Run away Tru Trak

I have a Tru Trak Dig II hooked to my 496. Today turned it on set go to and the thing banked me to the right fast grabed the stick and turned it off. Then tried again held for abount 30 sec then again off to the right pretty quick. Any ideas on what may cause this? It had worked great up until this point.

It happened to me twice after one year of service and it was bad gyros inside. Given them a call and they will be happy to replace the gyro for you.

Sometimes have to reset

Before you send 'em back try this....At least this is what you do on the pictorial Pilot...You hold down the knob with the airplane stationary for 15 secods then release.

I found aerobatics (probably) confused the thing and it would do what you describe everytime.

reset the instrument and voila, works perfect now.

I always do this prior to an IMC flight as a matter of precaution but I've had no futher problems.

Frank

I had a turn to the left problem

With my pictorial pilot I had a problem where the plane would continue turning to the left ignoring the dialed in track angle. I described the problem to Jim Younkin and he said the problem is in the panel unit , not the servo. I delivered the unit to TruTrak and they repaired it for nothing but I do not know what the actual failure was. I do not believe a failure analysis of the type you may be used to was performed. That was a year ago and no more problems have been experienced.

I advise contacting them, because they are very easy to work with and they will make it right if there is a problem with the unit. If there is an operational problem they can help you with that too.

Bob Axsom

Talked to Marcus today, he said he will send a new one out to me, sounds like a bad gyro. I will be flying from WI to Las Vegas a week from today and would like the auto pilot to work. These guys are great to work with.

frankh said:

Before you send 'em back try this....At least this is what you do on the pictorial Pilot...You hold down the knob with the airplane stationary for 15 secods then release.

I found aerobatics (probably) confused the thing and it would do what you describe everytime.

reset the instrument and voila, works perfect now.

I always do this prior to an IMC flight as a matter of precaution but I've had no futher problems.

Frank

Click to expand...

This is always a good idea to try. It works the same way on the Digiflight II. The display will read "GYRO SET" while you are holding the encoder in. This must be done with the autopilot disengaged.

Also, make sure you power the autopilot up while stationary on the ground, not while taxiing or after takeoff, as this can introduce some drift into the gyros. Just a few words of general advice here! Thanks!