My 1st Night Launch

[bnuts40]

Thought I'd attempt a test night launch.
Now most of us rocketeers like to have a couple of "junk" rockets for testing purposes.
When created they seem to gain a soul . . Oh I know it's corny but we learn to love our "test" rockets anyways.
I created the "Cheap Soda Bottle Rocket (CSBR)" (see attached).
It's flown a number of sugar flights successfully & it's strong enough to survive a free fall recovery.

Then I came across an article on "LED Throwies" (Google "LED Throwies").
Opted to tape one to my CSBR & try a night launch.
Flew to about 75' or 100' successfully on am 18mm powdered KNSU motor.

See the video here - not great - but you get the idea :
It was much brighter & more spectacular live - I was pleased.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvLLK3Qly_0

These LED Throwie's are a great way to go for night time marker lights.
If anyone is interested - I did some shopping around & I can post the links.
30 LEDs (red, white, blue) - about $13
25 CR2032 batteries - about $6 (Ebay)

Cheers

View attachment CSBR01b.JPG

View attachment ledthrowie01b.JPG

 

[Micromeister]

Bnuts:
Does your "test rocket" have a recovery device? couldn't tell from the picture.
You should do a little reading in the scratch build section, we've been talking about Night flight vehicles for a good while now.
A search of this section would have shown a number of threads on Night launch vehicles and the few thing we all MUST do to ensure we keep our newly aquired under one pound extended exemption from the FAA ban on any night flights between sunset and sunraise.

We've posted lots of sources for very inexpensive LED, reisistor and button cell battery purchased from all over the place. a set of 30 for 13 bucks is a fair price as long as you got the resisitors with them.
Night flying is a lot of fun, Please be SAFE, Always included a recovery divice and be sure you have Illumination from ignition to touchdown.

Heres a couple of my recent Night Launch vehicles from last years club launch.

 

[bnuts40]

Hey Micro,

Cool rockets .

No recovery system, this rocket was built for a free fall recovery.
The CG is about half length, so it falls in a horizontal position.
It's survived about a dozen launches / recoverys now.
This was something I just "slapped" together - worked out OK.

I need to catch up on some of my forum reading & check out the night launch posts.
I haven't had a lot of hobby time the last few weeks.

PS . . One of the advantages of using the CR2032 batteries is, you do not need a resistor.
As it's been explained to me, the CR2032 batteries have a resistance value within the battery.
All you need to do is ensure the positive LED lead runs to the positive side of the battery.
These are very generic lights but highly versitle as far as mounting goes.
Haven't weighed a light unit but it's a "nano-weight" - no problem for 2 or 3 on a simple B or C powered rocket.

Cheers