IFD 5 Series & IFD 4 Series Touch Screen GPS/NAV/COM

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FlyQ, Stratux, and IFD, oh my!

Printed From: Avidyne
Category: Avidyne General
Forum Name: IFD 5 Series & IFD 4 Series Touch Screen GPS/NAV/COM
Forum Description: Topics on Avidyne's IFD 5 Series and IFD 4 Series Touch Screen GPS/NAV/COM
URL: http://forums.avidyne.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2397
Printed Date: 11 May 2025 at 5:10pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: FlyQ, Stratux, and IFD, oh my!

Posted By: pburger
Subject: FlyQ, Stratux, and IFD, oh my!
Date Posted: 06 Sep 2022 at 11:05am

I have a Stratux that has been running flawlessly with my iPad for years.

Now that 10.3 allows traffic via WIFI, I thought I would add the IFD as a client to the Stratux network and grab the traffic and weather.

It doesn't work reliably. I need to do some more methodical testing, but here is what I have so far:

1. with just the Stratux and the IFD, it seems to work fine. - traffic and weather on the IFD. YAY!!

2. With the iPad connected and FlyQ loaded, I get variable results:

a. It seems that flight plan transfers work great in both directions.

b. Traffic will not show up on FlyQ and IFD at the same time.

c. It seems like I will get traffic on the IFD, but not on FlyQ most of the time.

d. I have had traffic on FlyQ and not on the IFD, but I believe that's when I found the next issue..

e. Sometimes the IFD loses its connection to the Stratux network.

I can run multiple iPads/iPhones connected to the Stratux with no problem, but when I have the IFD in the mix, things get crazy.

THEORY: My theory is that it is a FlyQ problem. I suspect FlyQ senses the connection to the IFD and tries to get everything from the IFD - including traffic and weather (the IFD can send traffic and weather to EFBs over WIFI in some circumstances --but not if that info has come from a portable WIFI source).

This probably explains why I had WIFI turned off on the IFD until now. I remember trying to connect FlyQ for flight plan transferring, but the traffic/weather would stop from the Stratux. I just gave up on that. I had forgotten about that until now.

Well, I'm giving up for now, and turning off WIFI again.

I'll give the FlyQ people a shout to see if they have any ideas.

Replies:

Posted By: pburger
Date Posted: 06 Sep 2022 at 12:09pm

Got a quick response from FlyQ tech support:

"Thanks for writing in and for the details provided!
For now, there can be only one system connected to FlyQ at the same time.
The feature that allows connecting both devices is on our roadmap and will be added in our future releases.
For now, please pick one system to connect to FlyQ at a time."

This is what I remember from a couple of years ago when I was trying to connect all three together.

Short-term: IFD WIFI off. Traffic and Weather on iPad only.

Posted By: pburger
Date Posted: 06 Sep 2022 at 12:22pm

One last thing to try tonight:

In the IFD I will set the Stratux device to ALWAYS, and I will set the FlyQ iPad to BLOCKED.

Maybe that will let me have traffic and weather on both the iPad and the IFD. I suspect the FlyQ will still "see" the IFD, and still try to connect and somehow that will interfere with the connection to the Stratux.

Posted By: pburger
Date Posted: 07 Sep 2022 at 7:55am

No joy. Even with the iPad IP address blocked in the IFD, FlyQ still “sees” the IFD and tries to connect, which apparently screws up the connection with the Stratux.

SOLUTION:

I’d prefer to have traffic & weather on the iPad AND the IFD, so I’m going to put in a second dedicated Stratux for the IFD. Easy peasy. I won’t have flight plan transfer between FlyQ and the IFD, but I can live without that.

Posted By: kurtfly
Date Posted: 07 Sep 2022 at 9:35am

I had a similar issue with my Dynon Skyview, IFD, and FlyQ. I ultimately stopped using FlyQ and changed to Foreflight. I have notified Seattle Avionics FlyQ about this 2 years ago. They still have not fixed it. It is totally unusable when you have 2 GPS sources on same network (Skyview and IFD).

Foreflight has some issues with pushing flight plans as you cannot select who to push it to. But it does allow you to get flight plans from any device via the Foreflight Device tab.

Kurt

-------------
Kurt

Posted By: pburger
Date Posted: 07 Sep 2022 at 5:28pm

kurtfly - Yep, I had this same gripe with Seattle Avionics way back when, too. I brought it up at Oshkosh, I emailed them, etc. Their software automatically connects to devices, and it only connects to one at a time. Maybe they'll work on that, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm not sure what the status of their operation is since they were bought out. I'm a lifetime subscription holder, though, so it's free for me to keep using FlyQ.

My second Stratux will be up and running this weekend, and that'll be that.

Posted By: PA23
Date Posted: 08 Sep 2022 at 10:14am

I have the issue with a StratuX and an IFD440. This is in my friend's plane which I tend to fly a lot.

Scenario is the IFD connects to the StratuX (most current version of the StratuX software - released May 2022?) fine, everything appears to work correctly but after what could be a few or tens of minutes I start getting various datalink messages, some yellow and some blue. In addition I'll get the no traffic symbol on the screen and my tablet stops receiving data from the StratuX.

I personally have a few theories as to what is going on and they are pointing at the IFD. I'm planning on loading up a Wi-Fi network analyzer which can not only capture the data packets but the Wi-Fi control data as well (eg beacons). It's possible it is the StratuX and/or the tablet but considering the tablet will stay connected for hours to the StratuX I suspect it's the IFD.

My only issue is my friend isn't around until late this weekend so I'm unable to do my data captures while airborne until maybe late this weekend, however I've also seen the problem occur while still on the ground. So my hope is I can see the failure on the ground tonight and analyze what I'm seeing.

Stay tuned, this could get interesting....

Posted By: atomsite
Date Posted: 08 Sep 2022 at 10:20am

I have an iPad running FlyQ. I used to get traffic from the Avidyne. But it stopped working after iOS v15 was released. Y

Posted By: atomsite
Date Posted: 08 Sep 2022 at 10:57am

FlyQ just released v6.1.0 a couple of days ago. Maybe traffic will work now…

Posted By: PA23
Date Posted: 08 Sep 2022 at 11:00am

I have had it stop working against an Android tablet as well, so I suspect it isn't the iPad. I have some theories which I might be able to confirm.

Problem is, because I don't know what the IFD is actually doing I'll have to base everything on what I can see on the wireless side

Posted By: pburger
Date Posted: 08 Sep 2022 at 10:43pm

I'm glad Seattle Avionics is still actively updating FlyQ. I'll have to update my app to 6.1. I doubt they've done anything to the ADS-B connectivity, though -- based on my recent email, and the fact that there is no mention of it in the notes about the update.

I was able to dig up my old Raspberry Pi 2B and got a second Stratux up and running tonight. I sprung for a pair of new Nano 3 SDRs, and a new Stratux case. No GPS and no AHRS. This stratux will be dedicated to the IFD.

I'll try it out tomorrow in the plane. I should be able to have traffic & weather on the iPad and on the IFD. I just won't have flight plan transfer, which I haven't had to date, so no loss there.

Maybe Seattle Avionics FlyQ will improve the ADS-B connectivity for FlyQ at some point in the future...

Posted By: pburger
Date Posted: 08 Sep 2022 at 11:37pm

I already have FlyQ v6.1!

I think it dropped about a week ago. My testing with 10.3 was with FlyQ v6.1, and FlyQ won’t work with Stratux and the IFD at the same time

Posted By: atomsite
Date Posted: 09 Sep 2022 at 3:30pm

You can only connect to one wifi device at a time...

Posted By: Zeddy
Date Posted: 10 Sep 2022 at 11:25pm

According to Seattle Avionics here is the problem:

"Avidyne works differently than other systems we talk to. They provide a library to talk to their device and we have to use it. There is more than a little CPU eaten up by the way that their code library works so that might explain the sluggishness sometimes. About a year ago (18 months?, they had to make a substantial change to their library due to change in the way that iOS worked. We did the best we could at the time to get the fundamental functions working again – GPS, AHRS, and FP transfer. We suspected that ADS-B (which means both wx and traffic) would not work but it was impossible for us to test at the time. Proper equipment should be arriving any day now so the next release, after 6.1, should work with Avidyne properly as we used to."

This is from an email back in early August of this year.

Posted By: pburger
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2022 at 10:01pm

That may be a problem with their general interface to Avidyne. But they admit that they cannot connect to two devices at one time, so the prospect of connecting to a Stratux (or Stratus, or whatever) for traffic and weather, AND to the IFD for flightplan transfer at the same time is not currently supported.

It would be nice if they could have manual settings for the source of each type of data, but they try to automatically connect, and ONLY to one device.

I've got two Stratuxes working great at the moment, so I'm over it. LOL

Posted By: Zeddy
Date Posted: 12 Sep 2022 at 9:11pm

My previous post was only referring to the ADS-B interface problem between FlyQ and the Avidyne boxes.

I have experienced the same problem you mentioned in your post and its a pain to have to connect to the IFD540 for flight plan transfers then switch to the Stratux for traffic and WX.

Hopefully, SA will concentrate on fixing the interface problem sooner than later so I can go back to using the Stratux as an ADS-B backup.