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3.5" TFT touch screen

Has anybody got experience/recommendations for using any of the 4" or

3.5" TFT touch screens on an RPI and operating it outdoors?

I ask because I'm wondering about replacing the Medion S3747 PNA, which has a 3.5" screen with a similar sized package based on an RPi fitted with one of the TFT touch screen HAT units as the navigation display in my glider.

The RPi would run the Linux version of LK8000 and replace the Medion, which runs a WinCE version of LK8000, as the moving map navigation system in my glider. Since the glider has an untinted bubble canopy the performance of the screen in bright sunlight is important: the Medion hs very good in this respect because it has a trans-reflective screen which is readable, even with direct sum from over my shoulder on its screen.

I have a space problem on my instrument panel: a 3.5" display is OK and so is a 4" display provided its bezel adds less than 3mm to the width and height of the display - some of the newer displays look as if they can be housed in a custom enclosure that meets this requirement. Thickness doesn't look to be an issue because a Pi B wearing the TFT display hat isn't much thicker than the Medion. LK8000: is an open source community developed glider navigation system.

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It has been compiled to run on a RaspberryPi - I'd probably put it on an RPi 2B because that should be fast enough and having an ethernet connection is nice for uploading plottable NOTAMS, restricted airspace maps etc.

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Martin    | martin at 
Gregorie  | gregorie dot org
Reply to
Martin Gregorie
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Hello Martin and others,

Thu. 11 Jul 2019, 18:40:07, Martin Gregorie wrote to All:

MG> Since the glider has an untinted bubble canopy the MG> performance of the screen in bright sunlight is important

On larger open sailing ships without a steering cabin, we have the same problem for displaying AIS-data at ECDIS screens in sunlight. We are using a Raspberry Pi 2B or higher with OpenCPN moving map for it. To have a better view in direct sunlight you can buy FayTech monitors at several Inch formats in both VGA and HDMI versions with TouchScreen function. The smallest are 7" but the 15" model is the most brilliant and water tight. Look at They also sell an embedded pc+monitor in one case in several Inch formats. Most models can be powered from both 230 Vac~ / 50 Hz as from 12 Vdc=. In your case the weight is also important. So maybe they have a model suitable for your glider? Good luck in finding a better (display) solution.

Greetings from Henri.

Reply to
Henri Derksen

Thanks for the pointer, but unfortunately all their monitors are much too big for my cockpit.

I wasn't kidding when I said I have a space problem: here's a picture of the Medion S.3747 as its currently mounted, using a flexi mount to support it in front of the panel.

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The Medion is running my preferred navigation software, LK8000.

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Its screen is 2.8" on the diagonal, but as you can see it has a rather wide bezel, so a RaspberryPi with one of the more recent 3.5" displays would be no bigger provided the case doesn't extend more than 3mm all round the screen.

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Martin    | martin at 
Gregorie  | gregorie dot org
Reply to
Martin Gregorie

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