glow sticks for night flying

[moyesboy]

I lioke the idea of a couple of glow sticks as back up in case of failed electrics and one to throw on the ground as a refence when night flying.
It seems these glow stick things are quite variable. I picked up a pack of 15 thin ones (anout 6mm dia) and these are so dim as to be useless.
The fatter slightly tapered ones are excellent. however last year they were 3 for a quid from the local pound shop, now they are in packs of one!

So I'm guessing folks out there into night flying have already figured out where to get the best and most cost effective glow sticks from?
Wherefrom and how much? I'm up for a smallish bulk purchase.

[Andy from Sandy]

Are the small ones you tried called starlites? I used to use them when I went night fishing. As I only had to see it at 50 to 60 feet it was bright enough.

Just found this page on ebay

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/GloSticks_S...QQftidZ2QQtZkm

[3dbasher]

i'm thinking of gearing up my 45o for night flying... what do i need specifically

[ChrisB]

I am also gonna kit one out for night flying this year for sure.

Probably the 450 as it will be the easiest one for night flying use for me.

[jamiem]

i just use the trial kit from surelight.co.uk ive butchered the inverter with a wire directly to the rx to take power from the bec, with 4 different coloured strings. the blades are a set of the align 3k carbon night blades.



im just in the process of kitting my knight out for some night flying. ive just ordered 9m of glow string from ebay, possibly a tad overkill

as for glow sticks, ive no idea, sorry!

[steelie600]

I plan on having second knight setup for night flying, wont be untill ive saved up lots of pennies and have it exactly the same spec as mine. but i expect it to be in a month or so so when i go flying on a sunday i can make a day of it rather than come home when the light starts to fail.

I also intend on having a flyin pretty soon and i want it to be a night flying only one anybody interested??

[moyesboy]

The glow wire I used this:
2 x 1.5m glow wire
annoyng the way he plays the postage price cost game, but £10 a set delivered is a lot cheaper than the align setup.

Avoid the blue, its a lot less visible than the other colours (unless its my eyes).
This works great on a 3 cell lipo (trex450).
I've have to boost my 2 cell on my knight 50 with a couple of nimh cells in series. Works great.(subject of another post).
I ordered some more so I have a set for my 450 and I'm going to put two drivers and 4 strings on my knight so there is a bit of redundancy, and more brightness.

With the night blades, I had a set of 325 aligns that I imported and they were duff. so get them from a UK shop so you can swap them if the lipos in them are duff. yuo can charge the 600 ones with the 325 blade charger, but it takes a long time (presume not the 325 with the 600 charger). The 600 night blades fly exceptionally well. the 325 night blades are very poppy and easily bogged and you have to reduce the collective travel or manage it carefully.

Thaks for the glow stick link. seems anywhere near 30p each posted for 25 or so is about the best deal there is. It seems the 15mmx150mm ones are the best - thinner ones are not bright enough.

[ChrisB]

Ordered a couple of sets from Moyesboys link and a Uk set of nightblades

[BobJ]

Hi Gordon

The local branch of Asda carries glow sticks in the party section, think they are 99 Pence each but I can choose which colours and can't never be arsed to buy in bulk as I only night fly once or twice a year at most.

Cheers
Bob J

[moyesboy]

The pound shop has them for a pound each, when they were 3 for a pound last year! It was that that made me think to order some cheaper ones.
I just bought 125 of a tenner off ebay. We'll see if they are of exceptional dimmness.

You want to get out night flying, after all you won't be getting a full nights sleep for a bit!

[ChrisB]

I got my 325mm nightblades and have charged them up,i assume they light up under centrifugal force as there is no jumper plug or nothing to plug in where the 3 pin charger goes or am i missing something?

Will try them later when it gets dark.

[jamiem]

if they are align ones then you need a jumper plug in each one, which they should have come with

[ChrisB]

I got them from a UK based guy on Ebay,i have just shorted the 2 outer contacts on each blade and they light up so at least i know they work

Emailed him to check if they should be supplied or not or whether mine were just missing

Looking forward to trying them out when all the light ropes come

[jamiem]

ive got 9m of el wire coming for the knight looking forward to flying something a bit bigger at night