"Vsoars" wrote in message
...
A year ago I began having audio problems. I would only get the up
sound at 4+. Sometimes, toward the end of the flight, I didn't even
get sound at 5+. The instrument itself tracks the same as the Winter,
and the averager works ( as confirmed by another pilot in the air.).

Additionally, after an hour in the air, the Borgelt ceased issuing a
sound when I flew too fast. (Occasionally it would still emit the
appropriate sound, but there were long periods of silence when I was
flying fast at a low McR. setting.) The associated instrument did
indicate that I was flying too fast.

At this point I sent it back to the factory and paid $200. They said
that there was nothing wrong with the instrument and suggested that I
may not know how to operate it. After using it successfully for 4
years, that seemed like an odd suggestion.

Now I have a new problem. Sometimes when I find lift, the audio is
correct. Other times it indicates a rapidly increasing lift (13+ ave.
and rising) when the lift is 3 or less.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? Does anyone have any
suggestions for solving the problem other than up-grading?

Yes, it came back here last Easter and we checked it. This involves
disassembly, careful checking of the solder joints on the boards, reassembly
and a functional check running for several hours on the bench. If it still
works OK (and I couldn't get that unit to miss a beat on our test rig), I
heat the things up to +50 deg C and check again and again at -20 deg C after
a cold soak in the freezer. I couldn't get that unit to fail as I notified
the owner at the time before sending it back.

Yes we charge for our time when checking out of warranty instruments. The
charge was A$100(about US$80 or so at the time I think). This compares
rather favorably with what our local TV/hifi repair shop charges.

The fault description was somewhat incomprehensible without clarification
which lead me to believe that there was something wrong with the
cruise/climb switching or that the owner didn't properly understand the
logic behind how the the audio is meant to work. This has happened before. A
loose speaker wire or faulty speaker or loose cruise climb switch wire can
also cause odd symptoms which of course won't be present on the instrument
when we test it.

It is possible there is a bad component in that B50. If it can be got to
fail consistently or even fail on my bench we can fix it. We do, however,
charge for out of warranty repairs and shipping is paid for by the owner. It
would also help if we were notified that the problem was still present or
that other symptoms were now occurring.

I find the statement:

"Sometimes when I find lift, the audio is
correct. Other times it indicates a rapidly increasing lift (13+ ave.
and rising) when the lift is 3 or less."

less than clear. Does this mean the averager now reads 13 knots sometimes
when it should read 3 knots? And the audio follows this? What is the vario
indication doing? I don't know.

I do know a large percentage of problems are in the installation in the
glider which is why we ask you to contact us so we can discuss the problem
and run a few simple checks to eliminate these. Like the club with a two
seater recently who weren't getting good total energy for the year they had
had the new glider. After being contacted recently I discussed the problem
with the guy trying to fix it and eventually I asked him to leak check the
line(which should have been done on installation originally). Turns out the
TE probe was plugged in to a triple probe fitting with the spare unused
tubes open in the cockpit.

Mike Borgelt