Hooch

I have a buddy that is pretty knowledgable at this stuff, but thought I would just run it by you guys to find out the different ways you have gone about it.

How are you hooking up your NAV lights? He recommended I get a Pigtail Jumper going from my Circuit Board, one end obviously going to the battery, and the other end going to whatever my Lights are. He also recommended I put a CAP in parallel on the NAV Lights side. To keep from surging the Heli. That sound bout par with how the rest of you are handling things?

I was thinking about checking to see what the hobby shops around me had, as far as the Y jumpers, otherwise will just order the parts and make one. Everyone recommend the Deans Ultra plugs? For ease of connecting etc.

Thanks for the replies. I did temporarily hook up my Vibelights by wiring direct to the circuit board, just temporarily. So that I could try them out. Didn't have any zip ties, so I used Scotch tape for holding the wire on to the frame lmao! Looks good, still want to get some high intensity lights for the rest. Just haven't determined with all of the choices the route I wanna go. Still debating that!

Koop

Hooch,
Why is it that you don't want to use the 12V unregulated power from the board? I have been using the Aux connector and I've never had any problems. As long as you kill the power before it hits anything the fuse shouldn't blow.

TheHindmost

Capacitors on the LEDs? Hmmm...I thought the caps were there to damp RF noise from the motors, which generate it as their brushes make/break contact. I'm not sure why an LED circuit would need it, even a blinking one.

Will

Hooch

Koop, I thought I looked at the schematic on Spectrolutions and thought all of them said 5v not 12, will check again. If it has been working fine for you, then that sounds like the way to go.

Hind, according to my buddy, he said that the cap will help hold a charge so that you don't have voltage surges, that could cause the heli to fluctuate power to your motors. Which could be a very bad thing in the sky! I am new to RC so I dunno, I am just trying to gather as much xp as I can hehe. He is an old timer and that is just what he recommended. I would guess the regulated one on the aux connector would work just fine, assuming it is for sure 12v. I coulda sworn the schematic said 5v. Let me know what pins you are connecting to Koop.

Thanks for the replies.

Sky High

If you're talking about that multi-pin under the circuit board, that is a regulated 5v out. You can get the multi-pin to three pin adapter free from DFI. They just don't ship it with the system unless it's requested.

Koop

Hooch,
You may have missed it because the 12V unregulated is labeled VBAT. Hope this helps some. Here's the link: http://spectrolutions.com/pdf/pinouts.pdf

TheHindmost

It'll take a pretty big capacitor to do anything about surging voltages...These caps are in the .1 microfarad (uF) range and that's rather small. And the voltages shouldn't be surging anyway. The caps are plenty big enough to deal with RF noise generated by the motors, though. The frequencies involved are very high and the voltages involved are very low.

Regarding that 5V regulated output, beware the current draw limitations (250 ma, according to the PDF from Spectrolutions). If you draw too much on the regulated side and start dragging down Vcc, the circuit board will go nuts rather quickly (and the regulator won't like it, either).

Will

Hooch

Thanks for the info. Ya he recommend a 1000 uF 50V cap. Hooking direct to the leads from the circuit board, I was getting some erratic spikes and I never had that before. That is why he recommended the Cap. Thanks for the info on VBAT though. I will look at hooking onto there. Easy disconnect.

Sky High

Could someone explain why you are needing 12v to power LEDs? Thanks.

Hooch

This is for those Vibelights, the wire that goes all around that is lit up. It is actually 120v AC, so you use a 12v DC invertor. Hence why I need 12v!

Sky High

Okay, thanks. So where are you getting that 12v from on the board? Could you post some closeup pictures? Thanks.

Hooch

I am just temporarily soldering a couple of wires with an RCA jack on the end to the circuit board of the DF. Till I can get some Deans Plugs or something. According to Koop, Pin1 of the Aux connector is a VBAT connection which is 12v. I don't have a connector for that yet to test, might check it with a voltmeter to see. But guess that works fine as well.

Sky High

So you mean right at the battery terminals?

Hooch

Correct, running Jumper wires right from the terminals on the top of the circuit board! TEMPORARY hehe

TheHindmost

It's important to note that Vbat is just that: Vbat. It's whatever's coming out of the battery, or about 12.6v on a full charge all the way down to 10.9v when she's ready to be recharged...It is not regulated in any way, so you have to be wary of voltage fluctations. I wouldn't be surprised if Vbat fluctuates quite a bit under flight.

Will

Hooch

Noted Hind, thanks.