I added LED strip lights to help with orientation, before that I was depending on prop color and ...

[G+_Steve Prior]

I added LED strip lights to help with orientation, before that I was depending on prop color and the tri-blade plastic props were flexing a lot so I wanted to go carbon fiber.  So I added the LEDs and put on a set of bi-blade carbon fiber props.  The CF props are MUCH better and don't flex and make a wailing sound at high acceleration, but my flight time dropped from around 7 minutes to 5 - no good.  Assuming it was the power drain from the LEDs I put them on a receiver controlled switch and did test flights with them on all the time and off, but the difference was pretty slight.  So now I'm wondering if it was really the switch from tri-props to bi - I suspect the third blade adds enough lift that the motors can turn slower.  At least I'm glad to prove that I can keep the LEDs.

 

 

Just changed props back to non carbon fiber tri-blades and got a minute and a half more flying time, and even then noticed that one of the wires might have been rubbing against the spinning outside of the motor whihc could obviously drain power from that motor.  So I'll have to repeat the experiment once I fix the wire situation and see if the LEDs make a difference.  I've also got tri-blade carbon fiber props on order.

[G+_Quadflyingmedic]

The leds should not make a big difference they don't draw that much power

[G+_Steve Prior]

I measured them at half an amp which surprised me.  But it seems that moving from a tri blade to a dual blade prop made more of a difference - I switched back today as a test and got about 90 seconds more flight time.

[G+_Quadflyingmedic]

What size leds are they? And how many of them?

[G+_Steve Prior]

They're 5050 LED 12V strip I got on eBay. 6 green and 6 red LEDs in the pieces I used. Pretty darn bright, people use this stuff to pump out cars and interior accent lighting.

[G+_Steve Prior]

They were hooked right to the power distribution board, but now I've wired in a Turnigy receiver controlled switch.

[G+_Quadflyingmedic]

I have some of those too. Look for 3528 size that's what I run for color leds still able to see them during the day. There are also 3 leds on a pcb board they sell for mini quads you can get 4 strips for a couple of bucks

[G+_Bongo Nutty]

I gave up on the tri-blades because they break so easily. I'm liking the 2 blade 5 inch  fiberglass composite props from Ready To Fly. Quads.

[G+_Quadflyingmedic]

Those are good props. I had a set of cf props once and they were awesome. Just ordered a set of 5045 for my 250 hope they are good too

[G+_Steve Prior]

As I mentioned in my edited post switching back to tri blade props added significantly to my flight time.  An assortment of props (tri blade and otherwise) is coming today from RTFQs.com.  So hopefully I'll have nice stiff props what won't wail when punching the throttle and the extra flight time when I don't punch the throttle too much.   Once I know what I like the best I can order something in more bulk.

[G+_Quadflyingmedic]

Steve Prior sorry misread you're post. Would like to know about those triblade props. I keep hearing lots of them are poorly balanced

[G+_Steve Prior]

The props came today, haven't tried them yet.   Some are "fiberglass composite" and some are "carbon composite",  but none of them are carbon fiber.  Will see if they are stiffer than the tri-blades I was using before, but clearly none are anywhere near as stiff as the set of carbon fiber bi-blade prop set in the picture above.  I guess I'll have to take really good notes on any differences I notice.