Flashlights for Drones

Good morning fellas.

I am in the drone hobby for a long time and the flashlights as well. I try installing 2 firefly E07 on one of my drones just as a test and I got it hovering but not lift.

This was just a test.

Now the question is. I want to buy 2 powerful lights, something like 1500-2000 lumens but in a very lightweight package in order to use it on the drone.

I want the light to last at least 30 minutes. Check my test.

First try and second with success.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfK29Dfcufc

Maybe Imalent MS03 ?

Preview here ........

Wit thanks to the Juky Imalent Youtube channel .....

Thanks,

Martin

PS> Maybe your best bet is a light aimed at use as a bicycle light and especially one that is allready adopted to be used with a seperate battery supply, in this case the drone battery ?

That is lighter than the E07. but I am looking for something in plastic.

The problem will be finding plastic hosts in an application where plastic is a bad choice for thermal management reasons. Could try Surefire, Streamlight or Peli lights but might not meet the mark re lumens.

My suggestion: Acebeam TK16 Aluminium Osram CSLNM1.TG model x2. Should put on a good show.

This is from over a decade ago now, but still awesome. Many here prob remember this and were blown away by this guys skills. Some vids in the links.

This flying with a train was awesome. I imagine recreating this with a modern camera would be even better.

You could also go with a multi emitter solution .... so that power consumption is somewhat limited and the heat generation is spread ?

Trustfire MC1 weighs 45 grams with battery.....

This multi emitter is based on 4 x Trustfire MC1, max. 4 x 1,000 lumen ... but on high about 160 lumen each so a little over 600 lumen together and ....

they have a magnetic base that could be helpful for quick mounting on the drone ?

Here some beamshots can be found ... made with the Trustfire MC1.

Martin

Hum, maybe this is a stupid idea, but how about something like the Nitecore HC70 (headlamp), or something simiar, that gets connected to a powerbank?

You could have 2 “heads” and a powerbank with 2 USB exit, distrubuting the weight in the front and back!

Just a thought!

EDIT: Just an example (as the HC70 seems to be discontionued and it is darn expensive too):
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32856183881.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001567150605.html

You’ll find other options of course!

Flashlights are going to be unneccessarily heavy because of the way that they are made waterproof, with a heavy handle, lens, and body that doesnt contribute to the cooling or mounting structure of the LEDs. Theyre also usually made to be srong enough to survive a drop from x meters without failure. If you crash your drone, the least of yiur concerns is the lighting setup, so no need for 1/8” thick aluminum in my opinion.

If it doesnt have to be waterproof then all of the metal for the body of the light can be used for mounting and cooling the LEDs.

Make something! It can be real simple, using velcro, heat shrink tubing, and aluminum plate. A bunch of leds and carclo optics for efficiency, 21700 cells, good driver and viola!

The nice thing about using optics is they’re more effiecient at getting lumens into the hotspot, and the beam pattern can easily be tailored to your needs with different optics.

LumeCubes have attachments for drones, but are only around 650 lumens (though this is sustained throughout the runtime).

WOW Thank you everybody for all the valuable information here !!!! LumeCube is a good option. I am looking for even more Lumens than 650. Cooling will not be an issue since the drone wind blast will cooldown anything. Again thank you for all the suggestions !!!