PilotAware
British Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: Wadoadi on November 21, 2016, 05:41:34 pm
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Hi All,
I have been dipping in and out of PAW since the early days! however yesterday was my first flight with it and it all seemed to work great even picked up an RV8 crossing me (at a safe distance).
So my fear has always been around the slow start time of the GPS, maybe its just my one, but loved flying with it...
And on to my question, is there an off the shelf case anyone can recommend to fit it all in, so the usb bits aren't hanging out? ideally with room for a speaker too?
I found this one but the cost having it printed seems a little high, although it looks ideal.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1350442 (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1350442)
thanks
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Maybe something like this?
https://www.amazon.com/Stratux-Case-Fan-Clear-Acrylic/dp/B01ERQPPWU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479760157&sr=8-1&keywords=stratux (https://www.amazon.com/Stratux-Case-Fan-Clear-Acrylic/dp/B01ERQPPWU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479760157&sr=8-1&keywords=stratux)
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You'd probably need to remove the fan to fit the bridge board in.
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Thank you for the reply, unfortunately they don't seem to be available in the U.K.
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ok as no PAW off the shelf all in one case seems to exist i think i will go down Richards route in this post
http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,133.msg1882.html#msg1882 (http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,133.msg1882.html#msg1882)
Thanks
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had a quick browse about and c ame across this. maybe useful?
http://www.stratux.co/
This has a download for 3d printing a case which maybe suitable.
This one also download for a stratux unit looks to have enough room.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1013857
Brian
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Thanks for all your help.
I built it in to a case, not the best job ever but worked very well on today's test flight.
I showed it to others at the club who liked the idea, however the consensus of opinion is that it needs a proper all in one case...
So I think there is a market for one if someone has the ability to make and sell them!
I had a small aerial for the ADS-B a GSM one from eBay but I had no reception, changed if for a spare aerial I had from the original internet of things radio and loads of traffic appeared!
It would be great if we could add a couple of leds to say when it was up and working!
Thanks all
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Ideally, I'd like a box that encases the battery too, so it's just a single combined unit.
And smaller antenna that those that come with the PAW bridge and ADS-B dongles.
In my opinion this would make it much more accessible and easy to carry around - a significant advantage that the SuperFLARM has today.
Mine has been getting some rough treatment at the bottom of my flight bag and I am concerned about it's lifetime.
I'm expecting the ADS-B dongle to go first.
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Hi Dave
Yes good idea to put it into a box as it wasn't really designed for rough treatment at the bottom of a flight bag.
Regards
Keith
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Only issue i'm finding having it all in a box is you can't see the status LEDs
What would be great is to have an option to set a GPIO pin High for GPS fix and ADS-B so it mirrors the status of the status page Low = Red high = Green as the detection of the state is already in code it would only be a matter of setting the GPIO pin high / low. Next issue would be how would we pick up the pin, off the back of PAW's header? or JP2 I see a number of GPIO pins router to it!???
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Good idea to make a case to take the battery. Throuble is lots of different battery designs.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32900272/IMG_0199.JPG)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32900272/IMG_0200.JPG)
Although not photographed here I use the old antenna from the original wireless things card for the ADSB and the dipole for the PAW. Usually it doens't leave my flight bag on the back shelf of the PS28 but I don't trust the GPS dongle when obscured by cessna wing or PA28 roof so really it needs a nice compact case that can sit on the coaming without sliding around.
About as far as I can take things but really it needs to be produced using Selective Laser Sintering (that will add a lot of cost). The printed ABS was really disapointing and distortion occured in the corners. Quite a lot of forces in the ABS printing and you need quite a big bed, ideally in a heated enclosure which is beyond the reach of many lower cost printers.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32900272/PilotAwareCase%20ModelC%20v32_Base.stl (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32900272/PilotAwareCase%20ModelC%20v32_Base.stl)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32900272/PilotAwareCase%20ModelC%20v32_Top.stl (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32900272/PilotAwareCase%20ModelC%20v32_Top.stl)
About time a mass produced case was made available!
Russ
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That is nice :D
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I used this box to mount PAW and 12V-5V PSU module. I had 2 RS232/USB cables to interface to FLARM and TRIG via the 9 pin D connector. Audio I fed out with 3.5mm socket. So box takes 12V A/C power in + FLARM info in + GPS data out to TRIG. Antennas use the PAW SMA + ADSB BNC. Box is 150x100x55 mm
http://spiratronics.com/black-abs-box-150-x-100-x-55-mm.html
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Nice to see how others had done their all in one cases, thank you for sharing.
This what I ended up with, note the heatsinks on the RTL chips, this has stopped the USB port getting so hot that it could not be touched, so I hope it will improve reliability too!
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Great to see all this innovation and also a great use of the stickers from the show.
Please keep sharing your bespoke ideas.
Keith
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I have ordered a big plastic box to put everything inside. Will see how that works.
I realise that if the battery is also integral, then I'd need some method of switching the power on and off (instead of just pulling the USB plug out).
I came across a USB to micro-USB cable with a switch in it, rated at up to 2 Amps. Many examples of which here's one.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Micro-USB-Power-Supply-Chargings-Cable-With-ON-OFF-Switch-150CM-For-Raspberry-Pi/112175217593
It's too long, and there may be shorter ones available.
Has anyone tried one of these?
An alternative is to physically break the cable and fit a rotary or slider switch of some sort into the box case, which might be a more robust longer term solution.
There would be a chance that a rocker switch could easily be switched on inside your flight bag and drain the battery unintentionally.
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I realise that if the battery is also integral, then I'd need some method of switching the power on and off (instead of just pulling the USB plug out).
I came across a USB to micro-USB cable with a switch in it, rated at up to 2 Amps. Many examples of which here's one.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Micro-USB-Power-Supply-Chargings-Cable-With-ON-OFF-Switch-150CM-For-Raspberry-Pi/112175217593
No idea what they are like, but they need to have 20AWG cable for for the power lines as a minimum to prevent voltage drop that will cause problems. I'd ask the vendor to state the cable AWG and the cross sectional area in mm2 and see what they say. Never ask if it complies with this or that, they will always just say yes regardless.
Note that for AWG the higher the number the thinner the cable, so the lower the number the thicker the cable.
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David
I have tried one of those, I had power problems with it. So if you get one it may cause you a few for you, you take your chance.