As flight testing begins, the user interface for Chute Release has arrived at what we think will be the final version. We’ll see how well it works out during actual usage.
Let’s take a look at a pre-production copy of Chute Release (the final will look much more polished). The LEDs are quite bright, because they need to shine through the final black case and be readable in daylight.
There are two buttons on Chute Release. Either button will wake up Chute Release if it is turned off or in power-saving mode.
Once Chute Release is turned on, you can press the buttons to raise or lower the release altitude.
To turn off Chute Release, just keep pressing the ‘up’ button past the top of the range. The lights will flash and Chute Release will turn off.
To ground test Chute Release, press the ‘down’ button below the lowest altitude. The lights will flash and Chute Release will perform a countdown and release 5 seconds later. Then it will power down.
In either case, when you turn Chute Release back on, Chute Release will return to the most recent release altitude that you selected (even though you mashed the buttons to turn it off or perform the ground test).
After one minute, Chute Release saves power by turning off the battery meter and just flashing the release altitude periodically. You can return the display to normal mode by pressing either button.