LX8080 Gen 2 Wind Speed accuracy issue

[Adam Sayer]

Hi all,

For the last few months my LX8080 Gen 2 wind speed + direction prediction has gone completely off. This was a step change, rather than a gradual change.

For example, a day with ~10 kts of wind, will yeild 0-1 kts on the LX8080. I had a day with 40 kts at the weekend, and the LX8080 suggested it was ~5 kts. In contrast, I have an SxHAWK, which uses a different set of algorithms to the LX8080 and the results were more more believeable.

I wouldn't mind too much, but there's been too many times where the wind prediction has messed up the final glide calculation. 

I reached out to LXNav/Uros and, frustratingly, was repeatedly told this was normal and it's due to the different algorithms used. I did query whether the V8 does the calculation and whether it might have an issue, but this question wasn't answered.

Annoyingly, I can't remember when I first noticed the change happen. I was using a spare V8 from a friend last year as mine was back at LXNav getting the Artifical Horizon issue sorted (the glider showed a 10° offset in roll). And then installed 'my' V8 prior to the start of the season.

I've done a factory reset of the LX8080, tried changing the page styles to the basic one, updated the firmware to 9.0.4 (although the same issue was on 9.0.2 and the brief 9.0.3. The V8 is on beta 9.54, but was running 9.52 and 9.38(? I think) before that.

I can't imagine the pneumatics would cause this? But I did check the ASI on the LX8080 and that aligned with my ASI and LX-ADI.

I'm completely lost on this, any ideas, or suggestions would be very welcome.

Thanks,

Adam

[John Ferguson]

Have you looked at the LX80XX manual, section 8.2.1.3 where it discusses the different methods the LX8080 can use to calculate the wind ? 

Also you should make sure you are using the latest firmware because things change between releases. As you have gen 2 device you should be aware of the gen2 GPS issues noted. 

See -  Firmware Request • LXNAV Gliding

John

[Adam Sayer]

Thanks John, and sorry for the late reply.

In answer to your question, yes I checked the Wind Calculation methods and they were activated. And yes, I had been running the temporary (9.0.4) and permenant fix firmwares (9.0.5) on the LX8080 Gen 2 and still no luck,

I went to the extreme and bought a Gen 3 LX8080 (with V8 included) running the later 9.52 firmware. That combination has the same issue too! So this suggests the root cause is in the integration of the system rather than the system itself (unless I've been super unlucky with two duff units)... I've put the glider into storage for winter now, so in March/April I will 'isolate' the LX8080 from the rest of the system (the SxHAWK and PF) and see if that changes anything. 

Cheers,