iPhone 6 Plus and iGlide

On Friday, May 1, 2015 at 10:55:05 AM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
On Friday, May 1, 2015 at 12:16:27 PM UTC-4, jfitch wrote:
On Friday, May 1, 2015 at 7:53:06 AM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
Has anyone integrated IGlide on Iphone 6+ with PowerFlarm core and V7 vario? Possible? Limitations?

I have it integrated with the Air vario and PowerFlarm core. Since the iPhone has no exposed serial port, to do that with the V7 you would need the Air Connect which creates a WiFi network for the iPhone and accepts the LX serial data stream on a DB9. I assume then it would work the same as the Air vario, since the data stream it produces is the LX spec'd serial stream.. If PowerFlarm data comes out that stream (and it must, if it works with an Oudie etc.) then the only thing you would lack is the instantaneous wind that the Air vario provides. That is no small loss, but a vario has to live with its limitations...

I have had the Air vario interfaced to an Avier/Oudie/V2 running Winpilot, XCSoar, and SYM so the contrapositive situation works.

http://www.air-avionics.com/air/inde...erface-systems

This makes sense. If I got it right, the Powerflarm sends GPS and Flarm warnings to the V7 and the V7 interleaves additional data to the stream and sends it to a PDA via serial connector.

An Air Connect stands in for the PDA and sends the data stream to the IGlide app via wifi. So you only need one Air Connect to get the data from PowerFlarm and V7 to Iglide.

The V7 does actually send 'wind' data to the PDA and I'd guess that would be in a format that IGlide could use. Perhaps the sampling rate/resolution for the wind data by the V7 is not as 'instantaneous' as the Butterfly vario.

Thanks! Maybe it is finally time to trash my flip phone and get a Smart Phone...

Is it arguable that the IGlide graphics design and the Retina resolution combine to make IGlide on IPhone6 = Oudie2? The Nits number for the display is just one parameter of the story.

The Air vario derives wind speed from inertial sensors, it is updated 20 times/sec internally and sent once/sec over the serial link. The V7 would send the wind data it has which would be used by iGlide. The main thing you miss is the iGlide thermal assistant, which is instantaneous wind driven. It has 1 second lift dots like SYM or XCSoar, but in each dot is an instantaneous wind vector which is quite interesting.

I have yet to fly with the iPhone 6+, gliderport is not open yet. Last season I used a combination of an iPhone 5s and Avier/Oudie/V2 using mostly Winpilot or XCSoar. I found the iPhone 5s to be difficult to read in some circumstances, even though the screen resolution is way better than the Avier, it is smaller. It needs to be held close, and you need young eyes to focus on it as close as it needs to be. The iPhone 6+ display has greater resolution yet, and is physically larger than the Avier as well. Held side by side with no sunglasses, the iPhone is apparently as bright and considerably more readable at all angles to the sun. With sunglasses, the iPhone seems slightly dimmer but is still more readable. The two screens are polarized differently which may have an effect. With terrain turned off the Avier seems a little brighter. The terrain is considerably more detailed on iGlide, and the color choices perhaps better for readability.

You will need to add a charging cord for the iPhone, at least the 5s would only last about 3 hours on its own, the 6+ maybe longer but not enough for me.

I've only seen about 4 hours without charging only leaving 10-20% charge left, not quite enough if you land out and need to make a call(s).

I wired in a usb charing port, so it stays charged. Best to start the day with the phone charged though, otherwise it will drain the instrument battery to charge the phone battery.

I have a portable charger I fly with. Very small and light. Will keep my iPhone charged all day. Bought it on Amazon.

Buy a Mophie perhaps? This is what I use for my iPhone when flying with iGlide. The Mophie is a $100 "battery case" that provides roughly 3500 mAh of additional battery capacity (120% additional). With a Mophie, there is no need for wires or a separate portable battery in the cockpit. The mophie case is only slightly larger than a normal case. The Mophie case setup will run an iPhone running iGlide all day (8 hours plus). Far longer if one does not leave the screen on constantly. Also, the Mophie charges from the same single USB wire at night. No need to charge two batteries separately (two wires and charging adapters). No more forgetting to charge the spare battery. Just a thought. www.mophie.com

On Monday, May 4, 2015 at 8:26:38 PM UTC-6, Sean Fidler wrote:
Buy a Mophie perhaps? This is what I use for my iPhone when flying with iGlide.

I picked up an 8600mah PowerBurst from Costco for $30. It will fully charge my iPhone5 3 times and after flying for 5 hours the phone is still at 100%. It has to be connected by cord to the phone but that has been workable so far.