fun-flys in a high school gym.
Wrapping them makes mine easy to differentiate from other drones in the gym as well as others from picking up your drone mistakenly thinking it was their’s....unless they are intentionally trying to steal. But I find the later not happening since we have a close knit group.
I have to say, wrapping as I did takes about 90 minutes! Very tedious, but I like the extra layer of protection it provides.
To each his/her own.

 

[InvisibleName]

My Firehouse Arc II arrived today - nearly blinded myself when testing it - jeez, it’s bright!! Now need to work out where best to site it - probably use MavicFlyer’s suggestion

 

[Spidy Air Man]

I bought thin Velcro and attached the clear side https://www.amazon.com/VELCRO-Brand-Thin-Fasteners-Tape/dp/B0013AIAQ2
on my battery. Then if I don’t attach the led, the Velcro barely shows.

 

[MavicFlyer]

I got out to fly my Firehouse equipped Mavic Air. Went out about 1800 local time, on a bright cloudy day and tried out visibility during a straight up climb to 400’. Although obviously not as bright as it was at takeoff, seeing the strobe was not a problem (I watched it all the way up). To see how noticeable the drone is with this strobe, I looked off-axis about 40 degrees to see if the strobe would catch my eye, and it did.

I’m VERY satisfied with the 4 white LED version of the Firehouse strobe.
DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME ON ANYTHING LESS!!

To evaluate side view, I went about 200’ down range (still at 400’) and the result was similar - still saw the strobe and drone. I couldn’t go further that day, for unrelated reasons, but suspect the results at 400 and beyond would be similar. Would it be visible at 3 miles? I doubt it, but that 3 miles requirement applies to night, not daytime.

As to attachment, I put the strobe on using 3M Dual Lock. To use the other batteries, I had to attach the Dual Lock to them as well. One negative, albeit a minor one is that when you put the batteries in the compartments of the DJI carry bag, that Dual Lock sticks to the bag lining; solved that problem by putting a piece of note paper between the fastener, and the dividers.

Next step, although a lower priority, is to get another Firehouse strobe for the top. In the meantime, I’m thinking of how to attach the strobes without having to put Dual Lock on the drone batteries. Any ideas?

Maybe create a band of Dual Lock with the fasteners on the outside and use a small piece of Dual Lock to join the two ends of the band. That way, one could attach the strobes by pressing them against the outside of the band.

 

[Spidy Air Man]

I bought thin Velcro and attached the clear side https://www.amazon.com/VELCRO-Brand-Thin-Fasteners-Tape/dp/B0013AIAQ2
on my battery. Then if I don’t attach the led, the Velcro barely shows.

Attached are pics of clear (1 side) Velcro. You can see I mounted red & green strobes on rear landing extensions. I will post what if any issues I have with dusk video. I am fairly positive there WILL be issues with night video/photos however. So another option I am considering is mounting strobes on the side of rear leg extensions. (See last pic) I do not believe there is an option to mount the red & green strobes on the back of the rear legs...unless I would choose the option of never being able to use the leg extensions.
Comments? Ideas guys/gals?

 

[MavicFlyer]

Next step, although a lower priority, is to get another Firehouse strobe for the top. In the meantime, I’m thinking of how to attach the strobes without having to put Dual Lock on the drone batteries. Any ideas?

Maybe create a band of Dual Lock with the fasteners on the outside and use a small piece of Dual Lock to join the two ends of the band. That way, one could attach the strobes by pressing them against the outside of the band.

Some photos of how to attach top and bottom strobes:

Dual Lock strip wrapped around the body, with a flight gap. Then, another much shorter strip, used to hold the two ends of the longer strip.

Here’s another view.

There’s a small problem when folding the legs. The rear leg doesn’t fully get to the stowed position, because of the placement of the Dual Lock. I could have slid the band down a mm or two, but for the strobe mounting pad I now have on the drone battery.

I like this better than what I’m using now. A huge advantage of this approach is that you don’t put any adhesive on the on your drone.

 

[Spidy Air Man]

Some photos of how to attach top and bottom strobes:

Dual Lock strip wrapped around the body, with a flight gap. Then, another much shorter strip, used to hold the two ends of the longer strip.
View attachment 34990
Here’s another view.
View attachment 34991
There’s a small problem when folding the legs. The rear leg doesn’t fully get to the stowed position, because of the placement of the Dual Lock. I could have slid the band down a mm or two, but for the strobe mounting pad I now have on the drone battery.
View attachment 34992
I like this better than what I’m using now. A huge advantage of this approach is that you don’t put any adhesive on the on your drone.

Some photos of how to attach top and bottom strobes:

Dual Lock strip wrapped around the body, with a flight gap. Then, another much shorter strip, used to hold the two ends of the longer strip.
View attachment 34990
Here’s another view.
View attachment 34991
There’s a small problem when folding the legs. The rear leg doesn’t fully get to the stowed position, because of the placement of the Dual Lock. I could have slid the band down a mm or two, but for the strobe mounting pad I now have on the drone battery.
View attachment 34992
I like this better than what I’m using now. A huge advantage of this approach is that you don’t put any adhesive on the on your drone.

IMHO I prefer the small patch of Velcro attached to the battery bottom. I am not concerned about that small amount of adhesive from the Velcro and this has proven to be very secure in strong winds, 400 ft altitudes, and speeds in the MA sports mode.
I wonder about the aerodynamic alterations you may have with the wide of a strip on both the top & bottom of your drone.
I’m not saying my method is best, just know it’s worked well for me.
Hope your method works for you. Cya bud....