MK10 Bluetooth Keyboard

+1 What a great marketing idea! I also promise to wear mine... once it and the kb arrive. :-)

Interesting.  I had assumed the batteries in the keyboard would need to be changed but I guess they must be rechargeable as you suggest.  The USB cable that came with it must be for that purpose.

I thought I was signed up.  I registered my540. Is that all it takes to get the keyboard?  Jake, perhaps you can verify?

Hurray!  New toy!

PA20Pacer wrote: Hi Psimpson- Yes, I observed the red light behavior you described, but it would be nice to have confirmation about a low-battery indication, and also some insight about how much battery life to expect. Also, I wonder whether there is any "auto-shutdown" capability in case the switch is left on after the Bluetooth connection with the IFD540 is terminated. Regards, Bob

DavidBunin wrote: Empty mailbox yesterday :( David Bunin

I've been waiting for it in the mail box too, it won't come there.  We never use or open the front door, but that's where UPS drops things off.  While reading this thread, I went and looked, there it was sitting by the door.

The Fed Ex guy delivered our shiny new keyboard today.   Have to take it to the airport for a test spin this weekend.   Wearing my Avidyne Insider T-shirt, of course.  (That came as an early Christmas present.)

I'll need to come up with a good place to park it in the cockpit so its always where I expect it, and it doesn't get lost in cockpit clutter - maybe a pocket in the center pedestal of our plane.   Ideas for the perfect parking place?

Got my keyboard, thanks!  I see it has a nice backlight when you power it up that turns off quickly.  Is there a way to turn the backlight back on?  I see there is a lightbulb on the upper left, but that doesn't seem to do anything.  I'm playing with it at home in case it needs to be paired for this to work.

I have mine paired to the top but it doesn't really matter since they crossfill, however, I tend to use the top box for frequencies during flight (the bottom box for atis and ground control), so by using the top box, I can use the keyboard to enter frequencies during flight.

So, how do you chose which IFD to pair to keyboard?

Why does the back side of the keyboard have a molded indentation the size/shape of a memory card?  I don't see any place to insert or remove one.

Here's Jakes set up:

1. CrossSync turned on both IFDs

2. Keyboard convenience mode turned on such that the lower IFD is the keyboard for upper IFD and not vice versa.

3. BT KB paired with lower IFD.

Since I use Freq List button or Com Presets for virtually all com tuning and I never manually tune a Nav freq, this is a really slick setup.  I never clutter up the upper IFD with a virtual keyboard.   In addition, I have fuel flow set up to the upper IFD so that box wakes up in Fuel Management page while the bottom box wakes up in FMS – FPL page all ready for me to whip out a flight plan using BT KB.

So, it is interesting that my setup landed about the same as Jake with a few exceptions.

chflyer wrote: Gary T wrote: I registered my AXP340 and IFD540 in November, 2014.  Apparently when I returned my IFD540 to Avidyne this past summer for modification/updates my IFD540 registration was deleted at Avidyne. Discovered this today and talked to tech support. I am once again registered and hope to receive the keyboard. The same happened to me and my registration was just re-added after I decided for some reason to recheck the registration when no kb arrived. No idea, though, how long it will take since I suppose we're now back at the end of the queue.

AviSimpson wrote: Here's Jakes set up: Since I use Freq List button or Com Presets for virtually all com tuning and I never manually tune a Nav freq, this is a really slick setup.

Just wondering, when flying on an IFR plan and ATC gives you the next frequency, how do you enter this without manual entry either with keyboard or knobs?  Do you try to find the needed frequency in the Freq list and activate it?

I always use the FREQ button in that case and find the freq is in the list over 90% of the time. I can fly down V3 from MA to FL and never miss a single freq in that list. Sometimes you may have to scroll down to bottom of list but I have never ever seen a 50% hit rate.

I will have to try that and I guess everyone has their preferences but it seems by the time you hit the frequency button, scroll to the bottom looking for your frequency, and activate it, you could have manually entered it in with the knobs or wifi keyboard much quicker   

Yes, scrolling is not frequent.  I find the only time i have to do that is over NYC where there are dozens of approach freqs when transiting the airspace at 5-7K.

I usually just press FREQ, see the one I want, touch it and it's in standby.

But, your point is a good one.  It's just crazy simple with a BT keyboard.  And even cooler in Release 10.2 where you can press COM to put focus on the standby slot.

And yes, if you find freqs that are not in the list, we're happy to hear about them and see why they are missing.

I flew tonight with my keyboard for the first time at night. I may be missing something but the back light didn't work even when paired. It only lights up briefly when turning on the power. Maybe there is some configuration or keystroke sequence on the keyboard that is needed to enable?

edanford wrote: This little light of mine..  I can't make shine The keyboard back light is taunting me too. I see it works at power up but cannot get it to turn on manually What is the story?

Mine was paired and working with the 540 but I could not get the light to work. It was also fully charged. I was on a night flight so it was unusable at that point because I couldn't see the keys.
Mike

Yes. Several times. I actually tried several key combinations trying to get it to light up. Has anyone got it to work?

I had to run up to hangar at lunch today

Mine does work once it is paired to my IFD540 and I have allowed it to talk to the unit

I had seen the other posts and assumed it would not work but mine does

I have not received either. Who do I contact?