I have received questions from Cors-Air M21Y engine owners about the way to install a strobe hooked up directly to the on-board battery.
Since the Cors-Air M21Y and now the Cors-Air M25Y/Black Devil electric start versions charge the battery in flight, it is possible to use this battery to power different on-board instruments.
The Cors-Air engine charges the 12 Volt with 4 Amps at
4,000 RPM. This gives so much power that even hooking-up a strobe and a radio/GPS will still let the battery to be charged in flight.
The set-up I will present below has been in use for 4 years now and it still works perfectly.
The key to install the strobe is to have an elastic connection.
If installed directly to the frame with no dampening system of some kind, the strobe will get damaged very soon.
I followed Bruce Brown's method and I used an old fuel rubber line to fasten the strobe on the frame.
The cable has a phone jack from Radio Shack.
This jack allows to disconnect the upper part of the frame for transport.
The other end of the cable is connected to the battery by another male/female connection.
This connection allows me to disconnect the strobe and hook-up my battery tender (charger) if I do not use the paramotor for longer periods of time. The Tender will always keep the battery charged (especially in winter time)
The part marked "On Board Power" is a cigarette lighter connection which allows me to plug in my Radio/GPX (Rhyno 120)
The picture below is a close-up of the strobe itself:
The strobe switch is located under the LEFT pivotal distance bar of my Tornado for easy access:
The strobe is an old Kuntzleman but still works perfectly. The new Kunzleman strobes are even more powerful.
My strobe is visible from a few miles and even during a sunny day, I can see the blinks of the strobe on the triangular stainless steel carabiners of my risers.
Alex Varv
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