Crew Dog Stratux Pirep

So! The price has really gone up! I bought mine about 3 years ago or about $70. If you wer nextdoor I would probably give it to you. I now have IN from the transponders. It always worked well. I’ve loaned it to a few friends and it worked well for them.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
I think the more peripherals you add, the more chance for flakiness. I didn’t put in the AHRS, but I added a fan. I think heat may play a role.
Click to expand...
Well. No doubt it's a power hog, mine came with a fan.
 
Not sure if it's the same in Foreflight or anything but in FlyQ you can just add your tail number to ignore and the ghosting goes away.
 
I have had nothing but problems with my Crew Dog Stratux. I should probably reach out to them to see if they can help.

  1. When I first got it, while were on the taxiway, my instructor pointed out that Foreflight said some landing traffic above us was indicated -300 below us! When I got home I put the unit out in the back yard with a full view of the sky and sat in bed watching TV while watching ForeFlight's altitude and GPS accuracy numbers. The altitude was constantly about 100' off, but then would jump by 600-800' +/- every few minutes!
  2. After much troubleshooting, including turning off the baro sensor on the AHRS board, updating the firmware, building shielding between the internal GPS board and the SDRs, I decided to just get an external GPS receiver that plugs into the USB port in the Stratux. I considered replacing the GPS board itself but I had the newest version.
  3. With the external GPS I get much more consistent GPS readings. Although the external GPS has a 10' cord that has to be bundled up and then the receiver dome placed in some useful way. Every iteration I've tried of suction cups, mounts, etc, always seems to have some flaw that causes problems. Mounted as far back as I can on the side rear window of a Skyhawk, I occasionally still get jumps of 3,000 feet +/-, which I believe is caused by the wing blocking half the view of the sky.
  4. On the glare shield seems to be the best mounting spot, but the antennas are huge, and I had to build a leather + sticky rubber custom dash pad to hold the unit and the battery and to keep them from sliding around. One instructor I had objected to them being up there.
  5. I tried putting smaller antennas on and mounting it on the dash, but then I don't receive FIS-B at all.
  6. Overall the setup looks like cr@p. Too many wires, antennas, etc.
I have several friends who have no issues whatsoever with their Stratuxes. But mine has been a real pain. If I owned my own plane, and wasn't constantly bouncing between rentals, I am positive I could easily find a mounting/placement setup that would work well 99% of the time.

In the meantime I'm asking for a Stratus for my birthday.
 
Go to the GUI in Stratux...settings page...enter your aircraft hex code and it will no longer ghost. You can find your hex code on your registration.
 
OK old thread but my original build (2008) is still running, just had to replace the case as it was thin.

it feeds both WingX on iPad and a $30 Android tablet running both and as a backup Avare
 
NHWannabe said:
Wondering if anyone has purchased a Stratux or knows anyone who has, from this company Crew Dog?

I know I could build this myself but I'm working for a startup getting ready to launch so have 0 time.

https://www.crewdogelectronics.com/...er-aviation-weather-and-traffic-external-gps/
Click to expand...

I've a Stratux from Crewdog and have had zero issues with it. Using it for situational awareness, if you want to spend mega hundreds in the commercial space for piece of mind, it's your checkbook, but, in my experience (and I am not against the Open Source community), it works well for what you're going to use it for, and you're supporting a veteran owned company.

As a datapoint, being an inveterate hardware hacker, rf experimenter, and linux geek in real life...I did 'extend' the capabilities a bit. I built and mounted (on the plastic trim in the rear window of my 172 with 3m Dual-Lock strips...same as they give you for ezpass transponders) a dual antenna mount (chassis mount SMAs on the end of 6' of LMR200 coax) that plug into the crewdog box and a remote GPS antenna at the top of the rear window. said box is mounted to a short piece of metal rack panel tiewrapped to the rear legs of the back seat, and power was run through a 2A breaker on the avionics bus (using proper cabling by my A&P) through a power monitor (https://hamvoip.org/hamradio/power_shutdown_monitor/) to cleanly shut the Pi down (all temporarily mounted, no holes drilled in the structure, etc) when the avionics switch is turned off. Yeah, you have to hack the stratux OS to run a watchdog for the shutdown monitor and change some of the IO pin assignments, but if you're into it this far, you'll get what I am saying...;).

iPad mini on a suction cup RAM mount on the side windshield. Oh, yeah, I did spring for the Dual HUD (https://www.dualgpssolutions.com/explore-by-product/xhud1000-head-up-display); more of a toy, but, syncing to the stratux and the iPad...it's kind of neat (if a little nerdy...that's ok...).

Now, when I get in the plane, crank it up, turn on the avionics...Pi boots, iPad connects, HUD syncs...hit the calibrate button on the stratux menu...and off you go. A lot of work if it's just a burger run...but, if the flight plan calls for 2 hours, the extra 15 seconds to get everything up and operational is insignificant. Get to where I'm going...shut off the avionics, watchdog running on the Pi says "power's off...execute shutdown" . Oh, yeah, I do carry a backup chip for the Pi already configured...Just In Case.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it...;)
 
Nicely done Bryan...

BryanAV8R said:
said box is mounted to a short piece of metal rack panel tiewrapped to the rear legs of the back seat, and power was run through a 2A breaker on the avionics bus (using proper cabling by my A&P) through a power monitor (https://hamvoip.org/hamradio/power_shutdown_monitor/) to cleanly shut the Pi down (all temporarily mounted, no holes drilled in the structure, etc) when the avionics switch is turned off. Yeah, you have to hack the stratux OS to run a watchdog for the shutdown monitor and change some of the IO pin assignments
Click to expand...

Couple of questions:
1. Did you mount the hamradio board in a separate box, or inside the stratux shell? Looks like it might fit in the shell from the picture/size...and assume it wouldn't cause any cooling issues from decreased airflow. I see some extra room in my shell.

2. Have you seen the below (link) and is either method an alternative solution to the hamradio board?
https://www.reddit.com/r/stratux/comments/4k41j7/stratux_graceful_shutdown_my_solution/

Also, the HUD idea does sound fun.
 
Skyrys62 said:
Nicely done Bryan...
Click to expand...

thanks!

Couple of questions:
1. Did you mount the hamradio board in a separate box, or inside the stratux shell? Looks like it might fit in the shell from the picture/size...and assume it wouldn't cause any cooling issues from decreased airflow. I see some extra room in my shell.
Click to expand...

I just mounted it to the board on stand-offs along with the Pi, the power converter, and battery. I have to admit it was more of a 'does this work?' effort; dressing it up later is on the list of to-dos.

2. Have you seen the below (link) and is either method an alternative solution to the hamradio board?
https://www.reddit.com/r/stratux/comments/4k41j7/stratux_graceful_shutdown_my_solution/
Click to expand...

Hadn't thought of that. Going to try it here in the office (my stratux is sitting on my desk while the IA puts the ride together after installing the GFC500 and other toys).

Also, the HUD idea does sound fun.
Click to expand...
[/quote]

The few times I used it...it's a neat idea. Going to leave it on the glareshield; I can see where it has usefulness, but still thinking that the G5 pair driving my GFC is better. Nice thing is that one of the settings is a traffic display from the stratux...right in front of your nose. THAT is a bit more useful than the derived AI from the AHRS chip with GPS groundspeed and altitude next to it. But, think...30 years ago, an HUD would have cost more than a used 172...
 
Perhaps not doing a proper shutdown was the cause of my stratux issues. Given the choice of having to screw around with proper shutdown procedure for a stratux or just paying a few extra bucks for a DRX, I will run the DRX.
 
My GDL-50 bricked after a firmware update last month, and Garmin advised me to buy a new one because it was out of the 1 year warranty. Not cool for a $700 gadget.

I just ordered the basic kit from the Stratux Store on Amazon for $165. At least if it dies I can replace the components myself. Also got an external GPS and mounting bracket. Did not get a battery because I plan to run it off ships power via a USB panel outlet.

Here in Florida the glare shields get hot. I would like to mount it under my panel, but the ridiculous ADS-B antenna farm gets in the way.

Has anyone gotten the saw filter splitter that Stratux sells and run it to a TED antenna on the belly? Any tricks on that? How far would it need to be from my transponder antenna to avoid problems?
 
Last edited:
1 year only? Wow, that's rough. Can't comment on the splitter, I just use the attached antenna.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top