Best location to place Strobon strobes to P4 Pro?

Joined
Mar 31, 2017
Messages
211
Reaction score
171
Age
66
Location
Atlanta, GA
I just received my Strobon strobes from Flytron and I am trying to decide the best way to afix them to my P4 Pro.

I want to be able to determine orientation, so I got 4 units - 2 white and 2 red.

I am interested in what others have done to mount these to their drones. They will need to be removable so, for now, I am thinking velcro. The real question is... WHERE?

Ideas? Photos?

Thanks
 
Really wish people would get Red/Green/White and install (roughly) as follows:

upload_2017-4-8_14-3-55.png
 
Really wish people would get Red/Green/White and install (roughly) as follows:

View attachment 80094

That makes perfect sense for a plane, but on a quad the red and green will be impossible to differentiate left and right. That is why I am thinking just red for the front and white for the rear. If you think about color theory for just a bit, by mixing red and green for the forward strobes, the net result will be yellow. So, you end up with yellow facing forward and white face rearward. I think that could lead to some confusion for the VO or pilot.

I am going to go to Home Depot and/or Target in a bit. Thinking that maybe there is a lightweight clip that I could attach to the landing structure. I am using the stand-alone Strobon units with the Cree LED's. They say they are good for 2 hours of operation. My plan right now is to find a plastic clip of sufficient quality and glue the strobes to 4 clips, placing the white strobes at the rear corners so they would be rotated about 30 degrees to each side. This would cover the rear and sides with white. Then have the two reds at the front struts facing dead forward. This would give me or VO a clear means to orient the bird towards us.
 
That makes perfect sense for a plane, but on a quad the red and green will be impossible to differentiate left and right. That is why I am thinking just red for the front and white for the rear. If you think about color theory for just a bit, by mixing red and green for the forward strobes, the net result will be yellow. So, you end up with yellow facing forward and white face rearward. I think that could lead to some confusion for the VO or pilot.

I am going to go to Home Depot and/or Target in a bit. Thinking that maybe there is a lightweight clip that I could attach to the landing structure. I am using the stand-alone Strobon units with the Cree LED's. They say they are good for 2 hours of operation. My plan right now is to find a plastic clip of sufficient quality and glue the strobes to 4 clips, placing the white strobes at the rear corners so they would be rotated about 30 degrees to each side. This would cover the rear and sides with white. Then have the two reds at the front struts facing dead forward. This would give me or VO a clear means to orient the bird towards us.

The whole point of navigation lights is so other observers can figure out your orientation. Pilots in aircraft (if such might happen) would not understand what two red lights mean coming towards them.

Further, as these lights flash, you will see distinct red and green except at the unlikely time that they are in sync. (Not sure how steady their clocks are).
 
The whole point of navigation lights is so other observers can figure out your orientation. Pilots in aircraft (if such might happen) would not understand what two red lights mean coming towards them.

Further, as these lights flash, you will see distinct red and green except at the unlikely time that they are in sync. (Not sure how steady their clocks are).

I get that. But with a green light and a red light no closer than 5 inches from each other, no pilot will have a clue which is right and which is left. It's just going to be one point of light in their field of view. It will be MY job to see the plane more than theirs to see my Phantom. It is my duty to stay out of their way.

If a pilot were to see a separate red and green strobe and see no discernible distance between them, they are apt to interpret that as a plane that is somehow much further away than my drone is.

It would be better to alert them to something that they do NOT understand than it would be to alert them to something that they might MISunderstand... at least that is the way I see it. If the FAA steps in and makes a determination as to how SUA's are to be marked I will comply. Until then I am forced to apply my reasoning and logic to the situation. The white light at the rear is obvious and in compliance with your plane diagram. The red light at the front is in partial compliance. Pilots are used to seeing flashing red lights at the tops of masts and towers. I think it will work just fine.

Mostly, I was interested in ideas as to how to attach these in a non-permanent manner.
 
I get that. But with a green light and a red light no closer than 5 inches from each other, no pilot will have a clue which is right and which is left. It's just going to be one point of light in their field of view. It will be MY job to see the plane more than theirs to see my Phantom. It is my duty to stay out of their way.

If a pilot were to see a separate red and green strobe and see no discernible distance between them, they are apt to interpret that as a plane that is somehow much further away than my drone is.

It would be better to alert them to something that they do NOT understand than it would be to alert them to something that they might MISunderstand... at least that is the way I see it. If the FAA steps in and makes a determination as to how SUA's are to be marked I will comply. Until then I am forced to apply my reasoning and logic to the situation. The white light at the rear is obvious and in compliance with your plane diagram. The red light at the front is in partial compliance. Pilots are used to seeing flashing red lights at the tops of masts and towers. I think it will work just fine.

Mostly, I was interested in ideas as to how to attach these in a non-permanent manner.

If you see correctly installed red and green lights it doesn't matter if you can discriminate them left to right. Seeing them at the same time means they are pointed towards you. That is the point of nav lights, the colours you see tell you what side of the ship or plane that you are facing.

It's no different seeing an real aircraft at night that is 5 or 7 miles away.

It's not so much an issue of compliance as convention. Aviation adopted nav lights from ships with some minor angle differences. It's an old, old, old well weathered convention.
 
These strobes are not for navigation lights. You're advising this beyond the scope of what they can operationally do and what the faa stipulates they are even meant for in a daylight waiver performance based standard, which is merely to increase conspicuity for other aircraft to 3sm. The built in leds on the phantom are there for you and a vo to constantly see and detect orientation. The strobes are for other aircraft to just see the bird in the sky, not for them to get a fix on how your quad is oriented. In practice, I have found white is all that is needed and the best place for them is simply on the very top of the bird. If you want to have them down facing, I suggest doing so on the back of the bird which puts them behind the camera. Velcro is effective, although I always like the added assurance of gaffer tape. As important as it is where you put them, learn how to turn them on and off while keeping your eyes as protected as possible. I have battery trays on my bird so it was easy to face one down. These work well and don't get in the video. This was how I did my ds30 and the pics are of my strobon Crees, which replaced it.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

IMG_20170321_204917376.jpg

IMG_20170321_204752707.jpg
 
These strobes are not for navigation lights. You're advising this beyond the scope of what they can operationally do and what the faa stipulates they are even meant for in a daylight waiver performance based standard, which is merely to increase conspicuity for other aircraft to 3sm. The built in leds on the phantom are there for you and a vo to constantly see and detect orientation. The strobes are for other aircraft to just see the bird in the sky, not for them to get a fix on how your quad is oriented. In practice, I have found white is all that is needed and the best place for them is simply on the very top of the bird. If you want to have them down facing, I suggest doing so on the back of the bird which puts them behind the camera. Velcro is effective, although I always like the added assurance of gaffer tape. As important as it is where you put them, learn how to turn them on and off while keeping your eyes as protected as possible. I have battery trays on my bird so it was easy to face one down. These work well and don't get in the video. This was how I did my ds30 and the pics are of my strobon Crees, which replaced it.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

View attachment 80100
View attachment 80101

I'm stating it as a preference. Yes, it's practically impossible to get the angles correct unless someone would make them to be so.

It's also practically easy to get the positions correct.
 
I bought two one red and one white ( I should have bought two white , there much brighter) and placed both on top but unless your launching from a high elev your not going to be able to see them easily from the ground if your a couple hundered feet in the air., I'm going to try them on front top ( not to interfere with camera) and on the side of one of the prop arms on the rear.
 
I have a buddy that is 3D printing me some holders. They will be a pocket that the Strobons fit into leaving the bulb (obviously), button and USB exposed. They will fit to the P4P legs and secure with a zip tie. They look pretty cool in the 3D software. They are not printed yet, but I'll post when done
 
I found something today while shopping at MicroCenter. There are some little rubber cable organizers that are about an inch wide and circular. They are flat on the back but have a slot that wires can go through that is narrow at the opening but wider in the middle. Hard to explain, but here is a link...

Micro Center - Computers and Electronics

These WILL fit on the legs of the P4Pro. They are snug to be sure, but they will fit and nothing in flight will make them let go short of an outright crash. I am going to give this a try. Will use two white Strobon units on the rear, facing outwards at 45 degree angles and two reds on the front, facing more like 75 degrees outwards. This way, when the bird is facing me I will see BOTH red strobes. Everyone else will either see both whites or a combination or red and white. Only the front view will show two reds, with about a 7-10 degree window in which both red strobes will be visible. I am using velcro to attach the units to the cable organizers.

Will post photos after I test this out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Davidnclearlaketx
Best place to order Strobon? Everyone seems out of stock of at least one colour I want. (I want red, green and white).
 
I found something today while shopping at MicroCenter. There are some little rubber cable organizers that are about an inch wide and circular. They are flat on the back but have a slot that wires can go through that is narrow at the opening but wider in the middle. Hard to explain, but here is a link...

Micro Center - Computers and Electronics

These WILL fit on the legs of the P4Pro. They are snug to be sure, but they will fit and nothing in flight will make them let go short of an outright crash. I am going to give this a try. Will use two white Strobon units on the rear, facing outwards at 45 degree angles and two reds on the front, facing more like 75 degrees outwards. This way, when the bird is facing me I will see BOTH red strobes. Everyone else will either see both whites or a combination or red and white. Only the front view will show two reds, with about a 7-10 degree window in which both red strobes will be visible. I am using velcro to attach the units to the cable organizers.

Will post photos after I test this out.

Interesting find. be sure to post back
 

Recent Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,352
Members
104,933
Latest member
mactechnic