drone! Led! budget prototype!

Hi all, as you can see I am new to this forum, and as you can fear I come requesting help! :laughing:

Few months ago I watched this video on YT

And I was wondering how expensive would it be to achieve something similar for a hobbyst. I started searching for drivers, leds etc, but soon i was overwhelmed with too much info from too many vendors =/.

So, asuming that I dont want the super-duper led light amazing thingy, but still want something shocking for people that, like me, are not aware of how much light this things can throw nowadaysā€¦ Which would be your recommended parts taking into account the following details:

Battery shall be shared with drone, based on 6S LIPO battery, with about 24V DC.
Drone propellers do give a good amount of wind, so small dissipators are needed (if those are really needed!), drone will not be flying for more than 30 minutes, so leds wont be working longer than that.
We DO care about weight
We DO care about cost/shockingness balance
We can go for a one unit solution or for a multidrive solution, mounted on an independent chassis or in each arm of the drone.
Around 200$ budget? I donā€™t really know if would be enough for a cool results test, please, give me an advise about this also.

Thank you in advance!

Thereā€™s a bunch of 24V to 12V automotive buck converters.

I know nothing about this product first hand:

https://www.amazon.com/DROK-Regulator-Converter-Waterproof-Converters/dp/B00CERPF0M/

Maybe something like that 12V 3A would drive a Cree XHP50.2 (in 12v config) and be QUITE bright, maybe even too bright. (~3500+ lumens)

Would need to figure out how to heatsink it (passive computer heatsink?)

According to the video title, they are using a 1kW LED array. Stratus makes 100W modules, so that suggests they are using 10 of them.

They sell high-CRI modules for $99/each, or a 10 module 2x5 array ready for mounting on a drone for $1799.

Starting from where you are now, for $200, youā€™ll probably be able to figure out that $1799 for a finished, supported solution is a going to be hard to beat. If you bump your budget up more, to say $500, youā€™ll regret you didnā€™t stop after you spent $200.

If you are the practical sort, thatā€™s all you need to know. If you are a curious, masochistic sort, stick around :slight_smile: For $200 and lots of time for tweaking, you should be able to get something surprising and attention grabbing.

If I were you:

Iā€™d put ~50% of my budget aside for contingencies. Also, rather than buying everything up front, Iā€™d identify the biggest unknowns and figure out cheap ways to investigate them.

I would run the light off its own pack, rather than sharing the one that powers the drone. It simplifies things, and removes the possibility that an electrical issue in the light could take your drone out of the sky. It does make sense though to use the same kind of pack for the light as you do for the drone.

Iā€™m not sure what the best option for emitters is, but, a 6s pack will let you run 6 single-die emitters in series. A series arrangement has the advantage of allowing thinner wiring.

So, as a starting point, lets work with a six emitter array, wired in series, arranged in a 2x3 matrix. Iā€™ll suggest the SST-40 for low cost (~$2 each, mounted to an aluminum MCPCB on AliExpress, or $5/each on copper from Kaidomain) and good efficiency, at the expense of a choice of tints.

The SST-40 is specced to run at 5A, or ~18W. It can be run even harder than that, but driving them at ~5A should make it possible to get away with the $2 ones on aluminum MCPCBs. So, lets say a round $20, including some spares.

Iā€™m running out of steam here, and we are just getting started. I think there are probably lots of options for drivers, but this is the first thing I found in the ballpark. Itā€™s only rated to three amps though. For now, lets pretend that two could be paralleled. Thatā€™s another $20.

That leaves $60 for mounting, optics, thermal management, wire, connectors and whatever is going be needed to integrate with the drone for control.

Anyone else want to go from here?

I definetly am curious! thatā€™s the reason I searched for a forum like this one and asked in it! xD

Yes, looks like an adequate starting point, maybe in future projects when I really know what I am doing I can share the same battery, nice advice!

Few newie things;
I cant find any sst-40 in Aliexpress (not a problem, are available at kaidomain) but i can find sst-90s, are those a good option also?
The ā€œcolourā€, which one recomended? 6500 or 7500?
I donā€™t understand the led driver option, is not one driver for each emitter?
Are optics really needed for this kind of experiment? as I can see in the item description, those emitters hve a little optic over them, we are not looking for a beam light, we would like to have it sparse.

Thanks for your time and patience!

Regarding the SST-40's, you can get them here:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10PCS-100PCS-Luminus-SST-40-10W-LED-1100lm-Cool-White-7000K-instead-of-CREE-XML2-XM/32806675122.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.uyb62L

If you don't want to wait for them to ship from China, I can sell you mine at my cost plus $3 for shipping if you are in CONUS. PM me if interested

You would want to put them on copper direct thermal path (DTP) bases if you plan on driving them hard. Not sure how much heat sinking you would need behind them. I would think not much with the props providing active cooling.

Optics, I think you will find you want optics unless you fly real low. The light will disburse quit widely without them, but you could try without optics first. Might be very hard to look at the drone though when they are on.

I have a friend asking me for advice to accomplish the same thing. The biggest concern is weight. If you can calculate the max additional weight that your particular quad can safely carry, and let us know that number, that would go a long way in determining what you can use. Especially regarding using the droneā€™s battery or a separate battery pack.

StratusLEDsā€™ drone light seems to be made of a 100 W COB led with a a lens, a heatsink and a boost driver. You get an idea from the photos on this page.

Here is what I would do. My list for the first El Cheapo proof of concept with sort of similar components:

  • 100 W COB leds start at $2 at AliExpress, but many do no reach full power or are otherwise flawed. If you buy from a proven seller they will still not cost a fortune. This is just for testing. If the COB just holds one flight it is still okay. Cold white feels brighter.
  • COB Lenses with 60Ā° or 120Ā° also start at $2.
  • I have not looked up alu heatsinks, you may want to make your own with shorter fins for less weight. Your drone already has fans. Lets say you get a heatsink for $5.
  • The biggest challenge is the driver. 100 W COBs usually need 30 to 36 V that you do not have. Plus limited current or they will die. What you need is a boost driver that converts your 24 V to 30+ V and limits the current. Like this one. First one I found, $8.93.

VoilĆ”.

Less than $20 for 10,000 lumens (claimed). Buy one set and see if it works and how many you will need. Then get better quality COB LEDs.

I am SO grateful, I will start this project in the next month, thank to your help!
Of course will report back with photos/vids and maybe (hope not) asking for help! xD

Thank you!

I seen that video as well. I also found it inspiring! My aims are more modest though:

Thatā€™s a DJI F450 drone with an Emisar D1S hanging off it with some cable ties. It was a bit of a fail as it swung about too much and pulled a wire out of the video transmitter so wasnā€™t able to aim the camera properly.

Iā€™m working on a hexacopter project that should be able to carry my BLF GT that Iā€™ve just paid for! :smiling_imp: