Lume Cube too heavy-motors are working too hard

[Huskerfan]

I just got my Lume Cubes and they're heavier than I envisioned.

Put them on and right away I get sporadic flight and I can hear the motors working harder plus I had some sporadic flight (probably cause the motors were working harder)

Anyone else experience this? Is this normal when you add a little weight?

I have a Phantom 3 Pro

 

[dirkclod]

@RedHotPoker use's those I believe and he will tell you what he thinks when he see's this .
He likes em .

 

[HWCM]

Just as bright and weigh about as much as two quarters. Choose from four colors. I have a green one on the back and a red one on the front for orientation at night. i can see them over a mile away.
STROBON Standalone - Flytron

 

[TheLightSpeedz]

Tons of people fly with LumeCubes. You sure you don't have it in beginner mode? I just bought a set today for my P4


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[RedHotPoker]

I just got my Lume Cubes and they're heavier than I envisioned.

Put them on and right away I get sporadic flight and I can hear the motors working harder plus I had some sporadic flight (probably cause the motors were working harder)

Anyone else experience this? Is this normal when you add a little weight?

I have a Phantom 3 Pro

To date, I haven't experienced anything like that happening with my Phantom 3 Pro, and Lume Cube kit. So now, I wonder if there is some other struggle, going on? Plus no one else I talk to, about our Lume Cubes has ever mentioned such a thing happening to their drones.
There are several of Us here, with Lume Cubes and no one has ever brought this up before, that I have read about.
There must be another logical explanation to this dilemma of yours.

Good luck, I hope that you can figure it out. It would be a shame if your drone had to go back to flying in the dark. Ha

RedHotPoker

 

[RedHotPoker]

Just as bright and weigh about as much as two quarters. Choose from four colors. I have a green one on the back and a red one on the front for orientation at night. i can see them over a mile away.
STROBON Standalone - Flytron

Really, these are just as bright. Hahaha I doubt it friend.
Lume Cubes are 1500 lumens at 6000 kelvin. Where does it rate these in the description below? I watched the short video, with no mention at all.

From their website:
Strobon Standalone is a good navigation strobe solution for enclosed drones like DJI Phantom, DJI Inspire, 3DR Solo, Walkera and others.

No cabling required. Just attact it to your drone or model airplane with your favorite glue or velcro, press the button to turn it ON. That's all.

Features

• 5 hours continuous operation with onboard battery.
• Powerful 3W LED
• No Cabling required
• Easy to use single button interface.
• On board battery status and charge indicator system.
• Compatible with all 5V MicroUSB cables and chargers.(cable not included)
• Contact Pads(L+ and L-) for the external LED support.
• Battery with internal overcharge and discharge protection.

Usage

• BATTERY STATUS: Press the button then release to learn battery status when it is OFF.
  (1 blink:Need Charge, 2 blink: It's OK, 3 blink: Fully Charged)
  
  
• ON/OFF: Press and hold the button for 3 seconds to turn ON or OFF
  
  
• CHARGE: Plug it to any micro USB charger or computer port when charging required.
  - The LED will blink with very short bursts when charging.
  - The LED will blink with 1 second ON / 2 seconds OFF pattern when the battery is fully charged.
  It takes 2 hours for empty batteries.

Notice: The battery includes it's own PCM module. This module protects the battery from overcharge and discharge for long lifespan. If there is no life sign on the circuit when you press the button, probably discharge protection has activated because of low battery voltage. Just charge it.



Specifications

• Dimensions: 22mm x 18mm x 10mm
• Weight: 4gr
• Current Consumption: <15mA per hour
• Charge Port: MicroUSB
• Charge Current: 40mA max.
• Charge Time: ~2 hours
• Battery Type: 70mA LiPo Battery with safe and reliable PCM circuit.

I think you are obviously slightly mixed up. Unless you have documentation.
Please explain how you figured these are equally as bright? Thanks.
That's barely a keychain trinket.. No functionality, but a simple blinker, and a weak one at that. Haha
Lume Cubes have ten brightness settings, and even on low, would blow that simple LED out of the water...

RedHotPoker

 

[shockwave199]

Unless I'm mistaken, the cube isn't a strobe correct? It's constant on lights. That's cool but it's not a strobe, which I'm pretty sure is what the FAA is looking for in this in general. They definitely are pretty cool for certain applications. They're also pretty pricey too. This is more in line with what I'll be considering shortly-

DS-30--1 Drone Strobe

 

[phantomgaz5]

Really, these are just as bright. Hahaha I doubt it friend.
Lume Cubes are 1500 lumens at 6000 kelvin. Where does it rate these in the description below? I watched the short video, with no mention at all.

From their website:
Strobon Standalone is a good navigation strobe solution for enclosed drones like DJI Phantom, DJI Inspire, 3DR Solo, Walkera and others.

No cabling required. Just attact it to your drone or model airplane with your favorite glue or velcro, press the button to turn it ON. That's all.

Features

• 5 hours continuous operation with onboard battery.
• Powerful 3W LED
• No Cabling required
• Easy to use single button interface.
• On board battery status and charge indicator system.
• Compatible with all 5V MicroUSB cables and chargers.(cable not included)
• Contact Pads(L+ and L-) for the external LED support.
• Battery with internal overcharge and discharge protection.

Usage

• BATTERY STATUS: Press the button then release to learn battery status when it is OFF.
  (1 blink:Need Charge, 2 blink: It's OK, 3 blink: Fully Charged)
  
  
• ON/OFF: Press and hold the button for 3 seconds to turn ON or OFF
  
  
• CHARGE: Plug it to any micro USB charger or computer port when charging required.
  - The LED will blink with very short bursts when charging.
  - The LED will blink with 1 second ON / 2 seconds OFF pattern when the battery is fully charged.
  It takes 2 hours for empty batteries.

Notice: The battery includes it's own PCM module. This module protects the battery from overcharge and discharge for long lifespan. If there is no life sign on the circuit when you press the button, probably discharge protection has activated because of low battery voltage. Just charge it.



Specifications

• Dimensions: 22mm x 18mm x 10mm
• Weight: 4gr
• Current Consumption: <15mA per hour
• Charge Port: MicroUSB
• Charge Current: 40mA max.
• Charge Time: ~2 hours
• Battery Type: 70mA LiPo Battery with safe and reliable PCM circuit.

I think you are obviously slightly mixed up. Unless you have documentation.
Please explain how you figured these are equally as bright? Thanks.
That's barely a keychain trinket.. No functionality, but a simple blinker, and a weak one at that. Haha
Lume Cubes have ten brightness settings, and even on low, would blow that simple LED out of the water...

RedHotPoker

Nice ....one..haha

 

[maxwell smart]

The video does not do them justice. The strobes are very bright, you cant look at them with out being blinded by the flash. You have to see them in person. I have used these for years, and can see my P2 at over a mile in the night. Work good in daylight to, just cant see them as far. For the size and weight you cant go wrong. What I am saying is they are brighter then what the video looks like.
Do you have any video of the cube?? Would like to see it.

E="RedHotPoker, post: 929072, member: 24941"]Really, these are just as bright. Hahaha I doubt it friend.
Lume Cubes are 1500 lumens at 6000 kelvin. Where does it rate these in the description below? I watched the short video, with no mention at all.

From their website:
Strobon Standalone is a good navigation strobe solution for enclosed drones like DJI Phantom, DJI Inspire, 3DR Solo, Walkera and others.

No cabling required. Just attact it to your drone or model airplane with your favorite glue or velcro, press the button to turn it ON. That's all.

Features

• 5 hours continuous operation with onboard battery.
• Powerful 3W LED
• No Cabling required
• Easy to use single button interface.
• On board battery status and charge indicator system.
• Compatible with all 5V MicroUSB cables and chargers.(cable not included)
• Contact Pads(L+ and L-) for the external LED support.
• Battery with internal overcharge and discharge protection.

Usage

• BATTERY STATUS: Press the button then release to learn battery status when it is OFF.
  (1 blink:Need Charge, 2 blink: It's OK, 3 blink: Fully Charged)
  
  
• ON/OFF: Press and hold the button for 3 seconds to turn ON or OFF
  
  
• CHARGE: Plug it to any micro USB charger or computer port when charging required.
  - The LED will blink with very short bursts when charging.
  - The LED will blink with 1 second ON / 2 seconds OFF pattern when the battery is fully charged.
  It takes 2 hours for empty batteries.

Notice: The battery includes it's own PCM module. This module protects the battery from overcharge and discharge for long lifespan. If there is no life sign on the circuit when you press the button, probably discharge protection has activated because of low battery voltage. Just charge it.



Specifications

• Dimensions: 22mm x 18mm x 10mm
• Weight: 4gr
• Current Consumption: <15mA per hour
• Charge Port: MicroUSB
• Charge Current: 40mA max.
• Charge Time: ~2 hours
• Battery Type: 70mA LiPo Battery with safe and reliable PCM circuit.

I think you are obviously slightly mixed up. Unless you have documentation.
Please explain how you figured these are equally as bright? Thanks.
That's barely a keychain trinket.. No functionality, but a simple blinker, and a weak one at that. Haha
Lume Cubes have ten brightness settings, and even on low, would blow that simple LED out of the water...

RedHotPoker[/QUOTE]

 

[RedHotPoker]

Unless I'm mistaken, the cube isn't a strobe correct? It's constant on lights. That's cool but it's not a strobe, which I'm pretty sure is what the FAA is looking for in this in general. They definitely are pretty cool for certain applications. They're also pretty pricey too. This is more in line with what I'll be considering shortly-

DS-30--1 Drone Strobe

The Lume Cubes have a Pro app, which has three separate flash rate strobe modes to choose from. There are several photography modes, including a slave flash function. Ten power settings, which will blind you, if not careful with them. Ha
The link you provided, says;
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:

The DS-30 High Intensity LED Drone Strobe.

FEATURES:

• Housing: Anodized Aircraft Aluminum.
• Lens Cover: Polycarbonate.
• Weather proof
• Flash rate: 60/minute nominal.
• Viewing Angle: Full upper hemisphere.
• Tested Night Visibility: Over 10 Nautical Miles.
• Tested Day Visibility: Up to 1 Nautical Mile
• Light Source: 4 CREE LEDs.

SPECIFICATIONS:

• Height: 0.840 In.
• Width: 1.225 In.
• Weight: 10 Grams
• Light Type: LED Strobe
• Candela: Over 200

I can easily see my Lume Cubes on my Phantom 3, for several miles in the brightest mid day sunshine. At night time, they must be visible at twenty or thirty miles then, in comparison to those.
Just a wild guess, but you have to figure with 1500 lumens when on high, at 6000 K.
Was that 200 Candela a bench mark? You can convert the numbers figure it out, here.
LedRise - Candela / Lumen Calculator

RedHotPoker

 

[shockwave199]

Yeah but I'm still not sold though. Can't you put the cube into a strobe mode without an app? Not interested in an app just to start a strobe mode every time, unless the mode sticks for every power up once it's set. They are heavy too. Two is 10 ounces added. I've seen a video weighing them out. Pricey too, too much I think. 80 bucks for one? They're also directional too, as far as I can tell. Unlike a full upper hemi, I'm not sure if they have a a 360 view- the led looks sunken in. What they have going for them is self contained and a mount for the drone. They seriously need to make smaller ones for a drone though, especially for pilots who simply want it for strobe. As long as a given product is seen within the stipulation of 3 statute miles, that's all I care about. I don't need 20 miles, lol. Daylight I'm good at 3k' so a mile is plenty. I'll leave it to the stars to be any brighter than that, lol. Still mulling it. Size and weight aren't making it for me though.

 

[RedHotPoker]

Yeah but I'm still not sold though. Can't you put the cube into a strobe mode without an app? Not interested in an app just to start a strobe mode every time, unless the mode sticks for every power up once it's set. They are heavy too. Two is 10 ounces added. I've seen a video weighing them out. Pricey too, too much I think. 80 bucks for one? They're also directional too, as far as I can tell. Unlike a full upper hemi, I'm not sure if they have a a 360 view- the led looks sunken in. What they have going for them is self contained and a mount for the drone. They seriously need to make smaller ones for a drone though, especially for pilots who simply want it for strobe. As long as a given product is seen within the stipulation of 3 statute miles, that's all I care about. I don't need 20 miles, lol. Daylight I'm good at 3k' so a mile is plenty. I'll leave it to the stars to be any brighter than that, lol. Still mulling it. Size and weight aren't making it for me though.

Yes, of course the settings stay put, once adjusted in the Pro App.
You mentioning Size makes me grin like a content Cheshire Cat.
The cube is 1 1/2" square. How much smaller do they need to be? Ha
Anyway, I have expended enough energy, to have delivered a free set to you by now, just iterating my thoughts and exerience with mine.
I get it, where the moderate price, hefty weight and multiusefulness are all thoughts that need addressing. But I am here to say, forget the weight, it's only negligible, we're still getting twenty minute flights, air time.
The lights can be adjusted forward, up, backwards or down, and any angle in between. The reflectivity is astounding, so you won't need an upper hemispherical dome lens. ;-)

Buy what ever suits your flight conditions best, & you like. As what ever makes you happy, is best. And if that means spending less for and inferior product, that's your God given privilege, and I hope you are satisfied with them. Ha
Eh, anyways, you can always get on board later with the ultimate, a Lume Cube package.

RedHotPoker

 

[shockwave199]

A cube fan boy are we, lol? It would seem so. That's cool and thanks for the information. I'm not in too much of a rush so I'm hopeful that more offerings will come out to choose from. Hopefully the cube makers will come up with another variation too. A great product can always be better. In fact it would be great if it had a delay-on setting too, which would allow the pilot to get the drone up in the air a bit to avoid possibly being temporarily blinded, which is a real concern with these things. But anyway, the cube is a contender still.

 

[RedHotPoker]

A cube fan boy are we, lol? It would seem so. That's cool and thanks for the information. I'm not in too much of a rush so I'm hopeful that more offerings will come out to choose from. Hopefully the cube makers will come up with another variation too. A great product can always be better. In fact it would be great if it had a delay-on setting too, which would allow the pilot to get the drone up in the air a bit to avoid possibly being temporarily blinded, which is a real concern with these things. But anyway, the cube is a contender still.

Fanboy no, but somewhat enthusiastic yeah... Hahaha So I Am plenty interested in seeing their success. But Hey, what more can I say, they are built like small tanks and provide more than I need in desired options and user friendly parameters. The light is clean, sharp as a bald Barbers razor and actually very bright for their diminutive size...

Some variation, is doubtful, these are going to around for a long while. They are coming out with an aluminum cage soon, that will magnetically hold options such as colored filters, gels, honeycomb and barn door.

Look for them additional options coming soon to their website.
http://www.lumecube.com/164.html
And eventually Amazon, B&H, eBay,,,the rest!!

I wish you all, happy hunting for quality orientation drone lighting.
If you choose to use them for photography, I hope they are adequate.
There is really only one suitable answer for all, but you'll need to join us, in the "Legion of Lume" for those sparkling gems... See you soon?

RedHotPoker

 

[Mark The Droner]

RHP - thanks for all the detailed info. I'll probably be picking these up at some point (I guess I'll need to get me a P3A first, the mount won't fit on a P2V landing gear I'm guessing).

Thanks again

 

[Numone]

Just as bright and weigh about as much as two quarters. Choose from four colors. I have a green one on the back and a red one on the front for orientation at night. i can see them over a mile away.
STROBON Standalone - Flytron

These look a good, smaller alternative to the LumeCube. Obviously they're not as bright/well made but so much cheaper. One thing; I don't see the expected life on a full charge?

 

[Snapring]

[quote uid=61019 name="HWCM" post=929044]Just as bright and weigh about as much as two quarters. Choose from four colors. I have a green one on the back and a red one on the front for orientation at night. i can see them over a mile away.<br />STROBON Standalone - Flytron[/QUOTE]<br />These look a good, smaller alternative to the LumeCube. Obviously they're not as bright/well made but so much cheaper. One thing; I don't see the expected life on a full charge?

I think mine said 5 hours run time on a full charge? I use the white, red and green. I'm looking at the Lume Cubes for more light. Redhot, can you point the cubes straight out to the sides of your Phantom?

Sent from my SM-G935V using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[maxwell smart]

I ordered the lumecube. I get 2 day shipping with my prime account. It will get here Tuesday. I will do revue.
80 dollars worth strobe on ,will give you 360 degrees of light. I think like 4 or 5 lights. Maybe not as bright as lumecube, but the cube may be to bright.

 

[TheLightSpeedz]

I ordered the lumecube. I get 2 day shipping with my prime account. It will get here Tuesday. I will do revue.
80 dollars worth strobe on ,will give you 360 degrees of light. I think like 4 or 5 lights. Maybe not as bright as lumecube, but the cube may be to bright.

I ordered them yesterday too because of this conversation. @RedHotPoker I trust. I don't trust cheaply made, all in one flashing LED's.

Keep in mind the LumeCubes are stupid bright. 1500 Lumens will be the brightest lights in my home!

LumeCubes are used for seeing your bird far away yes, but mostly for lighting the area in front of your bird so you can still see with your camera.

Plus you can use LumeCubes for other stuff which is cool. Spotlighting, searching, rescuing.... Flash for your iPhone!


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Richard R]

Just as bright and weigh about as much as two quarters. Choose from four colors. I have a green one on the back and a red one on the front for orientation at night. i can see them over a mile away.
STROBON Standalone - Flytron

Here's a US source for the STROBON Strobe Lights : Ready Made RC LLC, The Leader in All Things FPV, RC, and Beyond