I thought some of you might like this.  I live in the California desert and I have two problems when I fly my Pahantom 3 pro and they are both related to the sun,,, the first of course is that it's difficult to see the screen of my iPad when the sun is hitting it.  The second is even scarier... once when flying in Palm Springs on a hot day (115F) in the sun, my iPad actually shut down in some sort of overheat self preservation mode ... it did this while my P3 was 1.5km away and out of sight.   

So I needed to find a good way to get my iPad out of the sun and into the shade.  A shade device that fits on the iPad while it was mounted to the radio was an option but I did not feel it was the best solution ... so I created a seperate enclosure and attached the iPad to my radio via a 3' (1m) USB cable.  So,,, as an added bonus I no longer have the wieight of my iPad to hold in addition to the radio.

Here is the shade box


I made the box out of 1/8'' (3mm) MDF, laser cut it and assembled it with standard wood glue.
Here are the pieces


Here it is assembled


After assembling it, I lined the inside surfaces with black felt.
Here it is with an iPhone 6+ in it


I made this just for me ... but if you think it's cool and you want one too, go here  http://gcmini.mybigcommerce.com/tablet-shade-box-for-drones/

Man that's cool, does it fit in the clamp?  Might check this also http://www.ebay.com/itm/28172013 ... =STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I think if it was all white colour it would reflect light/heat hitting it, and since its all black on yours perhaps it gets hot by absorbing heat/light?
But it probably doesn't make any difference anyways...

+1 like the idea

Jack57 Posted at 2015-6-19 11:14
I think if it was all white colour it would reflect light/heat hitting it, and since its all black o ...

Jack, it's only black on the inside.  Next time I take it out in the sun I'll paint the outside white or possibly even put some aluminum foil on the top.

Thanks for the comment.

mtnmaddman Posted at 2015-6-19 10:52
Man that's cool, does it fit in the clamp?  Might check this also http://www.ebay.com/itm/2817201370 ...

It does not fit in the clamp ... it would be way to heavy anyways.  I meant it to sit on a table next to the transmitter or on a car hood or something like that.

2nd photo is BS, pieces don't fit together.

DaGunn Posted at 2015-6-19 11:36
2nd photo is BS, pieces don't fit together.

Actually if you look at the 3rd photo (or any of the others)  you can clearly see that they are actually together.  It was designed on CAD and laser cut ,,, the level of precision is less than 1/1000",,, so they fit together pretty nicely actually.

young.selina@ro Posted at 2015-6-19 15:16
I love it - how portable is it?

It's about a 1 foot cube in size,, it doesn't fold up or anything like that.  It doesn't weigh much  ... So I'd say it's pretty portable but wasn't really designed with that in mind.

Here is one I've been thinking of getting. I love how it comes with a tripod attachment.

Summitlink® 10 Inch Tablet iPad Sun Hood Sun Shade

gcmini Posted at 2015-6-19 11:19
Jack, it's only black on the inside.  Next time I take it out in the sun I'll paint the outside wh ...

I have a home-brew one I made from a styrofoam board. It's absolutely, totally all white - and it doesn't matter. If the sun hits that white in any angle coming your way, it's bright. If you cover the thing with reflective foil, same thing - *any* reflected angle is going to be really bright.

In monkeying with home-brew shade screens I came to the following conclusions:
(1) if it's really big enough to block the sun, it's probably too big to put in the holder and still hold something really big - like a big tablet
(2) if it's really going to be deep enough to be really dark in there, see rule #1
(3) if you want it to get really dark, throw a dark cloth over your head *and* the controller *and* the tablet, etc.
(4) if you're in sunny central Florida (or equivalent) forget rule #3 - if it's already 97-degrees F out, you don't want to cover yourself up in anything!
(5) if you fly any reasonable distance from your Home Point, Murphy's Law will apply, i.e., the direction of your bird and the orientation of your antennas will always be such that the sun will shine directly into your shade box! LOL
(6) the perfect solution may never be found, but I'm still looking too!!!

aburkefl@gmail. Posted at 2015-6-19 19:11
I have a home-brew one I made from a styrofoam board. It's absolutely, totally all white - and it  ...

Actually, what I *think* I want is an app that will run on my laptop. Just set the whole thing on a light-weight card table and try not to hold *anything* in your hands! Then my wife can manipulate a piece of cardboard to provide shade where/when it's needed.

Of course, now there's even more items to add to the checklist before you depart. "What do you mean, I forgot to bring the wife?"

Here is another option, take your pick.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8& ... Ck%3AUmbrella%20Hat

I'm using this...not very portable though.

aburkefl@gmail. Posted at 2015-6-19 19:11
I have a home-brew one I made from a styrofoam board. It's absolutely, totally all white - and it  ...

Yeah, this is absolutely NOT meant to be attached to the holder on the remote, it's meant to sit on a table or the hood of my truck.  It's much too large and heavy for mounting on the radio.   Personally I find that a full size iPad is too heavy to mount on the radio .... OK, not literally too heavy to hold, just a little annoying while flying.

I sit this box down on a table and attach the iPad to my radio via a 3' USB cable and that gives me plenty of freedom to move around a bit while still being able to see inside the shade box.  It actually works very well for me.

BobbyB Posted at 2015-6-19 20:54
I'm using this...not very portable though.

We don't have those in the desert

gcmini Posted at 2015-6-20 03:50
We don't have those in the desert

Ok.  How bout a really tall guy with a big hat?