Simple, Cheap remote switch for LEDS

[Davethebluessinger]

HI, Decided I'd install a few 5mm diameter 6V LEDs into my 22" span wing for a little night flying. I was considering buying a switch to turn the lights on and off remotely but in the UK RC stuff is quite expensive so I decided I'd make my own using a 3g servo and a tiny microswitch (will post pics later). I just glued the switch to the side of the servo with hot melt glue and put a small self tapper in the end of the horn so that it rotates and depresses the switch when I hit the gear switch on my TX. Adjustment is made by screwing the self tapper in or out til it's in the right position. This works really well and only weighs around 6g total. I've wired the switch to the Deans on the plane side of the battery so the LEDs are connected as soon as the battery is installed (turned off untill I hit the switch) Can anyone advise me on whether taking the power from a spare channel on the RX would be a better solution? Total number of leds is 24 (12 colour changers on the bottom and 12 white on the top), could the RX supply the required power? The lLEDs have individual resistors in line.

Dave

[NJSwede]

How about using a cheap brushed (not brushless) ESC? Shouldn't cost you more than 10 USD. Just a thought... You probably need to do something to limit the maximum voltage, either by programming your TX or by adding some voltage controlling circuitry.

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by Davethebluessinger

HI, Decided I'd install a few 5mm diameter 6V LEDs into my 22" span wing for a little night flying. I was considering buying a switch to turn the lights on and off remotely but in the UK RC stuff is quite expensive so I decided I'd make my own using a 3g servo and a tiny microswitch (will post pics later). I just glued the switch to the side of the servo with hot melt glue and put a small self tapper in the end of the horn so that it rotates and depresses the switch when I hit the gear switch on my TX. Adjustment is made by screwing the self tapper in or out til it's in the right position. This works really well and only weighs around 6g total. I've wired the switch to the Deans on the plane side of the battery so the LEDs are connected as soon as the battery is installed (turned off untill I hit the switch) Can anyone advise me on whether taking the power from a spare channel on the RX would be a better solution? Total number of leds is 24 (12 colour changers on the bottom and 12 white on the top), could the RX supply the required power? The lLEDs have individual resistors in line.

Dave

Hi Dave you did the right thing, and took a big electrical load off the receiver, I like your idea HK sells a receiver control switch that will work well too. and its rated at 10 amps Take care and have fun, Chellie

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...idProduct=8833

[DragonWeezel]

I just use one of these:

http://www.robotmarketplace.com/products/0-DGSW5.html

It has a bunch of different modes on two output channels using only 1 rx channel. It's light, and can be modded lighter by shortening wires. In the case of my stryker, it just acts as an interupt on the (-) lead of the LED strips I use since they need 12V, but it can source 6v, and best of all, only 4Grams!

W/ my TX, and some mixing, I have 2 channels of light. The switch allows me to have 6 modes, + off.
Wings on, nose on
Wings on, nose off
Wings on, Nose blink<--- works great at night
Wings blink, nose on
wings blink, nose bilnk.
Wings off, nose on

Below is a link of the lights, but not w/ the switch installed. I'll be taking a video of that in the air probably this week. What you'll see is a White LED strip on the bottom, & "nose light" on one channel, and a Red / Green LED strip on the leading edge of the wings on the other.

The strips are inverted, (Faced into the wing) to make it glow from the bottom. This works out well, as it glows right through the wing w/ the white foam. It dampens the disorienting brightness of the LEDs too. The light set up can be seen here:

Stryker LED STRIP Lights

For a smaller plane, just use less LED's. The switch is pretty light weight, and they have even lighter ones if you can do some soldering (1/2 gram), but they are just on /off.

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by Davethebluessinger

HI, Decided I'd install a few 5mm diameter 6V LEDs into my 22" span wing for a little night flying. I was considering buying a switch to turn the lights on and off remotely but in the UK RC stuff is quite expensive so I decided I'd make my own using a 3g servo and a tiny microswitch (will post pics later). I just glued the switch to the side of the servo with hot melt glue and put a small self tapper in the end of the horn so that it rotates and depresses the switch when I hit the gear switch on my TX. Adjustment is made by screwing the self tapper in or out til it's in the right position. This works really well and only weighs around 6g total. I've wired the switch to the Deans on the plane side of the battery so the LEDs are connected as soon as the battery is installed (turned off untill I hit the switch) Can anyone advise me on whether taking the power from a spare channel on the RX would be a better solution? Total number of leds is 24 (12 colour changers on the bottom and 12 white on the top), could the RX supply the required power? The lLEDs have individual resistors in line.

Dave

You would need to know how much current those LED's are pulling out of your battery. Are these LED's all in "parallel" off of the battery, with individual resistors in series with each one? If so, what is the series resistor value?

Depending on the LED, most of them have about a 1.7 volt DC voltage drop when turned on. So your current would be your battery voltage, minus the 1.7 VDC divided by the resistor value in ohms.

As an example, with a two cell Lipo at 7.4 volts DC, and a 470 ohm resistor, your current would be (7.4-1.7)/470 or 0.015 Amps, 15 milliamperes. An exact way to measure the current would be to measure the voltage drop across one resistor. And the current can be calculated by I=E/R. If the resistor volts is 3.5 Volts DC, and the resistor value is 270 ohms, I = 3.5/270 or 0.0129 Amps or about 13 Milliamperes. (For each LED)

If all the LED's are in parallel, that would be 15 Ma times 25 or about 0.4 amps. If you're using a BEC (Battery Elimination Circuit) 0.4 amps could overload it, and shut down power to your radio while flying.

If you are using a two cell Lipo, you could put the LED's with two in series with the resistor, and stack up 12 sets like this.

[DragonWeezel]

IDK what anyone elsee is doing, but w/ the lights I use, they are 12V capable, so I put them in Parallel w/ the battery by soldering the wires to the ESC connector, which I have found to be the greatest thing for 3 Cell planes.

The robo marketplace switch doesn't use hardly a drop of electricity, and this eliminates using the rx to power the lights.

I'm waiting on a cameraman to shoot some night vids. They'll be coming up soon now that W. WA summer has finally started.

[RCFlyer44]

This was three of us flying our Strykers with LEDs

[TM4197]

Nice pic...If I were you...I'd frame a few and sell them on ebay!

Very unique!