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Flying High | 4 simple tips for awesome RC Night Flying

by GB Blog Official 2016-11-02 373 0

Night flying is fun, it's cool – and easy as pie with the right setup!

RC newbies will have many questions and doubts about flying at night. This beginner's guide will light the way for you so, without further ado, it's time to start our master class.

1. Orientation is crucial

Whatever light scheme you choose, it must let you orientate the plane easily from all angles:

● Above

● Below

● To the side

● To the front or back

This is the single most important rule: keep it simple and asymmetric.

Complex schemes look great (see photo) but they can become very confusing at a distance once in the air – unless you have significant flight experience.

Tip: Simple and clear asymmetry is the key to ensuring you can tell both the orientation and attitude of the drone at a glance.

2. Choose the right color scheme

Keeping your night vision is absolutely critical. Choosing the right color scheme will prevent you from becoming disorientated and blinded.

Keep the scheme simple and choose at least two colors.

Tip: Too many colors and it's easy to become disorientated. So if you are a beginner, just stick to the basic 2 colour night flying scheme.

3. Select the right drone

You can turn just about any aircraft into a pretty good night flying machine but some are more suitable than others.

Tip: If you are just starting out then a cheap electric foamy is just about perfect – you'll feel more confident flying it at night.

4. Power

Lights draws power from the battery, so you need to ensure the current draw is both safe and as low as possible in your night flying setup to maximize flight time (here's 3 factors that affect flight time).

● Use the minimal amount of lighting you can

We recommend using ultra-bright 12V LEDs as your light source. These are available in a 1m self-adhesive strip with all the necessary diodes already built in – just connect them up to a suitable power source and you're ready to go!

● Always draw power directly from the Li-Po battery

This is the battery that powers your plane's motor. Do not use a "low voltage" battery saver and do not use a separate battery for your lights.

You may also want to read:

The Quadcopter FAQs - blades, motor, transmitter

Flying High | 4 quick tips to choose your drone RC Transmitter

For the purpose of this article, the featured image(s) were sourced from the internet. For any issue, please contact us, and we will deal with the matter promptly.