Powerflarm Brick feedback

[Ramy]

Other than antenna discussions, I haven't seen much recent feedback or discussions re powerflarm performance and issues. Since there is still lots of confusion and the official web site powerflarm.us still lack much info and it's forum is not active yet, I figured I start with some feedback and issues here.
1- Installation: So far I did just a quick (couple of hours) temporary installation using industrial velcro. The antennas installation are not optimum: The PCAS antenna is under the glareshield and the flarm antenna is velcroed to the tip of my glareshield so only half of it is sticking above, yet the flarm reception is quiet good and I am seeing traffic few miles away and even below.
2- Configuration and firmware upgrade: I had an issue which apparently is common, yet I did not see anything posted about it. After the upgrade my powerflarm was stuck in configuration mode. Disconnecting it and recycling the power did not help. The only solution which worked was disconnecting and reconnecting the external display!
3 - Bugs: The only issue I had was an error message complaining about the pressure sensor, this was indeed fixed in the latest firmware.
4 - Display: The display is very easy to read but if you use polarized sunglasses (which I highly recommend for better traffic visibility to the contrary to what some claim) then the external display polarization may not match your preferred installation. In my case I can only read the display in portrait orientation, but I would much prefer landscape. Anyone knows if the display come in different polarizations?
5 - Audio alert: Although the sound is very distinct, I would prefer if it could be much louder. Not sure I will hear it at higher wind noise.
6 - Flarm traffic detection and alerts: Seem to work very well so far. I haven't flown in a gaggle with multiple flarms so far, but with single flarm it worked very well and up to few miles away, with no unnecessary collision alerts.
7 - ADSB alerts - Not sure if I saw any and it is not clear from the manuals how to distinguish them from flarm alerts? Any suggestions?
8 - PCAS alerts - This is where I am somewhat dissapointed, and am hoping that better positioning of the antenna will help. I compared with my Zaon MRX and noticed that the MRX was alerting me to much more traffic than the Powerflarm, especially when the traffic was lower than me. Flying near other gliders I would normally get alert only from those at my altitude or above, almost nothing from lower even when very close nearby. I would like to hear if others had similar experience. I hope this can be improved since I was not planning to continue using my MRX in addition to Powerflarm but don't want to miss GA traffic alerts!
9 - I understand there is an option to display gliders call sign, but this is currently an obscured process and not documented well. Someone should write a good step by step how to guide. In a nutshell, you first need to enter your ICAO ID (available online in the FAA database) after converting it to Hex into your config file. Then you need to register on flarmnet with your ICAO ID, then download the latest file, which can be uploaded to your flight computer such as XCSoar, but it is not clear how you upload the file to the butterfly display? Any ideas?

Comments?

Ramy

[Evan Ludeman[_4_]]

On Aug 8, 1:08*am, Ramy > wrote:

> 8 - PCAS alerts - This is where I am somewhat dissapointed, and am hoping that better positioning of the antenna will help. I compared with my Zaon MRX and noticed that the MRX was alerting me to much more traffic than the Powerflarm, especially when the traffic was lower than me. Flying near other gliders I would normally get alert only from those at my altitude or above, almost nothing from lower even when very close nearby. I would like to hear if others had similar experience. I hope this can be improved since I was not planning to continue using my MRX in addition to Powerflarm but don't want to miss GA traffic alerts!

I'm getting PCAS alerts from above and below, but range is quite
limited. About a mile. I'd like 2 - 3 miles. Hope this can be
addressed in firmware. All else works well.

Evan Ludeman / T8

[Andy[_1_]]

On Aug 8, 5:00*am, Evan Ludeman > wrote:

>
> I'm getting PCAS alerts from above and below, but range is quite
> limited. *About a mile. *I'd like 2 - 3 miles. *Hope this can be
> addressed in firmware. *All else works well.
>
> Evan Ludeman / T8

The data sheet, integration manual, and dataport specification for an
ADS-B module that appears to be the one used in PowerFLARM can be
found here:

http://www.garrecht.com/index.php/en/ads-b/trx-oem-module

Maybe a review of those docs will give some indication of the the
expected performance.

Andy

[Evan Ludeman[_4_]]

On Aug 8, 11:24*am, Andy > wrote:
> On Aug 8, 5:00*am, Evan Ludeman > wrote:
>
>
>
> > I'm getting PCAS alerts from above and below, but range is quite
> > limited. *About a mile. *I'd like 2 - 3 miles. *Hope this can be
> > addressed in firmware. *All else works well.
>
> > Evan Ludeman / T8
>
> The data sheet, integration manual, and dataport specification for an
> ADS-B module that appears to be the one used in PowerFLARM can be
> found here:
>
> http://www.garrecht.com/index.php/en/ads-b/trx-oem-module
>
> Maybe a review of those docs will give some indication of the the
> expected performance.
>
> Andy

Interesting, thanks. Tends to confirm my expectation that the
effective PowerFlarm PCAS range can be modified through software.
Looking forward to this.

-Evan / T8

[Luke[_4_]]

Below is an exerpt from the addendum on the flarm page, I modified my
flarmcfg.txt accordingly and it seems to have improved things

link to the addendum ->
http://www.flarm.com/support/manual/developer/dataport_spec_6.00_addendum.txt


> * $PFLAC,S,PCASRANGE,<oblique_range_meters>
> $PFLAC,S,PCASVRANGE,<vertical_range_meters>
> Sets the PCAS oblique (PCASRANGE) or vertical (PCASVRANGE) range in meters.
>
> Example:
> $PFLAC,S,PCASRANGE,5000*
> Sets the PCAS oblique range to 5km.
>
> * $PFLAC,S,ADSBRANGE,<horizontal_range_meters>
> $PFLAC,S,ADSBVRANGE,<vertical_range_meters>
> Sets the ADS-B horizontal (ADSBRANGE) or vertical (ADSBVRANGE) range in
> meters.
>
> Example:
> $PFLAC,S,ADSBRANGE,15000*
> Sets the ADS-B horizontal range to 15km.
>
> Notice: If FLARM determines that a PCAS or ADS-B target represents a
> danger, it will be displayed/output regardless of the range setting.
>
> Maximum value for PCAS and ADS-B ranges: 65535m.

Cheers,
Luke Szczepaniak





On 08/08/2012 11:48 AM, Evan Ludeman wrote:
> On Aug 8, 11:24 am, Andy > wrote:
>> On Aug 8, 5:00 am, Evan Ludeman > wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> I'm getting PCAS alerts from above and below, but range is quite
>>> limited. About a mile. I'd like 2 - 3 miles. Hope this can be
>>> addressed in firmware. All else works well.
>>
>>> Evan Ludeman / T8
>>
>> The data sheet, integration manual, and dataport specification for an
>> ADS-B module that appears to be the one used in PowerFLARM can be
>> found here:
>>
>> http://www.garrecht.com/index.php/en/ads-b/trx-oem-module
>>
>> Maybe a review of those docs will give some indication of the the
>> expected performance.
>>
>> Andy
>
> Interesting, thanks. Tends to confirm my expectation that the
> effective PowerFlarm PCAS range can be modified through software.
> Looking forward to this.
>
> -Evan / T8
>

[Evan Ludeman[_4_]]

On Aug 8, 1:23*pm, Luke > wrote:
> Below is an exerpt from the addendum on the flarm page, I modified my
> flarmcfg.txt accordingly and it seems to have improved things
>
> link to the addendum ->http://www.flarm.com/support/manual/developer/dataport_spec_6.00_adde...

Nice catch Luke. Thanks for posting.

-Evan / T8

[Ramy]

On Wednesday, August 8, 2012 10:56:52 AM UTC-7, Evan Ludeman wrote:
> On Aug 8, 1:23*pm, Luke > wrote:
>
> > Below is an exerpt from the addendum on the flarm page, I modified my
>
> > flarmcfg.txt accordingly and it seems to have improved things
>
> >
>
> > link to the addendum ->http://www.flarm.com/support/manual/developer/dataport_spec_6.00_adde...
>
>
>
> Nice catch Luke. Thanks for posting.
>
>
>
> -Evan / T8

Thanks Luke. I don't see any of these in my original config file which is based on the file provided on the web site. So are these additional optional parameters? I must wonder why they are not available in the supplied config file?

Ramy

[Jim[_32_]]

My 2cents:

1- Installation. I was surprised at how much space the Brick actually needs with its octopus of cables and antenna wires. Since my glare shield is fiberglass I could mount the P-Flarm, ADS-B/PCAS and GPS antennae out of view under the shield on a wooden stick that now runs between the panel and the ship's nose.

I couldn't get P-Flarm to talk to both my ClearNav and external display regardless of wiring it correctly. Discovered I needed to enable the second port in the Flarm with:
$pflac,s,nmeaout2,61
$PFLAC,S,BAUD1,2
$PFLAC,S,BAUD2,5
#That was NOT obvious.

2- Configuration and firmware upgrade. I had no issues updating the Brick but unfortunately I couldn't tell if it was successful :( The Flarm support guys gave me a cute little command ($debug_out,fat,all,all) that dumps a config status back onto the USB stick. Nice.

I since updated my display to 3.0 and now it shows some config info at power up.

3 - Bugs: None.

4 - Display. I think the external display is a bit dim and has tiny fonts. Although that could just be my aging peepers.

5 - Audio alert. Barely detectable. I haven't had any P-Flarm alerts yet but the TCAS just gives a single timid beep.

6 - Flarm traffic detection and alerts. I only installed this a few days ago and haven't flown with any other Flarms.

7 - ADSB alerts. Same answer as #6

8 - PCAS alerts - GA traffic alerts ave very important to me! And, so far, like my PCAS better. Aside from the single short chirp, I cant glean any additional info out of that darn little display. Maybe I'll get used to it. Oh, I had already expanded my settings like some later posted here. Still does nothing for the lack of warning sound/display. My ClearNav doesn't seem to even know about GA traffic AFAIK.

9 - I got my ICAO ID in my config file. Now what? I guess I'll fumble my way through flarmnet like the rest of us...

-Jim