Drone Night Flying Strobe Lights and FAA Pilot OCD Tip - Drone Tip Tuesday

[@ChrisTietjen_00]

Great tip! Thanks for sharing it. I'm going to get a pack of those things and see what else they're good for.

[@AlienDrones]

Glad it was helpful! They are awesome for a lot of things for sure!

[@MAGNUSDRONES]

3M has a product called dual lock velcro. Both halves are the plastic hooks and is really secure. The strobe light pops on and off without degrading the material. I do use my strobe even flying during the day and admit it stays on probably 90% of the time. 👍

[@fortyfour6626]

Agreed. Velcro is best. It will wear out over time but it’s easy to replace. Much easier to take the lights in and off to charge and interchange with other lights.

[@epzamora]

You can purchase clear 3M Velcro to minimize the eyesore. Possibly even white and grey, not 100% sure. To keep the Velcro (generically called hook and loop fasteners) on the drone from sticking to your storage solution (camera bag, etc), mount the "loop" side to the drone. You'll still have the hook portion on the light, but that's easier to deal with.

[@andybeers4538]

Another good solution is a little bit of Alien Tape. Perfect for this channel! You can just twist the light to remove it. The tape doesn’t use adhesive so there is no sticky residue. Plus it is reusable. No I don’t work for Alien Tape but I use it all the time.

[@TechnicalLee]

3M makes a product even better than that for mounting lights. It's called Scotch Removable Double-Sided Mounting Squares. Each one is about 3/4" square, and is enough to mount a light securely on a drone. When you want to take the light off, you just pull it off and then peel the mounting square off, no residue left behind. It's similar to the Command strip in consistency (stretchy and sticky), but even easier to remove. It's still plenty secure, I can pick up the whole drone by the light and it holds. I keep a pack in my flight bag for peel and stick convenience.

[@MD_is_me]

Velcro is what I see the drone crews use at work (occasionally I see Dual-Lock). They, like the main camera crew, have a system of what goes where every time so they use Velcro until it loses it's fastening strength. Although it's an expendable, it has a working life that makes it more environmentally friendly than something that needs to be applied anew for every flight. Like you, I'm on the spectrum and suffer from OCD. In my case, whenever it's practical for these sorts of avocational pursuits, I've re-directed my OCD to obsessively mimicking what my colleagues in the camera department do.

[@warrenkawamoto8660]

In regards to velcro catching and sticking inside your bag, it sounds like you applied the velcro backwards. One side is looped, the other side is hooks. If you put the loops side on the drone, it doesn't snag on anything.

[@jamiescountryliving]

Great tip. I'm still waiting on my drone to arrive. I didn't even know about strobe lights. Thank you very much

[@AlienDrones]

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! Good Flying! 🤙

[@bobbylefebvre6298]

Have a good week

[@roypatterson9910]

That's a good way to break the light pulling on that and strip like that. Another thing, all you had to do is put the non rough part of the adhesive velcro strip on the drone and then stick the sticky piece on the bottom of the light. I accidentally put the sticky piece of velcro on my drone and I noticed that it was sticking to the inside of my case material, so I cut a piece of sheet or pillow case to cover it when I close the case lid and it doesn't stick to either the inside of the case or the piece of sheet or piece of the pillow case.

[@RLVTECHUSA]

Great job , you are a excellent speaker smooth talk no uhhhhs ummms ahhhhs and filler words !

[@AlienDrones]

Thank you, I appreciate that! 👍 I'm a work in progress, but improving! 😎

[@philjomidad2298]

Another nice tip, place a spare strobe light on you landing pad or behind the pilot , makes a good landing marker

[@AlienDrones]

Good tip!

[@danielpenney9077]

Ok. Just my observation. If you're having trouble with the hook piece of velcro shredding you case, just reverse the application and put the loop on the aircraft and the hook on the light. No more problem!!! : )

[@scottmurphy650]

I have a Potensic Dreamer 4K and put a lume cube on both the top and bottom of the drone. The top satisfies the FAA's requirements and the lower one helps me maintain VLOS. I have taken the drone out at night and been able to follow both the green and red anti-collision lights and lume cube out to about 4500 feet, when the link dropped and the drone turned around and RTH. Since the Dreamer is white, I found some industrial strength white self adhesive Velcro and use it to attach the lume cubes. I put the loop half on the drone and the hook half on the light. It attaches the lume cube very well and after about 100 flights, it has never come loose at all. And being the same color as the drone, it does not detract from the drone's appearance.

[@AlienDrones]

Thanks for sharing!

[@AlienDrones]

How has the Potensic been treating you? Haven't heard much about it, especially for night flying.

[@Leonardokite]

I like that idea. I'm a bit OCD like you also and that would definitely bug me. I noticed your lava lamp over your left shoulder. Reminds me of leisure suit Larry LOL. Not sure if you're familiar with that computer game series. But something tells me you probably are 😜

[@AlienDrones]

Ahhh, my one of many lava lamps... Lol, I'm familiar with leisure suit Larry, what a hoot! First experienced " Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards" circa 1987 on my Commodore 64! To think how risque that used to be... 😏

[@Leonardokite]

@@AlienDrones Yes LSL was very "titillating" as Larry would note 😎 I have done the whole series, (GUI only), that Al Lowe produced including the recent high-res high-fidelity remake of leisure suit Larry 1. I also love my lava lamps, they are mesmerizing almost like watching a fire burn.

[@ericcvt]

Thanks. I was going to use standard velco. I'll try double sided tape cause I have some already lol.

[@MrRaymond1021]

Believe me or not, I was thinking about that same exact thing? I don't want any of my drones to look like crap. This is definitely a thumbs up great idea that I will start to do myself. I've put that Velcro on my drones like everyone else, but I will be trying to get them out and go with your idea for sure. It's been awhile since you put a video together and it's an awesome idea. Thanks again Keith. Love the content you be putting out my brother. Take care, happy flying, and see you in the next video. 👍👍👍

[@AlienDrones]

Thanks! Yup, been fighting a not so little known virus, made my voice not so conducive for video... 🤧

[@ChipLohman]

Thanks for another professional presentation. Curious after learning from Pilot Institute that you shouldn't do anything to change a drone's center of gravity, yet some companies advocate mounting their light on one of the prop arms. Comments?

[@AlienDrones]

Indeed, center of gravity is theoretically important to the overall flight characteristics. That being said, some of the small lights are so lightweight that in reality I would think they wouldn't change the actual loading enough to be worried about. All a matter of scale I imagine, depends how large the lights are, how large the drone is and how far off the center of gravity they are...

[@nickrich710]

Thank you for the help

[@nickrich710]

I brought a strobe light for the DJI mini 4 pro don't know where to put the strobe light at so it won't mess with the GPS signal can you help me thank you

[@RLVTECHUSA]

Awesome tnx this will help my ocd tooo!

[@AlienDrones]

Glad to help!

[@jrs-sx5jb]

add firehouse tech arc v strobes. they are absurdly bright. also i used 3m dual lock tape. its like velcro but not really doesnt stick to anything like velcro...

[@DavidProbinsky]

Thank you for sharing this info with us!!

[@AlienDrones]

my pleasure!

[@harleynut1961]

Great tip , did intentionally choose the one for 9lbs?

[@AlienDrones]

"More Power!" 😉

[@garyannunziata9260]

you have to do that every time you remove the light? and then go through the process again the following night?

[@TheItalianWays]

That's what I use

[@AlienDrones]

👍

[@chrisl6668]

Have these held up? I have not had amazing experiences with command strips so I'll probably stick to my 10lb velcro. I have the soft side on the drone and the hook on the lights and they stick to my case which was a happy accident i found 😂 I'm trying a couple viflys for now on my mini 3.

[@AlienDrones]

Yes, they've held up but it has to be a fairly flat area and can't be too cold. Since they are disposable they've been pretty consistent for me.

[@TheItalianWays]

U can still trim it too

[@Phuong.Nguyen-]

Awesome video, good review and helpful information

[@AlienDrones]

Thanks! 👍Glad it was helpful!

[@bobbylefebvre6298]

Nice tip

[@AlienDrones]

👍

[@eagleeyeviewimages]

👍👽 I always hated the velcro too

[@AlienDrones]

The little things sometimes... 🤷‍♂️ 😎

[@JoseArrom]

I came up with the same solution when I had to transfer the Lume Cube Strobe to a new UAV. Unfortunately, the company does not sell extra velco strips, so I also ended up at Home Depot.

[@AlienDrones]

Gotta love Home Depot! 👍👍

[@bobbylefebvre6298]

Good morning great video

[@AlienDrones]

Thanks for the visit!

[@dcamp17]

review the two strobe light please

[@JoshConnectMedia]

Why don’t you leave it on where it is after the sticker ? So any time you fly , you have you stick them back on .

[@chriswatchingyt]

Thinking about buying the command strips to mount my strobe. Have they been holding up and are you experiencing any issues?

[@AlienDrones]

They work okay, if you have a flat area but not in cold weather. Nice and warm they goo on nice...

[@chriswatchingyt]

@@AlienDrones I was wondering if the cold weather would cause them to lose their grip. Being in Florida, there's plenty of warm here. :)

[@smilingscottsman]

I've done video in studio without pants too. Lololololololololol

[@scottjgillishere]

It would be better if the manufacturer put a magnetic spot and the lights could stick on using magnets.

[@nickrich710]

I don't know where to put the light at on the DJI mini pro 4 because I would like to take pictures at night

[@nickrich710]

Don't know where to put my light at for night flying on the DJI mini 4 pro don't want to block the GPS signal

[@AlienDrones]

I think the GPS is up front between the obstacle avoidance sensors, if you put it on top near the center of the drone is probably your best choice. It may cause the obstacle avoidance to have some issues but I imagine you would turn that off at night anyway...

[@BearMan1954]

If you install the velcro with the hook on the light it won't wreck your case... I can't tell how ugly it is 100 feet up....

[@tonyholmes4788]

Months later now it’s new Velcro technology it doesn’t do it anymore

[@anthonydevore5706]

I have to say something... Did you just make an 8:50 long video about how to use a command strip? Which isn't even a real alternative to the re-usability of velcro. All the while 3M/Command sell velcro versions of their product.

[@AlienDrones]

My mama always told me that cows poop in the pasture more than one way, and the cow doesn't care, still gets the job done. 🐄 But thanks for letting me know it wasn't clear, I'll plan a follow up one with more detail!

[@jeffs7915]

Too much work, I'm stressed, getting out of the hobby.

[@Lomiler]

dude. the LEDs are more important in this tutorials , not how you stick it to the drone. Talk about the leds. 8 minutes and you talk nothing about the LEDs.

[@AlienDrones]

Sorry you missed the point. This video wasn't about the strobe, but an OCD rant about velcro to mount the strobe. A video about the strobe itself is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXWVqquGaZKinsUsi=ot7d3u8zqfyjR3Wh&t=225 . It's older and talks about a waiver that we don't need anymore, but nonetheless...

[@jrs-sx5jb]

why did i get a thing saying text me on telegram at alien drones something about winning a prize? just wondering because that showed up in my replies feed?

[@jrs-sx5jb]

i'll take a mavic 3 please thanks (JK i know its a scammer) lol

[@AlienDrones]

@@jrs-sx5jb Indeed, if people are giving away mavic 3s, I'll take two... 😎😎