Flarm on Tophat

Gregg Leslie

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Apr 17, 2023, 8:20:32 AM4/17/23

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Has anyone been able to display targets on a Droid based device on Tophat from Powerflarm Core or Power Flarm? If so what components do you need to make it work? Its currently hooked up to Clearnav.

Golf Lima

Dan Marotta

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Apr 17, 2023, 11:03:56 AM4/17/23

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It's been a long time since I did that but... I made some Cat 5 cables
and, using K6BT multiplexers, made serial connections between my
PowerFlarm portable to the multiplexer and then to my Dell Streak 5 via
Bluetooth and to my ClearNav via serial cable.

I was running XCSoar on the Streak, but Tophat is a clone with a
different face so it should work. Operationally, the XCSoar software
was kinda of a pain to use to its max extent. IIRC, targets displayed
on the main screen simply as a small icon and, to learn anything about
them, I had to select a different screen. I don't recall how that was done.

Since my Streak eventually migrated to the right seat in the Stemme for
my wife's use when I installed the ClearNav in the left side, and she
didn't use the Flarm capability, I removed it from the Streak.

For me, the Streak/XCSoar is pretty much a flight timer but it's great
for wave flying as it provides a good, zoomed-in flight track to stay in
a weak wave.

Looking at Amazon I see many serial to Bluetooth or wifi adapters for
very low prices. Be creative!

Dan
5J

Moshe Braner

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Apr 17, 2023, 9:30:55 PM4/17/23

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On 4/17/2023 8:20 AM, Gregg Leslie wrote:
> Has anyone been able to display targets on a Droid based device on Tophat from Powerflarm Core or Power Flarm? If so what components do you need to make it work? Its currently hooked up to Clearnav.
>
> Golf Lima
>

I've been using Tophat on a Nook e-reader connected to a FLARM for
several years. There is a serial port inside the Nook (and similarly
inside a Kobo), but it's at TTL voltage levels. So one needs to add a
TTL to RS232 level converter module. I managed to place it inside the
Nook. (On a Kobo Mini I added it externally, embedded into what used to
be an RJ45 coupler.) It takes some hardware hacking effort to set it
up, it requires soldering thin wires to some very tiny pads on the
circuit board. Once done, this setup is quite handy, since Tophat can
then send tasks to the FLARM, and retrieve (IGC certified) flight logs
from the FLARM.

Since the Android devices (even the old e-readers) generally are capable
of wireless connectivity (WiFi and/or Bluetooth), it would be nice if
FLARM would allow wireless data output. Does the newfangled FLARM
Fusion allow that? SoftRF offers that...

Another option is to wire the FLARM to a device that can re-transmit the
data wirelessly. It can be a "dongle" dedicated for the purpose,
bridging serial and wireless, some are (or were?) available
commercially. Or it can be a device that does that as a side-effect.
For example, XCVario (a current-production electronic vario) can do
that: accept data from FLARM via serial cable (it comes with the cable
ready to plug into a FLARM) and pass it on to XCsoar/Tophat via WiFi or
Bluetooth. And it also offers an audiovisual notice of FLARM collision
alarms.

Gregg Leslie

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Apr 18, 2023, 8:47:11 PM4/18/23

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Yes, I have Top Hat on a Samsung A7, I was going to hard wire it but a Dongle might be easier

Gregg Leslie

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Apr 18, 2023, 9:24:30 PM4/18/23

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Can anyone recommend a RJ45-blue tooth Dongle?

Dan Marotta

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Apr 19, 2023, 12:00:24 PM4/19/23

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How about something like one of these?

https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Wireless-Bluetooth-Transceiver-Arduino/dp/B071YJG8DR/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=serial+to+bluetooth&sr=8-9Dan

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=serial+to+bluetooth&page=2&ref=sr_pg_1

Just get creative. The ideal solution would be a K6BT but I can't find
them on the web any more. Maybe someone has a spare...

5J

Moshe Braner

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Apr 19, 2023, 1:17:30 PM4/19/23

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On 4/19/2023 12:00 PM, Dan Marotta wrote:
> How about something like one of these?
>
> https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Wireless-Bluetooth-Transceiver-Arduino/dp/B071YJG8DR/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=serial+to+bluetooth&sr=8-9Dan
>
>
> https://www.amazon.com/s?k=serial+to+bluetooth&page=2&ref=sr_pg_1
>
> Just get creative. The ideal solution would be a K6BT but I can't find
> them on the web any more. Maybe someone has a spare...
>
> 5J
>
> On 4/18/23 19:24, Gregg Leslie wrote:
>> On Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 8:47:11 PM UTC-4, Gregg Leslie wrote:

>> ... Can anyone recommend a RJ45-blue tooth Dongle?

That HiLetgo adapter also needs a TTL-RS232 converter, an RJ45 cable,
and more. Maybe this one can be adapted: need a DB9 cable and a 5V DC
power source:
https://www.amazon.com/DSD-TECH-SH-B23A-Bluetooth-Converter/dp/B07FP6NZB7

A complete off-the-shelf RJ45 (IGC standard pinout) to Bluetooth (or
WiFi) adapter would be a lot easier. Something like this:
https://wingsandwheels.com/naviter-bluetooth-dongles.html
or
https://www.cumulus-soaring.com/store/naviter-bluetooth-dongle
(choose the FLARM version). I wish there was something less expensive,
but these must be custom-built? Hopefully it will work with Tophat on
the chosen Android device. Bluetooth LE comes in several flavors, it seems.

Kari Mettinen

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Apr 19, 2023, 1:58:00 PM4/19/23

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The exact one I have (to talk to a 302 instead of a FLARM) isn't available but is pretty much exactly same as this https://www.amazon.com/Comimark-Bluetooth-Adapter-Communication-Master-Slave/dp/B07XLC5WDM/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=bluetooth+serial+5V&qid=1681926882&sr=8-2