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Navaid to Trio EZ Pilot conversion problem

J

John Owen

Well Known Member
I have purchased a Trio EZ Pilot removed from an update and have the adapter pigtail that I got from Trio to replace my Navaid autopilot. I have read volumes about how easy the conversion is to do. However, when I was removing my Navaid this morning, the connector removed easily but there is a separate red and white wire adjacent to the connector. I stood on my head in my RV-8 and traced it to a large wire bundle where it has a flat yellow connector then back to the bundle. I couldn't tell where it went after that and didn't want to take the bundle apart until I had asked for some expert advice.

I was able to get it all back together (and it worked....) but am not sure what to do about this separate two wires that I cannot find in any of the Navaid or Trio literature.

It has a 430W and a Porcine selector that I wonder if this could be a part of. However, it seems odd that the wires are not part of the original bundle. I recently purchased the plane and the original builder is not medically able to answer questions.

Thanks for any help that anyone may have!

John
RV-8
 
John Owen said:
I have purchased a Trio EZ Pilot removed from an update and have the adapter pigtail that I got from Trio to replace my Navaid autopilot. I have read volumes about how easy the conversion is to do. However, when I was removing my Navaid this morning, the connector removed easily but there is a separate red and white wire adjacent to the connector. I stood on my head in my RV-8 and traced it to a large wire bundle where it has a flat yellow connector then back to the bundle. I couldn't tell where it went after that and didn't want to take the bundle apart until I had asked for some expert advice.

I was able to get it all back together (and it worked....) but am not sure what to do about this separate two wires that I cannot find in any of the Navaid or Trio literature.

It has a 430W and a Porcine selector that I wonder if this could be a part of. However, it seems odd that the wires are not part of the original bundle. I recently purchased the plane and the original builder is not medically able to answer questions.

Thanks for any help that anyone may have!

John
RV-8
Click to expand...

A number of years ago, I also removed my Navaid and installed a Trio. I chose the Trio over the TruTrak as the Trio came with the plug and play adapter.

Mine was almost plug and play. I did have to reconfigure the GPS wires to the Trio at my GX-60 as it was not setup correctly.

IIRC, the Porcine selector was an add on to the Navaid that allowed it to use a handheld GPS for the GPS signal and gave the Navaid a Left or Right signal for it to track a course.

I would try to find what ever installation info you have on the Navaid plus Porcine and read it looking for how it works together. Yes it is a reverse engineering project to come up with the answer. Maybe someone that worked on more than one Navaid installation will be able to add more than I can from single installation.
 
Trio

Gary,

Those are great suggestions. I have looked through the builder's log and see what the moles connectors are but it doesn't show the GPS or porcine so I suspect that is what this is.

I wonder if I could just disconnect those wires and bypass the porcine switch with a direct wire from the 430W and the EZ Pilot. Trio sent me instructions on how to do this and sent me a wire with a male moles connector on one end.

Please keep the ideas coming before I start taking apart bundles.

Thanks.
John
RV-8
 
My conversion was virtually PnP using the Trio cable. As the Navaid didn't use GPS, the only addition was to run the wire Trio told me about with the connector they provided to my 430. It was very easy.
 
Trio wiring

Use the Trio supplied info. Just cap off the rest. My Trio tracks a GPS signal with very tight precision. When I pass the last active Waypoint, the plane just starts into a holding pattern around the point. It does not look like those depicted on the instrument approach plates, but I like it a lot. I just ask center if I can do a non-standard hold and they have never said no. Quite nice to know that I can do turns around a point at any GPS defined waypoint if caught in a cloud suddenly and not filed point to point.
 
flightlogic said:
Use the Trio supplied info. Just cap off the rest. My Trio tracks a GPS signal with very tight precision. When I pass the last active Waypoint, the plane just starts into a holding pattern around the point. It does not look like those depicted on the instrument approach plates, but I like it a lot. I just ask center if I can do a non-standard hold and they have never said no. Quite nice to know that I can do turns around a point at any GPS defined waypoint if caught in a cloud suddenly and not filed point to point.
Click to expand...

Fortunately, the 'hold around the last waypoint' feature can be disabled.

When I was involved in beta testing the EZ-Pilot I found that feature to be really irritating because many of my VFR flights involved 'direct-to' legs that were programmed on the fly. I might fly direct to an airport, then after passing over it punch in another direct-to leg. The EZ-Pilot would roll into a turn around the intermediate airport even though I wanted to continue on the previous heading while setting up the next leg.

After hearing me squawk about this feature the clever guys at Trio made it possible to disengage this option for us direct-to pilots. I have never used the 'hold around the last waypoint' option and personally think it is a bit silly. But not everyone agrees with my opinion. :)

But you are going to love your EZ-Pilot, it is much easier to use than the legacy Navaid.
 
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flightlogic said:
Use the Trio supplied info. Just cap off the rest. My Trio tracks a GPS signal with very tight precision. When I pass the last active Waypoint, the plane just starts into a holding pattern around the point. It does not look like those depicted on the instrument approach plates, but I like it a lot. I just ask center if I can do a non-standard hold and they have never said no. Quite nice to know that I can do turns around a point at any GPS defined waypoint if caught in a cloud suddenly and not filed point to point.
Click to expand...

I was about to cap those separate wires off and thought twice and reassembled the whole shooting match. Amazingly, it still worked. :)

I will assume the feet in the air, head under the panel RV-8 position again and disconnect the red/white mystery wires. The old Navaid will just slide out then. I figure the worst that can happen (dangerous words....) is that it could be some power cable or some sort and I will just have to find the appropriate places in the molex connector and pin them in.

Thanks for all of the advice!

John
RV-8
 
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