Poor service and bad attitude from LXNAV

On Tuesday, November 27, 2012 2:56:16 PM UTC-8, Tim Taylor wrote:
On Nov 27, 11:19Â*am, Craig Funston

wrote:

On Tuesday, November 27, 2012 9:48:15 AM UTC-8, Tim Taylor wrote:

On Nov 27, 10:08Â*am, Richard wrote:



On Tuesday, November 27, 2012 8:10:04 AM UTC-8, Tim Taylor wrote:



In response to a request for a wiring diagram for a cable for the LXNAV V7 to the Oudie to build cables that connect to my panel (pass through connector on the panel), I got a very poor response and no help (see below) from LXNAV. I have never seen a supplier in the soaring field in twenty-five years provide such poor service and display such a negative attitude. Thankfully, Richard at Craggy Aero provided the diagram that indeed shows that the wiring is not standard and would not be obvious from reading the LXNAV manual. I hope this was a bad day at LXNAV and not indicitive of their customer service overall. __________________________________________________ ______ Hello, All necessary is described in V7 Manual. If you are not an expert and do not understand pin descriptions, please do not try to make your own cables as you will make more damage than profit. Best Regards, Uros Krasovic Uroš Krašovicwww.lxnav.comLXNAVd.o.o. Kidri�eva 24a 3000 Celje Tel. +38659233400



Tim,



IMHO Â*LX NAV provides the best support and supplies the best products in the soaring industry. Â* I Â*can't begin to tell you how many Oudies have been bricked and how much troubleshooting time spent by customers making their own cables, even with the print I provided you. Â*The cable sells for $34 at Craggy Aero. Â*Unless your time is worth little or nothing why take the risk.



Richardwww.craggyaero.com



Craig and Richard,



1. I do own a CC-NP-Oudie cable made by LXNAV, so was not trying to



get around LXNAV on cables.



2. I have a pass through connector on my panel, RJ25 to RJ25 (often



called an RJ11 by some) so I wanted to build two cables; RJ45 to RJ25



and RJ25 to Mini-USB. So that I can connect through the panel. Â*This



allows me to leave the V7 connected to the panel, but pull out the



front cable easily in the cockpit.



3. I wrote to LXNAV explaining what I was doing and got the above



response. Â*I found it odd that they could not provide me with the



cable diagram and a simple warning that I need to be extremely careful



or I could hurt the V7 and Oudie.



4. Craig, the Oudie requires a fifth wire that would not be obvious



from the V7 diagram in the manual and not part of the Mini-USB



standard protocol. Â*Unfortunately there is no wiring diagram in the



Oudie Manual. Â*I could tell that an additional wire was required and



to avoid damaging my V7 or Oudie contacted the manufactures, both



LXNAV and navITer.



My complaint was the fact that LXNAV failed to provide the cable



diagram when asked even though they make and sell the cable and the



attitude present in the respose.



As I said, I hope it was just a bad day for them.



Fair enough Tim. Â*I agree wiring diagrams and pinouts should be freely available from the manufacturers. Â*I was able to find the Oudie pinouts via an old post from Andrej.



http://forum.naviter.com/showthread....the-Oudie-RJ45....



Studying the cables I have and the documentation it looks like typical Oudie cables double up the +12v lead, using pins 7 & 8 from the V7, resulting in 5 wires. Â*Probably not strictly required, but doesn't hurt anything either.



Glad you got it working & too bad the pinout information wasn't in the Oudie manual where it belongs.



Cheers,

Craig



Craig,



Actually the five wires are essential for powering and communication

with the Oudie. My understanding from LXNAV and reading between the

lines on the navITer forums is the number four pin on the Mini-USB

that is not normally used in most USB cables carries +5v that is a

signal to the Oudie port to switch to RS-232 mode. Without the fifth

line signal the port will not work. This appears to be a common

repeated thread on the navITer forum that is never clearly addressed.

I agree that it would be nice if a diagram and explanation was

included in the Oudie Manual.



Tim

Tim,

Thanks for the explanation. I'm running the Vertica V2 clone which plugs a 5 pin to 10 pin USB adapter into an Oudie cable. Only 4 wires are used in this case (2 power and 2 com.) You're obviously much deeper into the mysteries of the Oudie world. Thanks for passing the information along.

Cheers,
Craig

Tim,

I echo Richard's comment, in my experience of 40+ years Uros provides the
best support and best attitude of any manufacturer in the soaring field I
have ever come across. This week I mailed my AHRS to him and sent an email
to ask if it had arrived safely, he instantly emailed back a photograph of
what was wrong with it (and that was not LX Navs fault....).

A story I like about Uros was from a customer who phoned him with a query.
The phone was answered instantly, there was the noise of a vario singing in
the background. Uros was doing some product testing and not in the lab....


Mike

At 18:37 27 November 2012, David Reitter wrote:
On Tuesday, November 27, 2012 11:10:04 AM UTC-5, Tim Taylor wrote:
I have never seen a supplier in the
soaring field in twenty-five years provide such poor service and
display such a negative attitude.=20

You know, I built a Bluetooth adapter from parts for my LXNAV v7 using
the
=
documentation provided in the manual. =20

Isn't the Oudie a proprietary product made by a company other than LXNAV?

=
I mean, LXNAV documents their technology and provides a PDA compatible
inte=
rface (e.g., TTL level signals!). How you get an Oudie to accept a
serial
=
signal via the USB port is not LXNAV's issue. How they wire up their own
c=
ables is not something you can expect them to document (try asking Apple
fo=
r the full schematics of their latest $3000 laptop!).

Either way, I have had good interactions with LXNAV in the past with some
f=
ruitful idea exchange (and some of it led to the first XCSoar driver for
th=
e V7!)

On Nov 27, 7:27*pm, Michael Clarke
wrote:
Tim,

I echo Richard's comment, in my experience of 40+ years Uros provides the
best support and best attitude of any manufacturer in the soaring field I
have ever come across. This week I mailed my AHRS to him and sent an email
to ask if it had arrived safely, he instantly emailed back a photograph of
what was wrong with it (and that was not LX Navs fault....).

A story I like about Uros was from a customer who phoned him with a query..
The phone was answered instantly, there was the noise of a vario singing in
the background. Uros was doing some product testing and not in the lab.....

Mike

At 18:37 27 November 2012, David Reitter wrote:





On Tuesday, November 27, 2012 11:10:04 AM UTC-5, Tim Taylor wrote:
*I have never seen a supplier in the
soaring field in twenty-five years provide such poor service and
display such a negative attitude.=20

You know, I built a Bluetooth adapter from parts for my LXNAV v7 using
the
=
documentation provided in the manual. =20

Isn't the Oudie a proprietary product made by a company other than LXNAV?
=
I mean, LXNAV documents their technology and provides a PDA compatible
inte=
rface (e.g., TTL level signals!). *How you get an Oudie to accept a
serial
=
signal via the USB port is not LXNAV's issue. *How they wire up their own
c=
ables is not something you can expect them to document (try asking Apple
fo=
r the full schematics of their latest $3000 laptop!).

Either way, I have had good interactions with LXNAV in the past with some
f=
ruitful idea exchange (and some of it led to the first XCSoar driver for
th=
e V7!)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Sounds to me like Tim is the problem and not Uros - LXNAV always gave
me the absolute best service
of any glider equipment supplier - ever - regards, Woody

On Wednesday, November 28, 2012 12:10:23 PM UTC+1, rhwoody wrote:
Uros - LXNAV always gave
me the absolute best service
of any glider equipment supplier - ever - regards, Woody

I second this! LNNAV has been faster and more throughout than any other soaring equipment dealer i had to deal with so far.
For example:
* I have received beta firmwares for my V7 with changes I suggested (on the same day as the request!)
* I have received protocol documentation of the V7 without any hassle
* Questions are being answered at lighting speed
* Feedback is being implemented / considered

I work in IT and vendor support is a major issue for me in my daily business. LXNAV has cool equipment _and_ fantastic support. I will buy from them again.

Just my 2cents.
- Folken

My experience with Uros too has been nothing short of excellent! I exchanged a problem plagued LX 7007 IGC Pro for a new LX 8080, and support for connceting my iPaq 4700 included an instant reply, - perhaps 5 minutes, and a cable by Air Mail sent the same day.

Other e-mails received the same all-but-instant replies. This is in serious contrast with the support I had from LXNavigation, which sometimes took one or two weeks, and I had plenty of occasions to contact them :-(

Bloody not true.

LXNAV...especially Uros... ranks at the top in customer service. They have answered every question I ever asked...no matter how stupid...in a polite and timely manner.

Thanks Uros and LXNAV for your excellent customer service.

Ben

On Tuesday, November 27, 2012 11:10:04 AM UTC-5, Tim Taylor wrote:
In response to a request for a wiring diagram for a cable for the

LXNAV V7 to the Oudie to build cables that connect to my panel (pass

through connector on the panel), I got a very poor response and no

help (see below) from LXNAV. I have never seen a supplier in the

soaring field in twenty-five years provide such poor service and

display such a negative attitude. Thankfully, Richard at Craggy Aero

provided the diagram that indeed shows that the wiring is not standard

and would not be obvious from reading the LXNAV manual.



I hope this was a bad day at LXNAV and not indicitive of their

customer service overall.



__________________________________________________ ______

Hello,



All necessary is described in V7 Manual. If you are not an expert and

do not understand pin descriptions, please do not try to make your own

cables as you will make more damage than profit.



Best Regards, Uros Krasovic



Uroš Krašovic

www.lxnav.com

LXNAV d.o.o.

Kidri�eva 24a

3000 Celje

Tel. +38659233400

Tim, you can count me among those who think that you might be reading
a bit too much into Urps' reply. I think that he is giving you the
information he thinks you need in the best way he knows how.

Communication over the Internet often doesn't give you adequate clues
as to the attitude and state of mind of your correspondent, hence the
invention of emoticons. Communication through translators or in second
languages over the internet is even worse, since it also tends to
remove idiom and colloquialisms from the correspondents' repertoires.

I work with a lot of people in other countries whose first language is
not English, and I have adopted the general rule of consciously
interpreting their correspondence in the most charitable possible
light. I have only rarely been disappointed.

Thanks, Bob K.

Bob makes an excellent point.

I have also received many times outstanding support and service from LX Nav. I suggest that this thread be renamed to "Great service and can-do attitude from LX Nav"! Moderator?

Bastoune