Model airplane headlight, formerly "flying searchlight"

[HugeOne]

Made a nice add-on to my plane, should be interesting, especially after sun-set



-Hugo

[HugeOne]

A video made at a FPV meeting in Montreal, some "from the ground" videos are probably coming soon



-Hugo

[Steamdonkey]

Wow that is crazy cool, way better than my daytime heli mounted videos. Nice!

[HugeOne]

From the dozen of peoples watching my airplane, each probably having one or two gopro, a smartphone or a handy cam, nobody filmed it
They where probably too busy holding their jaws.
I installed my HD cam on my tracking station for next night flight



-Hugo

[HugeOne]

First flight test with the float: total success!
Flying off water is one great thrill!

[HugeOne]

A long awaited night flyby:



-Hugo

[HugeOne]

Another one

[HugeOne]

First ever FPV waterplane night flight:


Nice ground based flight:


-Hugo

[HugeOne]

I made a new badass antenna array for my ground station:


The performances are incredible

[HugeOne]

The other the plane met its destiny, I out ranged the UHF control and crashed into the forest.
I managed to find the plane the next day. Some cracked foam and a busted LED. I will have to replace the array, as changing a LED on that block will be pain.
I will switch to U2 bin or U3 if I can find them and address some shortcoming of the current design.

It'll be back

-Hugo

[idleprocess]

The other the plane met its destiny, I out ranged the UHF control and crashed into the forest.
I managed to find the plane the next day. Some cracked foam and a busted LED. I will have to replace the array, as changing a LED on that block will be pain.
I will switch to U2 bin or U3 if I can find them and address some shortcoming of the current design.

It'll be back

-Hugo

Ah, bad luck.

Got to say - been watching this thread for months out of sheer fascination. While the utility of all this is somewhat limited, it's still really interesting to read about (and of course, watch on youtube).

[HugeOne]

I started a project for a driver aimed at RC model use, here's the spec:
6-18V input
Up to 4A
1-4LED string (Vin can = Vout)
Dimmable via RC channel or external pot
Mode selection via button or power cycle for flashlight builders
Optional temp sensor
low voltage cutoff
Stack-able architecture, lower boards turn into slaves, follow master's drive current.
Digital current control.

Should be fun!

-Hugo

[musicmagic]

As soon as I get a summer job, finish buying all my flashlight(s,s,s,and more s-es) , I am going to (hopefully) buy a team black sheep quadrocopter, price tag of everything ~2500, being extremely loose on the price point- (JIC), with spotlight- sigh, what we pay for good toys...

[HugeOne]

Start to look like something



-Hugo

[simplec6]

Hugeone, im interested in buying one of your new drivers when you finish making them.

[HugeOne]

I'll post here when they are ready.

Meanwhile, I set up to manufacture my own mini pumps:





-Hugo

[HugeOne]

The plane will have a lamp overhaul
Some XM-L2



-Hugo

[thijsco19]

Awesome!!
I really enjoyed this build!

[langham]

I love this, I need one.

[HugeOne]

Finished rebuilt of the light, wasn't easy but managed to carve everything out and replace everything inside.
I modified the driver by replacing the current sensing shunt resistor by 5A micro fuses and added fet's pull down resistor right on them to keep them shut if the driver get disconnected/fail.




I also added small reservoirs that capture air bubbles (a vortex is created inside) and handle liquid expansion.



-Hugo

[HugeOne]

Guys,

I am donating my original lamp to the anyone want it, just pay shipping. ***GONE***



-Hugo

[AnAppleSnail]

I am interested. Pm inbound.

[langham]

Why didn't I act sooner? Why? That is an awesome thing to do. I have a few giant aluminum heat-sinks that came off of a braking resistor at work if any of you need one. I have 4 good size blocks and 8 individual heat-sinks with fins. You can PM me with interest and I will give you further info. I can't wait for a new video of your improved light. I have purchased about 15 separate XM-L2 U2 bin leds and have been very impressed with the de-domed applications, but not that impressed with the normal applications. They just don't seem to be doing all that much better than the original and the leds I am replacing are typically XM-L T6 bin leds that are on cheap copper stars and I am replacing them with some nice Sinkpad copper boards and still they don't seem that much better. The new TN-30 XM-L2 version de-domed is amazing though. Have you thought about de-doming these to get more forward lumens with your application? I know that your reflector is completely set up for flood, but I feel like a lot of the light is lost to unusable angles.

[HugeOne]

Yes I thought about it. However the cam's dynamic range only allow for a quite even light distribution. Any throw and the center of the image become saturated or the perimeter is dark like looking through a pipe.

-Hugo

[Nos]

i would not dedome leds in a floody setup like this. You will end up just loosing lumens, and without a real reflector or optik lumen equals lux.

Btw, i really liked (still do) your project