Turnigy High Density R/C LED Flexible Strip-Red (1mtr)

 Crawdad 177 points

You can tap off the balance connector of the battery using the black wire for negative and the second wire from the other end for positive. This will give you three of the four cells, just about the 12 volts you need.

 luke 1 points

if you do this then you will drain you lipo unevenly and probably end up ruining your bat if you don't constantly balance it.

 Crawdad 177 points

I agree with Luke, if you don't balance charge your batteries from time to time, you might eventually end up with one cell higher than the others. I always balance charge if I have the time. The degree of imbalance that arises out of using three of four cells to power LEDs is minor, and doesn't prove to be harmful in practice.

 RonRC 2007 points

Not only are they just good for night, but on multirotors, Great for orientation. at highter altitudes, I never would have been able to see the orientation of my Xcopter without the LEDs.

 Unto 81 points

I have been running these over 50h with 12v setup. So far so good :)

 AdrianT 55 points

Most leds are rated for 50,000 hours lifespan. As for how long the battery will last, ive done very limited testing and my 500mah 3s dropped 0.5v in 1 hour(from 11.1v to 10.6v)

 Erika 14 points

but the lifespan of the LED depends on what voltage you run it at. Also it gives the Amp draw, so you can work out how long your battery will last from that. I guess there's no datasheets available on here in general. It would be very helpful though- HINT, Hobbyking!

 AdrianT 55 points

I forgot to mention i used a 20cm strip (12 leds) Im not good with electronics. They say the current draw is 400mA so a 400mah battery would last an hour?

 Erika 14 points

60 LED's = 400mA draw -> 12LED's = 400/5mA = 80mA You only want to discharge a LiPo 80% so 80% of the 500mAh bettery is 400mAh,so ->400mAh/80mA = 5 hours

 Tuomas 86 points

May be your plane lifespan will be shorter than these leds. Two years behind and still working perfectly. Also succeed few hard crashes. You can fly all night.

 Brent 7 points

it dose not mater.

 adrianc 20 points

Yes you can, i just soldered 11m for a backlit picture frame and have joined them from all different points, they do not have to be the ends.

 tommy2toes 2088 points

thanks i didnt want to use so much wire i will use that. you just saved me alot of weight and work thanks again.

 Big Mr. 23 points

Make sure to use low heat to solder these as they are a little thin.
Also just keep the +&- sorted correctly and there won't be any worries.

 tommy2toes 2088 points

got some wire from nasa scrubbed projects super thin carrys huge amounts of current without heating up. i got the soldering down great i just didnt know i could start anywhere i thought it had to begin totaly on one side to complete a full circit thats just too cool. thanks again. you got my thumbs up!

 Neash 76 points

it's not waterproof

 tommy2toes 2088 points

there is a differnt set that cost one dollar more they are the water proof ones but you can spray them with water repellant for leather shoes it works great. footlocker or ebys at a mall.

 Neash 76 points

Maybe try to wrap in transparent shrink tube

 tommy2toes 2088 points

is there such a thing clear shrink tube?

 Neash 76 points

there is a Turnigy Heat Shrink Tube Transparent

 Neash 76 points

You can cut the strip and make new strips or extend strips to make any combination of 3 lights. Due to the high voltage input you can connect directly to the main 2-3S battery or use the optional battery. But it's best to use a switch (like this www.link that you can control the backlight from your RC. In my copter i use PCB-board www.link it has a JST where I am connecting this LEDs.

 Neash 76 points

Hobby King Quadcopter Power Distribution Board and Turnigy Receiver Controlled Switch

 vincent 9 points

The black wire is for negative and the color (red for red light, blue for blue ligt...) is for plus.

 tommy2toes 2088 points

mine are green black in any case black is neg the only one left is pos

 tommy2toes 2088 points

12v is seen much easier from a distance. and you could run a switch or directly into the main battery power for the plane it really dosnt use enough power to run anything down. way brighter!

 Ebiker 160 points

I see, they're much brighter than normal leds. Cool thanks.

 tommy2toes 2088 points

your welcome fly high have fun!

 golys 100 points

i doesn't matter for the light intensity if you run the leds with 12v or 5v, each led works with voltage between 2v to 3.4v (red to blue), only thing you need to change is the resistor which limits the current to the led for about 20mA, the current running through the led is how you control the intensity of the led

 waterlogged 2701 points

In other words I could hook up a battery pack running 50 volts but if the amps are low everything is OK. Or if the amps are a bit too high I can fit a resistor, is that another way. Have I got that right? What sort of resistor can I use. I have a **** box with what I was told was resistors. This one has 300k 15w 10% is that any good? Thanks

 golys 100 points

bad idea on 50v you will lose power on the resistor, lets say VD=2v vin=50 ::(vin-vd)/20mA=2.4kohm:resistor needed from 20mA , Pr=48V*20mA=0.96watt goes by heat on resistor, you will need 1W resistor,, Pd=2v*20mA=0.04 goes by LED 0.04/(0.96 0.04)=4% efficiency of your system as i said before , avoid if all possible ,, your system will be good as toaster oven rather then lighting

 tommy2toes 2088 points

no reason to be overly complicated. 2s works and will light it but not very bright 3s lights it properly! as it ia as close as you can get without buying anything or adding any more weight. 11.1v is very close to the 12v recomended capacity. 4s will light it super bright but you will not get a long life out of the led strip probably less than 75 flights before they would go through their life span. if you stay at 11.1v you will infact gain extra being below full 12v i plug them directly into the battery wires on the plane it does not draw enough juice to run a seperate battery just for lights and it is a great way to see when your lights dim a little time to land.

 Mr wizzard 105 points

its great to share stay on your toes tommy thanks

 waterlogged 2701 points

There is an actual place for Buddy codes on the inner forums. I don't think HK likes codes being left on other forums. The last thing we need on this forum is codes everywhere. Do the right thing and post them where they're supposed to be posted. People searching for help on these items don't really want to have outdated codes everywhere. It's not as if you're doing a service, you're trying to make money for yourself. Be a decent member and post in the right place.

 tommy2toes 2088 points

sorry i was trying to help didnt know about all that you have to be a certian level to get in those forums platnum or sompthing right? so how do you expect the guy starting out to even get to see any. no i think its you that doesnt want to see since you wrote so much feeling you somhow believe im taking something from you if they were bothered by it they would just take it down. i will never refrain from helping the small guy and your codes do outdate but since i had just bought a new set mine was good. somone always seems to be upset when you give things away and try to be good really i dont have much need to save or get the discounts you speak of but i know that others do. give where you can try to learn when you can.

 H-KING_SCOTT 5161 points

Yes,I have fitted these to a Quad and flown at night,great fun,used red,green and white for orientation.

 weezbad 215 points

I have orange on the rear, blue front/ top with white on center of x in the front and red on the sides...ran out of green. Works great. I have white on the bottom but it's to bright like that.

 Robin-r1 79 points

with 4s you will fry it.

 Mar11 2005 points

check out these ligths on my bixler 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZopXO8wWF0

 Antoine 35 points

yes,it works, gives enormous amount of light!

 robi1kenobi 14 points

Thanks, I'll connect it directly to 4S batterey then :)

 robi1kenobi 14 points

*battery

 waterlogged 2701 points

It's designed for 12volts. Use more by all means. You'll get brighter LEDs but they will slowly burn out which will dim the lights dramaticly. Use the correct voltage and you should get betweem 25,000 and 50,000 hours out of them. Use more and expect anything from 1 to ?? hours.

 Maxime 1 points

Yes you can but you should add a resistor for decliding the voltage to 12V. without resistor it will run for a time and after they'll break.

 47tuc 12 points

If you're using 4S you probably should put a few (say 6) 1 amp diodes in series with the supply to the light strip. Each diode will drop roughly 0.6 volts which will bring you back closer to the rated voltage for the LED strip.

 weezbad 215 points

If you want to use 4s, get a 1amp regulator,( looks like a transistor) from radio shack, it is very steady at 12 volts. And fairly small. You can also use a variable pot. Good luck

 Alnoa 7 points

anywhere ! that's why those strip are great !

 Unto 81 points

Yep, you can put them anywhere in the strip even differend colours

 Sarapintas 34 points

anywhere

 xmicho 13 points

You can parallel two or more strips together by cutting at the indicator and soldering on power and - wires to the solder pads. There's a cutting point after every three LEDs on the strip.

 David 5 points

As long as you match to and - to - you are fine. I've connected vertical strips under the wing to horizontal strips on top and they work just fine

 waterlogged 2701 points

I'd hardly call them warm, more like blinding. Obviously your search isn't working because thet came up straight away and come from the Hong
Kong warehouse. It's a bit of a nuisance trying to get a collection of something when things are spread out so much but I guess you can't expect everything in every warehouse. Although, they are working on extending the range in each foreign warehouse. Yippeee!

 geekrawker 10 points

i havent found any strip LED's in the USA Warehouse yet or i would quit ordering from China. Try the Orange LED's if your looking for a warm glow. I've never seen a LED that looked like a Tungsten style light spectrum. They are blinding on a 3s setup... if you want a little less try running them on a 2s setup or get a brushed ESC controller and add it as the lights power source and stick it on a free channel on your RX. you can then either use the spare channel to switch the LED's on or of

 David 5 points

Guys, there is a warm white and a white white...two different led colors

 waterlogged 2701 points

My friend and I fly Biplanes, the underside of the top wing and the top side of the bottom wing we painted a high gloss white. We then laid a strip of blue, flat along the top side of the bottom wing and when alight it bounces off the two white surfaces and really glows an eerie blue. Last Sunday we both waited until dark and flew our planes around our field and had cars pulling up and watching our planes until we landed. They really thought they were UFOs.

 tommy2toes 2088 points

they dont have any yet but it really only takes a couple weeks to ship them its the same as waiting for them to come two weeks later in the usa then you have to order and it still take 5 or 6 days to get them and to only pay under 4 dollars for 60 leds here in the states is unheard of just order them get it over with you will be happy you did trust me and here use my buddy code to get even more off the price F4BC63B3-69C9-4F1B-99FF-1E92C7307ADA fly high fly fast be safe, tommy

 waterlogged 2701 points

There is an actual place for Buddy codes on the inner forums. I don't think HK likes codes being left on other forums. The last thing we need on this forum is codes everywhere. Do the right thing and post them where they're supposed to be posted. People searching for help on these items don't really want to have outdated codes everywhere. It's not as if you're doing a service, you're trying to make money for yourself. Be a decent member and post in the right place.

 Mar11 2005 points

check out these ligths on my bixler 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZopXO8wWF0

 steve g 61 points

GGOD TIMES INDEAD matey aint they great just so bright

 paulsouthport 60 points

They are super bright - I now only ever fly my quad at night, with different colours to aid orientation - scares the locals very nicely!

 Robin 2 points

night flying is the best , these leds look great set into the wings of a foamy like axn or bixler

 Hoovernaut 123 points

Don't forget your sunglasses... *-)

 HPICH28 6 points

Good product, add Turnigy Heat Shrink Tube and really looks like

 RonRC 2007 points

Flying an Xcopter, sometimes orientation can be quite difficult! I use these and other collors to aid in orientation of my quad. I've had it up around 1000ft and because of the LED lights I was able to know which way it was orientated. Here is a video of that flight.

 Arjan 28 points

Use red & blue for easy orientation Please credit this answer!

 David 6 points

They are great on 2S and super bright on 3S. Really good for the price and perform the same function as the higher priced LED's.

 Steffen 1 points

unschlagbares Preis-Leistung-Verhältnis

 waterlogged 2701 points

Red and green dictate port and starboard On planes and boats. White is a mast headlight on a boat but just landing lights on planes. It is possible to buy white LEDs which throw a beam but they cost more than the usual flood type. Arjan, please don't beg for credit it's so tacky. There's no money involved now anyway.

 tommy2toes 2088 points

hey ronrc may i ask what are you using for a transmitter and receiver? the signal seems to travel through some trees there could you always see it the quad by line of sight?

 RonRC 2007 points

****

 Aleksey Volokhov 6 points

Need separate power supply. Specifications: Working voltage: DC12V

 medixx 210 points

You can connect it directly to your rx. The LEDs will be dimmer. Just make sure your rx can handle the power drain.

 sdueck 6 points

It is best to run these on a 3s lipo. Lightweight power supply, and the perfect voltage (12v). I plug them into my balance port on my 3s batteries for my electric planes because it leaves the main leads free for the ESC.

 Michael 6 points

12V at 800mA I believe. So... a 800mAh battery can keep it lit up for 1 hour. 1600mAh battery can keep it lit up for 2 hours. RX does not have 12V it only has 5 volt output. So needs a separate battery. You can plug the leads of this LED into the Charging lead of your Lipo, Black to Black, and 3rd wire above the black. This will work as long as your lipo has 3S or more.

 waterlogged 2701 points

Never connect anything using that much current to your receiver. It will be OK whilst not flying but as soon as it takes off you stand a good chance of causing damage or getting very sluggish movement from your servos. It could be receiver and or ESC/BEC goodbye.

 medixx 210 points

Normally you should be able to cut them every 3 leds.

 BernardoUruguay 259 points

It has marks that tells you where to cut. You have to cut them every 3 leds to use them at 12V or individually to use up to 4v

 Taparou 38 points

Do I make a bridge between the electrod and - ?

 Hoovernaut 123 points

There are marks on the tape where you can cut every three LED's. You can also see it at the 4 solder points (2 on each side of cut)

 Taparou 38 points

Thanx but I don't understand where and how do I solder it

 Hoovernaut 123 points

There are some silver colored pads. On these pads you can solder the wires.

 Taparou 38 points

Ok so I have only to solder wires ? Not a soldering jumper ?

 aJS32 281 points

Hi! First of all this trips consist of led segments, each segment has 3 leds on it. Between segments there are designated cutting areas, which are marked with a line and cutting knife sign. You can cut strip ONLY!!! at these cutting areas. Cut off as many segments as you with (it can be only one or you can have whole strip uncut) and supply 12v (3S battery) to the and - terminals at one side of a segment and you are done! Regards

 smile: :) 12 points

it has 3 less for every pack

 marc77 5 points

Die LED Strips haben einen sehr guten Adh?onskleber darauf und halten deshalb auch sehr gut auf Depron Modellen die Oft am Abend geflogen werden

 heliwim 6 points

No you have to put it on by yourself! You can cut this in peaces of 3 leds and then you have to make a wire on it! Its very simple!

 Alemao 12 points

You will have to put a connector and you can divide the leds in sets of three.

 cr8tive_leo 177 points

You need to solder your own leads on. Always use a seperate power source and rx controlled switch, otherwise you could be adding a load that would cause your rx to brown out, and cause damage.

 Hammbone 63 points

Use your own plugs and wire.

 mikropeoples 25 points

plug it to 3s battery, bright as hell, visible from 500m

 thomas 10 points

Super Beleuchtung für jede Schaumwaffel!!

 waterlogged 2701 points

The receiver cannot be used to power these LEDs. They require 12 volts, the receiver only gives 5 or 6 volts. Your LEDs won't work and you will burn out your ESC or BEC. Use power straight from the main battery and if running 3 strips cut your normal running time by 50% on what you normally get without LEDs. If the plane has room try using a separate battery

 tommy2toes 2088 points

that cant be true waterlogged that does cut down on time but not by 50%. if you hook up the lights olone like i did i can run a full strip of 60 for more than a full week 7 days and they were still bright i only was using a 3s 450mah turnigy 5c if what your saying was true they would have burned out in a day or less hope this helps ya guys

 waterlogged 2701 points

Please totally ignore the above post. It's fantasy and dangerous, Expecting to be able to run one strip for a week is absolute BS. The strip draws point 4 of an amp, 400 Mah. on a 2200 MAH 3s battery that equates to 4.5 hours of power by which stage your battery will be severely depleted and needing recharging. Running 3 strips continually plus fly a plane using a 2200 mah 3s battery would take 1.2 amps of power for just one hour. If you know that you get (without LEDS) a twenty minute flight., I would recommend you cut this to 10 minutes to avoid damaging your battery or depending on throttle use possibly bringing your plane down and damaging it. This person is NOT a person you should be listening to with his fairy stories. To run one strip non stop for a entire week (he states "for more than a week") you would require a battery capable of supplying 67.2 amps. You work it out. .4 of an amp per hour for 168 hours. How many batteries have you seen with 67200 mah printed on them? But he say he's using a 450 mah 3s. That would give him just over an hour. You're a fraud twinkle toes. I think you should apologize for giving false information or for just trying to illicit an argument.

 waterlogged 2701 points

By the way twinkle toes. Where did you purchase your 5C 450 Mah 3s battery. I have trouble trying to find one. I just want to see the type of tablet supplied with it.

 zimox 7 points

Large voltage input range up to 12V DC! (Great for 2-3S Lipoly) so you can use it whit 7.4 volts and 11.1 volts

 DragonTower 15 points

I have these lights on my EPP FPV using a 1300maH 11.1V battery that runs to a on/off switch. I did it this way so that I could have the lights off but still power my video tx or have the lights on and not power my video tx. Really all depends on how you want to wire it up. 11.1V = 12V The ####maH is nothing more than capacity. Hope this helps!

 DennisT1 162 points

yep, it will marry an 11.1v LiPo and live happily ever after!

 n3m1s1s 1019 points

yes indeedy link this to 3s lipo = good times :)

 smile: :) 12 points

hi you can use 11,1. but they say 12 so the led's will give more light. when you use 11,1 the led's will glow a little bit less. sry for english!!!

 Payment Status 52 points

I have these lights on my EPP FPV using a 1300maH 11.1V battery that runs to a on/off switch. I did it this way so that I could have the lights off but still power my video tx or have the lights on and not power my video tx. Really all depends on how you want to wire it up. 11.1V = 12V The ####maH is nothing more than capacity. Hope this helps!

 Hoovernaut 123 points

You can also operate with 2S, but 3S is better -> brighter. The light decrease from 12,6 to 11,1 is not significant. But 7,4, you will see...

 Pascal 14 points

Hello, it works from 6V to 12V

 tommy2toes 2088 points

love making require only 6 volts but for you tosee fireworks use 11.1, tommy ps crdit the best answer and click the green thumbs you like!

 medixx 210 points

depends on what you want. In my opinion 3s is best suited because it is brighter than 2s.

 cr8tive_leo 177 points

How bright do you want it? Are you using the entire strip? or pieces? Use a 2s with a 5v/6v 3a bec and you can see the difference when you switch between 5v/6v. THe larger battery you use, the heavier your plane will be. Just keep that in mind. You can get larger bec's to give you more power. If you plan on using more than one strip, use the receiver controlled switch, you can attach a totally seperate [power supply for the leds without harming your rx. again, the larger cell battery you use, t

 boostoman 315 points

3s will be the best. but i have been running them on 4S on a plane for the last one year

 Jean-Mi 27 points

I fly an half long strip of this with 3S 450mAh lipo. In fact on the same accu there is also an half long strip of green, an other of blue, of orange, and some touch of white led strip. All this for a Funjet V1. The 450mah 3S lipo allow for 3 flights. 2S is not enough bright, but 3S is OK for a funjet... Seem this should be ok for numbers of planes !

 hwagener 243 points

Any 3S-lipo is good for it. I use fpur of these and they consume about 20 Watts, so be sure that your battery is big enough...

 zimox 7 points

i use a 3s lipo-nanotec turnigy 1300 mAp

 DragonTower 15 points

As everyone prior to me has stated, a 3S 11.1V will be what you want. Anything less than 3S 11.1V and you really don't get the full intensity of light that is available.

 Tn Flyer 1 points

Well in the first place what kind of plane are you going to put lights on ? You can go with 2s or if you like brighter lights go with 3s series...Tnflyer

 demondeyez 13 points

3s bettries are better as ther briter but if your useing a diffrent batt to the one thats running the plane you would be better off with 2s or the smallest 3s you can find to save weight

 fiberpro 5 points

a 2s lipo is very bright. no need for 3s. you don't run full strips. you cut them in sections of 3 and connect them with small guage wire. a 2s lipo with 1300mah will last almost all night. definately put them on a switch or a portable plug. they are very bright.

 Payment Status 52 points

Great little thing, no problem.Zakazyvay.

 Moritz 8 points

i use a 300 mah 3 cell lipo and it works great *)

 Hoovernaut 123 points

It depends on the brigtness you prefer. For full brigntness 3S. You can also operate at 2S, but not very bright. The capacitiy depends on you needs.

 Pascal 14 points

Hello, it works from 6V to 12V

 tommy2toes 2088 points

you want any 3s battery there is no one better . this set works with any 2s or 3s but 3s is brighter so just use the best weight for your plane that battery is the best one. click the green thumbs that you like and credit the best answer, tommy

 hwagener 243 points

These Stripes need to plugged in directly to a power-source, a 3S-Lipo-pack is very good for it. You can use one battery for your plane and the lights, but be sure to calculate that the flight-times might be slightly different due to more energy-consumption.

 TheThomass 124 points

can it work on 7.4V? I mostly fly on my 1000mah 2s...

 hwagener 243 points

Will be much darker with 7.4V...

 DennisT1 162 points

Variation on flight time will be minimal. In theory, your 800mAh battery would run the lights for 2 hours. So, 10 minutes of lights would us about 66mAh of your batteries 800mAh. That should work out to less than a minute difference in flight time. Best bet is to monitor voltage in flight if you can* otherwise make short flights and check battery - gradually growing longer until you see where the battery is used up.

 RC_guy 33 points

Yes they will work with 2S lipos, but the lights will be darker than if they were with a 3s battery. It doesn't matter where you plug it in, but I recomend plugging in the gear channel. That way you can use your gear switch on your Tx and turn the lights on and off no problem. I hope this helps! :)

 Pachotronic 154 points

Necesitas conectarlo con 3S y directo a bateria porque funcionan por encima de 10 voltios.
60 leds me parecen una barbaridad, yo vuelo con 3 led en cada punta de ala, otros 3 leds a media ala en el borde ataque, 3 leds en el morro junto al motor, 3 leds en cola y me es suficiente.No lo pierdes de vista en ningun momento. Recuerda conectarlo en paralelo para que luzcan todos los leds por igual ya que en serie cada vez van perdiendo intensidad.

 TheThomass 124 points

thanks for the reaction pachotronic but I don't speak a word spanish so I honestly have no idea what you said, I'll try google translate lol

 hwagener 243 points

Translation of spanish Text via Google: You need to connect it directly to battery 3S and because they operate above 10 volts. 60 leds seem to me a lot, I fly with 3 led on each wingtip, other 3 LEDs in the mid wing leading edge, 3 LEDs on the nose with the motor, 3 leds in a queue and you lose me is suficiente.No of view at any time. Remember connected in parallel so that all LEDs look alike because each time series are losing intensity.

 TheThomass 124 points

Allright, yeah I said 60 because I hadn't decided yet how I'll do it. But I'll keep it in mind :-) Thx!

 hwagener 243 points

I fly 240 Leds on my 2m-MInimoa. two strips on top, two stripes on bottom of wings. These LEDs are not just to see the model, they are a great thing to watch...

 Peter 47 points

don't use this on 2s - only if you use a 2s lipo exclusively for the light - not with the flying one. The voltage will degree and the lights are switching off. on a own 2s lipo they will work, but on 3s they are very much brighter ...

 crashd 103 points

they'll work, but like the other posts state - won't be as bright as with a 3s. I use the balance plug for power. Unlike what rc guy said, it does kinda matter where you plug these in. If you use a channel off your rx, you'll only get 4-6v (depending on your bec). Tap off the main or balance plug.

 Jerome 12 points

There are two easy ways to connect these LEDs to your electronics. You can buy a ballance charge lead extension for your battery, cut off the end that normally plugs into the charger and splice the wires from these LED's onto them, taking care to get the polarity correct or they wont turn on. If you do it this way they will always be on when plugged in. If you want to be able to use an extra gear switch to turn them on and off, you could buy Hobby King item LUM-ONF Reciever controlled switch

 GeniolocoSinCura 89 points

Care must be taken, you could see the lights, but this not most powerfull because make dificult look the model, I suggest using 2 cell connected at balancer wire of batteries, and achieve put just lights necessary in the model.

 Amorim 3D 1 points

sou aeromodelista e tenho uma loja de modelismo, al?m de fazer consertos e reparos, noz fabricamos, gostaria de saber se gostaria de fazer uma parceria, queriamos ser seu representante aki no brasil, aguardo resposta, obrigado.Att: Anderson.

 DragonTower 15 points

Everybody is pretty much saying the same thing: A 2S does not have enough power to shine these lights as they should be. A 3S would give much better results. Wiring these lights into the same battery that you fly with will greatly reduce your flying time! It is a better idea to keep them separate, with their own power source.

 gexcube 37 points

yes, when you connect last and first pin on balancer plug you will get exactly same voltage that is on "main" plug. And yes I am using this connection on my heli too :)

 JPX2000 4 points

OK, thanks. It seems to be a simpler way to do it. And since the current draw is fairly low, I presume that heavy duty wiring won't be necessary.

 gexcube 37 points

:)... yes, I have on my heli for about 1,6m this led lights (combination of colors), current draw is 0,6A and connection is by balance plug... and this balance plugs I think are capable to be loaded constantly for maybe 4Amps or more... It doesnt matter for now :)

 Pascal 14 points

They do not have to attach two cells otherwise function it.

 paulovisk 17 points

it's simple! just use a female 3s plug balancer. You may wire a on-off button too, or a r/c swith connected to a free channel in your system.

 alec 8 points

just put a parallel plug on the main leads and power it that way, less wires and less failure points

 JPX2000 4 points

Putting a 'wye' on the batt plug, plus running wires to the switch results in same amount of wires, if I have your description right. The setup I just tried using the balance plug worked just fine, and I kept the wiring smaller gauge. Thnaks to everyone for their replies. Very helpful.

 alec 8 points

what is smaller than 2 18awg wires with a jst plug soldered in parallel with the esc power leads? that is what i use.

 JPX2000 4 points

Hey, alec, that's what I've already put into work here, except I'm using some Molex plugs that fit the balance jack on the LiPo - the less soldering the better. I can get great connections and still be able to yank-and-swap if needed. Man, those puppies are BRIGHT!!!

 seand 48 points

The two outer leads of the balance plug will supply the whole voltage of the battery. If your using a 3S lipo, which is approx 12 volts, there wouldn't be an issue with using the ballance plug. Many battery charges supply the charging current through the balance leads, and don't even use main battery cables. A whole 1m of lights only draws 400mA. Most balance leads should easily support a few Amps. I charge my 3S 2200MAH LIPOS at 2C, 4.4Amps, through the balance leads, all the time, for hours w

 Brother Pain 30 points

I do this with my 3S lipos. If you are using an HX balance plug (Hobby King, others), You only connect the outside pins of the plug to the connectors on the lights.

 JPX2000 4 points

Yes indeed, Brother Pain, that is EXACTLY what I'm doing. Easy enough, and the way we fly at night, we don't require a lot of power. Thank you. And a tip o' the hat to seand, too.

 magnusvr 79 points

I do just that. I have a balancing contact male that I just use the end pins of. Works great! The LEDs are in packs of three, so I just cut the strip at an even three, according to how far I need. Use it both for my Tricopter and as under-light on my RC-Car for that cool effect of noen lights under the car. :)

 daniel 1 points

ya i tryed that it worked pretty good orderd some male pugs to hook the lights to batteries now problems as of yet

 victorhm7 15 points

You plug the first bat wire (black) on negative led wire and the forth bat wire on positive led wire.

 Takly 207 points

What I did for most of my projects was tear up an old Cat5 network cable (I found the stiffer wires to be durable and great for holding their shape around odd bends). At the other end, I soldered them all on to a Deans plug and used a parallel adapter for a trouble free setup. As for your balance lead question, I just pulled off a small 3 set to trial it out for you. With the negaive on the black balance wire (obviously) I found that the yellow wire produced a dim glow and the red gives the f

 UndCon 17 points

I use the balance plug to power my LEDstrips. If you want full power(12V) from a 3S you connect them to the 2 outmost wires.

 RCJUNKMAN.COM 4 points

Yes , I use them with my lipos,all you do is connect it to your balance lead of your lipo.

 JPX2000 4 points

Thanks, everyone, for the replies. I have the lights up and running using a Turnigy e-switch connected through the LiPo balance plug. Swapping in and out is easy. Just beware! These LEDS are VERY bright! You WILL lose some night vision momentarily if you look directly at them. Flying at dusk is an added thrill, and these lights are inexpensive, easy to configure, and very intense on a fully charged battery. Great product, many uses.

 Omega_zz 13 points

The balance plug give you acces to each cell. It maybe look nice, BUT dont do that. It will unbalance your pack while your plane is in the air. And this item is 12v. It's better to use and Y adapter.Hope that help

 Pablo74 30 points

I was in your shoes to make a cable extension between esc and lipo with the appropriate connectors and solder the positive and negative in order to take clean wires and cables esc lipo

 Greg 66 points

Black to black and positive to the outermost wire (usually red - but sometimes other colors may be substituted). You can always use a voltmeter to check for output levels before attaching a connector

 JPX2000 4 points

Thanks for the heads-up, Omega. I have not had any severe problems with the 3S packs getting unbalanced, but it's a thought. I'll watch out for that.

 Awni 164 points

Yes you can, you can use those leads to connect it to the battery balance ports - www.link - and the other end use JST plugs to connect to the light - www.link - and - www.link - Hope this answered your Questions, if you are satisfied with this Answer please click on Usefull, Thumbs Up or LIKE it , which ever

 terrarianer 33 points

Used it on my Twinstar for Night-Fly. No Problem...

 hwagener 243 points

I would not use the balancer-plug for this cause the wires are very small. I would advice using a plug-adapter on the main plug for tis. I have four of these stripes n my plane consuming abozt 20 watts.

 wifly 50 points

it would be better to buy a XMAS lighting kit for your house rather, than use expensive hobby kit for that application.

 pardus 266 points

2x1m (in series) will make 1/2 the brightness of 1m, 1x1m 1x1m (parallel) will be the normal brightness but add 400mA current per 1m section. So you'll have to run a 12v cable to each 1m section and power each section in parallel to the other. AFAIK 1m is the longest they sell.

 Izman77 64 points

For the time being, 1 meter is the maximum length they got sell. I think its possible to link a few 1 meter light together. Provided the power source is strong.

 Danielle 2 points

OK I will do them 1M at a time, powering individually with 12v. I'm planning to use it as an effect in a studio so might at a arduino to do some chasing or pulsing effects. Wifly I couldn't find any xmas lights that were all blue similar to the ones here but if you find, please post a link. I need about 20 meters total.

 John 1 points

as long as you like but the more you put on the duller they are

 Jeebs 45 points

The strips just come in 1m lengths, you can definitely chain as many together as you like. You just need the correct input voltage. 2-3 cell lipos work great. You can buy the balance plug (female ends) for your batteries from hobbyking and run them off your balance plug on your chosen lipo.

 Zwckxally 36 points

You can hook up several 1m length strips together by soldering them together with wires I use magnet wire the kind that is used for winding motors to reduce the weight. I've put 7 of them together in one circuit and it works just fine I'm sure 10 will be fine too.

 Mario 10 points

I think after a few Meters the Batterie isnt strong enough to light all 20 Meter LED`s .. But i dont really know it..

 kdawgdinner 263 points

you can only go 4m before they begin to dim

 alan8112 31 points

it can putting several 1m together, u need to do some solder from each other so that - can be connected, 20 meter sure no problem, hk only have 1m length only

 byxnplanes 32 points

1 meter is the max available at HK. You are able to combine as many as you wish. I assume there would be some added resistance in the circuit if you combined 20 of them, so that might become a factor.

 alazz912 9 points

they sell it in 1 meter lengthts but you can solder them togather and make the strip as long as you want. Also there is a place to cut every 3 LEDs and space them out. thats what i do beacuse the whole strand connect is overkill in my opinion. there too freakin bright!

 Nobby 113 points

I got mine in 1 meter length in boxes X 2 colors I dont think they sell in bulk but you could ring them and tell us?

 Dave 63 points

The lights will dim with length. The longer you go the dimmer the leds will get. They will be bright for the first meter, then dimmer on each section you add.

 Radist 8 points

Each 1M eats 400mA, so 20 strips will eat 8A. Wires inside this strip cann't handle such current, so you need to use external wire. I'd use 18AWG wire for the several former sections near the current source and less thick wire for the further sections. You can use series connection, but it could cause problems if some leds will be broken.

 Musa 33 points

In theory you can, I have mine at 15 Meters only but has been running for almost 2 years now. The rule is you need a power supply with 400mA per meter. Example 12V 5A power supply will give you up to 12 strips or 12 meters.

 Kieran 5 points

Hello mate, The more LED's you run from one strip, the dimmer the strip gets unfortunatly,

 Pavel_K 33 points

2Pardus - That's NOT TRUE. Each group of 3 LEDs on this stripe are connected in PARALLEL, so if you solder two or more stripes in series the would be no brightness reduce. The lenght limited only by the thickness of conductors on this stripes. Normally this stripes are sold by 5 meters stripes and it seems to be reasonable - it consumes up to 2A current. If you want to use more than 5 meters - use separate wires with suitable gauge to supply power to each 5m section.

 iflyrc 8 points

the longer the string, the dimmer it will get.

 Robert 35 points

i have put up to 4 on a night plane i made..used a 3s 11.1 2200 mah battery.its great.

 taildragger1951 10 points

Unless you're trying to run lot further than the length of the block you live on your length of run is limited only by the AMPERAGE output of your power supply. The lights are wired in parallel so voltage is not reduced significantly over distance as long as you have the amperage to power all your lights. A 12v power source is best as it won't damage your lights and will give you maximum brightness.

 Pascal 14 points

That can be done already with a 12V feed. More than 5m I would not hang together there the river then already 2A amount to.

 seand 48 points

I've strung together 5 meters with no issues. they are basically flexible copper circuit board. The first few millimeters of each top and bottom edge are the power rails. The copper tracks are hermatically sealed except for two circular openings in the seal regularly spaced every 5cm, exposing the copper tracks. You basically just daisy chain from one length to the next with a small soldered link for the -ve and ve rail at each end. The [] below represent the LED's. Basically they have cut a c

 Schrockie 30 points

As long as you have enough juice to power them, I would say unlimited.

 daniel 1 points

yes they come in one meter langths so you would have to connect in peralel = other wise if you do it as one strand ** the lights would keep getting dimmer each 1 meter langth

 NateB 6 points

You can join multiple 1m strips together, but for the sake of them staying nice and bright and not having to carry too much current I wouldn't connect more than 3 or 4 strips together from a single power point.

 joseph 8 points

you can link as many as you want together as long as you have the voltage

 Awni 164 points

Yes you can, but keep in mind each 1meter takes 400mA, so 20 meter would need 8000mA of power.

 DennisT1 162 points

Adding strings in series should not significantly dim the LEDs UNLESS your battery can't supply the total amperage without dropping its output voltage (unlikely with any reasonable LiPo size) OR your total current exceeds the capacity of the power rails on the strip (I'd estimate 2-3 amps or 6-8 meters just by looking at the trace) OR your supply wires are to small for the load. You will not end up with 120 lights in a series - you will end up with the power rails being longer and multiple groups of three LEDS in a series across the rails - thats why series connection isnt going to effect brightness as most circuit design principles would suggest for series.

 Aaron 86 points

I've never seen them on HobbyKing but they are available elsewhere. Hopefully they will get some at some point soon. Violet/Purple would look really good.

 chuckstarck 25 points

can't answer for when they might have them or if they will have them but there is nothing in the catalog in violet

 LaserBeam 744 points

Hiya Dee Dee. At the moment the LED strips come in White, Red, Green, Blue and an Orangy/Yellow. You could line up the Red next to the Blue and get a slight Purple effect :) Just kidding, these are so bright that red is red and blue is blue and the colours dont washout much. To be honest i dont think i have ever seen a purple LED but if you find them i would want some too :) The red ones are the brightest and cheapest ... it is possible to make purple by wrapping the Red LED strip in blue cellop

 Dee Dee 114 points

Hello LaserBeam..actually it is very much possible to have violet/purple & I already saw one. saw it here in my place being sold, and the seller admitted that it also came from china, but the price here is horrible...LOL that's why i'm asking HK that maybe perhaps they could also provide. He's selling the following colors.. White, Red, Green, Blue..doesn't have Yellow. but it also has Violet, Light Blue, Yellow Green.

 Zwckxally 36 points

if they had that color they would sell it.

 kevo450 17 points

The problem with violet is that there is really no one that makes that color as a pure led. you can place a red and a blue strip close together to simulate it. Or you can buy a tri color led strip and light only the red and blue strips.

 Jeebs 45 points

sorry no violet as of yet

 Bebbi 36 points

pardust writes such a bull**** and get a credit point for this? the lengh of the stripes is theoreticall unlimited. only the current consumption is rising depending of the lengh. the 12 v tension is no problem because there are a few leds in series with its own resistor. on one stripe there are alot of such independing groups and you can cut the stripe.

 Awni 164 points

it would be really nice to get a violet color especially for my fish tank *-)

 tommy2toes 2088 points

i want to use violet for my harly davdson motorcycle it has violet flames that would be nice!

 pikao1982 23 points

Lo tengo puesto en un funjet y es una pasada verlo volar por la noche, se conecta directamente a la lipo por los cables del balanceado soldandole un pin como en del receptor

 Awni 164 points

660 nanometer, Appreciate the thumbs up if that answers your question

 eadward 309 points

Kieran - You are giving INCORRECT information. The outer copper strip edges that the wires are connected to run the entire length of the strip. The LED's are grouped in series of 3 with a resistor. When hooking the LED strips in what you call series, still leaves the LED's in Parallel. You will see and understand this if you take a good look at a 1 metre strip. It is actually impossible to hook the actual LED's in series. Ed

 hwagener 243 points

The dominant wavelengths for these stripes are: Red : 625-630 Green : 525-530 Blue : 465-470 Yellow : 592-595

 tommy2toes 2088 points

maybe they could sell a spectorgraph since they are selling robotic equiptment that would be a great function for scientific surveying fields and agriculture u could fpv planes with it to see drought and crops damages to fix faster and know what is needed

 AJ240 181 points

No, they are not water proof. A little light rain probably wouldn't do any harm but I would dry them off really well afterwards. Who flies in the rain anyway ???

 tonybooger 193 points

How do you reckon these would go on the roof in my bar fridge to light up my beers when you open the door. Would the need sealing or shrink wrapping in transperant tube? Or would the be alright on the roof, as long as they dont get wet? Will they handle the cold? THanks

 Hughesfani 23 points

I have used leds in a misty day and these work well.

 Cody f86saber 338 points

They are insulated with a Soldermask coating over the sonductive traces and substrate backing. Every 3 LEDs there are pre-punched holes ready to be knocked out if you want to shorten or lengthen the string of lights and solder wire extensions, handy. Its unlikely water encountered in nature would ever have a high enough mineral salts content and conductivity to cause any mentionworthy current to flow, if it ever crosses the conductors. hope this helps!

 Awni 164 points

Unless if rain is salt water, then you are good to go, no worries