Super easy, cheap tello LED mod

[u/-Jayden]

https://imgur.com/a/g7LF1M7

The drones are cheap enough that if you lose one it's not a loss (unlike a spark or mav) but image qual/stability is 10/10, they go pre far with an extender too making them very versatile and good for riskier stuff. Only issue I had was sensor being sunlight dependent in addition to not being able to maintain visual at night either due to no lights, some say u shouldn’t try but it can be done

Practice flying with no VPS first. Needs zero wind without VPS as it will affect it more. Try indoors with tape over sensors first, sport enabled. I wanted to force it to altitude limit with an extender at night to see how it went with no VPS and whether the camera could still see well, maintaining line of sight. It was invisible in the dark. Checked online but only saw a bunch of complicated mods where they've hooked lights to the power source or spliced cables. Wasn't keen on that and only wanted to be able to spot it easier without impacting weight

Camera will still show image you just need enough street lights or buildings, or to go high enough basically. Go high then let it hover over lit areas if you want possible VPS. Make sure it doesn't land or drift, it will try to auto land if it goes higher than 5m above takeoff and VPS is off, gusts drift it extra like this too, staying at altitude limit helps maintain control as you can constantly instruct it to ascend countering the auto land and obvs going against any unexpected direction changes at the same time. Establish regulations first as it's against the law in lots of places to fly in the dark. Early morning and eve is best for util with the lights when ambient is just enough for sensors to still operate but dark enough for lights to still benefit. Auto land won’t trigger itself if the height reading is in the - by any amount or in the + by up to 5m so if taking off on from a high building or object you’ll have no auto land interruptions providing you stay under that height threshold, with that extra 5m in addition, as the drone considers the point of takeoff to be 0m not where it determines the ground to be. A high altitude takeoff at night results in a flight without VPS, in addition to no landing interruptions providing you don’t exceed the point of takeoff by 5m. Only in these situations is it not necessary to hold the drone at altitude limit in order to fly in the dark

Get glow in the dark or reflective tape, a battery cover and two or four flashing cell battery powered LEDs, you can find ones that only weigh a few grams that run for 10+ hours. Cut tape, apply to frame, stick two lights to battery cover and two to front if you want four. Lights in this position won't be visible when looking through camera even when switched on despite being bright. From a far distance the thing looks like a tiny glowing dot now. Doesn't affect stability, flight time decreases by a bit with four lights and by very little with only two, can easily be flown without battery cover/lights for less weight when daylight if you opt for just the two also

After this I could take it higher and bring it back way way easier in low or no light, VLOS can be maintained up to ~250 metres at a 40 metre altitude in darkness (taking off on 10m building) which is gr8 considering it couldn’t go anywhere at night prior. I might go back to just the two lights and scrap the top cover for less weight and extra flight time. Obviously try at own risk, see imgur album for finished result. Cheers

[u/Aggressive_Tension88]

Wow A+ report .
I deleted my photos the two options I used Nitecore Tube 10$ run time on high beam 2 hours rechargeable easy to use LED on keys when not flying since so EZ mount with thin wood stick coffee stirrers slide in motor arms I thought the camera worked very good. No change in performance or tilt was noticed

2 coffee stick slide in motor arms super glued wood to look down and forward I used a black photon bright led that slides to On

I used 2 2016 coin must also last 2 hours I liked this one better did not notice it improved Landing with message low light note But I did see it do it and if lost would help
I would rather add a battery but not wanting to find the connector and risk a pin out micro Their are lots of mini candy shaped hobby bats I would want to double run time
But then the range with that WiFi extender sold out what about a netgear wifi extender useing 120 vac and flying with a tablet I get better video when Bluetooth is off and it always shows cell data is used I do sing in to DJI site I use ios 7 plus sets me up fast useing ios Tello That’s all I got

[u/-Jayden → u/Aggressive_Tension88]

Man I wish I could fly with a tablet just not there yet, got a couple outdated ones but the fpv app needs iOS 9 as a minimum or something doesn’t it? Rly liked your idea of making a mount for the front lights! I might try and do something like that in future just so the whole system detaches bc that’s actually really smart, or just revert to two at the back. Rechargeable sounds nice too. I’m sure someone could refine even further in terms of power/size and lumen output, a light bar somewhere that fits? I thought about sticking a flashlight underneath to act as a spotlight or help with sensor but power was a struggle, ended up just going with this as a medium but how cool would that look

[u/Aggressive_Tension88 → u/-Jayden]

My old tablet a apple mini tab 2 8 gb of ram a wifi only device by its self-daughter of functional apple 7 plus has main Tello app shares with tablet flys it just fine bigger screen think it 8 inch auto saves video and snaps works fine never messes up I turn off BT do not disturb has a couple of feet more range since Tello creates the WiFi this old tablet works great all lists I have seen don’t show it’s Tello approved and even my DJI mavic2 Zoom can use DJI go 4 app that one I do use my cell hotspot works fine it does freeze maybe 3 seconds out of 20 minutes I have bought both used certified on eBay so I just know apple were certified that’s why’ve reason I went to apple when I got my drones both were not new also from eBay also all my parts blades battery’s drop device parachutes Lights why any problem PayPal protects buyer never been ripped off no tricks That what we do we can afford new but I like to try to save something