LXNAV with Condor

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Angry Ivy
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Joined: Sat May 09, 2020 4:26 pm

LXNAV with Condor

Post by Angry Ivy » Sat Sep 19, 2020 11:36 am

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone had some luck in connecting one of the LXNAV instruments (LX8000 or LX9000 series) with condor. In the LX manual I see it might be possible, but before removing the equipment from my glider which is stored in another country, I was hoping to find someone who managed to make this work.

As an extra: LXNAV now has the option to display real life weather on your map. I suppose this should still work while connected to condor? I understand that the real weather displayed on the LX doesn’t reflect the weather in condor, but I would love to play around a bit and see how this works on the instrument before using it in real life.

Anyway, would love to get some input.
-IV-

mbamberg
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Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 6:40 am

Re: LXNAV with Condor

Post by mbamberg » Sun Aug 29, 2021 7:23 am

I recently bought the LX5PC cable to try my LX9000 with the serial port of my computer.

I'll post here when I figure out all the steps.

Mike B

Marsmaensch
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Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:06 pm

Re: LXNAV with Condor

Post by Marsmaensch » Mon Sep 13, 2021 1:47 pm

Connect the LXxxxx via the LX5PC cable to a serial/USB-Serial on your computer, and give the LXxxxx 12V-Power (preferably via a Fuse).
Enter the Condor/Simulator Password on your LXxxxx and setup the Serial port in the Condor menu.
Then Start a flight.

That should be all, if not I don't remember if I had to adjust a baud rate.

You have to realize however, that the vario data is not being used by the LXxxxx (as this expects vario data from another source) so some info boxes as well as the whole vario unit wont show the data you expect from condor (mostly just static 0 because it sits on your table or is not even connected).

(Weather display of whatever happens outside should work fine)

mbamberg
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Re: LXNAV with Condor

Post by mbamberg » Sat Dec 25, 2021 2:40 am

All,

I have finally been able to get my LX9000 running with my Condor setup. It's pretty easy: get the cable, connect it to a serial port (or to a USB-Serial cable), start the LX90XX, use the Password 55556 in the setup of the LX90xx (it will not be in Condor mode after a power cycle), make sure the baud rates match and you have the correct COM selected in Condor, then start Condor. After the scenery loads and the glider is moving, the LX90XX will display the data. You do need to make sure the Map/Turnpoints are in the LX and selected.

The only problem I've found is that the Condor PDA map and the LX90XX map are not coincident. What I mean is that the location of the glider on the LX seems to be different than the location on the Condor PDA.

I have been researching the location of turnpoints in RL against the locations in Condor and they are net always the same. I know I can load a "Personal" turnpoint file in Condor, but that means that my turnpoint is not the same as a fellow pilot flying the same task. I might turn too early or late if the difference is a lot. I run a club Condor season in the winter and we've had a couple instances where a pilot, using an external flight computer, turned when the external indicated the turnpoint had been reached. so far as Condor is concerned, the task was not completed.

Realistically though, I have found that try to use the LX for racing in Condor, is not as good as the Condor PDA! However, using the sim to learn the LX has been a great experience.

Mike

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dgtfer
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Re: LXNAV with Condor

Post by dgtfer » Sun Dec 26, 2021 12:10 pm

mbamberg wrote:
Sat Dec 25, 2021 2:40 am

The only problem I've found is that the Condor PDA map and the LX90XX map are not coincident. What I mean is that the location of the glider on the LX seems to be different than the location on the Condor PDA.
The only reason I can see on Condor side would be a decalibration of the scenery.
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mbamberg
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Re: LXNAV with Condor

Post by mbamberg » Tue Feb 15, 2022 4:28 am

Actually, the problem is that the Lat/Long in Condor does not match the one in the RL turnpoint file.

I went though about 20 turnpoints and very few were close. None were the same!

I think it is because the landscape designers are perhaps using a old TP file, and they rarely for back to refine the points.

Again, it's not a problem except when you're trying to use an external Flight computer.

MB

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dgtfer
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Location: Marseille - france

Re: LXNAV with Condor

Post by dgtfer » Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:32 am

You can use your own TP file, it just needs to have the proper .cup format.
Just replace the "Yourscenery".cup file in Documents\Condor\Turnpoints.
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Bre901
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Re: LXNAV with Condor

Post by Bre901 » Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:44 am

mbamberg wrote:
Tue Feb 15, 2022 4:28 am
Actually, the problem is that the Lat/Long in Condor does not match the one in the RL turnpoint file.

I went though about 20 turnpoints and very few were close. None were the same!

I think it is because the landscape designers are perhaps using a old TP file, and they rarely for back to refine the points.

Again, it's not a problem except when you're trying to use an external Flight computer.

MB
Isn't it possible to upload the task with its turnpoints (wherever they come from) to the LX ?
It works with XCSoar, LK8000 and SeeYou ...
CN: MPT — CondorUTill webpage: https://condorutill.fr/

sasa
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Re: LXNAV with Condor

Post by sasa » Wed Feb 16, 2022 12:24 am

I successfully connected my colleague LX9000 to Condor. To convert the Condor task to the LX9000 version, I used the CoTaCo option to generate .cup files. The generated .cup file is saved to Gdisk, which the LX9000 downloads from Gdisk using the built-in Wifi. With the second script, I also generate a task file for XCsoar that is sent directly to the tablet running XCsoar.

With com0com and hub4com, NMEA sequences are sent simultaneously to Xcsoar and LX9000.

The only problem is that the LX9000 expects the wind direction to be rotated 180 degrees compared to what the condor sends in the $ LXWP0 sequence so the wind on the LX9000 is turned wrong. The LX9000 behaves the same as when the LXNAV driver is selected on the XCsoar.
To solve the wind problem I initially wrote a small gawk script that turns the wind and calculates a new NMEA cksum. It worked for a while for a colleague but there were problems. His screen went black several times, so he had to turn off his computer. The Gawk script was running on the ubuntu console, so it is possible that this was a problem.
Last weekend I wrote a program to turn the wind in C. We set it up yesterday, on a colleague’s computer.
In the end, we finished with the 64-bit version and launched the program to modify wind from shortcut, which also defined 2 arguments (Rx and Tx COM port). The 32bit version did not work on his computer, nor did it run from a .bat file.
Last night everything seemed to work OK. Today, my discord didn't work at the time when a condor task was flying, so I still don't know if everything is ok with what we installed or if his computer crashed again.

from condor => $LXWP0,Y,104.9,1397.8,-1.15,,,,,,78,017,17.0*55
converted .....=> $LXWP0,Y,104.9,1397.8,-1.15,,,,,,78,197,17.0*5C
wind direction
NMEA cksum

configuration:

Code: Select all

hub4com --octs=off --no-default-fc-route=All:All --route=0:1,2 --baud=4800 \\.\CNCB0 \\.\CNCA1 --use-driver=tcp --reconnect=1000 192.168.0.14:4353
LXrwindCom CNCB1 COM6

Code: Select all

Condor ==> CNCA0-CNCB0 --+--> CNCA1-CNCB1 --> LXrwindCom --> COM6 ==> LX9000 
                         |
                         +--> TCP to IP:4353 => xcsoar server TCP port 4353

We also contacted the guys from LXNav and they said they would look into the wind problem and fix it at LX or Condor.
Last week a colleague sent me a photo attached. He took the instrument table out of his DG300 and now the Condor is flying the LX9000 and the XCSoar :).
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Image

Penshurst
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Re: LXNAV with Condor

Post by Penshurst » Tue Apr 12, 2022 7:47 am

I am pleased to say that Condor now works well with lxnav 9070 (other than the wind direction indicator). I have used CotaCo to convert a Condor task to a .cup file, but I have not been able to upload it to the 9070. Any assistance would be appreciated.
Regards, Jacob

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Bre901
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Re: LXNAV with Condor

Post by Bre901 » Tue Apr 12, 2022 9:30 am

Answer in the CoTaCo thread, as it is more a CoTaCo problem
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=18102&p=178882#p178882

Although decent software should support backward compatibility (as SeeYou does) :roll:
CN: MPT — CondorUTill webpage: https://condorutill.fr/

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