T-Rex 450 fully equiped for night flights like a real police copter (the world brightest search and navigation lights) Video Rating: 4 / 5
I’ve looked at various navigation type systems for my helicopters but they are all very expensive. In fact far too big-ticket for what you get. I’m getting dpersonal to make my personal affordable version. This is a flasing cheerless 5mm LED tied in series with a 300 ohm resistor to a stock 9v PP3 battery. The blinking is not as discriminating as the tangible ones but these diodes are about 13p and the resistor about 2p so for 15p (30 cents) you can have a single flasing blue light. Video Rating: 4 / 5
Believe it or not, the L30 shown is the least bright of the lux rc lights at 240 lumens. The big daddy weighs in at 1100 lumens. make sure you hover tail in! (or you’ll go blind kid, lol) seriously tho…
please tell me where you got the search lights. i have to know please! it would make my chopper complete! tell me and when i get them i will send you some video of my finished project.
@johnsoncp13 Hi, thank you for replying. My concern was whether the 3.7V would be sufficient to power the leds as you used a 9V battery in your video, so you have answered my question. I imagined I would still need a resistor in series. I will start looking for some leds and resistors and have a go.
Thank you very much for your help
@johnsoncp13 Thank you for replying and you have answered my question, although I did not mean connecting the led directly to the battery, I did think I would still need to have a resistor is series.
My concern was would the 3.7V be sufficient to power the leds. as you were using a 9V battery in your video.
Thank you very much for your help 🙂
@scotsoft29 Hi. 3.7V is too high for most LEDs. Let’s assume you have just bought an LED which is rated at 3V and 20mA (I just looked on eBay and saw these at 15p (25 cents) each). You would need to connect a resistor in series (battery to resistor to LED to battery). The resistor would need to be 39 ohms (about 1 pence / cent). Remember to connect the LED the correct way round.
Hello,
I would like to have a go at doing naviation lights but my problem is I can only fly indoors and my small indoor helis would struggle to lift a 9V battery. Would these work if connected directly to a 3.7V lipo battery wired through the heli on/ off switch, so they only come on when you switch the heli on?
Thanks – scotsoft
@barnabyray11 Hi there. The LEDs work at about 3V so I use the resistor to reduce the 9V to 3V. You can connect 2 AA or 2 D batteries to an LED as you suggest and it will work fine. You have to connect the batteries in series, That means end to end to add the 2 times 1.5 volts together. I’ve done it myself several times and it works fine. Good luck with the lights and the experimentation.
Wish i could do something like this… i still dont get the transistor thing or whatever its called.. its in the middle of the night sorry i cant think straight. but why cant you just conenct it straight to the battery? like a AA or D battery? and just tape the ends to the battery with electrical tape… im not a electric guy soo…. dont be mean lmao XP
@Didgeman80
If you only want a little “bling bling” it´s ok.
But for any kind of scale helis this a no-go.
I´m looking for a good scale solution for some time now.
The most acceptable I could find is this one:
“RC Model Aircraft Beacon and Strobe Lighting Kit” @ Ebay
It is not too expensive an very realistic. Add a solid red and green led and you have a really nice nav light.
Ok seems your really good with this lol. I need help. I want to make headlights sidemarkers and brakelights for my 1/10th rc and i need help. I just want them either on or strobe. how do i hook everything on and what kind of LEDs should i get. i have electrical 10 gauge wire and AA and AAA batteries.
@RSIX90 Thanks for the question. Using this simple LED all you can do is make it flash with regular intervals. If you want it to strobe for a few seconds like a police car you need a more complicated circuit (at greater cost).
Have a look at my “RC Helicopter LED navigation lights using Arduino board ” video where I use an Arduino board to program the light sequence.
Actually they are rated by amps, not volts. LEDs don’t work like normal lightbulbs. Up to a certain voltage they don’t conduct at all, but then simply start conducting (almost) any current. So you have to limit that current, or “imitate” the resistance of a bulb filament to prevent the LED from burning out.
Example:
LED rating is 20 mA. Battery has 9 V. 9 V divided by 20 mA is .45 kOhm, or 450 Ohm.
Next available standard value is 470 Ohm. A higher one because the 20 mA shouldn’t be exceeded.
Go for it! Seriously do a few googles and you will find all the wiring information you need. LEDs are simple to use and add that bit of realism and fun.
whats up. now what if i wanted to use like lets say 8 leds. 2red, 4 white and 2 orange…how would the wiring work ot with a battery? im trying to put light on my 1/18 police car but i keep messing up. any advice or tips would be great. thanx for ur time.
The trick with LEDs is to match the voltage on the battery with the voltage needed by the LED. If the LED is rated at 3v and the battery is 9v then you can connect 3 LEDs in series over the battery without a resistor. In this case I only had 1 LED so I needed a resistor.
When you buy the LED you can choose static or flashing ones. The circuit to flash them is built inside the LED. They are very cheap. You cannot change the flash frequency though.
Believe it or not, the L30 shown is the least bright of the lux rc lights at 240 lumens. The big daddy weighs in at 1100 lumens. make sure you hover tail in! (or you’ll go blind kid, lol) seriously tho…
L30B is just a constant very bright search light. Strobes will be available in Apr-May.
Can the L30B strobe as well as constant light? How would you differentiate between the two?
im curious of the Strobes, im looking for some simular to the effect that u got going on
UFO :DDD
check lux-rc labs site for products liks this
please tell me where you got the search lights. i have to know please! it would make my chopper complete! tell me and when i get them i will send you some video of my finished project.
What type of strobe light system did you use?? Hard to find a good system best I have seen yet.
not a big deal, about $300 including lights
how much did you pay for your heli ?
Wow, so COOL. 55 😀
yess!
is this T-REX 450???
The ghetto bird is after me!
hello very nice where did you buy the search light thanks.
super
@johnsoncp13 Hi, thank you for replying. My concern was whether the 3.7V would be sufficient to power the leds as you used a 9V battery in your video, so you have answered my question. I imagined I would still need a resistor in series. I will start looking for some leds and resistors and have a go.
Thank you very much for your help
@johnsoncp13 Thank you for replying and you have answered my question, although I did not mean connecting the led directly to the battery, I did think I would still need to have a resistor is series.
My concern was would the 3.7V be sufficient to power the leds. as you were using a 9V battery in your video.
Thank you very much for your help 🙂
@scotsoft29 Hi. 3.7V is too high for most LEDs. Let’s assume you have just bought an LED which is rated at 3V and 20mA (I just looked on eBay and saw these at 15p (25 cents) each). You would need to connect a resistor in series (battery to resistor to LED to battery). The resistor would need to be 39 ohms (about 1 pence / cent). Remember to connect the LED the correct way round.
Hello,
I would like to have a go at doing naviation lights but my problem is I can only fly indoors and my small indoor helis would struggle to lift a 9V battery. Would these work if connected directly to a 3.7V lipo battery wired through the heli on/ off switch, so they only come on when you switch the heli on?
Thanks – scotsoft
@barnabyray11 Hi there. The LEDs work at about 3V so I use the resistor to reduce the 9V to 3V. You can connect 2 AA or 2 D batteries to an LED as you suggest and it will work fine. You have to connect the batteries in series, That means end to end to add the 2 times 1.5 volts together. I’ve done it myself several times and it works fine. Good luck with the lights and the experimentation.
Wish i could do something like this… i still dont get the transistor thing or whatever its called.. its in the middle of the night sorry i cant think straight. but why cant you just conenct it straight to the battery? like a AA or D battery? and just tape the ends to the battery with electrical tape… im not a electric guy soo…. dont be mean lmao XP
@Didgeman80
If you only want a little “bling bling” it´s ok.
But for any kind of scale helis this a no-go.
I´m looking for a good scale solution for some time now.
The most acceptable I could find is this one:
“RC Model Aircraft Beacon and Strobe Lighting Kit” @ Ebay
It is not too expensive an very realistic. Add a solid red and green led and you have a really nice nav light.
Ok seems your really good with this lol. I need help. I want to make headlights sidemarkers and brakelights for my 1/10th rc and i need help. I just want them either on or strobe. how do i hook everything on and what kind of LEDs should i get. i have electrical 10 gauge wire and AA and AAA batteries.
@itachi12789 Yes and No. Everywhere that sells static LEDs tend to sell these as well. They are cheap, easy to find and use.
@itachi12789 It’s a good question! The LED has an electronic cicuit inside it which makes it flash. A nice cheap and convenient way of doing it.
This Is Probably a Dumb Question But What Makes Them Flash
@RSIX90 Thanks for the question. Using this simple LED all you can do is make it flash with regular intervals. If you want it to strobe for a few seconds like a police car you need a more complicated circuit (at greater cost).
Have a look at my “RC Helicopter LED navigation lights using Arduino board ” video where I use an Arduino board to program the light sequence.
can u make it into a police light for a rc car please…… tnx pls reply
Let’s assume it is a 3V LED and has an operating current of 20mA.
You need a resistor of (9-3)/0.02 = 300 ohms. The nearest to that is 330 ohms.
what kind of resistor do you need when using one with a 9v battery is there a specific one
Actually they are rated by amps, not volts. LEDs don’t work like normal lightbulbs. Up to a certain voltage they don’t conduct at all, but then simply start conducting (almost) any current. So you have to limit that current, or “imitate” the resistance of a bulb filament to prevent the LED from burning out.
Example:
LED rating is 20 mA. Battery has 9 V. 9 V divided by 20 mA is .45 kOhm, or 450 Ohm.
Next available standard value is 470 Ohm. A higher one because the 20 mA shouldn’t be exceeded.
I did this and set up 6 lights on my big lama wired to a 9v in the nose, works well.
🙂
You can buy LEDs with built in flasher electronics.
haw does it flash
I got a super bright navigation light set at Hobbyking for $9.00
Go for it! Seriously do a few googles and you will find all the wiring information you need. LEDs are simple to use and add that bit of realism and fun.
whats up. now what if i wanted to use like lets say 8 leds. 2red, 4 white and 2 orange…how would the wiring work ot with a battery? im trying to put light on my 1/18 police car but i keep messing up. any advice or tips would be great. thanx for ur time.
The trick with LEDs is to match the voltage on the battery with the voltage needed by the LED. If the LED is rated at 3v and the battery is 9v then you can connect 3 LEDs in series over the battery without a resistor. In this case I only had 1 LED so I needed a resistor.
do we need to add a risitor
When you buy the LED you can choose static or flashing ones. The circuit to flash them is built inside the LED. They are very cheap. You cannot change the flash frequency though.