My DIY 500 Night Blades

[dani_r]

Well, after a lot of reading and reaearch I've finally got most of the bits together to make my own night blades!

I've decided to make the 500 a dedicated night flyer for the winter months since it will be dark at around 5pm soon! plus if I wreck the blades doing it, it's not the end of the world.

Here is my progress so far:

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I have 4 green on the top and 2 blue on the bottom, currently waiting for my red LEDs and the associated resistors to come from the Farnells European warehouse, hopefully tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures of the LEDs and the resistors. As you can see they are tiny and require a steady hand to solder them correctly!

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Here they are with a resistor soldered to them. These are all green (not that you can tell!)
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Lined up with the head of a paper clip for size reference! The contacts to solder then together are super small.
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Quick test with a view of the bottom of the blade. As mentioned there will be red LEDs going on there too once they arrive.
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View of the top!
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Profile view. They're quite glared so it makes the green look blue in this picture for some reason. But I assure you the top ones are very bright and very green!
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This is only the first blade I've done. I still have to lay the tracks for the switch and charge point, should get that done tomorrow. This blade is still pretty much a prototype blade just to get my head round what needs to be done and how to improve things. There are some areas with a little too much solder for example and the track layout may change. If the other blade is vastly better I may end up re-doing the first blade.

Still trying to figure out a tail blade option! Will probably just stick to the led strips on the vertical fin unless I can do a small enough setup on the blade itself.

Anyone else making some blades?

[nobbycopter]

Looking good so far Dani...the Solarfilm get to you ok? Will be interested in seeing how this progresses as a set of night blades would be good for a bit of winter night flying and early morning flying

[dani_r]

Looking good so far Dani...the Solarfilm get to you ok? Will be interested in seeing how this progresses as a set of night blades would be good for a bit of winter night flying and early morning flying

It arrived this morning all safe and well! Seriously appreciate that one buddy

You just need a steady hand and a good pair of eyes to see them components. What heli would you be looking to setup for night flights?

[nobbycopter]

No probs Dani...not enough there for me to do anything with so better to find a good home rather than the bin where it would have probably gone when I next start building a plane!!

Looking to do the same as you my 500 as that's going to be my beater to learn new moves on.

[dani_r]

Well, we'll see how these go and I might be swayed to build yours for you as a thanks for the solar foil

[xygax]

I have just managed to get some real nice LED strip..... 30 leds / meter... Colour..... and each led has its own driver chip.... every one can be a different colour.... just need fo figure an index point and how the ell to get data from the body of the heli to the head.... can sort power... i need to make a slip ring and a regulator... or mount the whole thing on the head button... that will be fun....

Steve

[Jamin_00]

They look great, when the test flight with them?

Want a vid

[moyesboy]

Steve - usually its a UV LED shining on a photocall on the blade for the indexing.
I've seen a one with 3S on the head button powering align night blades - made them very bright! Slip rings I'm betting will give you no end of trouble!

[moyesboy]

Are you gong to try these blades with just the bare copper on the blade? some of the americans reckon they get a winter out of them with electric helis like that. Even after lacquering them some of us lost the tip tracks with a touch in the grass though!
My brush painted with 20 year old tuffcote blades loook roeally rough, but fly fine. Seems the lovely smooth consistent finish we like on our blades is unnecessary!

[collective itch]

What's did you have to do to make these? I'd there a tutorial on line?

[xygax]

i was thinking about pushing 12 / 24v up through a hollow mast with a single contact on center of mast and push the data by raido from the body i can fit a sat and decode on the top with a little bec for power these leds have their own controller chip one for every led.... ! now there are things i can do with that....

Steve

[waveydavey]

i was thinking about pushing 12 / 24v up through a hollow mast with a single contact on center of mast and push the data by raido from the body i can fit a sat and decode on the top with a little bec for power these leds have their own controller chip one for every led.... ! now there are things i can do with that....

Steve

How would you get past the Jesus bolts Steve. I've thought about this too but can't think of a way round it

[WildWake]

Here's a few pics if mine,
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Here's some of my heli,,,
Lights off (auto flash)
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Lights on,,,,,
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All taken in complete darkness in the garden at 10pm, the pics make it look blurry, but the LEDs are so clear to see.
I hope this will be a better colour than I tried last week (see avatar), blades are 3X blue on top & 3X white on underside.
I have wired up a switch to save unplugging wires to turn them on /off.
3 connectors, skids/tail/canopy.
The blue connector is a supply to charge the blades.
EDIT(Just realised two of the servo leads are blue as well, these are the tail and skids, black is the canopy)
(Will post a pic when the blades are fitted.)
see pic.
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I would like to find an easier connector for the canopy, one that you can't reverse, was thinking of using a jack plug. LED's come in a meter strip with a jack plug on one end.

[xygax]

Look at a main shaft on a velo or fusion you can see past the jesus bolt that means you can make a piece of nylon to carry the power with a small carbon brush ... or for the perfectionist make a flat transformer and mount it in the main gear then you can use the speed controler to fire it (wind it as a delta) and fast diodes hey presto power without connection (its basicly an air cored transformer) you use a small ammount of power that normally goes to the motor just to make enough flux to fire a clover leaf shaped transformer.... ! thats a bit wackey but its feasable....

Steve

[JoeBailey]

Or mount some neodymium magnets on the side frames and as the head spins up it would generate the current. Completely bonkers but very doable.

Joe