GaryDoug
Captain
Flight distance : 1264639 ft
United States
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I want to start a discussion about the use and selection of strobe lights on our drones. My experience is limited, so feel free to add yours.
I bought one cheap ($13) and one a bit more expensive ($30) to try on my MA2 and MIni's. I wanted to be able to see the drone at night. I do not plan to fly in a busy or restricted area, so not looking for part 107 compatibility.
The cheap one performed ok and was barely visible at 1/2 mile on a dark night. For my purposes I thought that was ok. The $30 one is much, much brighter but I have not yet tested it for range.
I was interested in determining the maximum length of use, so I left the cheap one on until it stopped. It took over 72 hours! Now it was pretty dim at that time but was still visible enough to be able to find the drone in the dark on the ground if you were close. The $30 one lasted just 4 hours.
Since the battery in the drone has a maximum charge life of about 3 hours not flying, it made me think that the 72 hour one could be very useful in finding a lost drone. With that long a life, you could just go out after dark and continue your search, knowing it would still be flashing. The Find my Drone feature would only last a maximum of 3 hours.
Maybe I will put the cheap one on the top for all flights and the brighter one on the front for night flights. What do you think?
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