Mavic Mini night LED shield

thingiverse

To boost nighttime visibility for my mini, I needed a lightweight LED system that could be easily taken off and on. Buying 12V LED strips and plugging them directly into the battery instantly added 12 lights to the Mini. These strips are attached to a 3D printed support. The total weight of this setup is less than five grams! To print the support, I started with a flat sheet, then bent it using an hair dryer until it formed its shape. It's springy enough to stay in place thanks to four screw holes and two tabs that lock it onto the mini. For connecting to the battery, I didn't want to solder anything onto the ESC board or open up the plastic body just yet. I came up with a solution that works well and safely. To do this, find a component with 0.4mm diameter legs (often capacitors have these thin legs). Cut two pieces of wire about two centimeters long each. Bend one end of each piece, solder it in place, and leave five millimeters unsoldered. Bend the wires at a 90-degree angle and solder on your preferred connector. With a small JST connector, you can even close the door when the LED system is removed. Use some kapton tape to insulate the ends of the wires. And there you have it - an eight-volt free power supply that lets you connect anything you want! Surprisingly, the contact is really springy and good. I'm fairly certain it could supply a few amps, but maybe not ten amps... To increase the brightness even more, try shunting the resistors on the LED strips with a thin wire. The stock resistors are designed to work under 12 volts, but we're running at seven or eight volts here. I just tested it out at night and it works pretty well! The visibility is amazing, especially when combined with the rear light. Once you're in altitude, you can easily spot the drone from at least a hundred meters away. Plus, thanks to the LED rows, it's easy to tell which direction the drone is facing! ========================================================== You want to play with batteries? Check out my other design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4544954