Anyone ever built one of these?

Camera's, GPSs and other Gizmos (please let me know if you find an existing thread to be moved into this NEW section)
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Andy Young
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Post by Andy Young »

Ok, I figured out what I was doing wrong. I didn't realize that the connection to the Stratux was via a wifi signal, not Bluetooth. Didn't read carefully enough the first time. Seems to be working fine now.

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Mog
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Post by Mog »

Andy, the Stratux box is virtually exactly the same as the stratus box. You can get full gps with Waas and AHRS. Wifi connection is as simple as it could possibly be. And if built/packaged correctly it's the same size or smaller than a stratus box. Certainly nothing wrong with spending the dough for a stratus unit but for me the Stratux was the way to go and it has every single option the stratus box has at the moment.

andy wrote:I have the Stratus II with ForeFlight Pro on my iPad mini. The Stratus II hardware and software is extremely well designed but of course you have to spend $900 for it. The battery really does last 8 hours and connecting to it is the simplest of any wi-fi device that I've ever encountered. The connection is rock solid and never drops. Can't say the same for the GoPro camera.

The integration of the Stratus with ForeFlight is really amazing. Obviously, ForeFlight was designed specifically for the Stratus.

The Stratus II is small enough to fit in my flight bag inside its protective cover and rugged enough to survive a few drops when the suction cup gave way.

It's amazing that Appareo crammed a GPS WAAS receiver, ADS-B-In receiver, their antennas and an AHRS into a box this size and which performs all of its functions so well.

It's not that I don't like to build less expensive, cool electronics (which I do) but there's more to these complicated little boxes than just the ADS-B receiver, which is why I think the $900 is worth it.

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Mog
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Post by Mog »

Have you "downloaded" the Stratux app for your iPad? It allows you to see the status of the unit and choose a few options etc as well as input your Transponder hex code so the unit Dorset show your plane as traffic.
Andy Young wrote:Ok, I figured out what I was doing wrong. I didn't realize that the connection to the Stratux was via a wifi signal, not Bluetooth. Didn't read carefully enough the first time. Seems to be working fine now.

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Andy Young
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Post by Andy Young »

Didn't know there was an app; I'll look for it. I flew with it for the first time this evening, and it didn't seem to be seeing my plane anyway. I did notice two things I'm wondering about:

1. All the traffic that it did show had "0" listed in the relative altitude field. When I tried it at showed what seemed to be correct relative altitudes, though now that I think about it, I'm not sure how the unit knew what altitude it was at.

2. The screen almost constantly showed "radar data not available", even though the radar weather had shown up just fine at home over the Internet. Could it be that my local towers weren't broadcasting weather radar data for some reason, or is it more likely a problem with my set-up?

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Mog
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Post by Mog »

You need to go into the UI and set the Stratux up first. It's a simple process like flipping a switch in the settings of your iPad. The instructions below will get you connected to the UI. This may be why you had issues. You most likely will not receive weather on the ground as you are not high enough to receive the tower signals. You will receive a little traffic directly from planes but you should see Moreno cel you get a few hundred feet off the ground and can see the towers. The towers will relay some of the non ADS-B out planes as traffic based on their Mode C transponder. Anyways, connecting to the UI to set it up should help you a lot. And remember you cannot use the GPS or AHRS if you did not add the GPS unit. If you do add a GPS at some point be sure to look into the GPS with Baro and AHRS.

Be sure that your iPad is connected to Stratux wifi. Open Safari and enter 192.168.10.1

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Andy Young
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Post by Andy Young »

So where are guys placing the antennas for these things? I have my temporarily on the glare shield, but I don't like them there. I wonder if they'd work in the back, behind the rear bulkhead? They'd see through the fabric just fine, but I wonder if the frame tubes would block the signal? I also thought about putting them at the top of the diagonal tubes that are just behind the windshield, and laying them sideways. Not sure if they need to be vertical or not. Anyone know?

By the way, I have two antennas, as I am picking up both 978 and 1090.

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Post by Mog »

I have been running mine in the back seat. It seems to work well back there. There is little reason as I see it to put it on the glare shield with the reception these have. I will eventually zip tie mine to a tube behind the back bulkhead and do not expect any reception issues since I don't get them in the cabin already. The WIFI signal goes well outside the dimensions of the plane and in fact I believe a person flying close formation could even pick it up as well.

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