My 302 and PDA are no longer on speaking terms

On Saturday, my 302 and my PDA (5450) stopped talking to one another.
They've been together for about 18 months without any issues.

It started when the PDA complained about low battery power. I thought
that odd, but I still had GPS data. I could see that the PDA wasn't
charging by the absence of the orange light.

After I landed, I took the PDA to the truck to charge with the intent
to download my flight after charging for a while.
Now I can't connect to the 302 using Cambridge's file utility and I'm
not getting GPS data either. I can get the PDA to charge from the 302
intermittently. The connection is via a RAM cradle I got from Cumulus.
The flight software is mCU.

Initially, I suspected the PDA. However, I can still use a GPS card
that I have and I'm able to sync the PDA with my home machine. I
suppose I'll have to pull the 302 and test with a PC of some variety.
If that works, it must be the cradle.

The 302 connection is through com1 on the PDA. The GPS Card is com4.
Is there software that will let me test the com ports on the PDA? Does
it make sense that for I while I had data and no power and now it's
power (intermittently) and no data? The availability of power seems to
be a connection issue. But even, when charging, there is now no data
and no connection for file transfer.

I'd like to verify that the PDA can use com1 before pulling the 302.
That's a bit of a pain.

Doug

Doug,

Maybe not entirely the problem:
But with my Ipaq 5550 i have had the problem that while
connected to the 302 still the battery would run flat.
It appeared that I had accidentily set the 'receive
incoming beams' tick box on ánd also the wifi radio
was on. Looking for a network plus the infrared port
switched to on uses a lot of power. When i did switch
these items off the problem was gone.

However I didn't have connection problems. Maybe a
reset of the Ipaq would help.

Good luck, Bert

At 02:30 10 September 2007, Dixie Sierra wrote:
On Saturday, my 302 and my PDA (5450) stopped talking
to one another.
They've been together for about 18 months without any
issues.

It started when the PDA complained about low battery
power. I thought
that odd, but I still had GPS data. I could see that
the PDA wasn't
charging by the absence of the orange light.

After I landed, I took the PDA to the truck to charge
with the intent
to download my flight after charging for a while.
Now I can't connect to the 302 using Cambridge's file
utility and I'm
not getting GPS data either. I can get the PDA to charge
from the 302
intermittently. The connection is via a RAM cradle
I got from Cumulus.
The flight software is mCU.

Initially, I suspected the PDA. However, I can still
use a GPS card
that I have and I'm able to sync the PDA with my home
machine. I
suppose I'll have to pull the 302 and test with a PC
of some variety.
If that works, it must be the cradle.

The 302 connection is through com1 on the PDA. The
GPS Card is com4.
Is there software that will let me test the com ports
on the PDA? Does
it make sense that for I while I had data and no power
and now it's
power (intermittently) and no data? The availability
of power seems to
be a connection issue. But even, when charging, there
is now no data
and no connection for file transfer.

I'd like to verify that the PDA can use com1 before
pulling the 302.
That's a bit of a pain.

Doug

Hi Doug,

It could be the cradle or the iPAQ connector. But before coming to that
conclusion, be sure to try a soft reset to the PDA by inserting the stylus
into the hole on the bottom of the PDA immediately before trying to connect
to the 302.

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

"Dixie Sierra" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Saturday, my 302 and my PDA (5450) stopped talking to one another.
They've been together for about 18 months without any issues.

It started when the PDA complained about low battery power. I thought
that odd, but I still had GPS data. I could see that the PDA wasn't
charging by the absence of the orange light.

After I landed, I took the PDA to the truck to charge with the intent
to download my flight after charging for a while.
Now I can't connect to the 302 using Cambridge's file utility and I'm
not getting GPS data either. I can get the PDA to charge from the 302
intermittently. The connection is via a RAM cradle I got from Cumulus.
The flight software is mCU.

Initially, I suspected the PDA. However, I can still use a GPS card
that I have and I'm able to sync the PDA with my home machine. I
suppose I'll have to pull the 302 and test with a PC of some variety.
If that works, it must be the cradle.

The 302 connection is through com1 on the PDA. The GPS Card is com4.
Is there software that will let me test the com ports on the PDA? Does
it make sense that for I while I had data and no power and now it's
power (intermittently) and no data? The availability of power seems to
be a connection issue. But even, when charging, there is now no data
and no connection for file transfer.

I'd like to verify that the PDA can use com1 before pulling the 302.
That's a bit of a pain.

Doug

Doug,

Do a soft reset on your ipaq. Place in the ipaq cradle used to
connect to your desktop computer.

If the ipaq charges and connects and can transfer data to and from
with the desktop using active sysn, then the Ipaq is OK.

The intermittent changing and no data transfer to and from the 302,
leads me to suspect the ground connection in the 302 to cradle
wiring.

I would replace the cradle first.

Please see http://www.craggyaero.com/pdam.htm for cradles.

I also provide troubleshooting and repair services. Ship me the Ipaq,
the cradle and the 302. I can identify the problems rather quickly as
I have all the components required.


Richard
www.craggyaero.com


On Sep 9, 7:24 pm, Dixie Sierra wrote:
On Saturday, my 302 and my PDA (5450) stopped talking to one another.
They've been together for about 18 months without any issues.

It started when the PDA complained about low battery power. I thought
that odd, but I still had GPS data. I could see that the PDA wasn't
charging by the absence of the orange light.

After I landed, I took the PDA to the truck to charge with the intent
to download my flight after charging for a while.
Now I can't connect to the 302 using Cambridge's file utility and I'm
not getting GPS data either. I can get the PDA to charge from the 302
intermittently. The connection is via a RAM cradle I got from Cumulus.
The flight software is mCU.

Initially, I suspected the PDA. However, I can still use a GPS card
that I have and I'm able to sync the PDA with my home machine. I
suppose I'll have to pull the 302 and test with a PC of some variety.
If that works, it must be the cradle.

The 302 connection is through com1 on the PDA. The GPS Card is com4.
Is there software that will let me test the com ports on the PDA? Does
it make sense that for I while I had data and no power and now it's
power (intermittently) and no data? The availability of power seems to
be a connection issue. But even, when charging, there is now no data
and no connection for file transfer.

I'd like to verify that the PDA can use com1 before pulling the 302.
That's a bit of a pain.

Doug

Thanks to all.

I tried a soft reset very early on in the process. In fact, I've tried
it several times

While looking around Paul's site (thanks for all the info you
provide), I saw that the cradle I have will also work with the 3700
series ipaq. I have one of those lying about unused. That should allow
me to confirm or eliminate the PDA.

Sounds like a project for the next unflyable day.

Doug