Thanks Dave. A Switchmode would be better!!
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dave Sent: Wednesday, 8 August 2007 11:01 AM To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.' Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] PDA GPS Hi mark, I presume you mean the E-Frontier cable? It's a standard linear 5v regulator, using a 5v IC regulator, so it can get a bit hot on a flat PDA. Dave ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Fisher Sent: Wednesday, 8 August 2007 9:45 AM To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] PDA GPS Is this device a switchmode supply, or linear?? Cheers Mark ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dave Sent: Wednesday, 8 August 2007 9:46 AM To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.' Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] PDA GPS Hi all, Reg, if you can use the vario as source, then you get the vario data(Airspeed, Altitude and rate of climb fed to the PDA with the GPS signal). The PDA will also display flarm data so ideally the vario GPS signal is sourced from the flarm, fed to the vario with the flarm data included then the vario adds its data and passes on the whole lot to the PDA for display. By the way a 2 seater repeater can be setup via Bluetooth link with XC Soar and presumably WinPilot, so one only needs to supply power to the backseat PDA, and it gets all of the mixed DATA. E-Frontier have a 5 volt regulator in a 12V cigarette lighter plug, with an IPAQ plug and a PS2 GPSIN socket for $19. I have pulled one apart and built into a small jiffy box with the appropriate connectors. Contact me off list Reg and I will be happy to give you a hand with installation, or assemble at cost any type of cable you require. http://www.efrontier.com.au/estore/product_info.php?cPath=2_8&products_i d=30 All you need to do is change the PS2 GPS socket, or make up an adaptor cable from a PS2 plug to whatever GPS data source you want to use. They also have a suitable PS2 mouse GPS mouse for $70, though a flarm or a logger is better as they have a pressure altitude sensor, giving more accurate results. I am in the process of designing an interface box that has on the front 2 GPS inputs for flarm or Garmin or any other and logger, a PDA out and a switch so you can select GPS from flarm or logger.(This is so the logger can connect to the PDA for task declaration, and gives redundancy to the GPS source). If the vario is the GPS source one of the front panel sockets would be used. The commercial boxes I have seen end up a horrible mish mash of serial adaptors when installed. I plan to use all RJ telephone style connectors, and then assemble the appropriate leads. On the rear of the box there is a GPS OUT to vario socket and a GPS IN from vario socket. The idea being that a loop cable can be plugged in to these if a vario is not used. The idea is to mount this in the instrument panel. A useful fact, Volkslogger and Colibri are capable of using the same 6 pin cable, as even though the Colibri has an 8 pin socket the extra 2 pins are Extra power pins, so that the first and last pair on either side of the connector are power, the 6 pin connector only supplies the inner 2 pims but works fine. The excellent John Wharrington pointed out a wireless Bluetooth PDA game controller That can be used to remote control the PDA, mounted on the stick or wherever, costs $80, neat! See here http://www.smartgamepad.com/ To the PFY(Dion), memory card is worth $15, no effort to load, he's still making a packet, and do you think he's paying for the TOMTOM software? It was 70,000 people making a living from EBAY BTW! I have tried to get data out from an L-Nav with no luck, it only has one DATA socket and no GPS is built in so one has to use that input to supply GPS data....Grrrr Before you buy Winpilot try XC Soar, its free and support is great! As to the comment on Terrain colours, in XC Soar there are a number of colour styles one can use for terrain, I suggest the ICAO colour scheme. I plan to do up an article for Soaring Australia, with a set of Pinout diagrams for the most common devices, but I need the FLARM pinouts, and the Borgelt pinouts still to complete the set. Finally, spot on Ross the Vario manufacturers have zero motivation to help in this area, they would much rather sell you a new unit. Amusingly I read an ad from an old AG about a common digital vario extolling the fact that it would overcome obsolescence by software updates-which are no longer available! A black box (no display) vario engine is what is really needed To maximize this sort of setup, but I am not holding my breath..... One last note, IPAQ's have no backup battery and if charged and left on the charger they do not start charging until the power is disconnected, so that if you leave one fully charged on the charger for say a month it will flatten the battery and lose its data, even though the charger is connected. I strongly suggest you make us of the full backup facility on the PDA when everything is setup, so restoring the PDA is quick and easy. The best bet is to have a timer on the charger that disconnects the power once a day for 5 minutes, then the PDA will charge again.(Great piece of design that)! Finally, does anyone have an up to date Australia.txt airspace file, as the one I have is 2004 vintage, this files defines what airspace is displayed. Phew, sorry guys, that went on a lot longer than I intended! Regards All Dave
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