Any way to replace front red LEDs with landing lights?

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Hey all - I'm remotely considering trying to replace the front LEDs of my P3P with down-facing, hopefully more focused, white LEDs. When I fly at night I always ascend to a safe altitude right away, but there have been a few times when descending through one of the breaks in the tree canopy of my backyard that some landing lights would have been beneficial. I know some people have added extra white lights, but I'd love to keep her as stock as possible to minimize problems and also to retain the ability to turn them off when not needed. Anybody with experience have any ideas?
 
This one by Polar Pro is obviously an add-on but it's pretty cool
 
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Yeah, I really like how well-designed and non invasive it is even though it's not really what I'm looking for. So after poking around a bit I think adding extra lights may be the way to go but I *really* want the ability to turn them on and off at will - any idea if this is possible in any way?
 
Sure it's possible. Just not very easy. You have two choices - hack into the DJI system or roll out your own communication link. The easiest way to do it would be to replace the front LEDs with white lights and use the switch in the DJI app to control it. This has a couple of kinks - for one, you will need to run relays or an electronic switching circuit to the landing lights since the stock LEDs aren't sourced for much power. Then you have the issue that the front LEDs will blink anyway when the drone is upset - especially when the battery is low (and you're trying desperately to land). You could work around this with a circuit that just ignores all of that but it would take some fiddling.

There are folks that have gone the additional radio link route - mostly to rig something up that drops payloads on people. You could look around to see what specifically what they did.
 
Wonder if I could find a clean enough place to insert a relay into one of the stock lights...such that it would allow power through to the extra lights only if power was flowing to the stock ones...I do it in cars all the time, but the trick would be doing it cleanly and compactly...but that could be awesome! Would probably have to open the shell, which I REALLY don't want to do with a one-month-old drone...unless perhaps I could get access from outside? Heck if I know.
 
You do not need to do all of that. You can tuck a couple 5050 white leds in the same space as the stock led on each arm. One in front of the stock led and one behind it. Then just wire them to a step down puck and wire that to the battery terminals an the main board.
Now this will not be super bright, but it will look stock and retain your stock multicolored LED for warnings etc. Wiring them this way will also leave them on all the time when the quad is powered up so it may over power the red/green LED, But honestly, who uses the green/red LED anyway except for orientation, which you can now use the white ones for.
Or, you can buy a 3W led on a driver board for about $5, wire it to a 1S battery and velcro it to the bottom of the P3 and have a super freaking bright spot light. It is detachable and about the size of a quarter. This is what I did. I added a 15 degree magnifying lens for an even more narrow spot.
 
These are pretty bright. I have them on the front of my QR X350 PRO. They are pre wired, 12V, have an adhesive backing and easy to wire up. You could easily put them under the same lens as the stock red/green led or attach a couple to the bottom of the quad to face down. You would hardly notice them.
I also used these under my sideview mirrors on my car. The y come on when I unlock the doors. They light up a huge area beside the car.
Little Dot SMD LED Accent Light | Pre Wired LEDs and LED Bolts | LED Accent Lighting | Super Bright LEDs
 
This is the best autonomous high performing lamp I have found. < 30gr.

MOON GEM 2.0 USB RECHARGEABLE FRONT WHITE FLASHING/HI LO BEAM 3 LEDS

I have done a quick mod to remove whole fixation system and adapted ;

00af65a02946212937b7199dcbdc6ecc.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
I found a setup that uses photo sensors to control whatever you want to add light bars /servos etc. I will post it again when I find it. I saved the link somewhere. And it runs on its own power and it has a cover for the front led to block any light from getting in. So u turn on ur front lights and tidah !!!! So anyways it's in a far away country from where I'm from can't remember the name but it's meant for and comes with all the screws etc to install on p3and p4 all series. I have been working on my own tried with a aduino board etc trying to figure best way to do this. I'm going to be ordering one soon though. Now just a Q I know that there is 3 wires going to front led on my p4p the light grey is NEG. The dark grey puts out 0.013 v. And guess what the white wire puts out 15.53v!!!!!! I was like what the heck is going on here and both shut off when front light off. Does anyone know why the led has 3 wires and why one wire is such high output? I'm hoping the 0.013v will be enough to trigger a relay that I have I will keep u guys posted on my project.
 
. Then you have the issue that the front LEDs will blink anyway when the drone is upset - especially when the battery is low

Front leds blink ? Thought it was just the rear lights that indicated errors and the front were always red.
 
I found it again!!!! It's called a SARbox it's from gimbal-guard.com/SARbox
Anyone who wants to add a servo or lights etc look at this. I'm surprised no one mentioned this before cause I see a few threads with people asking how to do it. It's a slow web site so be patient with it and see all their mods.
 

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