Flag Installation Question

[Vettester]

For a few weeks every July they fly this 400 lb 78' x 150' flag in a canyon near where I live.
It's an awesome sight to see up close!

New Main Page

followtheflag.org

 

[sebastiantombs]

I have to admit to single framing the camera that has the best view of the flag, bot day and night, just to watch it moving in the breeze and wind. A great thing to see!

I've decided to move the flag off the gate post and put it on one post to the right. That'll let me put three LED floods on it, one left, one right and one directly behind it. All of them will be pointing up. Another modification I made to the LED light, besides doubling the internal battery capacity, was to run a line out that connects at the internal battery so I can add more batteries in parallel. If I have to do that those will be on their own solar panels and have charge regulators as well.

I am surprised at the amount of light one of those produces, at least at close range.

 

[Sybertiger]

Not really a question about camera placement, but flag placement.

Now that I've got a cam to record license plates, I found that my flag is periodically triggering/blocking the camera. I even moved it slightly thinking that might give it enough distance, but it still occasionally triggers.

I feel your pain! Trying to work around existing plants/trees and flags can be challenging for cam placement. My flag placement is similar to yours but fortunately, my 3x5 doesn't flap in front of my cams. I did occasionally have triggers due to shadows from the flag but using deep IVS of the T5442TM-AS plus coupled with DeepStack AI have eliminated false triggers. You can see that my flag location relative to my cams just so happens (luckily) to avoid a direct flap of the flag in front of them. I have a hipped roof but if I had a gabled roof I'd probably locate the flag 2/3rds up the gable as you suggested.

 

[redpoint5]

I did a foolish thing and bought a 5x8 flag to replace my too big 4x6. My thought is to mount it high on the gable and run a dedicated spotlight or 2 on it...

Then I got to thinking that I have a satellite dish mount I'm not using, and could run a flag pole from my south gable at the highest peak of the house so it would be visible by most of the neighborhood.

Stop me if I'm about to do something stupid before I waste too much time on this...

The green circle is the gable in previous photos I was thinking to mount this flag. It would reach from the peak of the gable to the top of the garage door.
The blue circle is an alternate mounting location at the highest , most unobstructed point of my house at the south end. It would be visible to most of the neighborhood and park to the West (left). The main entrance to the neighborhood is to the East (right).



Do I mount a 15-20ft vertical pole on the south gable and display to the neighborhood, or do I display horizontally from the east gable where only passing traffic sees it? Of course, I'll engineer appropriate lighting regardless. In either case, I have no means of flying half-mast due to inaccessibility. I'd only be flying 4-5 months a year due to weather.

 

[TonyR]

Do you mean you "bought a 3x5 flag to replace my too big 4x6."?

I think I'd go with the blue location on a 10 foot pole, the top the gable should add another 10 ft. or more (I wouldn't know this). You'll need the extra height to get the wind to make even a 3x5 to fly well when there are houses and trees in close proximity. This is confirmed here. My 3x5 is on a 20 ft. pole but it's real close to an open field and with only 1 of 4 sides restricted a bit (the house) so it flies very nice. And it's very well lit all night.

You probably know this but I'll say it anyway....a free standing J-pole by itself might not hold it well but if the J-pole was under the gable vent and the flag pole secured to the fascia board at the edge of the roof line it would add strength and stability. Or anything to add lateral strength to the vertical pole that the J-pole is expected to hold.

I've also used a 2x4 and 1x4 lumber in place of the metal horizontal shown on this antenna gable mount at the bottom. I'm not suggesting you go buy and use this, just showing to illustrate how the vertical mount could be strengthened with horizontally-mounted, treated or painted lumber and no $40 - $50 antenna mount needed.

Props to you for your patriotism and concern....

P.S.- Please don't fall off the roof or ladder!

 

[sebastiantombs]

My solar lights started going dim by morning with the change in seasons. Then they went out at about 0300 because of all the rain we've been having from Ian, cloud cover during the day. So I added some 5 volt, USB wall warts and LiPO charge regulators, externally, to each one. They're all controlled via HomeSeer. No problem with running those batteries down to the point of no illumination now. I also ordered a 6V, 18W, solar panel and will experiment with that to see if it helps.

I found out the solar panels for the lights only produces 130ma in full sun and that the charge manager built into them allows discharge down to 3.02 volts. That's way too low for a LiPO 18650 so I feel it's important to improve the whole charging system to prevent both low light output and over discharging the batteries. Even if the bigger solar panel works out I'll still keep the AC based charging for emergencies. I will probably use an old PC power supply for that though instead of wall wart. A PC supply can put out 30 amps at 5 volts so I could, theoretically, charge 15 or 20 of the same model solar floods with one PC supply.

 

[redpoint5]

Do you mean you "bought a 3x5 flag to replace my too big 4x6."?

I think I'd go with the blue location on a 10 foot pole, the top the gable should add another 10 ft. or more (I wouldn't know this).

I mean I went too big initially and didn't learn my lesson. I'm always wanting to go bigger. It impressed me how the 4x6 flag would wave in the wind, and I figured an even bigger one would be more impressive but I didn't solve the problem of how I would fly it before purchasing.

Here's a photo showing both locations from the street. Keep in mind the south gable (blue circle) is actually much higher up than it appears from the street because the slope is so steep. Distance to the ground is probably 30ft. It's probably 8ft higher than the East gable (green circle).

The length of the flag is almost exactly the distance from the top of the east gable to the top of the garage door. BTW, the satellite dish shown in this photo is the mount I was thinking to use for the pole if I go with the blue circle option. It accepts a 1.5" pole.



View from roof

 

[Firefighter]

Are you apposed to a pole? That's a pretty big flag.

Here's my pole with a small 3x5?
Sorry for the crappy photo. I'll get a better one tomorrow. At work....

 

[Vettester]

This thread inspired me to install a 25' flagpole with a 4x6 flag. Uplighting is provided by two 250 watt equivalent led spotlights that are on a timer to turn on from sunset to sunrise.

 

[redpoint5]

Are you apposed to a pole? That's a pretty big flag.

Here's my pole with a small 3x5?
Sorry for the crappy photo. I'll get a better one tomorrow. At work....

Nice work!

I have a postage stamp size lot, and the front is crowded by trees. Maybe a pole could fit on the southeast corner of my lot in the barkdust below my driveway. If the pole wasn't at least 35ft high, the rest of the neighborhood wouldn't see it. Back yard is out of the question. That brings me back to simply hanging a flag horizontally from the house, which I still think was awesome. A horizontal installation catches a lot of wind, so it doesn't take much to wave. It's always in full display, so it doesn't require wind to be seen.

 

[redpoint5]

Well, Memorial day came quickly, and I hastily mounted my too big flag on the East gable. I've got a temporary flood light in the driveway lighting it at night until I engineer something permanent.

It's garish... I can't help myself. I wear stars and stripes socks through the airport, so that when TSA tells me to remove my shoes, patriotism is all anyone sees.

 

[Sybertiger]

Beautiful! That is a big azz flag!

Does it ever get blown up onto your roof shingles then get stuck?

 

[redpoint5]

The flag so far has not got hung up on the roof. If it becomes an issue, I will attach fishing line to a corner of the flag to limit it to just below the roof line.

 

[concord]

I guess your HOA didn't complain it was too big. Every now and again, we hear about the HOA vs flag flying in the news. Whether they don't allow controversial signs, flags, etc., or flag too big, or not in proper place, etc...

 

[Ri22o]

Beautiful flag..

The largest I've ever seen, I believe, flies at Carl Cannon Buick Chevy Caddy in Jasper, AL right off I-22. Not sure how big it is but compared to the cars below, a guess would be 30' x 50' !!! Takes lots of wind to fly it which it sees a lot being on a VERY tall pole near a wide open are surrounding an interstate and the its associated ramps.

It's lit at night and when it's fully unfurled and showing the slow roll and flip it's glorious....gives me the chills when I see it.

View attachment 129277

You've clearly never been by a Camping World.

40'x80' and they were going to fine them because it was over the allowed size.

Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis settles dispute over giant US flag

The stars and stripes controversy pitting star of CNBC’s “The Profit” against a North Carolina city over the size of an American Flag sitting at the star’s recreational vehicle store has been settled.

www.foxbusiness.com

 

[JNDATHP]

On our new home in PSL, FL.

 

[Gargoile]