delayed timer - light

[Den Moran]

Hi, everyone! here's the pitch this time.

A friend of mine was flying his Freewing Mig 21 when it lost signal and went in. The aircraft was observed from 50 yds. away by a member of the public, who is used to seeing the 'planes we fly. Even with this observation, the aircraft cannot be found as the area is one of dense, light growth. I think it went in more or less vertically, and is 'lined up' with the plant stems. It is silver coloured, so it must defo be in deep!

'Blipping' the transmitter is not working in this instance. It's difficult to overfly as it's next to trees.

For the future, I am planning to emplace a timed 'brightlight' led circuit, independently of the main battery, so that it switches on after darkness has fallen, thus showing its location. Please don't suggest audio, as I'm hard of hearing !

Does anyone know how to set up a simple timer circuit that will trigger an LED, say, after ten hours ( we fly usually in the morning, so it should light up after dark). Thanks, everyone,

Den , Llangyfelach

[John Lee]

What about one of these flashing LED modules. They only consume 50Mah so you could have it on continually for 16 hours on a 1S 800Mah cell, no need for a timer.

[Cuban8]

Rather than a timer, perhaps a bright light triggered from a photocell or LDR might be the way to go?. Plenty of simple circuits available on line. A flashing beacon will be better rather than a steady light and will be much more effective to spot.

Edited By Cuban8 on 13/12/2020 10:41:28

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Piers Bowlan]

I bought a number of these for my gliders. Very cheap and LOUD even if you are hard of hearing. Switch off the transmitter and a loud screech is emitted, unless the battery has become disconnected in the crash.

My guess is the model is much further away than where you think it came down, that has generally been my experience of searching for models lost in the undergrowth anyway. I hope you find it soon. Eyewitness reports are generally pretty unreliable although it is surprising how one can walk right by a model lost in a crop and not see it.

[Allan Bennett]

As mentioned, there are several options available for visual beacons. But how about something like this ? I have one handset and a couple of beacons, one of which I stick into the model I'm flying, with velcro. A couple of months ago I crashed one model thus equipped, but it was in plain sight so I didn't need the loc8tor to find it. But when I got the bits back to the pits I noticed my beacon was missing, so I went back to the crash site and the loc8tor found the beacon for me, buried in the mud.

Alternatively, if you use FrSky equipment, or possibly any other brand with telemetry, you can usually get a bearing on your model using the RSSI indication.

[Doctor Chinnery]

Have a look at lightingforaeromodellers.com - lots of inexpensive high intensity l.e.d.s etc - should be something there for you. ( If in doubt, ask him, he's very helpful. )

[Robin Colbourne]

Posted by Piers Bowlan on 13/12/2020 12:04:16:

My guess is the model is much further away than where you think it came down, that has generally been my experience of searching for models lost in the undergrowth anyway. I hope you find it soon. Eyewitness reports are generally pretty unreliable although it is surprising how one can walk right by a model lost in a crop and not see it.

Piers is right, that's my experience too. We eventually got my brother's Ripmax Dazzler 42 back some months after losing it, when we explored a couple of fields further on. The film on the wings and tissue on the fuselage were faded, but it flew again. Fields is a bit of a euphemism. It had come down where a plantation of trees had been felled, so lots of stumps, scrub, mud and ruts left by tracked vehicles, which probably explained why no one else had found it first.

The idea of a dark-activated beacon is a good one. If the model has come down in a tree, even if you can hear a noise maker you may still struggle to see exactly where the model is. A light or lights in an otherwise dark tree should pinpoint it. You may also not want attention drawn to the model in daylight, should you have to go home and get retrieval equipment.

[Den Moran]

Thanks, everyone.

John , that's ( nearly !) exactly what I am looking for . There are timer delay chips on the market, so

I will probably be able to set a circuit up with one as an 'add-on' for triggering during darkness. Allan, that looks good,

if a little pricey ! Thanks, everyone, for the input.

Keep safe, Den, Cymru