I have always thought the night blades of the larger R/C helicopters were cool. But they aren’t available for the micro helis that I fly. Coming up with a way for getting the micro blades lit up without adding too much weight to the head took me awhile to think of. But here’s a sneak peek at the result.
I have a 0603 LED on top and one below the blade. (I now like the brightness of the 0805 even more) I don’t know what color is the best for this. I chose white because it’s hard to go wrong with that. Initially I had a UV LED on the bottom, but it was so dim…it didn’t work out very well at all.
The copper traces and both LED added a mere 0.05g to the blade. I put tape on the other blade to balance it out. However, I think it’ll look even better if both blades has the LED. :)
Here’s a video:
And here’s a shocker that surprised me…with night blades and the rotor disc plane being so visible…orientation is actually easier at night than in the day. The feedback is that great. Because at the size of these micro, even in full sun…you can easily lose the orientation. This is even more enhanced on the new version I have where I got red LED on the bottom, and white one on the top.
Let me know what you guys think.
And here’s the RCGroups discussion thread on this topic:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1748394
Update: 01/30/2013
Check out what Nine Eagles and Helimax RC is bringing. The Axe 100SSL (Nine Eagles 126a) with build in LED lights in the main blade that draws power from the main battery. Nice. I am curious how it’s done. No details at the moment.
Leave a Reply to Japaul Lavrigata Cancel reply