Placing Strobe's on Front, Back or Top

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Here they are aloft...

Can't see my screen properly now ?

 

[Lets Fly]

I have taken my ARC2s and/or ARC XLs while still in their @Aerial-Pixel mounts on and off my drones 4-6 times a week for about 2 years.... I was an early adopter of the XLs... bottom line no problems with the lights, no need to remove from mounts to charge, and no damage noted to the light holders, legs, or Wrapgrade skin on my drone. The front mounts were made to fit over the PolarPro landing gear.

Good to know, thanks.

 

[Thomas B]

Good to know, thanks.

And finally... day or night, unless there is fog, they don’t become visible in, nor interfere with videos or still pictures.

 

[dronerdave]

And finally... day or night, unless there is fog, they don’t become visible in, nor interfere with videos or still pictures.

Except bugs! But can be an interesting target.

 

[msinger]

Got them them thanks, but the mounting does not match your photos. I ordered a front right and rear left, but placing the notches as you describe along with the cut outs in order to get the USB charge port to the outside for charging doesn't match.

If you feel you received the wrong mounts, please either post photos here or PM me (so I can see what you're describing).

 

[msinger]

I believe msinger mounts are very well made and quality printed though, so maybe repeat use is fine . . . @Thomas B uses his drone a lot, has various mounts of msinger, so maybe he can advise on his experience, but I'm sure we would have heard something from him if he'd even had a problem.

I don't think @Thomas B uses my mounts, but they are high quality and can be removed/reattached many times. They are a made of a very high quality PLA (not brittle like many 3D prints).

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I don't think @Thomas B uses my mounts, but they are high quality and can be removed/reattached many times. They are a made of a very high quality PLA (not brittle like many 3D prints).

Oops, must be the 'other guys' mounts here

Umm, I just went to the FHT site, and some other resellers, trying to find the size and weight of the ARC XL.
It looks huge, bulky, and much much heavier than the ARCII.
Ok, that's understandable with the alarm / housing etc.

* Just found that, on the FHT ebay page . . .
ARC XL strobe measures 2" x 1-1/8" x 1/2" weighs less than 8 grams
ARCII strobe measures 1" x 3/4" x 3/8" weighs less than 4 grams

As good as the brightness and alarm are, I think I'd give them a miss.

I think these would only be suitable for a larger Mavic, notably the M2P/Z, and you'd really have to use them on an arm/s.
There's not much room under or behind for such a size, and having that lump on the top would be aesthetically bad and not the best for VLOS up high.

Cool strobe / alarm though.

 

[Lets Fly]

Here they are aloft...

Put the strobes on and flew today. I photograph a new building that has been going up for the past 32 weeks. Every week I shoot from 7 different angles and the last shot from 400'
I then video on the way down. What a difference to look at the controller and when you look back up you easily pick out the strobes and find the drone. Today with a blue sky and sunshine it was great.
Can't wait to try it at a distance in the evening and out over the ocean.

 

[Andy Mac 230]

Why can’t manufacturers replace the existing light both front and rear with changeable strobes ie red green on the ground and once airborne they strobe white? Just a thought

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Why can’t manufacturers replace the existing light both front and rear with changeable strobes ie red green on the ground and once airborne they strobe white? Just a thought

That's been suggested in quite a few previous strobe posts.
It'd be a great option from the factory, dual lights that can have standard lights, plus with a switch in settings have decent cree led come on too.
Wired in would be so much more convenient, and they really draw so little power.

 

[dronerdave]

Maybe there is a higher failure rate with cree strobes compared to the low powered LED's? We've had a few failures with the firehouse strobes (they replaced them N/C).

 

[msinger]

We've had a few failures with the firehouse strobes

I'm assuming you mean the batteries failed. The LEDs themselves probably don't fail as often.

 

[dronerdave]

Between 3 of us that use who use the 4 strobe units, 2 had a single emitter go out and on another one the battery got hot and melted.

 

[Thomas B]

Between 3 of us that use who use the 4 strobe units, 2 had a single emitter go out and on another one the battery got hot and melted.

Which model?

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

LEDs have really made some leaps and bounds in recent years.

I'm not sure what the FHT high intensity cree leds are specifically in their mainstream Dual and ARCII , but the new ARC XL uses the Cree XP-E, 3.5w, 122 lumens per watt, output per led 307lm.
The XL has 5 leds which should total ~ 1500lm, but FHT reported total output of the XL is 1000lm though, so maybe they are limited down to give them longer life.

Cree have a stronger LED, the XP-L, 10w, 136 lumens per watt, output per led 1095lm per led (5 x more per led).

Both are just 3.45mm (a bit over 1/8") square.

So FHT (or whoever makes them) obviously thinks 1000lm is enough, and it probably is !!
I'm sure more heat = more failure is such a situation as small drone strobe packages.
The ARC XL is substantially larger than the lesser spec strobes (eg ARCII is 600lm with 4 leds, just 150lm per led), but the XL has room for cooling in the housing too.

Powerful LED lights (like 4WD light bars) have substantial heat sink fins, with the general drone strobes there is no such capability, so I think that's why they tone the output down.

 

[dronerdave]

Which model?

The Arc-II's (four strobe) failed...one was red the other was white and both only one emitter shut down. Both failed after being used for several days. No visual sight of what caused it but loosing just one emitter made a huge difference at further distances out. I don't know why the battery melted down on my friends. The guy it happened too might have plugged the usb port in backwards...he don't see so good close up. He's a really a cool guy though and probably has purchased over 300 bucks worth of FH products. He's always giving them away to his other flying buddies so he doesn't know if there were any issues with those. Overall most of them have been very reliable for my uses and all of mine are working fine.

 

[Thomas B]

The Arc-II's (four strobe) failed...one was red the other was white and both only one emitter shut down. Both failed after being used for several days. No visual sight of what caused it but loosing just one emitter made a huge difference at further distances out. I don't know why the battery melted down on my friends. The guy it happened too might have plugged the usb port in backwards...he don't see so good close up. He's a really a cool guy though and probably has purchased over 300 bucks worth of FH products. He's always giving them away to his other flying buddies so he doesn't know if there were any issues with those. Overall most of them have been very reliable for my uses and all of mine are working fine.

Thx for the info.

 

[msinger]

The guy it happened too might have plugged the usb port in backwards

Hmm... not sure that's possible ?

 

[dronerdave]

Hmm... not sure that's possible ?

Yeah I wondered about that. Not sure about the pin positions used and whether it even can make contact upside down. No matter the cause, he's got a hole in his carpet. It did happen during a charging session.