Blade Nano QX headlights

I love the little Blade Nano QX, but it doesn't have lights and my eyes have trouble seeing the colored props. I also like flying outside at night. I've seen a few mods where guys put led's under the prop, but I wanted something different. I wanted headlights to be able to tell if its coming at me or which direction its facing. I still need to figure out how I'm going to put tail lights on, but thats coming. Right now I have power soldered directly to the board where the battery connects. I want to get a battery T adapter so I can choose when the lights are on.

I used:
2 - 5mm Bright white LEDs
2 nylon cable ties with a screw hole.
22 ohm resistor. I played around with resistors until I got a good combo of battery life vs brightness. To low of a resistor and the LVS kicked in at 3.85v.

I'm using 150 25c and 160 25c-40c batteries and get between 5-7 min of flight time indoors. I also have upgraded motors, but its not the super motors.

To mount the lights, I cut the tail off the nylon tie so the only thing left was the screw hole and square block. I bent it 90deg and crimped it with pliers so it holds the angle. The ties that I have fit perfectly into the bottom square hole in the frame. A good enough fit that I didn't originally glue in. Now I put a dab of hot glue from the top just to keep it snug. Rather than use wire, I cut legs off some capacitors and used the solid wire to add rigidity to the connections. Used heat shrink where possible. Other spots just covered with a bit of hot glue.

I didn't weigh it before, but right now with a 150 battery it weighs 20g. Box says 18g.
 

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Twitch

New Member
Nice job! I'm gonna have to do this to mine. I have orientation issue's in the dark and 40+ feet away.
 

Thanks. Thats the whole reason I started out with the lights.. Can't see what its doing when it gets a bit away from you. I've been tinkering a bit more with it. The 5mm leds on the front were too big. I used the same holders and hot glued in 3mm leds. Much more reasonable. I also found digging through piles of parts a 5mm red flashing led. I mounted that on the back just supported on its own, so now you can see front/back. I'll post an updated pic in a bit.
 

Just got done with some outside flying.. not sure if my batteries are going bad or something drawing too much. I'm down to 45 sec on 150 & 160 25c batteries. I've played around with different resistors on the led's and it didn't make a difference. When I check the voltage on the charger, they are down to 4.0v. When I run slower indoors, batteries last much longer and the lvc cuts out at 3.7. I'm going full speed outside. I think these motors are pulling more than the battery can handle.
 

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