i was thinking about adding additional flashing lights to my Mavic 2 Pro to increase my line of sight during the day.  Any recommendations

STROBON Cree lights are small and super bright.

I use  these too, they are excellent and do not appear to affect the IMU or compass. Doubled my VLOS distance.
Only one caution, do not look directly at them when close, they are bright enough to hurt your eyes

I used it too, at the back of  my MP

Thanks for sharing. That’s a nice idea!
One question though, does it mean that the allowed maximum distance is increased also? As with the strobe light I can see it from miles away!
Or is it still 500 meters max?

Fly safely
Alex

Thanks for sharing this. I just ordered

Great info. Thanks for sharing

Hello Aimbraguglio. Thank you for this suggestion. I will forward this suggestion to our R&D team  for further development of the product. Thank you for your support. Have a safe and happy flying.

Alex B. Posted at 2018-10-31 04:05
Thanks for sharing. That’s a nice idea!
One question though, does it mean that the allowed maximum distance is increased also? As with the strobe light I can see it from miles away!
Or is it still 500 meters max?

I would say this depends on how your law is worded.

In UK law, it is worded as such:

"The person in charge of a small unmanned aircraft must maintain direct, unaided visual
contact with the aircraft sufficient to monitor its flight path in relation to other aircraft, persons,
vehicles, vessels and structures for the purpose of avoiding collisions."

A strobe light is an aid and thus does not increase the allowed distance. To give my own two cents, even if I could see the strobe at 700+ meters, depth perception is virtually null at that distance so it wouldn't help in positioning the aircraft relative to it's surroundings. Personally this becomes an issue for me even at 250m+ so I can understand why that might be an issue.

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to expect some kind of Structure From Motion solution to exist in DJI products in the future - as this is how Skydio works, though with many more cameras. Having a realtime sparse point cloud generated around the drone in realtime and displayed on a mobile device or laptop viewed by an additional operator would hopefully be enough to convince the CAA to make an exception to Article 94.3.

I'm going to buy those, thanks for sharing

Wickerman123 Posted at 10-31 14:10
I would say this depends on how your law is worded.

In UK law, it is worded as such:

Thanks for clarifying it to me!

Fly safely
Alex

msinger Posted at 10-30 19:50
STROBON Cree lights are small and super bright.

[view_image]

One thing to watch out for if you have them mounted facing forward is the possibility of the flash of light being visible in photos in dim light or dark.

Great idea!                  

Yep STROBON Cree is the answer. Good stuff

Yep, bought these sometime ago and love them. Superb product.

Are the lights suppose to "lock" in place in the mounts?  Is there a slight ledge or lip that kind of secures them?  I have a bit of a problem with the lights dislodging as I try mounting them on the legs.  I also dislodge them when trying to charge them.  But they do increase the visibility during the day when the drone can get lost in the tree line below the sky horizon.

Wickerman,

You show:   "The person in charge of a small unmanned aircraft must maintain direct, unaided visual
contact with the aircraft sufficient to monitor its flight path in relation to other aircraft, persons,
vehicles, vessels and structures for the purpose of avoiding collisions."

In the USA,  this means no Binoculars, and no Special glasses to magnify the craft while flying.  Collision Avoidance Lighting is completely Acceptable!   I would believe this to be true in the UK.

Randy

Thanks everyone for your feedback and confirmation that lighting during the day will help.  I know that when the drone ends up in front of trees it can be hard to see.  

Thanks  lam going to google them tonight and have a look

ff22 Posted at 11-17 16:15
Are the lights suppose to "lock" in place in the mounts?  Is there a slight ledge or lip that kind of secures them?  I have a bit of a problem with the lights dislodging as I try mounting them on the legs.  I also dislodge them when trying to charge them.  But they do increase the visibility during the day when the drone can get lost in the tree line below the sky horizon.

I did not use the mounts (were not available when I purchased). Just a strip of Velcro on the back of the strobe and a matching piece attached to the Mavic. That way I can transfer them quickly between craft. I also place them at the rear.

ff22 Posted at 11-17 16:15
Are the lights suppose to "lock" in place in the mounts?  Is there a slight ledge or lip that kind of secures them?  I have a bit of a problem with the lights dislodging as I try mounting them on the legs.  I also dislodge them when trying to charge them.  But they do increase the visibility during the day when the drone can get lost in the tree line below the sky horizon.

Yes, there is a lip on the back of the mounts that allows them to securely remain attached to the Mavic arms. This photo shows the back side of the mount:



More photos are available here.

msinger Posted at 11-18 04:35
Yes, there is a lip on the back of the mounts that allows them to securely remain attached to the Mavic arms. This photo shows the back side of the mount:

[view_image]

I did not word my question clearly.  I meant is there something in the plastic mount which firmly keeps the lights in the plastic mount.  A slight ridge or similar that would hold the strobe lights in their position in the mounts.  But I do really appreciate the additional visibility the strobes provide.

ff22 Posted at 11-18 08:19
I did not word my question clearly.  I meant is there something in the plastic mount which firmly keeps the lights in the plastic mount.  A slight ridge or similar that would hold the strobe lights in their position in the mounts.  But I do really appreciate the additional visibility the strobes provide.

When you remove the mount from the Mavic, the light can fall out of the mount when the mount is turned upside down.

Hi,

I bought the Strobon Cree lights and they are great!
Holders from msinger are perfect too, only you cannot fold your arms when mounted.
So each time you fly (and want to use the lights) you have to put them on (10 seconds to do that, so no big problem).

cheers
JJB

Can you get by with two, one facing forward and aft ?  Or does four make a huge difference.  I am assuming all white?

Aimbraguglio Posted at 11-18 09:05
Can you get by with two, one facing forward and aft ?  Or does four make a huge difference.  I am assuming all white?

I think so. Some people mount one on the front, right arm and the rear, left arm (or front, left and rear, right).

Aimbraguglio Posted at 11-18 09:05
Can you get by with two, one facing forward and aft ?  Or does four make a huge difference.  I am assuming all white?

Or you might want different colors to more clearly define front/back.

Just order a couple for the back arms, looks awesome!

bbloomquist Posted at 11-18 20:32
Just order a couple for the back arms, looks awesome!

Thank you again for your order. Your package is on its way!

Which is the brightest color and visible from long distance : RED, WHITE, GREEN ? Pick only one.
Please need suggestions.

Strobon user too. Fantastic. Just ordered another one.

TechVoyager Posted at 3-22 00:55
Which is the brightest color and visible from long distance : RED, WHITE, GREEN ? Pick only one.
Please need suggestions.

I thought the answer to this would be White, but after 20 minutes of searching on the web, it seems there is a lot of disagreement.   Some say green/yellow in the daytime.  Some say red.  Orange at night.  Depends on contrast.  There were lots of theories.  Does anyone know if there is a best color for maintaining drone LOS ?

While green and red might be easier to spot during the day, white is the brightest color (for Flytron or Firehouse lights) -- followed by red and green.

Wickerman123 Posted at 2018-10-31 14:10
I would say this depends on how your law is worded.

In UK law, it is worded as such:

"Unaided visual contact" could also mean without video equipment/zoom/binoculars or other equipment used/worn by the pilot.

It's too ambiguous.