Power Flarm Display

On Tuesday, December 18, 2012 9:56:36 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Monday, December 17, 2012 2:43:38 PM UTC-5, Evan Ludeman wrote:

On Monday, December 17, 2012 2:06:01 PM UTC-5, bumper wrote:



On Monday, December 17, 2012 9:02:00 AM UTC-8, wrote:







I'm confident enough that its not going to be a problem that I plan to fabricate a RJ12-DB9 cable and give it a whirl.































Frank (TA)































------------------------------------- CUT HERE ---------------------------















Aktualisiert von: Frank Paynter, 14. Dez 15:40 (CET):















Hi,































I would like to update the firmware on my PowerFlarm Butterfly display, but















I'm a bit confused by the directions for fabricating the required update















cable. Note that I'm an Electrical Engineer with over 40 years of bench















design and fabrication experience, so if I'm confused, I expect others are















as well.































The instructions provide a pinout for the display-end connector, with notes















as to where each pin should go on the PC end. However, the PC-end















connector isn't specified - is it supposed to be a DB9 serial connector?















If so, you must know that DB9 serial connectors aren't widely available on















modern PC's; I have 6 PCs in my home office, and not one of them has a DB9















serial connector. When I need serial port connectivity, I use a popular















USB-serial adapter. Will your display update properly when using such an















adapter?































Your specification calls for pin 5 of the RJ-12 connector to be tied to















+3.3VDC, but this isn't a common voltage for serial communications. What















happens if this line is connected to +5 or even +12 VDC?































Regards,































Frank























Frank,















Please post an update if all goes well. I prefer not to tune my device for maximum smoke if there is some other brave soul willing to go first!















tks















bumper







You guys do know about this, yes? (From external display manual)







"Updates



Update through PowerFLARM®



After Q4/2012 it will be possible to update the displays through any PowerFLARM® unit



directly without the need for a special cable."







-Evan Ludeman / T8



Evan,



Just saw this myself in the Butterfly manual - wonder why they didn't mention this in the response to my email?



Frank (TA)

Hi Frank, I built my update cable several weeks ago (for the last update and to download flarmnet info) and it worked just fine with 2 AA batteries (just as someone else mentioned in this thread). RS232 adapters don't ever work well for me on laptops so the only reliable serial port I have is on my desktop. Since my rectangular display is screwed to my panel with the 4 provided screws I think I will wait until the post-Q4-instructions to magically appear just to save the hassle of un-mounting the display yet again.

My Butterfly 57mm display is running firmware V.2.9.4. FLARM promised in December that the "next PowerFLARM release which will come soon in the new year" will upgrade displays without using the special Butterfly cable. The only PowerFLARM release I can find is V2.40 from July 24, 2012. This of course is older than the V2.71 that was used to get the PowerFLARM IGC flight recorder approval.

QUESTIONS
1) Does V2.71 have the display updating code?
2) Can one download V2.71 from somewhere? If so, what's the URL?

-John, Q3


On Monday, December 17, 2012 2:43:38 PM UTC-5, Evan Ludeman wrote:

You guys do know about this, yes? (From external display manual)

"Updates

Update through PowerFLARM®

After Q4/2012 it will be possible to update the displays through any PowerFLARM® unit directly without the need for a special cable."

-Evan Ludeman / T8

Yes. There is a beta version which works well, but I think it is not public. Not sure why.

Ramy

On Monday, December 17, 2012 10:02:00 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Wednesday, December 12, 2012 5:44:06 PM UTC-5, Richard wrote: On Wednesday, December 12, 2012 10:28:43 AM UTC-8, bumper wrote: On Wednesday, December 12, 2012 10:17:39 AM UTC-8, Morteza Ansari wrote: Not sure which butterfly display we are talking about, but the rectangular display that comes with the brick is anything but *useless* to anyone flying with polarized sun glasses. It is polarized incorrectly which means if you mount it in horizontal orientation you see practically nothing on the display. Yes, but it works just fine with my polarized glasses in the vertical mode. So I made a bracket to hold it at the edge of the glareshield to the left of center. Since the device and display are rotatable in increments of 90 degrees, and since all LCD displays I've seen are polarized in one plane or another, Butterfly had to pick one knowing full well that it would please some and offend others of the polarized sun glassed crowd. No way for them to win! bumper The latest Firmware Version of the Butterfly display is out 3.01 It has: New Features: • Nondirectional traffic is shown permanently (PCAS) • Supports PowerFLARM® CORE • NEAREST-Mode, always automatically shows nearest target • Units con"gurable • Enhanced Menu Improvements: • Better stability with many received targets • new dynamical menu for future extensions. • 3.0.1: Better font readability I just saw an ADS B target the fonts are much larger and readable. You need a special cable to update the firmware. Make the cable instructions and get firmware at http://www.butterfly-avionics.com/in...upport-english or send to your dealer or Craggy Aero. Richard www.craggyaero.com All, I looked at the update information, and although it specified what connector pins on the display connector (RJ-12) were to be connected to what pins on a PC serial connector, it didn't specify the connector itself or address the issue of how one determines whether or not the PC can supply 3.3vdc on pin 5. I emailed the Butterfly folks, and I have copied the reply here. You will note that the reply still doesn't directly address the 3.3vdc issue, but at this point I'm confident enough that its not going to be a problem that I plan to fabricate a RJ12-DB9 cable and give it a whirl. Frank (TA)

That 3.3 V is the supply voltage. There is not likely to be a regulator in the display module. Odds are pretty good that putting 5 V on the 3.3 V supply input will kill it. Putting 12 V on the 3.3 V input will almost certainly kill it.

-Dave
ZL

On Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:02:00 -0800 (PST), wrote:
..... text deleted

I looked at the update information, and although it specified what connector
pins on the display connector (RJ-12) were to be connected to what pins on a PC
serial connector, it didn't specify the connector itself or address the issue of how
one determines whether or not the PC can supply 3.3vdc on pin 5. I emailed the
Butterfly folks, and I have copied the reply here. You will note that the reply still
doesn't directly address the 3.3vdc issue, but at this point I'm confident enough
that its not going to be a problem that I plan to fabricate a RJ12-DB9 cable and
give it a whirl.

Frank (TA)

I have one of the standard Flarm display updaters. It uses a normal 9v
transister-type battery (e.g., MN1604) that is fed into a voltage
regulator that drops the output to the required 3.3v. Two cables are
involved, a standard DB9 going to the serial port, and a RJ-11 (or
RJ-12) going to the display.

I have used this unit both with older PCs with a serial port, and with
newer PCs using a serial-usb converter.

Another option for those electrically inclined is shown on 3U's
website. This approaches uses the USB port directly, at the expense of
more complicated circuitry.
https://sites.google.com/site/threeu...terfly-display

Bob

On the theory that a picture is worth a thousand words, here is that
the standard updater looks like;

http://www.butterfly-store.de/en/Upd...isplay,i13.htm

Bob


On Mon, 17 Dec 2012 18:11:31 -0600, Bob Gibbons
wrote:

On Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:02:00 -0800 (PST), wrote:
.... text deleted

I looked at the update information, and although it specified what connector
pins on the display connector (RJ-12) were to be connected to what pins on a PC
serial connector, it didn't specify the connector itself or address the issue of how
one determines whether or not the PC can supply 3.3vdc on pin 5. I emailed the
Butterfly folks, and I have copied the reply here. You will note that the reply still
doesn't directly address the 3.3vdc issue, but at this point I'm confident enough
that its not going to be a problem that I plan to fabricate a RJ12-DB9 cable and
give it a whirl.

Frank (TA)

I have one of the standard Flarm display updaters. It uses a normal 9v
transister-type battery (e.g., MN1604) that is fed into a voltage
regulator that drops the output to the required 3.3v. Two cables are
involved, a standard DB9 going to the serial port, and a RJ-11 (or
RJ-12) going to the display.

I have used this unit both with older PCs with a serial port, and with
newer PCs using a serial-usb converter.

Another option for those electrically inclined is shown on 3U's
website. This approaches uses the USB port directly, at the expense of
more complicated circuitry.
https://sites.google.com/site/threeu...terfly-display

Bob

two AA or two AAA batteries will give you 3 volts which is enough to power the butterfly display for the update if you use fresh batteries

OR

upgrade to a FlarmView and just save the new data to the mini SD card and bypass the HeathKit cable making process entirely and as a bonus you get the nice screen and lots more configuration options

On Wednesday, December 12, 2012 10:28:43 AM UTC-8, bumper wrote:
On Wednesday, December 12, 2012 10:17:39 AM UTC-8, Morteza Ansari wrote:

Not sure which butterfly display we are talking about, but the rectangular display that comes with the brick is anything but *useless* to anyone flying with polarized sun glasses. It is polarized incorrectly which means if you mount it in horizontal orientation you see practically nothing on the display.



Yes, but it works just fine with my polarized glasses in the vertical mode. So I made a bracket to hold it at the edge of the glareshield to the left of center.



Since the device and display are rotatable in increments of 90 degrees, and since all LCD displays I've seen are polarized in one plane or another, Butterfly had to pick one knowing full well that it would please some and offend others of the polarized sun glassed crowd. No way for them to win!



bumper

Well, not sure I entirely agree with that. I am pretty sure there are alternate solutions to that though I am not an expert by any stretch of imagination:

http://www.maclife.com/article/news/...zed_sunglasses

With that said, note that all their literature and pictures on their docs/website show the display mounted in horizontal layout which is orientation that does NOT work. This is opposite of how they actually installed the polarizer filter and seems more like a bug advertised as a feature!

On 12/12/2012 3:27 PM, Morteza Ansari wrote:
On Wednesday, December 12, 2012 10:28:43 AM UTC-8, bumper wrote:


Well, not sure I entirely agree with that. I am pretty sure there are
alternate solutions to that though I am not an expert by any stretch
of imagination:

http://www.maclife.com/article/news/...zed_sunglasses

With that said, note that all their literature and pictures on their
docs/website show the display mounted in horizontal layout which is
orientation that does NOT work. This is opposite of how they actually
installed the polarizer filter and seems more like a bug advertised
as a feature!

Recently, I tried buy non-polarized clip-on or flip-up sunglasses for my
prescription glasses. There hundreds, but all were polarized. Does
anyone know where non-polarized clip-ons or flip-ups can be found?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

I bought a pair (non polarized) in NZ a few years ago.

http://www.opticaaccessories.com/cat...ategory=100502

At 04:05 13 December 2012, Eric Greenwell wrote:
On 12/12/2012 3:27 PM, Morteza Ansari wrote:
On Wednesday, December 12, 2012 10:28:43 AM UTC-8, bumper wrote:


Well, not sure I entirely agree with that. I am pretty sure there are
alternate solutions to that though I am not an expert by any stretch
of imagination:


http://www.maclife.com/article/news/...zed_sunglasses

With that said, note that all their literature and pictures on their
docs/website show the display mounted in horizontal layout which is
orientation that does NOT work. This is opposite of how they actually
installed the polarizer filter and seems more like a bug advertised
as a feature!

Recently, I tried buy non-polarized clip-on or flip-up sunglasses for my
prescription glasses. There hundreds, but all were polarized. Does
anyone know where non-polarized clip-ons or flip-ups can be found?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)