MGL Auto Pilot Working!

After a bunch of attempts to get the Trio servos and linkage just right I finally got the AP and Odyssey to perform today for 1.5 hours. It was real fine controlling the climb and decent as well as setting and changing the headings with the HBUG and knobs. Still have to get the hang of linking the GPS route to the AP and the control input needs to be "tightened" a bit so Phase 1 con't. I just wanted you all to enjoy it as much as I did, Best of luck, Bill RV-8A, 35 hrs

Good to hear, Bill. If you have problems, let me know...I went through about a year and a half sorting out bugs in my Voyager/Trio servo setup before I figured it all out. Now it works really well.

ils approach

Can you get the AP on the Voyager to shoot an ILS approach?

I've never tried. I don't hold an IFR cert, so I'm not really even sure how to do it (both in flying the approach and setting up the EFIS).

lostpilot28 said:

Good to hear, Bill. If you have problems, let me know...I went through about a year and a half sorting out bugs in my Voyager/Trio servo setup before I figured it all out. Now it works really well.

Click to expand...

I'd be interested to know what settings you ended up with. I have mine "working" but it's still very "playful" on pitch. i.e. goes 30-50 ft above desired altitude, pitch down, 30-50 ft below pitch up continuously in about 15-30 second increments depending on how smooth it is. I'm thinking I may need to move the linkage in one hole on the servo so the elevator doesn't move so much when the servo does. I have mine in the outermost hole, where do you have yours with your settings?

I had to move my roll servo arm to the middle hole - it slipped too much on the outer most hole.

As for pitch, mine wanders + or - 50 feet at worst. In smooth air it holds altitude within 10 feet. I think moving the arm closer to the pivot on the servo will make it even more twitchy. The further out it gets, it should have a finer level of control, but it won't have as much leverage. I'd keep it out as far as possible if it's not slipping.

If I had to guess, you (and me too) have the pitch setting to where it doesn't agressively try to hold a specific altitude.

AP altitude

The AP in my Voyager holds very accurately most of the time. Variance is not more than 10-20 ft.

mgl-enigma

This looks like a neat add-on. Does anyone have anything to share about them? I want a small digital backup for my steam guages and this may work.

Thanks,
S

Can't wait to get the ship flying and try this out. I have two Trio servos and the Odyssey G2.

The AP is designed to allow greater tolerance on altitude tracking if turbulence builds up. This way life is easier for the aircraft as well as for the servos and linkages.
If MGL servos are used tolerances are tighter - the Trios do better if a bit of leeway is allowed.
In calm conditions you should find tracking around +/- 10 ft and if there is an upset (a small one) the AP will be very "lazy" in getting back to within these limits. The Trio servos jitter a bit and with pitch sensitive aircraft this can actually introduce some errors (that the AP then needs to fix). With The MGL servos this does not happen and tracking, even with pitch sensitive aircraft is very solid.

Rainier