Ascent H1 User manual

ascent h1

English Instructions

Thanks!

Thank you for your purchase of the Ascent wrist-mounted vario. This product was designed by engineers who also happen to

be paragliding pilots. We wanted a product that would meet the following criteria:

- Small

- Light Weight

- Easy to Operate

There was nothing currently available that satises each requirement so we sat down, rolled up our sleeves, and after many

hours of hard work, prototype builds, programming, reliability testing, and test ights came up with what we believe is the best

small, rechargeable variometer available.

This was our introduction in 2008 to our v1 unit. After selling thousands of varios, getting pilot feedback, and collecting

lessons learned, we decided to do the whole thing again. We believe that this new product both improves on the

original concept while retaining the ascent identity that made the v1 such a success.

We know that you will enjoy this product and wish you many safe and enjoyable ights.

Thank you again for your purchase.

Ascent Products

Safety Information

Warning; This product is not intended to be used as a precise measurement of altitude, velocity, or temperature.

Warning; This product contains a Lithium-ion rechargeable battery. The product must be disposed of properly. Use only

in accordance with operating instructions.

Warning; This product and its components contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth

defects, or reproductive harm. This notice is being provided in accordance with California Proposition 65. If you have

further questions please contact Ascent Products.

Charging the Battery

Your vario operates on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The battery can provide power for at least 10 hours of ight

time, or up to 1 year standby time when fully charged. The beep volume and mode have a noticable aect on battery life

with louder and longer beeps requiring more power and reducing battery life.

To charge the battery, plug the micro-USB end of the cable into the product and plug the other end into the AC wall

charger, car charger, or computer. The screen will display “USB Connected Charging”. When the unit is completely

charged the screen will change to “USB Connected Charged”.

The product takes less than 2 hours to fully charge. Due to protection circuits it is not possible to over-charge. When

fully charged, the icon on main menu will show full. Lithium-polymer batteries do not have a memory and there is no

advantage to letting the unit run completely out of power prior to charging. Therefore you are advised to keep the unit

fully charged so that it is ready to use when you are ready to y.

If the battery becomes critically low, the unit will shut o and not turn on again. We recommend charging the battery as

soon as possible to avoid possible permanant damage caused by over discharging the battery. Avoid storing and

charging the battery in extreme hot (>40

C) or cold (<0

C) environments.

Product Overview

To get the most out of your new product we recommend that you read the entire manual. However, we believe that once

you start using the menus you will nd the operation of the product easy and intuitive.

The product has four push buttons for navigation and adjustment as shown below.

moves up one menu position

per click or increases value of

selected variable

moves down one menu position

per click or decreases value of

selected variable

Power button

(long press)

goes back one menu step

(short press)

goes forward one menu step

(short press)

Volume button

(during ight)

Flight Exit

(long press)

> Settings

> Pilot Data

> Fly

Turning the vario on and o

Press and hold the button until the prompt appears (2 seconds), then with “Yes”highlighted, press the button to

turn the unit on.

As soon as the unit is turned on, it will attempt to start aquiring satellites. Please make sure that the antenna has a clear

view of the sky during use and especially during the calibration process. This process should take less than 3 minutes

however we suggest that you turn the unit on and enter the Fly mode early in your setup routine.

To turn the unit o, press and hold the button for 2 seconds. Note that it is not possible to turn the unit o while in

Info mode.

To extend the battery life, after 30 minutes of inactivity the vario automatically turns itself o. This will not happen in the

y or info mode.

When the unit is turned on, the main menu is displayed (shown above). This screeen has ve options: Fly, Log Book,

Settings, Info, and Pilot Data. Use the and buttons to highlight your choice and press the button to select. This

page also displays an estimate of the remaining battery charge using an icon at the bottom of the screen.

Starting and Ending a Flight

Use the and buttons to highlight Fly and then press the button to enter Fly Mode. The unit will not start record-

ing a ight (and by default not beep) until the velocity threshold has been crossed. This thresholds can be adjusted in the

Settings menu. To exit and save the ight, press and hold the or button.

GPS Antenna

> Log Book

> Info

Wrist Strap

The wrist strap is secured to the vario body by two spring pins (similar to those used on a typical watch). To remove the

strap (to replace it with a new wrist strap or the included riser strap) place the vario face down on a non scratching

surface and with a small screwdriver or similar tool place the end between the spring pin shoulder and the vario body.

Carefully compress the spring pin several mm and the pin should disengage from the body. Repeat on the other side.

Installation of the strap is done by inserting the spring into the strap hole and aligning one end of the pin into one of the

holes in the back cover. Carefully compress the other end of the spring pin while aligning the tip with the other hole in

the body. Release the pin and be sure to give the strap a good pull to make sure that the pins are well seated and

engaged.

Reset Switch

Troubleshooting

If the vario is not responding to button presses, there are a few ways to reset the unit. Plugging the vario in to a

computer or a power source may help (especially if the problem is low battery related). If not, then it is possible to

perform a software reset by pressing all 4 buttons at the same time. If this does not help, it is possible to perform a

hardware reset by inserting a paper clip or other similar pin into the hole on the back of the unit and pressing gently until

you feel a“click”.

When reset, the screen will go blank and return to the start-up screen. Please note that the ight logs will not be erased.

If it is ever necessary to perform a reset, please send an e-mail to support@ascentvario.com with a description of the

problem and solution.

Wrist Strap

Spring Pin

Lanyard Hole

Press Here

Fly Mode

The main y screen is shown below. By briey pressing any of the four buttons during the ight, the screen will tempo-

rarily display other ight information (as shown on the next page) for 5 seconds and then return to the default screen.

When you enter ight mode, the unit will beep twice to indicate the current volume level.

A long press of the or button will exit the Flight Mode completely and stop the recording of ight data.

Exit Flight

(long press)

True (MSL) Altitude

(or Altitude Relative to launch depending on settings)

Averaged Vertical Speed

(default = 5 second average)

Ground Speed

(Instantaneous)

Glide Ratio

(5 second average)

Heading

(Instantaneous)

Speed

SW@14

Speed

Track

Alt

MSL

Vert

Ground

Wind

9.3:1

Glide

4,730

+ 850

20.3

WNW

Wind Direction

and Speed

The last line of the display will show“Calibrating” during the entire calibration process. Please make sure that the front of

the vario has a clear view of the sky throughout this important callibration period.

The wind speed and direction are calculated based on the fastest and slowest ground speed recorded while turning in a

complete circle. As you continue to make additional circles, this value is slowly adjusted and improved. While ying

straight, it stops re-calculating and the last known wind speed and direction are remembered and displayed. The next

rst complete circle will then come up with a new value. Elongating your turns and/or ying in a poorly shaped circle

should not aect this calculation. However articially speeding up and/or slowing down during the circle will alter the

calculated values.

Exit Flight and Turn O

(long press)

Pressing the button will display the current volume. Press the or button to adjust

the volume.

Fly Mode - Alternate Screens

By briey pressing any of the four buttons during the ight, the screen will temporarily display other ight information

for 5 seconds and then return to the default screen.

13:24

1:56

6.3

76.5°

And

Temp.

Duration

from Start

Time

Distance

Direction

Time

Duration of Flight (h:mm)

Distance from Launch (mi. or km)

Temperature (

F or

Direction from Launch

4,730

1,290

850

620

-730

Max Lift

Max Sink

Alt

Avg Lift

Alt

Max

Rel

Maximum Altitude this ight (ft or m)

Altitudue Relative to launch (ft or m)

(or True (MSL) Altitude depending on settings)

Maximum instantaneous lift this ight (non-averaged) (fpm or m/s)

Maximum instantaneous sink this ight (fpm or m/s)

Maximum averaged lift this ight (fpm or m/s)

Page

Current GPS Coordinates

Page

Longitude

Latitude

0.00000

Volume

Log Book

Use the and buttons to highlight Log Book and then push the button to enter the Log Book. The h1 can store

ight summary data for up to 300 ights. Pushing the and buttons will scroll through the recorded ights.

Pressing the button will allow you to see additional ight details. Note that the data in the log book will be saved even

if the battery is completely discharged or the unit is reset.

Flight Log Number

Launch Date

Launch Time

Flight Duration

Maximum Ground Speed

Maximum Wind Speed

Maximum temperature

Minimum temperature

Launch GPS Coordinates

Landing GPS Coordinates

Flight #

Start Time:

Flight Duration:

Max Dist:

Max Temp:

Min Temp:

Max Ground

Speed:

Max Wind

Speed:

Start Location

Lat:

Long:

End Location

Lat:

Long:

> Delete?

•No

oYes

33.82087

-116.95718

33.81973

-116.96423

[email protected]

SW@9

Date:

Maximum distance from Launch

Use the button to highlight Yes and then push the button to

delete this ight. Note: this action permanently deletes this ight

number from the log book and the remaining ights will not be

re-numbered.

059

29/01/2011

15:36

1:40

12.5mi

80°F

60°F

Flight # 059

Start (Launch) Altitude

Max Altitude

End (Land) Altitude

Max Lift (instantaneous)

Max Lift (averaged)

Max Sink (instantaneous)

Start Alt:

Max Alt:

End Alt:

Max Lift:

Avg. Lift:

Max Sink:

18,522

175

+480

-510

12,083

+520

Flight # 059

Settings

To enter the Settings Menu, highlight Settings on the main menu and press the button. From this page you can select

which catagory of settings you wish to modify. There are currently nine choices: Altimeter, GPS, Beep, Flight, Date & Time,

Units, Compass, Memory, Display, and Language. All of these settings are saved even if the battery is completely

discharged.

It is possible to turn the “Sink Alarm”on and o.

Altitude Calibration

oQNH Pressure

> 1013.25 hPa

> 1,752 ft

o Altitude

Displayed Altitude

oGPS (WGS84 Ellips)

Beep Style

oLong

•Alarm On

Sink Alarm

oAlarm Off

Sink Rate

> 590 ft/min

•GPS (WGS84 Geoid)

Altimeter

Ascent has three beep options. Short (which is “quieter” and sounds closer to our v1

Standard beep), Long (which sounds “louder”), and Sweep, which updates the frequency

of the tone mid-beep to the latest vertical speed information. Note that longer beeps, and

louder volume settings require more power and slightly reduce the battery life. Therefore

the “Sweep” beep is limited to medium volume to ensure a minimum of 10 ight hours.

Beep

•Pressure

•Short

This is the instanteanous negative vertical speed required for the sink alarm to go o.

oSweep

This setting allows you to select whether to use the GPS to calibrate the pressure altitude

prior to launch, or to set the altitude manually. The GPS uses the WGS-84 Geoid method to

determine the altitude. This should approximately match standard pressure altitude.

The QNH Pressure is the the extrapolated barometric pressure at sea level. This can be

found by contacting your local airport. Some competitions may require you to calibrate

the vario using this method.

Alternatively, if you know the altitude of your launch, you can manually calibrate the vario

based on this.

Altitude Reference

oRelative to Launch

•True (MSL)

GPS Units

oDD°MM.mm’

oDD°MM’SS”

Altimeter cont.

GPS

This setting selects what altitude is displayed on the main y screen. The Relative to

Launch altitude is automatically reset to zero for every ight when you rst enter the y

mode. Relative altitude may be more convenient for some site ying.

•DD.ddddd°

This setting selects the units for GPS display

Decimal Degrees

Degrees, Decimal Minutes

Degrees, Minutes, Seconds

This setting allows you to select whether to display the altitude based on pressure or GPS.

The pressure altitude is what normally denes airspace. The WGS84 Ellipsoid altitude is

closest to what would be shown in Google earth and other maping software. The IGC

track log le records both the pressure and GPS altitude 1x per second.

Units Continued...

Compass

oDegrees (252°)

Compass

•Cardinal (WSW)

On this page, you can customize the way Compass directions are displayed.

om/s

Ground Speed

•mph

Vertical Speed

okph

•fpm

Altitude

•ft

okm

Temperature

o°C

Units

•mi

Distance

•°F

On these pages, you can

customize the displayed

units.

Time: 14:19

> -8:00

07/20/2012

oDD/MM/YYYY

Date Format

UTC Offset:

Date & Time

The date is set automatically using the GPS signal, however you can choose which

format you would prefer the date displayed.

Date

•MM/DD/YYYY

The time is set automatically using the GPS signal, however you need to enter the

UTC oset manually.

Vertical Speed Avg.

Start Flight

> 07 mph

After entering Fly Mode, the unit waits until this customized velocity threshold is crossed.

A series of beeps will play to indicate that the ight has initiated.

Flight

Preflight Beep

•Off

oOn

> 01 seconds

This is the number of seconds over which the displayed vertical speed is averaged. The

“beep” always uses the instantaneous vertical speed.

Prior to a ight being initiated the “preight beeps” can be suppressed. This prevents the

unit from making annoying and battery wasting beeps prior to launching.

Flight Log Book

62.5% Full

There are a maximum of 300 Log summaries available in the Flight Log Book. When

these are full, it will be necessary to clear the Log Book before recording more tracks.

There are additionally up to 50 hours of track log (igc/kml) memory available

(1-second intervals). After this memory is full, it will start overwriting existing tracks

(oldest rst).

Memory

125 Flights

> Clear Log Book?

Contrast

Display

> 3

The display contrast is pre-caliblrated, however can be adjusted here if desired. This

setting makes the entire display lighter or darker.

Info

To enter the Info screen, highlight“Info”on the main menu and press the button.

Ascent software version

Unit Serial Number

Ascent h1

Serial# 2C2001AC

07/20/2012

Long:

Lat:

Altitude: 71.3m

Software: v1.303

10:38:05

Ascent hardware version

Date

Time

Altitude

Latitude

Longitude

0.00000

Here it is possible to select the language for the vario. Please contact us if you are

missing your language, or if you nd a translation error.

Language

•English

oDeutsch

oEspañol

oFrançais

oItaliano

o日本語

oNorsk

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