LEDs for Night Flying

 

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 I can fly my night flyer UFO to several hundred feet at night and easily see it.  The super bright blue LEDs are so bright they light up the ground from very high.  The UFO creates a circle of light on the ground.  I have added 50 more LEDs from my retired Slow Stick night flyer, so the UFO now has about 150 super bright LEDs, with the main section of lights in three concentric circles.

I was inspired by this thread at RCGroups for my UFO flying disk:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=762714

The super bright LEDs were bought from http://abctronics.com/

I have used these LEDs:

Red 3mm:  2700 millicandles, 20 ma average current, 30 ma max current, forward voltage = 1.95 volts

Blue 5mm:  4500 millicandles, 20 ma average current, 30 ma max current, forward voltage = 3.15 volts

White 5mm:  9000 millicandles, 20 ma average current, 30 ma max current, forward voltage = 3.15 volts

Green 5mm:  10000 millicandles, 20 ma average current, 30 ma max current, forward voltage = 3.10 volts

Take the forward voltage for each LED, the average operating current of 20 ma, and plug them in with your source voltage to the LED calculator here:
http://www.rc-cam.com/led_info.htm
That will give you the resistor you need to solder in series with each LED.

I will eventually sequence the LEDs with a 12c508 pic and a few transistors. I  have six sets of LEDs on the UFO; three sets in alternating colors around the circumference, one set half way out, one set in the center, and another set on the three vertical tails.  The type of the flashing will be controlled by the gear channel on the radio. One of the PIC inputs will read the PWM signal and set one of several different flashing sequences and flash rates. The pic code will be added here when it has been tested. I have not flashed this to a 12c508 yet, but it is almost the same code I use for my aerial photo digital camera controller,

Additional links:
LEDs:  http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/led.htm

Flash LED project with 555 timer:  http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/projects/flashl.htm

      I built one of my Foame IIx 3D airplanes with the specific idea that it would be used for travel, and for night flying.  I visited northern Sweden in February 2011 on business. I have been flying my old Foame IIx 3D plane for several years and thought it would make a good plane to take on trips if I could build a foldable version. I had finished it the night before I left, with modifications from the normal Foame IIx 3D airplane so I could fold it up, pack it, and re-assemble it with just clear tape. It has white, red, and green LED strips from HobbyKing. It worked very well and I flew it every day in Sweden for two weeks with no problems.  The temperature ranged from -25C to 0C when I flew it. At the colder temperatures the servos slowed down after a few minutes in the cold. On our third night in Sweden, four of us got off work and drove about 90 km to get to the Arctic Circle. We all got our pictures at the Arctic Circle sign, and I wanted to say I had flown RC at the Arctic Circle.   Here is the video of that cold (-21C) night flying experience.