Strobe LED Installation Location on Phantom 3 Standard?

[Billie Nelson]

Greetings fellow drone meisters. I previously affixed Velcro tabs beside the battery strength lights on each of my Phantom 3 flight batteries, so that I could transfer my Firehouse LED module to whichever of my drones was being launched. That simple attachment method worked until one fateful day when I flew the drone backward on the return leg of a six-mile Litchi auto-flight sortie, to point the camera away from the setting sun, which evidently created enough buffeting draft to dislodge the LED module and send it tumbling down into a dense tropical swamp forest, never to be seen again.

Having now acquired a cheaper and lighter Firehouse LED module to be permanently affixed with double-sided sticky tape for each of my drones, I have been mulling over the best location to attach the devices on my Phantom 3 Standard and Phantom 3 Pro. I obviously don't want any flashes from the LED module being caught by the camera in flight, so the rear of the craft is still the best location for these bright LED fixtures, BUT with the battery surface ruled out due to the permanent nature of this LED installation on each drone, I am looking at the area of the drone's top cover that lies between the two rear arms.

Given that the GPS antennae of Phantom drones are located right under the top cover of the craft, I would like to enquire here whether my intended placement of a Firehouse LED module on the side of that same cover could in any way interfere with the drone's GPS reception range or signal quality. If that LED fixture does have the potential to interfere with the GPS, I'll need to don my conical tin-foil thinking cap to ponder over a possible new location. Any thoughts on this subject that can be shared would be greatly appreciated, sirs.

 

[snowghost]

I bought this for my P4P. Works great and is very secure.

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[MapMaker53]

I have flown my P4P for many years now with the little Firehouse strobe circuit board centered on the top shell directly above the GPS module and mounted with velcro with no decrease in GPS performance.

 

[Billie Nelson]

I like that Strobon brand leg mounting bracket for the LED module Snowghost, and at just $9 a pop, the price is definitely affordable. I think I'll pick a couple of those up for my Phantoms, and run a few flight duration tests to see if that small added weight and air resistance has any noticeable effect on flight duration attainable from a fully charged battery.

MapMaker I must say it is both amazing and reassuring to learn that even with the Firehouse strobe installed on the drone shell directly above the GPS antenna there has been no observed GPS signal interference with the Phantom you fly. I do recall reading in an online forum that affixing anything directly above the GPS antenna would reduce its effectiveness, so it is a pleasant surprise to hear from someone who actually put that hypothesis to the test, and determined that it is not necessarily the case for all Phantom models.

If the added weight of that Strobon Phantom leg mount I plan to buy on Snowghost's recommendation results in a noticeable reduction of the drone's flight battery longevity, I may yet revert back to simply affixing the strobe dead center on top of the drone's shell. Still and all $9 is a small price to pay for those mounts

Sirs, for those two brilliant ideas I doff my hat with gratitude. I love simple solutions and I just learned about two more today.

 

[snowghost]

I only have one strobe, but haven't noticed any decrease in battery. The mount with the Strobon Cree strobe light weigh .2oz according to my electronic kitchen scale.

 

[MapMaker53]

MapMaker I must say it is both amazing and reassuring to learn that even with the Firehouse strobe installed on the drone shell directly above the GPS antenna there has been no observed GPS signal interference with the Phantom you fly. I do recall reading in an online forum that affixing anything directly above the GPS antenna would reduce its effectiveness, so it is a pleasant surprise to hear from someone who actually put that hypothesis to the test, and determined that it is not necessarily the case for all Phantom models.

Decals and flashing strobe on top seems to keep the birds away.

 

[Billie Nelson]

Snowghost I agree that 0.2oz is going to have a negligible effect on flight battery charge longevity. My typical flight durations of 20 minutes aloft on Litchi missions are only likely to see a few seconds of battery duration shaved off due to the presence of that Strobon leg mount.

MapMaker you have just confirmed my hunch that strobes do in fact deter birds, and keep them from going into bandit mode. My drone footage has captured quite a few close encounters of the feathered kind during long-range Luitchi missions out here in the sticks, and I had long suspected the drone's flashing strobe played a key role in keeping raptors at bay.

That decal is also a great idea since wildlife often sizes up potential adversaries by the size of their eyes. By that yardstick, the decal eyes glaring out from atop that Phantom would put the fear of God into any self-respecting hawk or magpie haha.

 

[bsartist]

I bought this for my P4P. Works great and is very secure.

DJI Phantom Accessories & Tips | Phantom Help

Phantom Help is a site for help with DJI Phantom quadcopters. Find the latest fixes, how-tos, guides, accessories, modifications, and more.

www.phantomhelp.com

I’ve use that on the legs of my P4P and I found that it can slide down and around the bend and end up on the bottom unless I wrap something like Velcro below it to stop it.

For Mr. Nelson, I’ll say…. I have, in past times during some selected flights that may have called for such an attention catching rapidly flashing illuminating device, utilized such a 3D printed device to affix the aforementioned lighting device to the landing gear of my DJI Phantom 4 Pro V1 (non plus model). Whilst I never found myself in the regrettable position of seeing gravity deprive me of my small but impressively eye catching illumination device, I did ascertain, upon return of said drone, that the mounting accessory did, and without malice aforethought and due to gravity and possibly vibrations assisted by gravity, venture down the leg and actually make its way around the bottom corner of the U shaped landing gear and was, in fact, affixed to the bottom of the landing gear facing downward. This downward facing posture was no doubt due to the center of gravity of the mount and illuminating device. While slight in mass, it’s surely non zero and therefore will tend to come to rest with the most massive portion of the assembly closest to the gravitational attraction. That being the earth in this case.

I do hope you found this if some positive utility.

Or maybe just for a brief humorous interlude whilst you ponder your mounting options.

)

 

[Billie Nelson]

Haha I think I have finally met my match today Bill, and with this in mind, one of my 2021 New Year's resolutions will likely be to cut the verbiage out of my writing and get to the frigging point already, as my late mother who taught English all her life might have said.

Speaking of the point, I just re-checked the Strobon LED leg mount page, and noticed their product is designed to fit the Phantom 4 series, and not the Phantom 3, so the LED holder may on my P3S work itself loose and either detach or shift down....dang, there I go again.

Merry Xmas and New Year 2022 in advance fellas, and may your drones fly the skies for many more moons to come.

 

[bsartist]

Haha I think I have finally met my match today Bill, and with this in mind, one of my 2021 New Year's resolutions will likely be to cut the verbiage out of my writing and get to the frigging point already, as my late mother who taught English all her life might have said.

Speaking of the point, I just re-checked the Strobon LED leg mount page, and noticed their product is designed to fit the Phantom 4 series, and not the Phantom 3, so the LED holder may on my P3S work itself loose and either detach or shift down....dang, there I go again.

Merry Xmas and New Year 2022 in advance fellas, and may your drones fly the skies for many more moons to come.

You may be able to wrap the leg in tape to add some girth

 

[msinger]

noticed their product is designed to fit the Phantom 4 series, and not the Phantom 3

Correct. I don't make mounts for Phantom 3 models.

 

[Andy9]

That terrifying eyes must be really effective against some nasty birds.
But how is that visible from aside and downward. I think that the prime function of the strobe is to be visible for the pilot. I put those small strobes to the drone body betwee legs. The best place is on the front but there coud be seen on the cam. On both sides /left and right/ would not showing the drone heading and at the back there is the batt.
It is really hard to put anything on the Phantom. So the only suitable place is on the legs. But if you not going to take a video at night the front strobes won't make any problems. But why to use strobes at daylight anyway? LOL

 

[MapMaker53]

That terrifying eyes must be really effective against some nasty birds.
But how is that visible from aside and downward. I think that the prime function of the strobe is to be visible for the pilot. I put those small strobes to the drone body betwee legs. The best place is on the front but there coud be seen on the cam. On both sides /left and right/ would not showing the drone heading and at the back there is the batt.
It is really hard to put anything on the Phantom. So the only suitable place is on the legs. But if you not going to take a video at night the front strobes won't make any problems. But why to use strobes at daylight anyway? LOL

Thus far, I do not fly at night, so my main use of the top strobe (along with the decals) is to deter birds during my daylight flights. Birds will generally attack from a superior position being above and behind their prey. I've witnessed curious crows approach my P4P, only to abruptly fly off when they got close. And another time it was surrounded by a swarm of Barn Swallows that clearly kept their distance. I think the strobe begins to add flash spots into their keen vision and they don't quite know how to deal with that. Birds also prefer to attack when their prey isn't looking directly at them. Seems to work so far.

 

[Andy9]

I agree if the only reason for the strobes is bird defense.
But if you already have the strobe on the copter it can serve for visualization of the drone as well. Particularly at dull and dark cloudy weather when the strobe light can be seen over the distance of one km or more. If your Phantom is black then the strobe is absolutely necessary.