FLARM FIRMWARE UPDATE

[miltonpilot JLH]

I have a PowerFlarm Portable that I have been using for the past 5 years. Each year I have updated the firmware as required and it has never been a problem until now. In the past few days I have tried numerous times to update the firmware and each time the unit says it cannot find the file on the SD card.

I go to the Flarm website, download the latest firmware on to my laptop and then transfer the file to the SD card, then I put the SD card in the Flarm Portable, power it up, select "Info" and then "Upload". What am I doing wrong?

[kinsell]

On 3/24/23 5:25 PM, miltonpilot JLH wrote:
> I have a PowerFlarm Portable that I have been using for the past 5 years. Each year I have updated the firmware as required and it has never been a problem until now. In the past few days I have tried numerous times to update the firmware and each time the unit says it cannot find the file on the SD card.
>
> I go to the Flarm website, download the latest firmware on to my laptop and then transfer the file to the SD card, then I put the SD card in the Flarm Portable, power it up, select "Info" and then "Upload". What am I doing wrong?

I think you're trying to use the procedure to update the Flarmnet data
base with what is used to update the PF firmware.

Just make sure the firmware is at the top level of the SD card, power up
the unit, and wait a while as the firmware is installed automatically.

[Mark Mocho]

I believe that there can only be one properly named version of the firmware available. Having both last year's version and the current version causes upload problems.

I may be wrong, as I am using last year's brain.

[miltonpilot JLH]

On Friday, March 24, 2023 at 6:36:40 PM UTC-7, Mark Mocho wrote:
> I believe that there can only be one properly named version of the firmware available. Having both last year's version and the current version causes upload problems.
>
> I may be wrong, as I am using last year's brain.

What confounds me is that I am using the same procedure that I have used successfully for the past 5 years yet this time it is not working. And yes, I did remove the previous version of the firmware from the SD card and then installed the latest version (7.20 according to the Flarm website) but no joy.

I also tried doing a factory reset on my Flarm unit but that made no difference. Lastly, I removed the 7.20 version and reinstalled the previous version (7.07) and when I turned on the unit it immediately recognized last year's version (which, according to the Flarm website will not work after March 31, 2023). It makes me think that the 7.20 version may have a bug in it or maybe my SD card is corrupted.

Any ideas?

[Dan Daly]

Are you sure you're not using the 7.20 for the Fusion?

[Nicholas Kennedy]

I have had best results with Formatting my SD card 1st, every year, and then load the new firmware, that way there is nothing else on the SD card.
Nick
T

[Dan Marotta]

I just updated mine.

I keep an SD card in a desk drawer at the airport and I downloaded the
.fw file to the hard drive, moved it to the SD card, and changed the
unbelievably long name to simply, Flarm_7.20.fw. I inserted the SD card
into my PF Portable and turned it on. After it was up, I pressed the
knob, turned it until I got to Info, selected that and then Update.

The unit loaded the firmware and restarted. Just to be sure, I powered
it down and then up and it came up with v.7.20.

Dan
5J

[miltonpilot JLH]

Dan, I think you may have solved my problem. I won't know for sure until Monday when I can get back to the glider and try again.

I went back to the Flarm website, download firmware and as I scrolled down, I came to this:

"PowerFLARM Core and PowerFLARM Portable
Download Firmware version 7.20
Release Notes"

It clearly says "PowerFLARM Portable" which is what I have so that is what I downloaded. However, since your note I went back to the Flarm website and scrolled down further to see this:

Classic FLARM & Classic FLARM-based OEM devices
FOR F4-F9, TRX-1500, TRX-2000, FLARMMOUSE, LX8000/9000 SERIES WITH CLASSIC FLARM, LX5000, LX RED BOX, LX MINI BOX/MOBILE, ECW100, FLYTEC
DOWNLOAD FIRMWARE VERSION 7.09 FOR DEVICES WITH AN SD-CARD SLOT

I've now downloaded 7.09 to my SD card and I think this will work. Thanks for steering me in the right direction.

[Dan Marotta]

Well, I hope it helped but, if you have a PowerFlarm portable, that's
what you should use. Isn't the "Classic" Flarm used in Europe and
"Power" Flarm used in the USA? (Assuming you're in the US.)

Dan
5J

[miltonpilot JLH]

Dan, I am in the US (Reno, Nevada, Region 11). There has been NO glider flying here this year because of the weather...we are getting rain and/or snow every few days and the temps have been 20° below average. Some fun (not). JLH/H4

[Dan Marotta]

Here, too, at Moriarty, NM. Snow and cold every day, but the buds on
the trees are swelling and it'll be soaring time again soon.

Dan
5J

[Ramy]

If you have powerflarm core or portable, The correct file is the powerflarm core/portable, NOT the classic, this will not work.
There is another file for Fusion.

Ramy

[miltonpilot JLH]

3/27/23: Today I finally got my PowerFlarm Portable firmware to update to version 7.20 (the 7.20 version from the Flarm website that says for '"PowerFLARM Core and PowerFLARM Portable"). I won't go into all the ways I tried to make this work before today but for those interested, here is the step by step way that I got it to work: 1. Download version 7.20 from the part of the Flarm website that says "PowerFLARM Core and PowerFLARM Portable" to my laptop. 2. Take the micro SD card out of my PowerFlarm Portable and plug it into my laptop. 3. Format the micro SD card. 4. Transfer the 7.20 file from my laptop to the micro SD card (now the ONLY thing on the micro SD card is the 7.20 file). Next, and IMPORTANTLY, I had saved a backup of everything on the micro SD card from last year. 5. Transfer the following files from the backup to the micro SD card: FLARMCFG.TX, FLARMDEV.CSV, PFP00883.DMP, PFP00883.TXT . Now, including the version 7.20 firmware file, there are 5 files on the micro SD card. 6. Take the micro SD card out of the laptop and put it back in the PowerFlarm Portable. 7. Power up the Flarm. 8. Select "INFO" and then select "UPLOAD". That should do it, at least it did for me. JLH/H4

[Moshe Braner]

On 3/27/2023 9:55 PM, miltonpilot JLH wrote:
>
> 3/27/23: Today I finally got my PowerFlarm Portable firmware to update to version 7.20 (the 7.20 version from the Flarm website that says for '"PowerFLARM Core and PowerFLARM Portable"). I won't go into all the ways I tried to make this work before today but for those interested, here is the step by step way that I got it to work: 1. Download version 7.20 from the part of the Flarm website that says "PowerFLARM Core and PowerFLARM Portable" to my laptop. 2. Take the micro SD card out of my PowerFlarm Portable and plug it into my laptop. 3. Format the micro SD card. 4. Transfer the 7.20 file from my laptop to the micro SD card (now the ONLY thing on the micro SD card is the 7.20 file). Next, and IMPORTANTLY, I had saved a backup of everything on the micro SD card from last year. 5. Transfer the following files from the backup to the micro SD card: FLARMCFG.TX, FLARMDEV.CSV, PFP00883.DMP, PFP00883.TXT . Now, including the version 7.20 firmware file, there are 5 files on the micro SD card. 6. Take the micro SD card out of the laptop and put it back in the PowerFlarm Portable. 7. Power up the Flarm. 8. Select "INFO" and then select "UPLOAD". That should do it, at least it did for me. JLH/H4
>

I think you meant INFO / UPDATE (rather than UPLOAD)?

The FLARMCFG.TXT file holds your FLARM configuration, for example your
aircraft type and ICAO ID. The FLARM automatically loads the
configuration from the card (menus not involved). If you don't put this
file on the card then the FLARM will keep its current configuration,
which is probably OK.

When I do the annual firmware update I usually put a config file on the
card that only includes this one line:
PFLAC,S,CLEARLOGS
That is to clear the old flight logs from the FLARM's internal memory.
You should also clear them from the SD card. Start fresh with plenty of
room and less confusion about which flight log is which. With this mini
config file the other settings are kept as-is. Of course you don't want
the clearing of all flight logs to happen every time you start up the
FLARM. For that reason I use a different SD card for updates than for
normal operation.

The other files you mentioned are not needed, AFAIK.

[miltonpilot JLH]

Moshe, you are correct...I meant INFO / UPDATE. As far as the other files go, I tried the update without those 4 files and it would not work but it did work once I added those 4 files. Only the Shadow knows... :). JLH/H4

[Dan Marotta]

I only put the SD card in the PF Portable once per year; to update the
firmware. Also, I don't clean up the SD card; I just add the latest
firmware file to it.

So, will the PF overwrite old flight logs when/if it fills up? I don't
use it for downloading flights. I use my ClearNav for that.

Dan
5J

[Moshe Braner]

On 3/28/2023 10:42 AM, Dan Marotta wrote:
> I only put the SD card in the PF Portable once per year; to update the
> firmware.  Also, I don't clean up the SD card; I just add the latest
> firmware file to it.
>
> So, will the PF overwrite old flight logs when/if it fills up?  I don't
> use it for downloading flights.  I use my ClearNav for that.

Adding a firmware update file to an SD card that already has an older
such file on it is not a good idea. Maybe the FLARM knows how to choose
the latest, maybe not. I make sure only one such file is there.

You can't download flight logs from the Portable PowerFLARM (at least)
without an SD card in the slot, and without first asking it (via menu
INFO / IGC readout) to copy the logs from internal memory to the card.
After that you can take the SD card out and get the flight logs from it,
or download flight logs via a serial cable using a connected app (such
as XCsoar/Tophat). I use the FLARM as my IGC certified flight recorder,
and pre-declare tasks within it (so they will appear in the flight logs)
by entering the task in Tophat and then tapping the button in Tophat
that tells it to send the task to the FLARM. If you only want the
flight logs created by your Clearnav independently of the FLARM, you can
ignore all of that.

[Dan Daly]

On Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 10:42:34 AM UTC-4, Dan Marotta wrote:
> I only put the SD card in the PF Portable once per year; to update the
> firmware. Also, I don't clean up the SD card; I just add the latest
> firmware file to it.
>
> So, will the PF overwrite old flight logs when/if it fills up? I don't
> use it for downloading flights. I use my ClearNav for that.
>
> Dan
> 5J

Dan - from p36 of the PowerFLARM Portable manual v3.41: "PowerFLARM has internal memory for around 100 hours of flight recording at a 4s interval. Flight recording automatically starts when the aircraft starts moving and ends when PowerFLARM is switched OFF or after more than 10 minutes of standstill. When
the memory is full, the oldest flights are overwritten first."
Dan
2D

[Dan Marotta]

Thanks. Everything you said, I can do via the menus of the ClearNav. I
would guess that the PF Portable detects the creation date of the
firmware file so there's no problem with that. And, as I said earlier
(I think), I pull out the SD card after updating the firmware.

Dan
5J

[Dan Marotta]

😃😃

Dan
5J