How to Build a Visible Light Photo Detector Circuit for MikroKopter GPS LED Indicator

Hi guys I'm a newbie residing in Ohio. I fly MikroKopters which is what brings up my question. Onboard my Hexa is a small GPS. The GPS uses a green LED that is normally on when powered up and starts to flash when 3D lock is achieved. Herein lies the problem, the LED is almost impossible to see in bright sunlight under the smoked dome of the MikroKopter and impossible to see when flying.

What I would like to do is build a simple, lightweight, compact photo-detector that can see the LED and mimic the flash pattern. Then it can be used as a switch to power up a strip of flexible LEDs that will be mounted on one of the motor support arms that can easily be seen when flying.

The target voltage is 12 - 14.8 volts dc which is the voltage of the flight pack and also the voltage for the flexible LED light strip.

Any help you guys can afford would be greatly appreciated by me and the MikroKopter community.

Off the top of my head, I guess you could use a LM741 as a comparator and use an LDR to detect when the LED from the GPS is turning on.

Here is link to a simple circuit, but you might need to swap couple of the items at the ouptut for whatever you need. If you need an LED that mimics the patern, then you dont need the piezo buzzer.

http://www.technologystudent.com/elec1/opamp3.htm

If the target voltage is not met, then you can always use a relay to get there.

The circuit that you provided looks like it might be right for my application however I have no idea what a LDR is. Can you supply a item number that I might find at Digi-Key?

Thanks for your time.

LDR is a light dependent resistor.you can easily pick one up from radioshack.

Thanks, Radio Shack didn't seem to know what I was talking about. Just the same I got the parts ordered from Electronic Goldmine.