On Monday, June 10, 2013 12:31:24 PM UTC-6, Michael Huber wrote:
Has anyone tried any of various AOA instruments on the market?

There are

several under $1000.



Except, there's no need for a separate probe, just use the glider's

nose as a probe's nose cone and add the pressure sensing ports.



If you are looking for a simple DIY AoA indicator you might want to

check http://www.akaflieg.tugraz.at/akagproj.html

Parts cost around $20, and you can build it in an evening. The

downside is that there is no good integration with XCSoar yet, but

that might change if there is enough interest.



Michael

The electronics look clever but putting a vane on a fin-mounted TE probe isn't going to work for anything but measuring the wing's down-wash angle. A vane needs to be on the nose well ahead of the wing where, unfortunately, it's likely to get broken. To me, pressure ports on the top and bottom of the nose cone seems the least intrusive.