100 Watt LED Spotlight!!!

[JonEQuest]

So basiclly the Mercury is to on and off the light? something like that ?

Yes. I power the circuit as soon as the gimbal is pointed straight. Then as I fly I tilt the camera and the mercury lets the power flow into the LED from the converter output. When the light is off the converter is still running and so is the little cooling fan for the LED. When the LED is on the current draw drops the fan speed in half so having it run when the light is off is good to cool it between bursts.

P.S. I think I could do without the fan since the props are blasting air across the heat sink all the time. I may be actually cooling it less with the fan than if the fan was not in the way. I may ditch the fan and see what happens tonight. That will drop a few grams off I guess.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Got it! That thing is huge! I just have the Polar light kit for night flights. Ever since I got them, on the neighborhood forum, there have been reports of strange lights in the sky at night....lol. It would be great to have that to switch on once you have their attention. I love it!


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[BVC]

BVC- It is not too hot since I use it in short bursts and the prop wash is probably cooling it a lot.

Thunderbird - A mercury switch is a glass capsule with liquid mercury in it. When tilted it touches the contacts to complete a circuit since it is very conductive. See the last photo.

MasterBlaster - The photos should be visible. I had the setting on private at first, hit refresh.

Interesting. If you look at our build - those leds generate a TON of heat. But the prop wash keeps them cooler than I expected. Half the time they are ever slightest warm. I'm sure your setup gets plenty of cooling power with the props moving.

 

[JonEQuest]

Can you post a link to your build?

 

[BVC]

Can you post a link to your build?

It's 3 or 4th post on this thread. I have photos and video.

 

[JonEQuest]

It's 3 or 4th post on this thread. I have photos and video.

It looks pretty good. About as bright as mine. The problem is weight. These things are heavy. I am thinking of making a 36v pack so I can eliminate the 12-36v converter. The 36 v pack would also be smaller and lighter than the 11.1v 2,200mAh one I am using now.. Eliminating the fan, voltage converter and using a smaller battery could cut the weight by almost half in my estimation. The battery weighs 188g so the whole thing is probably adding at least 400g to the drone. That is a lot of weight to add.

 

[Drone-Fan]

JonEQuest,, thats a great rig. I like the mercury switch alot, however not sure I want to attach things to my camera or gimble. My son "BVC" was talking about the 80W light rig we built. We used an RF (signal) remote switch for LED light bar, it can handle up to 24v @ 10amps and costs a mere $2.50. The remote can power the light bar on/off, dim the output and initiate strobe functions. I will try to pull up the data sheet on it and post here or on the other thread "BVC" started.

Custom 80w LED light bar for Phantom 3

 

[Drone-Fan]

Here is the controller switch. you can search around for them on ebay, amazon or alibaba. The last time I bought them I ordered 10ea from china @ $1.50 each, downside is it took 3 weeks to receive them.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

This is the one I've got that I've put on my P3P. It's probably lighter weight, though it does still bog the thing down. It's probably not as bright as yours either, but I like to think I've caused a few UFO sightings with it. I make sure to skedaddle after I'm done.

http://www.amazon.com/InnoGear®-Hea...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

 

[Drone-Fan]

My setup weighs 20oz with the 6000 mAh battery. 16oz with the 2200 mAh battery. The 16oz setup flies well. The 20oz flies but you can tell the drone is grunting a bit.

Took it out flying tonight with a group of RC plane enthusiasts, when they lost (crashed) a plane in the field they asked me to launch the Flying Spotlight and they were able to recover it

 

[RedHotPoker]

It is fun because it is SOOO Freaking bright! BUT I have to admit the weight is hard on the drone. I will only fly for a few minutes then land and rest from now on. I flew 2 nights in a row for about 15 minutes each and the battery was HOT!

The flight batteries are always hot, after a run... ;-)

RedHotPoker

 

[BVC]

My setup weighs 20oz with the 6000 mAh battery. 16oz with the 2200 mAh battery. The 16oz setup flies well. The 20oz flies but you can tell the drone is grunting a bit.

Took it out flying tonight with a group of RC plane enthusiasts, when they lost (crashed) a plane in the field they asked me to launch the Flying Spotlight and they were able to recover it

Yep it was pretty cool seeing the light in action! I got the whole search on video from my drone to showcase how bright the light is.

 

[JonEQuest]

The flight batteries are always hot, after a run... ;-)

RedHotPoker

I am not worried about the batteries but the ESC chips burning up. They are on the main board and probably almost impossible to replace on a regular workbench.

 

[JonEQuest]

JonEQuest,, thats a great rig. I like the mercury switch alot, however not sure I want to attach things to my camera or gimble. My son "BVC" was talking about the 80W light rig we built. We used an RF (signal) remote switch for LED light bar, it can handle up to 24v @ 10amps and costs a mere $2.50. The remote can power the light bar on/off, dim the output and initiate strobe functions. I will try to pull up the data sheet on it and post here or on the other thread "BVC" started.

Custom 80w LED light bar for Phantom 3

I have a RF switch but that would add even more weight. The mercury switch came as an afterthought. I have it balanced on the side of the camera and I used the thinnest high quality wires I could find that were high thread count and very flexible. They were stripped out of a USB cord. I doubled each run so that they could handle the current but be even more flexible than thicker wires. I learned that the camera is made of a very weird material called "Nuthin-sticken-to-me-nium". A quick line of my favorite hot glue fell off as the camera laughed. I didn't risk prolonged heating of the hot glue to avoid heating the camera. 3M double sided tape would'nt hold for more than a few seconds. Finally I knew what to use.... E6000.... my wife uses it to glue rhinestones on dancing costumes. Rhinestones are f'ing expensive and moms hate to lose them. E6000 holds the mercury bulb glass to the exotic metal just fine and dried in minutes. I can also rub it off later when I want since it always stays a little bit pliable. I have two other light mods, the disco light show and the UFO light hula hoop.

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[N017RW]

I recognize the LED string and controller.
Can't beat it for $18.00.

 

[BVC]

I have a RF switch but that would add even more weight. The mercury switch came as an afterthought. I have it balanced on the side of the camera and I used the thinnest high quality wires I could find that were high thread count and very flexible. They were stripped out of a USB cord. I doubled each run so that they could handle the current but be even more flexible than thicker wires. I learned that the camera is made of a very weird material called "Nuthin-sticken-to-me-nium". A quick line of my favorite hot glue fell off as the camera laughed. I didn't risk prolonged heating of the hot glue to avoid heating the camera. 3M double sided tape would'nt hold for more than a few seconds. Finally I knew what to use.... E6000.... my wife uses it to glue rhinestones on dancing costumes. Rhinestones are f'ing expensive and moms hate to lose them. E6000 holds the mercury bulb glass to the exotic metal just fine and dried in minutes. I can also rub it off later when I want since it always stays a little bit pliable. I have two other light mods, the disco light show and the UFO light hula hoop.

I'm a fan of the mercury switch myself. I would think even two small rubber bands would keep the switch in place (unless it needs to be at an angle)

But sounds like an RF switch is needed if one can be sourced out that's small like a feather off the *** of a unicorn.

 

[Reed L]

The mercury switch was a great idea and you can buy them in lots of different sizes, I was also thinking that a photocell or a light sensor switch could be also used by toggling the front led's

 

[JonEQuest]

I was also thinking of other switches like you said. The reason I didn't put a tiny relay on the front LED lights is because it's a pain to go through the menu and turn that off and on easily plus I have to take the Drone apart to get to those lights. I just hit the C1 button and the camera points down and turns on the light. Perfect because now the camera and see what's directly below it at night.

 

[Vasekp]

I was also thinking of other switches like you said. The reason I didn't put a tiny relay on the front LED lights is because it's a pain to go through the menu and turn that off and on easily plus I have to take the Drone apart to get to those lights. I just hit the C1 button and the camera points down and turns on the light. Perfect because now the camera and see what's directly below it at night.

You can assign the red front led on/off to a Cx switch (see thunderbird´s Drone fishing equipment)

 

[JonEQuest]

You can assign the red front led on/off to a Cx switch (see thunderbird´s Drone fishing equipment)

Hmmm. I may do that eventually then. I was trying to do something fast without cracking the case. I plan to add some ports and connections to the inside eventually. I may do it sooner rather than later.