First Flight Version 1.0
Date Printed: 1/26/2008
2.
Wire a second battery, in the 9 to 15 volts range, for the pyro ports. Attach it to the
PBatt
terminals (TB1 pins 1/2) making sure your polarity is correct.
Important: DO NOT put a jumper wire from the positive computer battery terminal (CBatt+) (TB2
pin6) to the positive pyro battery terminal (PBatt+) (TB1 pin1).
To Test the Setup
After all the devices are hooked up, you can test the system. Make sure the shunt plug is correctly
installed and then power the HCX on. The beeper will:
1.
Emit two quick beeps. – The battery is OK and the Cluster/Stage jumper JP7 is enabled for stage
mode.
2.
Emit two beeps. – Nothing is connected to the Cluster/Stage terminals.
3.
Emit one beep. - The Apogee firing device has continuity.
4.
Emit one beep. – The Low Altitude firing device has continuity.
5.
Emit two beeps. – Nothing is connected to the Programmable terminals.
6.
Then it will pause and cycle the beep pattern again.
If this is not the pattern you hear, refer to Appendix B for a list of the Flight Computer Status
codes.
To Configure your Flight Computer
1.
Connect your flight computer to your personal computer.
o
See the instructions for connecting the flight computer in the
Using FlightView
Software
section of the
User Manual
.
2.
Go into the
Configuration
menu.
3.
On the
Main
and
Output
tabs, change the configuration settings to match your flight plan.
o
If you have any problems, consult the
Configuring your HCX
section in the
Using
FlightView Software
chapter of the
User Manual
.
4.
Select
Upload and Exit
.
5.
Disconnect your flight computer from your personal computer.
6.
Power your flight computer off and then on to load the new configuration into memory.
Once you’ve tested your setup by listening to the beep sequence and observing the status LED, you
can either leave it on or turn it off until the rocket is mounted on the pad. The launch sensor is
pretty robust and the shunt plug will not allow the charges to fire.
Important: Do not remove the red shunt plug from JP1/3 until the rocket is mounted on the
pad and ready to launch or until you power it off.
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