"Bad" CAI302 Display

Well, I seem to have one. The polarization looks like it's about 45 degrees
off horizontal and, since I bought Eagle Eyes sunglasses specifically for
soaring, I'm disappointed that I can't see the 302 with the glasses on.

So I hit on a crazy scheme... Since Cambridge is no longer with us, I'm
thinking of simply drilling new screw holes in my panel rotated by the
required amount, which I'll measure with the instrument out of the panel.
It'll look a little strange, but I'm pretty sure it won't take long for my
feeble brain to accomodate to the rotation.

Of course, before I start drilling, I'd gladly consider any other ideas.
The glasses are terrific for soaring, but I'm not terribly fond of them
outside the cockpit. Don't like the brown tint to everything.

Surely there is someone out there, maybe who ever is servicing 302's these days, can rotate your lens 90 degrees!

Regards,
-DW






On Monday, September 16, 2013 4:01:37 PM UTC-4, Dan Marotta wrote:
Well, I seem to have one. The polarization looks like it's about 45 degrees

off horizontal and, since I bought Eagle Eyes sunglasses specifically for

soaring, I'm disappointed that I can't see the 302 with the glasses on.



So I hit on a crazy scheme... Since Cambridge is no longer with us, I'm

thinking of simply drilling new screw holes in my panel rotated by the

required amount, which I'll measure with the instrument out of the panel.

It'll look a little strange, but I'm pretty sure it won't take long for my

feeble brain to accomodate to the rotation.



Of course, before I start drilling, I'd gladly consider any other ideas.

The glasses are terrific for soaring, but I'm not terribly fond of them

outside the cockpit. Don't like the brown tint to everything.

On Monday, September 16, 2013 4:01:37 PM UTC-4, Dan Marotta wrote:
Well, I seem to have one. The polarization looks like it's about 45 degrees

off horizontal and, since I bought Eagle Eyes sunglasses specifically for

soaring, I'm disappointed that I can't see the 302 with the glasses on.



So I hit on a crazy scheme... Since Cambridge is no longer with us, I'm

thinking of simply drilling new screw holes in my panel rotated by the

required amount, which I'll measure with the instrument out of the panel.

It'll look a little strange, but I'm pretty sure it won't take long for my

feeble brain to accomodate to the rotation.



Of course, before I start drilling, I'd gladly consider any other ideas.

The glasses are terrific for soaring, but I'm not terribly fond of them

outside the cockpit. Don't like the brown tint to everything.

Dan how difficult is it to take the case apart and rotate the
glass 90 degrees? That is all that is necessary. D

On Monday, September 16, 2013 1:01:37 PM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
Well, I seem to have one. The polarization looks like it's about 45 degrees

off horizontal and, since I bought Eagle Eyes sunglasses specifically for

soaring, I'm disappointed that I can't see the 302 with the glasses on.



So I hit on a crazy scheme... Since Cambridge is no longer with us, I'm

thinking of simply drilling new screw holes in my panel rotated by the

required amount, which I'll measure with the instrument out of the panel.

It'll look a little strange, but I'm pretty sure it won't take long for my

feeble brain to accomodate to the rotation.



Of course, before I start drilling, I'd gladly consider any other ideas.

The glasses are terrific for soaring, but I'm not terribly fond of them

outside the cockpit. Don't like the brown tint to everything.

A friend got his 302 repaired just few weeks ago by Gary Kammerer.

Ramy

http://clearnav.net/main/cn-service.html

Well, calling Gary *would* be the elegant solution but I thought he wasn't
working on CAI instruments any more. I can call...

As to simply rotating the glass - that was my initial thought so I asked
Paul at Cumulus Soaring. He thought the problem was with the actual LCD and
not the front glass. So I started thinking about it... Having no direct
knowledge of LCD construction other than at the highest level, I believe
there's a back layer which contains the electronics, a layer of the liquid
crystal, probably a transparent layer in front of that with whatever
circuitry is necessary to complete the electric fields to change the state
of the crystal, and a front layer, which may be polarized. There may be
other layers which I don't think matter to this discussion.

If it's the front layer of the sandwich, then it was incorrectly applied
during manufacture and there's no fixing it. If, on the other hand, my
imaginings are wrong and it *is* the front glass, then that should be easily
rotated. Then the only problem is the possible violation of the electronic
seal.

Isn't this fun?


"KiloKilo" wrote in message
...
http://clearnav.net/main/cn-service.html

Are you sure height and width of the display are the same? If not, no dice for taking it apart and rotating the glass.

Dan Marotta wrote, On 9/17/2013 8:42 AM:
Well, calling Gary *would* be the elegant solution but I thought he
wasn't working on CAI instruments any more. I can call...

As to simply rotating the glass - that was my initial thought so I asked
Paul at Cumulus Soaring. He thought the problem was with the actual LCD
and not the front glass. So I started thinking about it... Having no
direct knowledge of LCD construction other than at the highest level, I
believe there's a back layer which contains the electronics, a layer of
the liquid crystal, probably a transparent layer in front of that with
whatever circuitry is necessary to complete the electric fields to
change the state of the crystal, and a front layer, which may be
polarized. There may be other layers which I don't think matter to this
discussion.

If it's the front layer of the sandwich, then it was incorrectly applied
during manufacture and there's no fixing it. If, on the other hand, my
imaginings are wrong and it *is* the front glass, then that should be
easily rotated. Then the only problem is the possible violation of the
electronic seal.

I don't think it's the front glass, as I can see the needle clearly
through my polarized glasses, but not the LCD.

The 302 isn't my only problem, but also the Butterfly display for
PowerFlarm, and the ClearNav display to some extent. The Becker
transponder display and the MGL radio display are not affected,
regardless of the sunglasses orientation, so they must use a different
kind of LCD.

I've dealt with the problem by punching holes in the polarized clip-ons
that I use with my prescription glasses. The holes are located low on
the clip-ons so I can see the panel while I'm looking outside. The
oblong holes are about 0.3" high and 0.4" long. Besides solving the LCD
problem, the lack of tinting makes it easier to read the instruments and
flight computer in any lighting, but especially dim light.

And, yes, I do look a little strange when wandering around the airport
with holes in my sunglasses, but it's a small price to pay for being
able to see!

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

hmmm,
and what about to ask your neighbour optician
to rotate the lenses in your glasses
instead of rotating the 302?
Supposing it should be cheaper...