First night flight last night

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I was very pleased the way the PhanTom looked last night. I had started acquiring headlight and taillight and other optional LEDs (although I had not installed anything yet), but when I flew PhanTom last night I was very impressed with how bright the existing LEDs were.

I was a little afraid to venture too far away since access in some areas where I was flying could have been difficult and I wasn't yet sure how easily it was going to be to see (boy was I wrong about that). What I did notice that will require modification was what was visible in the dark, either from the FPV or the LoS. There were times when I was flying down my street and almost clipped some trees (flying about 10-15 meters high) and couldn't see the trees either in the FPV/monitor, or when trying to watch it directly. The trees were of course very dark against a dark background in some cases. I was lucky enough to have a car light up the trees at the last moment to help me avoid one. I think the "headlight" will help this situation tremendously.

In general I enjoyed the night flights, but I can imaging that they will attract much more attention than daytime flights (could be good/bad).
 
Congrats on your first successful night flight! You're braver than I would be and even though I would love to try a night flight. I don't understand how some can be so confident and proficient at flying in the dark.

If I ever get my problems sorted out, I would like to try a twilight flight at some point.

The additional LED's you want to add should help considerably for orientation and maybe even with seeing better with FPV.

Have you ever seen this video?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvwaa4B4av8[/youtube]
 
I love flying at night, this is how i fly my V+ in non urban areas at night.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czk8-Se7PbA[/youtube]
UKFlyer
 
Ground station flying is a blast as well... It's a thrill plotting your course when your route is in total darkness!
 
expedite said:
Ground station flying is a blast as well... It's a thrill plotting your course when your route is in total darkness!

I was wondering, and I couldn't find a direct answer on here easily, and it's my first time posting so please be gentle.

Can you, using your android phone, setup and save routes and then load them to your drone at point of launch?

I find having to do it all right there at the site a bit much, plus for some reason my map doesn't consistently load and I feel like I'm wasting battery time!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lincoln-
 
AcierX said:
expedite said:
Ground station flying is a blast as well... It's a thrill plotting your course when your route is in total darkness!

I was wondering, and I couldn't find a direct answer on here easily, and it's my first time posting so please be gentle.

Can you, using your android phone, setup and save routes and then load them to your drone at point of launch?

I find having to do it all right there at the site a bit much, plus for some reason my map doesn't consistently load and I feel like I'm wasting battery time!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lincoln-

The answer is short.

Not possible ( yet )
 
Another night flight this evening

This night flight was conducted with a lot less intrepidation because I had learned of the excellent visibility (of the Phantom). Prior to the last flight I had been concerned that I wouldn't be able to see it, but I learned that such is not the case. So the flight tonight was a lot lessscary than the first one was a couple nights ago.

This evening a strange effect occurred during the flight tonight. I don't know if it was light-caused, or something else. I would know (and may know later this evening) as soon as I power up the camera again in normal light. I'll have both stills and perhaps a video up later.

I was at about 550' fairly close to home (no more than 500' ground distance) and the light was fading fast. It was probably about an hour after sundown. The strange effect (and it might have been mentioned here before - I'm not sure, only because it is difficult to describe) was what I would call stuck or streaking, and turned points of light into lines and small areas of light to long bars of light, both in the horizontal and the vertical. So the FPV looked squarishly splotchy - much like the Army's digital camo but much more irregular. I was convinced that the video and still shots would be garbage, but I took them anyway because I have seen magic happen in the Phantom before.

It turned my gamble was a good one because the stills and video came out much better than I had expected.I only took a couple stills and a couple videos, but they were all fine (as you will see later).

And by the way, I still haven't added any additional lighting.

A couple stills:

DJI00096d5_zps9c73b258.jpg


DJI00097d3_zpse160a90b.jpg


And one video (I've got a lot of practicing to do with video products):

[vimeo]102893266[/vimeo]
 
UKFlyer said:
I love flying at night, this is how i fly my V+ in non urban areas at night.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czk8-Se7PbA[/youtube]
UKFlyer


What is that green flashing light and the side two lights ?

Send me links, need to buy.
 
Re: Another night flight this evening

slothead said:
This night flight was conducted with a lot less intrepidation because I had learned of the excellent visibility (of the Phantom). Prior to the last flight I had been concerned that I wouldn't be able to see it, but I learned that such is not the case. So the flight tonight was a lot lessscary than the first one was a couple nights ago.

This evening a strange effect occurred during the flight tonight. I don't know if it was light-caused, or something else. I would know (and may know later this evening) as soon as I power up the camera again in normal light. I'll have both stills and perhaps a video up later.

I was at about 550' fairly close to home (no more than 500' ground distance) and the light was fading fast. It was probably about an hour after sundown. The strange effect (and it might have been mentioned here before - I'm not sure, only because it is difficult to describe) was what I would call stuck or streaking, and turned points of light into lines and small areas of light to long bars of light, both in the horizontal and the vertical. So the FPV looked squarishly splotchy - much like the Army's digital camo but much more irregular. I was convinced that the video and still shots would be garbage, but I took them anyway because I have seen magic happen in the Phantom before.

It turned my gamble was a good one because the stills and video came out much better than I had expected.I only took a couple stills and a couple videos, but they were all fine (as you will see later).

And by the way, I still haven't added any additional lighting.

A couple stills:

DJI00096d5_zps9c73b258.jpg


DJI00097d3_zpse160a90b.jpg


And one video (I've got a lot of practicing to do with video products):

[vimeo]102893266[/vimeo]

Tom, nice job. I did notice, however a fair bit of red light interference when the quad dips forward. I overcame this by applying some electrical tape over the inside of the LEDs. It certainly helped and I could still see the red lights from the ground.
 
Re: Another night flight this evening

happydays said:
Tom, nice job. I did notice, however a fair bit of red light interference when the quad dips forward. I overcame this by applying some electrical tape over the inside of the LEDs. It certainly helped and I could still see the red lights from the ground.
Thanks Connor and great idea about the tape over the inside of the lights. Some of it disappeared when I made lens corrections (it gets cropped a little in that process), but you are right there is still some there.
 

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