Mikes News Items

21^st June 2010

Congratulations to happy B500 owner Enrique Mertins for winning the Region 5 South contest 15M Class, Cordele Georgia, in his ASW-27!

1ST May 2010

PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW UK ARRANGEMENTS.

UK pilots can now buy BORGELT products factory direct. In fact this is the only way we sell into the UK currently and we think we will be able to better serve our customers this way. There is no “on-line shop” as such as variometer system purchases, in our experience, usually require some advice and consideration. Just drop us an email and we'll be happy to respond. If you want a face to face conversation we'll talk to you via SKYPE (free PC to PC with video, just arrange a time by email first, please) or telephone.

We take Visa, Mastercard or you can pay by bank transfer.

REMEMBER – Australia is less than 24 hours further away than anywhere else on the planet when physical goods must be transported and with email, Skype or telephone there's no distance barrier

30^th April 2010

The B500 is now the B500b. The only hardware change is that the GPS is internally different and this lets us re-arrange the software to speed up the internal processing. The vario can be configured for faster response for those who want this although most pilots will find the standard factory settings quite fast enough in our experience.

A side benefit of the new internal processing is that the GCD can now display data from other external sensors, initially the engine data from our twin jet self launcher project.

All older B500's can be upgraded to B500b standard. Most will require the new GPS and some will require a new main processor card. The upgrade is not expensive. Contact us for details.

10^th August 2009

B500 owners should download the latest B500 software from the website. There have been various minor fixes to several parts of the B500 software. While you may not have noticed any problems you might notice that your vario will work a little better once you have installed these updates.

Don't forget to run customer mode to check the polar and your vario setup settings after the upgrade.

The two channel audio settings are now non-volatile in that the settings will survive power cycles unchanged. We're still experimenting with this but have found that if you put the speakers vertically in line with your ears you can tell which speaker the sound is coming from even when you turn your head which you should of course be doing much of the time for lookout.

More test flying is scheduled soon and recommendations will be posted here and later incorporated in the manual.

Please follow the update instructions in the manual explicitly. One or two owners have managed to apparently kill a processor in their B500 while attempting an upgrade. We have found the cause of this recently so if this happens don't panic. Contact us for recovery instructions.

Southern hemisphere pilots or those shipping their gliders to the southern hemisphere should consider getting their instrumentation in order for the new season. Don't wait until the week before you you intend flying to buy the new instruments you promised yourself at the end of last season.

Maybe it is time to retire that old Winter, PZL, Sage or Bohli mechanical vario.

A new 2009 version B400 will work better, requires no flask and gives you audio and averager. A far better backup in the event of power failure in your glider.

Darling Downs Soaring Club have recently upgraded their single seat fleet to B500 varios. This instrument is far more than just a variometer as it performs navigation, wind and final glide functions and sends GPS, air data and vario settings via a serial port to PDAs or our full function B2500 glide computer with voice outputs. The B500 is an excellent main variometer system for all gliders intended for cross country flying.

If you haven't had a look at your total energy probe recently now is a good time. If your probe isn't of the two hole modified Irving type we can supply one. Customer feedback is that our CNC machined probes work extremely well

As ever, we're on email or the phone to advise on any difficulties you are having with instruments or on proper installation.

10th February 2009

B2000 owners can upgrade to B2500 hardware and software for A$900 ex tax and get the B2500 advantages of database handling by mini SD card and voice warnings including a dedicated voice landing gear warning circuit.

Contact us for details.

7th February 2009

UK clubs and pilots -

We're running a factory pre season special deal on B500 system for UK orders placed in February and March 2009. Contact us direct for a factory direct, great deal on a new B500 system completely set up to your requirements.

More than just a full function cross country variometer system the B500 incorporates a navigation/glide/wind computer, its own high performance GPS module and a controller/display module based on the same ergonomic principals as those in some jet fighters. Only ONE standard panel hole is required (either 57mm or 80mm). In most club gliders this is all the advanced instrumentation required and those who want to use a PDA can bring their own and utilise the GPS and Air Data stream from the B500.

If you are a top contest pilot the B500 is for you too. When using a PDA it is a good idea to have a backup *when* not if , the PDA fails. Or use the B2500 full function glide computer or any other device capable of utilising the B500 data stream.

A new PDA_PS module will supply power to the PDA and share data between a Flight Recorder, Flarm and the B500 and PDA and also drive the new B2500 flight computer (see details and manual under “products”on the site). This vastly simplifies installation of all these devices in the glider as all the switching and power distribution is taken care of.

The PDA_PS combiner board module also provides all Flarm traffic information on the PDA as well as pressure altitude which is necessary to avoid contest penalties for airspace infringements (just ask one of the competitors at the recent Australian Nationals at Benalla how important this is).

USA Soaring Pilots -

With the weakness of the Australian dollar now is the time to buy a B400, B500 or B2500 or any combination.

Check the prices and features and we think you'll find outstanding value here.

B2500

After more than a year of testing by some top contest pilots in Australia the B2500 flight computer is released with all design features operational.

Building on the B2000, we have simplified, added database support via the mini SD card (same as for the latest B500) which it much easier to maintain and change the databases and really changes the nature of the instrument as the addition of the card did for the B500.

There are also simple status indicator LEDs and voice outputs including a dedicated voice landing gear warning circuit. The voice is user alterable by recording the messages on your PC using common sound editing software.

The B2500 has low power requirements – only 60 to 70mA at 12 volts so unlike some flight computers will not place severe demands on glider electrical power systems. Your old batteries should be fine and last a long time. Only the space occupied by one 80mm panel hole is required.

Jet project

We are anticipating delivery of our two turbines in February. Much work has been done on these and on selecting battery systems for starting and running the fuel pumps. Circuit boards for the extend/retract, pilot control and spark ignition units have been fabricated.

The engine data will be presented on the B500 GCD when the engines are running. This is made possible by the modular network architecture of the B500 system. The engine controllers will share data on the network.

The powered wheel concept is closer with selection of batteries and the electric motor.

Stay tuned.

New Dealers

Mr Peter Wlassics is our new dealer in Sweden and Japanese customers can buy from Mr Hitoshi Itoh of Aero Vision. See under “dealers”