Strobe VLOS range test summary- day and night

[Thomas B]

Great summary, I have 3 of the ARC V lights ordered, White, Green, Red - they arrive on Thursday, can't wait to try.

You’ll love them!

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[Mr. Noob]

With a Mini mounting an Arc, V on the bottom can be a little tricky, but I do it. The Arc II has a Mini mounting kit for bottom mounting but I like my method which is a little bit trickier to accomplish on a Mini. [read on if interested]

I know this is an old reply, but I’m new here, and have a question.
Do you find there is any balance issue having front markers but not rear? How much does the weight of the lights (all three) affect the battery life in flight?

 

[Skybuyer]

I know this is an old reply, but I’m new here, and have a question.
Do you find there is any balance issue having front markers but not rear? How much does the weight of the lights (all three) affect the battery life in flight?

No issues. I do have smaller light weight ones from Firehouse on my Mini 2 plus an Arc II on the bottom (and Formerly Mini 1) and use the Arc V's in front and on the bottom of my M2P. FWIW I think my Mini 2 weighs only 267 grams with 3 strobes.

FWIW, My Mini 2, with the three aforementioned strobes and PGY landing legs it only weighs 267 grams. Not light enough to bypass registration, but it illustrates how little added weight all of it is combined. Only 18 grams extra total, I think. No big deal.

As far as VLOS tests, I did test my Mini 2 yesterday without strobes and I don't think I could keep sight of it much more than 400-600 feet away. Once I lost sight of it and brought it back to see where I could get visual contact again, I never did pick it up until it was pretty much right on top of me and the prop noise guided me to find it visually. I'm sure I could probably follow my M2P farther, but I would bet that not that much and only in proportional relation to size. I know I will be flying with strobes 98% of the time and will have to have a good reason not to. Best investments I've made in these things.

 

[Mr. Noob]

No issues. I do have smaller light weight ones from Firehouse on my Mini 2 plus an Arc II on the bottom (and Formerly Mini 1) and use the Arc V's in front and on the bottom of my M2P. FWIW I think my Mini 2 weighs only 267 grams with 3 strobes.

FWIW, My Mini 2, with the three aforementioned strobes and PGY landing legs it only weighs 267 grams. Not light enough to bypass registration, but it illustrates how little added weight all of it is combined. Only 18 grams extra total, I think. No big deal.

Thank you for the reply, I figured I’d have to register no matter what, be it adding “leg extensions”, strobes and more than likely the combination of. What did you use to attach the strobes to the front legs? Looks like small zip ties but my old eyes.......

 

[Skybuyer]

Thank you for the reply, I figured I’d have to register no matter what, be it adding “leg extensions”, strobes and more than likely the combination of. What did you use to attach the strobes to the front legs? Looks like small zip ties but my old eyes.......

You're going to laugh, but I used elastic hair bands. The pack of 250 costs me $3. Super light weight. I use 4 on each side for security. What's great about this method is that if you even have to position them differently on the arms they just slide over. I have to do this if I install prop guards. I didn't event the method but saw someone on YouTube do it and thought I'd try it. It works well. Same method on my M2P with Arc V's.

Elastic hair bands for attaching strobes

One more thing... The Arc V has a dome which provides more omni directional viewing. If you can deal with the few extra grams that's the one I'd recommend for the bottom.

 

[Mr. Noob]

You're going to laugh, but I used elastic hair bands. The pack of 250 costs me $3. Super light weight. I use 4 on each side for security. What's great about this method is that if you even have to position them differently on the arms they just slide over. I have to do this if I install prop guards. I didn't event the method but saw someone on YouTube do it and thought I'd try it. It works well. Same method on my M2P with Arc V's.

Elastic hair bands for attaching strobes

One more thing... The Arc V has a dome which provides more omni directional viewing. If you can deal with the few extra grams that's the one I'd recommend for the bottom.

Whatever works! Thanks for all the info, I really appreciate it!

 

[DavidT_ NZ]

One point that your 10000 presumably feet drove home to me is.....
whilst you might be able to discern that the flashing light is your drone, do/did you have even the foggiest idea if there is/was anything else up there near your drone?
As a matter of interest, from sight of the strobe/s at 10,000x could you tell the drone's orientation? I think being able to discern orientation, most likely without the aid of the screen, is part of the FAA requirements

I have always had this concern, too, when I see range tests. My guiding principle is to remain in clear sight of everything in the sky around where I am flying a drone. And to listen. There may be other drones, planes, helis, gliders, hang gliders - all sorts of objects sharing or potentially sharing the airspace. For those reasons, I am always staggered when people say that they fly their drones from the comfort of their cars, trucks, utes etc. If the cold weather chills are too much, stay home and get out the XBox or PlayStation or the new MSFS ........ ????

 

[DavidT_ NZ]

You're going to laugh, but I used elastic hair bands. The pack of 250 costs me $3. Super light weight. I use 4 on each side for security. What's great about this method is that if you even have to position them differently on the arms they just slide over. I have to do this if I install prop guards. I didn't event the method but saw someone on YouTube do it and thought I'd try it. It works well. Same method on my M2P with Arc V's.

Elastic hair bands for attaching strobes

One more thing... The Arc V has a dome which provides more omni directional viewing. If you can deal with the few extra grams that's the one I'd recommend for the bottom.

I use a simple soft rubber band to secure my Air 2 props against the body before I put the drone into a soft bag and then into the Fly More case. Super easy. And I also keep a couple of silica gel sachets in the bag, as well, just to absorb any moisture in the air or caught on the components during flight. ????

 

[Skybuyer]

I have always had this concern, too, when I see range tests. My guiding principle is to remain in clear sight of everything in the sky around where I am flying a drone. And to listen. There may be other drones, planes, helis, gliders, hang gliders - all sorts of objects sharing or potentially sharing the airspace. For those reasons, I am always staggered when people say that they fly their drones from the comfort of their cars, trucks, utes etc. If the cold weather chills are too much, stay home and get out the XBox or PlayStation or the new MSFS ........ ????

I know my post about the 10,000 ft range test was quite awhile ago, but want to make it clear that I was quite specific in the location and circumstances that this occurred. I wasn't doing a range test per se, but the flight simply ended up going out 10,000 feet and was returned to home when I could no longer see my strobes. This particular entire flight was over water, under 400' AGL with me standing near the edge of the bank. I knew that there would be no other aircraft intersecting my line of flight due to the 500' to1100' buildings nearby that ran parallel with my flight. I had clear vision of the sky and would have easily been able to see any other aircraft remotely near my airspace. This particular flight was not a gratuitous "let's see how far I can fly" type of flight, but part of a film that simply allowed my Mavic 2 Pro to fly that far and still stay within sight.

During the day, anyone who can tell me that they can clearly see their drone more than 400' out of so either has eagle eyes or is fooling himself. I have 20/20 vision and wear glasses to correct astigmatism, and with strobes I can barely my drone past 1500' during the day. Night time is a whole 'nother world and distance viewing is pretty much limited by visual obstructions.

 

[alenalien38]

As a matter of interest, from sight of the strobe/s at 10,000x could you tell the drone's orientation? I think being able to discern orientation, Nox Vidmate VLC most likely without the aid of the screen, is part of the FAA requirements

 

[eEridani]

Late to this party ...

Doesn't adding an 8g gram strobe to a 249 gram drone push it into the next weight class?

I was out today testing a strobe to enhance daylight visibility. Found a wide valley to fly in so I was looking down at the drone in flight. 2000 feet away I couldn't see the strobe in full sun.

The real test was - as long as I maintained visual on the drone I could clearly see the strobe - it was impressive. The moment I averted my eyes to the horizon, then tried to relocate the drone - it was gone. The strobe was useless.

Rather disappointing, really. And that was the brightest of my two "FAA Approved 3 mile plus" drone strobes (3x 3 watt LEDs) - the one that singed my retina when I looked at it directly (couldn't see anything but spots for about 20 minutes until the visual purple recoated things. And that strobe is much brighter than my Ulanzi DR-02 - which I can look at directly and not have lasting side effects.

I'm going to spend some time with my Camera Flash Meter to see just how bright they really are. Then maybe try one of the latest Firehouse models as a comparison.

Update: Yep - the Lucorb is measurably twice as bright as the Ulanzi DR-02. Not my imagination.

 

[wco81]

So it doesn't help that much in maintaining VLOS?

 

[eEridani]

So it doesn't help that much in maintaining VLOS?

Not with the clear lens. I'm going to frost the lens and see if that improves things. The LEDs themselves have pretty small dispersion angles. Fine for someone directly above, not so useful off axis. This is a fault of many of the strobes we can buy. Like a flashlight pointed at you - you can see it a long ways off, but if it is pointed at something 100 feet beside you it's going to look pretty dim.

 

[Barbara]

Late to this party ...

Doesn't adding an 8g gram strobe to a 249 gram drone push it into the next weight class?

Indeed, yes, it's the total weight at launch that would count. Additionally, there is some debate that the act of adding a strobe, or any non-manufacturer approved accessory would constitute a "modification" which would contravene the wording of your (and our) regulations.

 

[eEridani]

Indeed, yes, it's the total weight at launch that would count. Additionally, there is some debate that the act of adding a strobe, or any non-manufacturer approved accessory would constitute a "modification" which would contravene the wording of your (and our) regulations.

One might be able to use the term payload to circumvent the modification rule, but take-off weight is generally what classifies the drone class here in the US (FAA rules). Drone + Payload = Take-off Weight

https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/small-unmanned-aircraft-systems-uas-regulations-part-107

 

[Paint Rock Drones]

Glad to find this slightly older thread. I've been sending my Air 2S around 300 feet up on a bright sunny day and flying it what seems to me to be a "long distance" before I start losing reliable LOS. When I look at the flight record later the "long distance" turns out to be about 500 ft. Given the "range test" posts I was beginning to think there was something wrong with my eyes, even I usually think my vision is pretty good. I used to fly search and rescue, and was pretty good at spotting things on the ground.

Mind you, spotting a 6 inch drone is very different from spotting a crewed aircraft or even a hang glider, which I can spot from much further off. For that matter, a hawk is easier to spot. So as long as I know where my drone is, I'm not as worried about spotting and avoiding most other flying objects. Now bees, as mentioned in another post, are another thing...

 

[Chaosrider]

I broke down and registered one of my Mini-2s, so I'm not concerned about the weight on that one anymore.

I seem to recall seeing that someone sells a fitting for mounting a strobe to the bottom of a Mini-2 that does NOT obstruct the cooling vents. If I could get a pointer to that, that would be great.

I've done explicit VLOS testing with a Firehouse Arc strobe on my Mini-2. I originally put it on top, but that was a waste of time. I ended up mounting it on the back of the battery cover. This works well, but is heavily orientation dependent.

Without the strobe, I can see it 600 ft reliably, 800 ft on a good day. With the strobe, I can see it at 1000 ft reliably, 1200 ft on a good day.

I sure would like to find a strobe that could increase that daylight VLOS distance.

Thx,

TCS

 

[Deleted member 103366]

and registered one of my Mini-2s,

Are you sure it is the drone that is the registered entity?

 

[Chaosrider]

Are you sure it is the drone that is the registered entity?

I don't understand the question.

Unless it's an oblique commentary about registering *me*, but they already had my personal data from my 107 license, so nothing about that changed.

TCS

 

[MARK (LI)]

So ...if you have 107....despite weight, any drone you would use for other than recreational use requires registration...it is a cumbersome set of rules to wade through