Date posted: August 17, 2010
- Types of LEDS and Power Sources
- LED Characteristics and The Simple LED Circuit
- More Series LED Circuits
- Parallel LED Circuits
- LED Circuit Tools and LED Strip Kits
- Wiring Standard Bulb LEDs
- SMD LED Circuit Wiring
- LED Wiring and Current Check for Battery Power
- Placing your LED circuits on your RC Craft
- Remote Controlling your LED Circuit
- Painting With Flight
– Download Placing your LED circuits on your RC Craft as PDF –
Nothing really exciting on this article and video, but I figured I’d throw it in for good measure, because at some point you’ve got to take all the wiring junk we’ve been doing for the past 8 videos and get them on your craft… Otherwise you’ve got LEDcircuits to wrap around your wrists the next time you hit the latest club, which you’ll promptly be thrown out of because they’re still in the dark ages of glow sticks.
Craft, meet LEDs – LEDs, meet craft.
So, let’s keep you from eating a clubside curb sandwich and leave the LED circuits for your plane or helicopter instead, shall we?
Our strip LEDs have an adhesive backing on them, but sooner or later the bond will weaken if the LEDs are moved from one craft to another. So, perhaps a little contact cement or a couple of CA spots may be necessary. Primarily, though, we’re wrapping clear packing tape around the strips, it smooths out over the wing and protects the entire circuits.
As far as our bulb LEDs go, we’re simply embedding the wires with a slight cut into our foam body and pushing the wires inside, and placing packing tape on top to secure the wire, and keep the wing sturdy. We point one LED at the rudder for illumination, and our light tube is nothing more than a straw with two LEDs pointed at each other. Easy way to make a light tube!
The SMD LEDs are simply strung through the middle of the fuselage to the underside, embedded similar to the bulb LEDs, and taped over with packing tape for protection.
Our craft lit up at the top and bottom:
The designer of our combat flyer, Chameleon, has added a useful tip if you’re looking to get some angled light effects on your plane, especially with the strip LEDs. A simple angled foam strip, with LEDs attached along the angle.
Next up on our series – we’ll be looking at controlling your LEDS remotely with your transmitter, considering relay switches and brushed ESCs.
