Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to status?

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I mentioned this earlier in a thread in the Help section but thought I'd through it out to those who know their solder/wiring.

My thinking is a 12v multi-colour LED like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/White-Blu...l_Lights&var=590086847364&hash=item43b550ed49

'could' be soldered/tapped into the output of the VU LED? Thus giving the user a 360 degree status warning rather than just the single light that you can't see when Yaw'd away?

I've not cracked mine open yet but I know there are plenty in here who have. The NAZA M has a 4 pole LED plug but does anyone know if that is JUST for the LED or is it for the VU too. I'm thinking the LED plug 'could' be RED,YELLOW,GREEN,GROUND for the but that seems somewhat low tech for DJI? Brilliant if it is but seems unlikely.

If anyone has theirs open some close up shots of the VU/LED would be great.
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

Being micro computer controlled LEDs, they are probably wired like such:
Common positive, red negative, green negative and yellow negative. Otherwise known as "switching the negative", the allows for "voltage less-contact" extending the life of electrical components :)


I like where you are going with this :) the status led for me is too small, once I'm up in the air, I have a hard time seeing it
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

It would be nice to know the second your battery RED light flashes. It would be even more UFO looking.
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

Driffill said:
Being micro computer controlled LEDs, they are probably wired like such:
Common positive, red negative, green negative and yellow negative. Otherwise known as "switching the negative", the allows for "voltage less-contact" extending the life of electrical components :)


I like where you are going with this :) the status led for me is too small, once I'm up in the air, I have a hard time seeing it

Yes that is what worries me. I'll not pretend that i knew of "switching the negative" but on such a hi-tech device i'd not expected anything other than clever wiring.
There are other ways round the problem but if this was a simple splice/solder it'd be one for the masses who don't want to fork out on OSD.
Probably requires £50 investment in the leds and a spare VU to play with. Tempting.
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

Hmmmm... okay now I am interested!
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

Just saw this and consider this. In model R.R. they use tri-colored led's for the signals. DC positive is one color, DC negative is another color and alternating current is a combination of both is another giving you red,green, and both on a yellow color. This is done with a simple circuit. Just another thought.
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

LEDs by nature of their design, don't work on alternating current (AC). Not that I've looked, but I'm assuming the phantom uses an led similar to the one in the eBay listing number 130855309204.
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

This is the big question really. If it is a simple 4 pole RGB LED (or RGY in the phantom's case) then the 4 pole plug from the NAZA would make sense and would be realy easy to tap into.

I've been digging about and looks possible that this could be the case... see here for example: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1841246&page=10

This is a thread relating to an OSD installation. The in OSD in question takes the info from the LED cable and decodes it to determin what flight mode should be displayed on the OSD. Now that suggests that it uses voltages from each pole of the LED cable to do this. Eg 12v pulse from Green at a set interval = GPS mode (and hence displays GPS mode on the OSD).

The thing that made me think it can't just be for the LED was the USB connection on the VU and I'm still not certain how the NAZA assistant gets its info via USB from the VU board.

If you look at page 5 of the NAZA M setup guide: http://download.dji-innovations.com/downloads/phantom/en/NAZA-M_Quick_Start_Guide_en.pdf it suggests 4 cables from LED on the NAZA plus another connection to X3... that is just confusing as X3 is a tuneable pot. We know the NAZA communicates info to the USB port so it is eith coming from the LED cable or this X3 pot... if it is X3 then the LED cable could simply be for 3 colours and ground (yey). If not it is handling more complex info and we don't want to go wiring a load of cheap ebay LED lighting to it :p

Curiousity is getting the better off me here.... I'm hoping someone with a multi-meter, an open Phantom and more knowledge than me will get there first or I'll end up testing (and probably setting fire to the house and cat) lol. Curiousity crashed the Phatom!
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

Sac D said:
Where's HGT when we need him? LOL

Well after reading 52 pages of posts on that OSD thread it was clear that Jay of Firebuk24k (the guy who created FBOSD) was worth emailing. His work on that forum was, frankly, incredible having designed and developed an OSD system. Sadly (but understandably) he had to pack it in because it was dominating his life (I found this out on page 50+) but still worth an email.
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

Update on this for those that are electronically minded. Jay of FBOSD kindly came back to me.

The center two wires of the 4 wire LED cable that comes from the NAZA control the Red and Green lights. It turns out it is JUST red and green and yellow is infact a mixture of both of them (reach for your colour charts people!). They are on a 3v output.

So... no you can't just plug in a 12v RGB strip and hope for the best but you 'could' input it into a microprocesser that controls a 12v RGB strip.

Not all bad news then... if only I had the first clue of how the hell you do that! lol :oops:

Any experts please step up!
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

So... no you can't just plug in a 12v RGB strip and hope for the best but you 'could' input it into a microprocesser that controls a 12v RGB strip.

Not all bad news then... if only I had the first clue of how the hell you do that! lol :oops:

Any experts please step up!

All you Arduino guys have a project now. ;)

That's something else I want to get into. More geek stuff. :geek:
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

I bought one of those LED Rings to display various colors and patterns, depending on the status coming from my MultiWii controller on the late great X-4 project I was working on. It was a "simple" matter of hooking it up and doing a little modification in the sketch for Arduino. Ha ha ha. THAT was a waste of time and money, just like the whole deal was.
I'd rather spend my time FLYING than programming, compiling, uploading, testing, re-coding, compiling, uploading, testing, etc. If I wanted to be editing code all day, I would get a job doing it. But I don't. I didn't even want to supervise those who do any more.
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

I'd rather spend my time FLYING than programming, compiling, uploading, testing, re-coding, compiling, uploading, testing, etc. If I wanted to be editing code all day, I would get a job doing it. But I don't. I didn't even want to supervise those who do any more.

Well, the way you talk about it, it doesn't sound fun at all. ;) I have to investigate this Arduino stuff, I didn't realize
there was programming involved. I may be too A.D.D. for all that. :)
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

Yeah it all sounds like one of those fun projects that ends up being a real headache. I can write some fairly clunky but functional PHP code so I'm used to functions, variables, arrays yada yada. I'm sure Arduino programming 'could' be picked up but frankly I need to spend more time improving PHP for my business than I do learning a new (yet fun) skill!

A pity because the principal of this is clear to me.... take the 3v pulses from the two leads, connect it to a relay that runs from 12v and wire the LED to the relay. Red would flash red, green would flash green and Orange would flash as Red + Green together.
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

DeweyAXD said:
A pity because the principal of this is clear to me.... take the 3v pulses from the two leads, connect it to a relay that runs from 12v and wire the LED to the relay. Red would flash red, green would flash green and Orange would flash as Red + Green together.

I know, huh? Should be straightforward and easy to do... maybe we just need to get the word out, so that someone who loves to tinker endlessly on things like this will notice and give it a go.
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

I know, huh? Should be straightforward and easy to do... maybe we just need to get the word out, so that someone who loves to tinker endlessly on things like this will notice and give it a go.

Yes. Maybe when someone who bought one of those Arris CM2000, or Good_Luck_Now_That_You_Bought_This gimbal, are
finished, they can turn their attention to this. :?
 
Re: Multi-colour LED strip around Phantom connected to statu

Yes... Although at 4.8 watts per meter of lights i suspect even if it could be controlled it'd rinse the battery :lol: FBOSD Jake pointed me to this earlier... Best of both worlds if you know what u are doing.

http://www.adafruit.com/products/1260

EDIT - ok I've given in and purchased an Arduino Nano and a 'bread board'. More out of curiousity to learn new things than anything and the coding does look a LOT like PHP.

Sac D you sound like a man in the know on these things. Are you an Arduino fan?
 
It would be nice to know the second your battery RED light flashes.









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