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N159SB G3X Panel Upgrade Status

I was dealing with my backup battery location, mount, and leads this weekend. I still am not sure how I will address the rear support for the radio stack so I will be watching for your pictures :D

I made a horizontal reinforcement out of 3/4" x 3/4" x 1/16" angle that will get riveted to the subpanel under the bottom radio tray. This will provide a nice shelf for the stack to lay on.

A couple of angle clips on both sides of the GTN and A210 tray will tie the trays to the subpanel. The audio panel tray does not penetrate the subpanel so the trays for the audio panel and the GTN will have a strap on both sides to support the fwd side of the audio panel tray.

My subpanel is already cut as if all trays would penetrate it so that gives room for the bunch of audio panel wires. I will put some edging on the subpanel edge to protect the wires.

EDIT:

Here is a rough sketch of what I am doing as far as tray support at the subpanel:

2ppkb6e.jpg
 
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This weekend was family time as we celebrated the birthdays of my two youngest girls. No significant panel work.

It is suppose to turn really cold this week here in East TN so I am not sure much progress will get made this week either.

It is killing me having my plane down for the count but I just can't take the cold like I used to...
 
Monday night I braved the cold and got my GDL39 mounted to the side of one of the ribs that extend from the firewall to the subpanel.

Baby steps! Baby steps!

This seems like it is taking an eternity!

Got my GTN650 and GTX23ES back from Stein yesterday. They are all updated and ready to go for ADS-B and are completely 2020 compliant! (as long as the Feds don't make any other changes to the rules as they go)

UPS...your welcome for that $210 I gave you for declared value that you most likely would have screwed me out of if there had been loss, damage or theft!!!
 
Got a couple hours in today at the hangar. Yesterday we had a pretty major ice storm that shut almost everything down. This was the clear smooth super slick stuff that made the road like a skating rink. Here is a video shot by my in-laws just a mile or so from where I work....

VIDEO

Anyway today it warmed up to about 44°F so I went to the hangar to try and get something done.

So today I spent my time re-routing and securing the main power feed from the master to the VP-X Pro. I used the original wire and connector as well as left it in the original firewall penetration. Just relocated and added a few new cushion clamps.

Then I wormed my way into the tail cone to install the extra Green wire that the TT pitch servo needs. The servo wire bundle that I originally bought and installed from Stein for the Dynon servo did not have this wire since the Dynon does not require it. I managed to work this wire up thru the center section inside the conduit that I originally installed there way back when. I was shocked that this little 22ga wire was able to be poked all the way thru there. There are many other wires in that conduit.

I was not so lucky with the conduit that ran from the spar center section up the firewall and behind the panel. Nothing I tried would get that wire thru there. I ended up just zip-tying it to the side of that conduit up do where the exit hole for the boost pump is. From there I was able to poke it thru the conduit the rest of the way.

I spent the rest of my time cleaning up the mess of conduit, pitot/AOA tubes and coax cables running fwd of the center spar section. I cleaned all of this up and secured it all to the floor stringers.

I am pretty much ready to start going back together with the whole mess. The major heavy construction is just about over. Now it is on to the finesse part....

It is full on Winter here in East TN and the tin can T hangar is a dismal place to work. Our hangars do not have walls that go all the way to the roof so it is impossible to heat the place. The only thing that works is infrared propane heaters. It is tough to work in those conditions......my progress is going to be slow unless we get a warm spell!
 
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Panel Fasteners

What type of fasteners are those you are using to attach the upper and lower reinforcement angles to the panel?
 
What type of fasteners are those you are using to attach the upper and lower reinforcement angles to the panel?

They are steel 4-40 torx screws with locknuts on the back. I painted em Flat Black before installation.

If one wanted to, they could use stainless ones but I wanted them to have the high contrast.
 
Warm today so I left work at noon today and plan to take the next two days off to work on the plane. It is suppose to be 70° here tomorrow and 66° Wednesday.

Tied the VP-X into the plane today. It sure is getting tight behind that sub-panel and access is limited at best. My dreams of this thing coming out looking like a work of art are slowly fading. It will be safe and durable but it won't be looking like a masterpiece. Once all of these wire bundles start trying to occupy the same space as fixed objects, it becomes a nightmare to keep it all organized.

I have had to abandon the idea of using cord to lace all of the wires behind the sub-panel. There is just no way my big arms are going to twist in that many different directions at the same time. The pre-built panel harnesses are all laced so that will just have to do. Tons of zip-ties will do the job.

I hope to get to the point of installing the new panel tomorrow. I want to ensure everything possible is done that I can do before putting it in because that will make access even harder.
 
It sounds like the infamous 80:80 rule ... 80% done 80% to go. The airframe work is slower than the panel work.

Sounds like you are closing in though.

Thanks for the progress reports and tips and require iwide along the way. My own panel project has been paralleling yours (just not as competent).

I look forward to reading your test procedures (both ground and first flights).
 
Such a nice day in East Tn today,our runway has finally dried out enough to use,though i better check on my bud Brantel,heard rumors of him sitting in the airplane just staring straight ahead with his eyes kinda glazed over,that was on sunday afternoon!,landed at kmor,taxied up and sure enough he's sittin there with that glazed over look!Panel is looking good and he is making progress though.
 
Major cold front passing East TN today...started the day at 68? and by midnight it should be in the 30's. Huge amount of rain and flooding since the ground was already soaked and all the creeks, ponds and other low spots were already full of water. Tons of tornadoes in the South East. Hope all the RV'ers got out of it unharmed!

Thought I would try an update ala Bob Collins today instead of posting pictures. Don't worry Bob, you have nothing to worry about. I stink at video updates!

Anyway....this evening was the end of a 2.5 day push to make some major progress on the panel retro while taking advantage of the 70? temps!!!! Took vacation days to make it happen.

Bottom line is I got most of the aircraft's harness tied to the VP-X Pro's harness on Tuesday. I also installed the backup battery buss and associated parts to charge it and monitor it's voltage via the VP-X Pro. I built the circuit shown on this thread a few pages back.

I also got started on wiring all of the dimmer units back into the airplane. I have 4 dimmers. One each for avionics, map, panel flood and dome lights (I have dome lights under the panel and over the baggage compartment).

I put some 9 pin D-shell male connectors on the bundles that go to the servos. These will serve as a connector for them and will mate with the female ones that I will add to the wiring harnesses that I built at home.

At the end of the day, I riveted the panel ribs in permanent and set forth installing the panel in the airplane. I had to remove the screws from the top and bottom reinforcing angles for the right 2/3 of the panel to allow me to bend it enough to get past the vertical parts of the center spar section. The panel is too wide to make it in without bending it. Once that was done, I had to mark the 6 holes, 3 on each side that are for the screws that tie the bottom of the sides of the panel to the sides of the fuse. These had to be marked and drilled in place since that is how it was done originally. Once marked, the panel had to be bent again and removed, the holes drilled and then re-installed. Once it was back in, I re-installed the screws on the reinforcing angles. Hopefully that is the last time it has to ever come out....

This morning I finished the wiring of the dimmers, terminated all of the VP-X Pro switch grounds and set forth on wiring all of the VP-X Pro switches into the VP-X's switch signal wires.

Next came the connection of the aux buss to the aux buss switch, master switch, 12VDC socket and finally connecting the starter and P-leads to the new keyswitch.

I finished up the day by putting some female connectors on the GX Pilot servo bundles to mate up with the connectors I installed yesterday. Then it was into the airplane with the pre-built and interconnected octopus of a harness that I pre-built at home. I thought I had most of the wires terminated until I added this mess to the mix and the rats nest seemed to instantly re-appear!

Anyway I mounted the harness backplates to the radio trays, connected the Gemini and GX Pilot connectors and started organizing the mess. Most of what is hanging loose at this time is power, backup power and ground wires. Once all of these are sorted and connected I will be a happy man.

Whats left?

Clean up the wiring, more organizing, securing and protecting against chaffing.
Solder on the headset jacks
Mount the GMU73
Poke the EMS harness thru the firewall, mount the new sensors and terminate
Rivet on the patch panels for the old hole in the subpanel
Swap the Dynon servos for the TT ones and rework the connections
Mount and wire the remote compass in the tail
Install the temp probe
Clean and do annual condition inspection on cockpit area.

I am sure there is much more I am forgetting.....

Here is the video update....

 
The latest from my shop!



Nice Jon!

It has been a ton of work but you know that since you have done this many times. Lots more to go but I think the hardest parts are behind me.

Tested all the interconnects by powering up on the kitchen table so it all should work....hopefully!

I agree, the G3X has it going on as far as integration with the GPS and AP. Very intuitive and simple user interface.
 
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Thanks, Jon - that is encouragement for me too! I hope to start on my panel this year (!) with many of those same components. Thanks for the inspiration, information, and pictures!
 
Panel Upgrade Status Video #2

Got tons of work done over the past two evenings. It has been warm enough to actually work in hangar. It is suppose to be warm for a week or so so hopefully I can take advantage of it some more.....

Here is video update #2:



As you can see, I have the panel powered up on ships power. I finished connecting all the main power, aux power, and lighting bus wires last night and tonight I worked mainly on organizing and securing the wire bundles. I also remounted the VP-X Pro and the remote transponder and reconnected the main battery.

I tested the aux power bus first and it worked as planned. Powered up the master and all was well. The VP-X and the MFD came on as expected and started talking to each other.

I tested each switch for the VP-X and all the airplane's devices and the switches worked as programmed. I tested each airplane system one at a time. I even bumped the starter (all plugs disconnected).

Flipped on the avionics master and all the avionics powered up and started talking same as they did on the kitchen table. All is well and no magic smoke was released. Everything that was suppose to be talking was talking.

I even pushed the hangar door open and got a GPS lock both on the G3X and the GTN650.

Some things left to do:

  • Solder on the headset jacks
  • Mount the GSU73 and plumb up the pitot/static lines
  • Install the EMS harness and EMS sensors
  • Swap the AP servos
  • Change out the Dynon capacitive converters for the Princeton ones
  • Mount and connect the remote compass
  • Re-install the engine control cables
  • Calibrate everything
  • Clean up the mess and remount the canopy

I am sure I am missing about 100 things but that list will do for now!
 
Headset jacks all soldered in last evening. I tested all the audio parts that I had not tested before like the audio alerts from the G3X, music outputs from the G3X, audio alerts from the GTN650, tested the PTT for each side as well as the TX and RX on each radio including the Nav side of the GTN650. All works well and it appears that the GMA240 is going to do the job nicely. It will be nice to not have to turn the volume knobs up and down like I did before when I did not use an audio panel.

One little thing that had me buffalo'd at first was the audio settings on the G3X.

The default setting for the audio alert and music sources I think is AUTO. This won't work very well if you don't have the audio lines from all the screens connected to the audio panel or intercom. In my case, I only connected these from the MFD since audio is not mission critical. The good news is that Garmin also lets you pick what screen you always want audio to come from so once this is set, your good to go.

The part that got me was that apparently there is some sort of automatic squelch or something in the mix on the alert inputs to the GMA240 (MASQ?). The alerts worked fine out of the box for the GTN650 but on the alerts from the G3X, unless I turned the volume up a notch or two on the G3X, it would result in no alert audio being output to the headphones. The default setting of 5 is not enough. The stereo music output worked fine out of the box. I thought something was wrong and even rang out the pins to double check. I just accidently stumbled on the volume setting making a difference.

I think all of this is a due to the MASQ feature of the GMA240 so it is not an issue as long as you are aware of it. I can see where the MASQ will help reduce noise so I am glad it is there.
 
Soldered???

Dont you know that is a major Bozo nono???

Your plane will fall out of the sky, your kids will develop warts, and your dog will hate you:eek:

Typically I would agree but in this case, not many other options available to the average home-builder.
 
This morning I had to sit with the kids while the wife ran in a 10K. Afternoon was mine so of to the hangar I went....

As soon as I got there, one of my neighbors told me that the city indirectly thru the FBO contract plans to hike the hangar rent by an additional $200.00 a month. :mad:

I have no idea where they get these clowns that dream this stuff up but it is clear that they have the impression that all of us that are struggling to exist at our airport are made of money. Today I had water dripping on my head from leaks, a burned out light, crud blowing over the walls from the hangar next door. All this and they are going to raise the rent another $200 a month for this tin can?????:confused:

If they do this, this airport is dead...I have no idea what I will do if they raise the rent that much. The options in this area are slim....

Enough about that!

Today I got the GSU73 brain box mounted. I fabed up a mount that puts it right behind the PFD1 with the connectors facing to the right. There is just enough room between the connector of the PFD1 and the GSU73 almost all the way up against the subpanel.

I also got all the pitot/static connections made up.

I have three devices for Pitot
  • GSU73
  • GX Pilot
  • Gemini PFD

and four devices for Static
  • GSU73
  • GX Pilot
  • Gemini PFD
  • Alternate Static Toggle from Stein

I used the same SafeAir tube and fittings that I originally used way back when.

Now for rant #2

While I was upside down under the panel I heard a plane starting across the way from my hangar. I raised up in time to see this jerk starting his plane inside the T hangar blowing crud all over his neighbors planes. The walls don't go all the way to the top in our T hangars so stuff blows over easily. As he was reving his engine, I saw a roll of paper towels go airborne and find its way right into his spinning prop. A few passes thru the prop and then the roll came unwound and it was like a bomb of paper towels blowing all over the place. It was litterally snowing paper towels bits. This jerk shuts down, pulls his plane out, fires up again and left all the mess just blowing in the breeze. He then taxi's away and spends the afternoon flying while his paper is all over the ramp. You can't fix stupid or jerks!

Now I know why there is sometimes crud laying on my airplane when I go into the hangar.
 
I struggled to get my rental out of the way when I realized the "pilot" behind me was planing to startup and taxi the airplane out of the rock based open T-hanger directly behind me. :confused:
 
Short time at the airport today between church services.

Got the Dynon roll servo removed and the TruTrak one installed.

I did not even open the TruTrak install kit since for the most part the Dynon brackets, method and pushrod are functionally identical to the TruTrak one. It was obvious to early adopters of the Dynon AP that they copied TruTrak's lead on mounting method and dimensions. In the beginning folks were ordering TT's install kit for the Dynon AP installs because Dynon did not have theirs available yet. So the short story is that I will just sell the TT install kit with the Dynon servos. Saves me the trouble of swapping em out and the lucky buyer of the Dynon servos will get new kits.

The swap went well...remove pushrod bolt from servo arm, cut safety wire and remove three mounting bolts, cut zipties holding the wires out of harms way, disconnect the D-sub connectors that I had used to mate the Dynon servo leads to the SteinAir servo wire bundle and it was out...

Back when I put the original D-Sub connectors on the Dynon servo leads, I just made up my own pinout for the connector. I had to remove and re-map all of these to work with the TruTrak servo's pinout. No problem since I had the female connector on the wire bundle and the servo is male. Took apart the D-sub and used the SteinAir pin extractor tool to remove all the pins. Re-inserted them in the correct holes and put it all back together.

Attached the re-mapped D-sub to the new TT servo, placed the servo back where it mounts, re-installed the three mounting bolts and then installed the safety wire. I had forgotten what a treat it is to safety these three bolts while reaching thru the inspection hole....:p

Re-installed the pushrod with its bolt and fired up the AP to ramp test the roll axis. Everything worked as expected so I called it finished for now.

So 2/3rds of the autopilot install is finished. Last bit to do is swap out the pitch servo.
 
My servo's have a nylon locknut on the output shaft. I think they redesigned them a while back...

Picture from a post made by Paul Dye:

IMG_4757.JPG
 
First a crappy pic of the pitot/static connections.

I heated the sharper bends to allow the tube to bend and take a set. Works good and prevents having extra connections in the circuit....

m9ui5f.jpg


Today I finally decided to tackle getting all the way into the tailcone....:eek: Not a small task for a man my size!

Anyway, I needed to route and secure the remote compass wires and to remove the Dynon remote compass and OAT probe. The OAT probe wiring was zip tied all along the stringers and one of the aft bulkheads so I had to get in there to cut all of them since I could not reach em.

Recently I saw a post on here about using packing peanuts in a bag to serve as a load spreading surface to lay a board on to support one's weight while in the tail cone.

This works great! I stopped by the UPS store and got a trash bag full of peanuts and then on to Lowes for a 2x8 pine board. I cut the board to 5' and split the peanuts up into two smaller bags.

I put the peanuts down on the tail cone floor and spread them out as best I could and layed the board on top of them. I then crawled all the way in and did my work without any damage to the airplane! The peanuts work great to spread the load evenly without any point stress!

So I went on to remove the Dynon stuff, and route and secure the new wires for the G3X remote compass. Easy as pie. Yeah right!

I made my own mount for the GMU44. I used stainless hardware to secure it all.

Here is the fruit of my labor:

2wnydqs.jpg


That white stuff is compound left over from when my painter buffed the paint...I also gave my vertical stab mounting on the front spar a good inspection for cracks!

And I was rewarded with a compass reading on the PFD!

2nhggib.jpg
 
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Today I had a little bit before the EAA chapter meeting so I decided to tackle getting the pitch servo swapped out and the plug re-mapped and to remove the Dynon remote compass from it's mount.

I had a couple RV buddies that showed up (to make fun of me)....help....me with tools and stuff while I assumed the position!

One of them decided to take a couple pics of me, glad it was from this end and not the other!

20kds1c.jpg


2eqfnmf.jpg


Working in this area is not too bad since I have learned the ritual for getting in there and out. It took some time to develop this skill! The flap motor box and that center brace behind the baggage bulkhead are the two challenges for fat people. Last night I was all the way in up to almost where the camera is in these pics!

The servo was swapped and tested before we knew it thanks to Tim and Bob's help with handing me tools. The hard part is the safety wire in that area on those three mount bolts is a pain to do and fiddling with the connector as well. The only issue is the servo runs backwards in this mechanical configuration but that is an easy fix by removing a jumper at the connector on the brain box.
 
Friday evening I got the OAT probe mounted in the inboard most wing inspection cover plate on the pilot side. I was able to run the wire in the wing conduit.

I got almost finished with ripping out the Dynon capacitive converters and replacing them with the Princeton units. Got it all done out on the wing roots for both sides.

25degF. In the hangar this morning with an expected high of 30deg so I spent some time rounding up some propane and cleaning up my tank mounted 45,000btu IR heater. This thing is the only way I can work in that cold!

Today I started out with putting the wing root fairing back on on the copilot side. Had left that unfinished last night.

Next I moved on to securing the Princeton converter boxes and the small coax that goes out to the tanks. I just double sided taped the boxes to the sides of the fuse up behind the panel on both sides.

After that I moved on to installing the EMS sensor harness with included the landing of the OAT probe wires.

Had to increase the size of the grommet and drill out a grommet shield on the firewall to get it in. The G3X system uses all shielded cables for the sensors where the Dynon did not so the harness is a little larger in diameter.

Got the #2 & #4 CHT,EGT probes swapped out as well as got the fuel flow transducer connected. Tried to use the Dynon carb temp probe but it does not seem to work with the G3X. I guess I will be buying another $75 probe.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get the rest of the engine sensors wired up.

Getting close now!
 
I get a sense not a lot of people post to this thread because they are in awe. But I'm sure MANY are watching to see your next move!
 
Tony - in my case, it's because I am learning that a panel upgrade is no small task.

Brian - at least for me, this thread has been both "motivation" and "sobering".

Just yesterday, I spent no less than 6 hours trying to get battery indicator lights to tell me the right things :(
 
in my case, it's because I am learning that a panel upgrade is no small task.
. . and Brian is making it look easy!
I've spent several days now trying to figure out why my G3X won't "talk" to my SL40 or the GDL39. Grrrrr
 
Thanks guys....

In many ways I think this is taking too long but my time working on the project is limited by priority #1 family, priority #2 real work, and priority #3 the weather (I am getting soft these days)...

Something that helps is the fact that this is not my first rodeo. The original build plus all of the smaller upgrades that I did in the past to the original panel have helped a bunch with knowing what to look out for. I am also an electrical automation engineer with almost 20 years of experience working with all kinds of gizmos and critical signal wiring.

Another thing that has really helped this project be a success so far is the awesome documentation provided by Garmin. The manuals are as good as they get in this business. I assume the G3X, GMA240 and GTX23ES manuals are modeled after their certified products so I guess that is why they are so detailed.

The more I play with the G3X system the more I like it. Everything is very intuitive and you almost don't need the user's manual to figure out how to configure and use it.

I get a smile every time I flip the master on and hit that avionics master to see all of the panel come alive. The integration with the VP-X Pro is simply amazing. I can see why all the manufacturers decided to take on the task of adding VP-X integration to their systems. The capabilities included in a VP-X system integrated with the avionics package is unbelievable. I am still amazed at the fact that this level of technology is available to us in the experimental market for the price it is. The build quality of the VP-X is nothing short of excellent. I love to be able to go into the MFD and turn on and off any device at will as well as to be able to see each device's current draw in real time. Calibrating the things like trim and flap position indicators is super easy. The built in features like incremental flap position automation, trim speed vs airspeed, runaway trim protection, automatic wig-wag etc. are icing on the cake!

Steve made a comment on another post that they are narrowing in on a new update with many new features. I am like a dog waiting on a treat in anticipation of what they have coming!

Hopefully today in between church services I will be able to get the engine part of this list of to-do items completed:

Items remaining:

  • Swap out the Dynon EGT/CHT probes and connect to the EMS harness on #1 & #3
  • Swap out the Dynon pressure and oil temp sensors and connect to the EMS harness
  • Connect the tach wire to the P-mag
  • Mount the Delta Pop UAT antenna and connect it to the GDL-39
  • Reinstall the engine control cables
  • Clean up the airplane, vac out all of the crud, complete the remainder of the annual condition inspection (been working on this as I go)
  • Re-install all the covers, seat pans, fairings, seat belts and cushions
  • Re-install the canopy
  • Run the engine to test for leaks and to check new EMS system out.
  • Calibrate the AHRS, Magnetometer, Flaps and Trim
  • Go FLY!

This has been an awesome project. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. Can't wait to enjoy it.
 
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Brian,
Just a heads up, in addition to the Dynon carb sensor not working on my plane either, I could not get the Dynon amp shunt to work, so I bought the Garmin one and it works great. For your comparison, I had exactly 200 hours in the latest project, from start of disassembly of the RV7A tip up, to test flight. That includes No glitches. You're doing great!
 
Brian,
Just a heads up, in addition to the Dynon carb sensor not working on my plane either, I could not get the Dynon amp shunt to work, so I bought the Garmin one and it works great. For your comparison, I had exactly 200 hours in the latest project, from start of disassembly of the RV7A tip up, to test flight. That includes No glitches. You're doing great!

Thanks Jon. Good thing for me is that the VP-X does not need a shunt. I have the Garmin one however since it came in the box.

Thanks for the man hour's required comparison. I am about 11 weeks in at this point with some delays in there as well as the holidays. You are a pro at upgrades to the G3X so that makes me feel a little better about how long it is taking me....
 
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Today I finished up the following:

  • Connected the pigtails that come with the G3X pressure and temp sensors to the EMS harness leads. I just soldered them and used heat shrink to protect and for strain relief.
  • Removed the old Dynon sensors and mounted the new sensors in their place.
  • Removed the #1 and #3 Dynon CHT and EGT probes and installed the G3X ones.
  • Configured the settings on the G3X for all the probes and tested what I could without starting the engine. All works as expected.

I did not get around to connecting the EMS harness leads to the CHT/EGT probes. Next Time....

Items Remaining:
  • Connect EGT/CHT probes to the EMS harness on #1 & #3
  • Connect the tach wire to the P-mag
  • Connect the Princeton converters to the EMS harness
  • Mount the Delta Pop UAT antenna and connect it to the GDL-39
  • Reinstall the engine control cables
  • Clean up the airplane, vac out all of the crud, complete the remainder of the annual condition inspection (been working on this as I go)
  • Re-install all the covers, seat pans, fairings, seat belts and cushions
  • Re-install the canopy
  • Run the engine to test for leaks and to check new EMS system out.
  • Calibrate the AHRS, Magnetometer, Flaps and Trim, Princeton converters
  • Go FLY!
 
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Today I finished up the following:

  • Connected the EGT/CHT probes to the EMS harness on #1 & #3
  • Connected the tach wire to the P-mag
  • Connected the Princeton converters to the EMS harness
  • Mounted the Delta Pop UAT antenna and connected it to the GDL-39 (you need an adapter to make this happen, Stein sells a nice one!)
  • Ordered a Garmin Carb Temp Probe from Stein. He shipped it in about an hour! Great service!

That's pretty much it for the Avionics/EMS/VP-X Pro install (less calibration)

Items Remaining:
  • "T" into my manifold pressure line going to the P-mag and connect it to the new manifold pressure sensor port in the manifold.
  • Install new Garmin Carb Temp Probe
  • Re-install the engine control cables
  • Clean up the airplane, vac out all of the crud, complete the remainder of the annual condition inspection (been working on this as I go)
  • Re-install all the covers, seat pans, fairings, seat belts and cushions
  • Re-install the canopy
  • Run the engine to test for leaks and to check new EMS system out.
  • Calibrate the AHRS, Magnetometer, Flaps and Trim, Princeton converters
  • Go FLY!
 
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Past few days I have been working on:

  • "T"'ed into my manifold pressure line going to the P-mag and connected it to the new manifold pressure sensor port in the manifold. It is next to impossible to find the correct barbed fitting in this town!
  • Installed new Garmin Carb Temp Probe
  • Filled the gaps where the canopy hinges "C" around the angle that is intended to be a shelf for the front canopy seal. Installed a new edge gripping bulb seal for the front of the canopy all the way across. Taped up everything good and sealed the area between the bulb seal and the front top skin ensuring all gaps, holes and other places for water to enter were filled with sealant. This made a complete seal between the front top skin, the seal angle/shelf, and the bulb seal. It really came out nice. It forms sort of a gutter between the front top skin and the bulb seal. The bulb seal is tall enough to contact the bottom of the canopy skin when closed. I really have no idea why Van's has you cut that angle into three pieces. There is no reason to put a gap in it where the hinges are since the hinge never rotates that far up and if it did, something else would be bent first. It does require more care when you install the canopy however. Don't say I did not warn you...
    Here is the seal I used:
    3445mhv.jpg

    Here is the sealant I used. This stuff does not run or sag very much and sticks to just about anything and is tough as nails once cured. Don't get it on you or anything that you don't want to turn Black for good! It ain't cheap but it is the good stuff! Get it at most auto parts stores:
    trm-8609_w.jpg
  • Re-installed the canopy, bolts, nuts and cotter pins, had to remove the VP-X Pro and the GTX23ES to get my hands up there in that area.
  • Posting, selling, packaging and shipping 1st gen panel items.....a ton of work!

That's pretty much it for the Avionics/EMS/VP-X Pro install (less calibration)

Items Remaining:
  • Snip the jumper in the GX Pilot Connector to reverse the pitch servo
  • Re-install the engine control cables
  • Clean up the airplane, vac out all of the crud, complete the remainder of the annual condition inspection (been working on this as I go)
  • Re-install all the covers, seat pans, fairings, seat belts and cushions
  • Run the engine to test for leaks and to check new EMS system out.
  • Calibrate the AHRS, Magnetometer, Flaps and Trim, Princeton converters
  • Go FLY!
 
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Yesterday I worked on:

  • Re-installed the engine control cables
  • Over the weekend the wife and I cleaned my seat upholsery

Items Remaining:
  • Snip the jumper in the GX Pilot Connector to reverse the pitch servo
  • Clean up the airplane, vac out all of the crud, complete the remainder of the annual condition inspection (been working on this as I go)
  • Re-install all the covers, seat pans, fairings, seat belts and cushions
  • Run the engine to test for leaks and to check new EMS system out.
  • Calibrate the AHRS, Magnetometer, Flaps and Trim, Princeton converters
  • Go FLY!
 
I will record serial numbers but that is about it. No requirement to do anything else.

Airplane will get re-weighed when I do the fuel calibration. The manual method would be too complex...

Will get a fresh alt/static/xponder test.
 
Derek,

No, sorry I have not. But Jon who posted a little bit back in this thread has done several of these conversions. He said his last one took 200 hours start to finish.
 
Today I worked on the following:

  • Vacuumed out the tail cone
  • Reinstalled the Emp Fairing
  • Reinstalled the ELT
  • Reinstalled the baggage compartment bulkhead
  • Vacuumed out the entire cockpit and the area under and between the seat pans including the area between the spar box
  • Removed a side of the flap motor box, inspected and reinstalled
  • Reinstalled the seat pans
  • Installed the 2ea G3X GPS, 1ea G3X XM & 1ea GDL39 GPS antennas on the glare shield
  • Entered EMS sensor configurations for all the sensor color bands and alarms
  • Completed the AHRS orientation calibration (more about this down below)
  • Completed the AHRS pitch and roll offset calibration
  • Completed the magnetic interference test, worst case was 10% of the allowable tolerance and believe it or not, it came from the rudder travel stop to stop??? My magnetometer is in the tail on the HS deck just in front of the HS front spar.

Items Remaining:
  • Snip the jumper in the GX Pilot Connector to reverse the pitch servo
  • Re-install seat belts and cushions
  • Run the engine to test for leaks and to check new EMS system out.
  • Calibrate the Magnetometer, Flaps and Trim, Princeton converters
  • Go FLY!

I did have an issue this evening that I want to mention so that others that may have a similar issue will know about it....

While trying to perform the AHRS orientation calibration, the calibration would instantly fail and would not calibrate. As soon as the orientation was selected and the OK button was pressed, it would instantly fail the calibration.

Turns out I had a bad config module out of the box for the GSU73. Here are the steps that were taken to find the root cause of the issue:

Christer with SteinAir mentioned that if the config module was not working in the GSU73, similar results could be expected. The confusing part about this is that in the manual it states that if the GSU config module is not working, your thermocouple gauges will all be flagged. Mine were not flagged...

I took the connector apart and disconnected the GSU config module and rebooted the system. This time all the thermocouple gauges were flagged. This does not lead you to believe that you have a bad config module because when it is connected, the thermocouples are not flagged. Disconnected they are flagged.

Christer stated that the config module in the PFD connector is the same module as the one in the GSU. He suggested that I swap them to see if the problem moves. Keep in mind that the PFD config module does have a status indication on the screen. It was all green working normally.

So I did swap the config modules and put everything back together and rebooted in config mode. This time, after swapping the modules, the GSU calibrations worked flawlessly.

The PFD status now shows that the config module on the PFD is missing or failed. The problem moved when I swapped config modules.

So I need a new config module for the PFD. Good thing is that the PFD config module is not required to move forward. It needs to be there for full LRU capability but it is not mission critical.

Might get to fly this thing tomorrow if all goes well! I am not rushing it, I am taking my time and will not fly if there are any issues but it is looking promising at this point....
 
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Good troubleshooting Brian. We actually just added a config mode status indication last week to show the health of the GSU 73 config module, to help identify this very situation. You can look for it in the next software update later this spring.

- Matt
 
Good troubleshooting Brian. We actually just added a config mode status indication last week to show the health of the GSU 73 config module, to help identify this very situation. You can look for it in the next software update later this spring.

- Matt

That is awesome Matt! I was going to put in a vote for such a status indication for the GSU config module. The one for the PFD seems to work well!

You read my mind before I even thought about it :p
 
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1st Test Flight Complete!

Completed the last action items required before flight today and then pulled it out and completed the 1st test flight this evening!

Best thing is....No Squawks!

Came home and popped the SD card into the computer and created this with little to no effort required:

9pw8l0.png


Here is a crappy cell phone video that I made during today's short test flight. Best I could do on a test flight with limited equipment. I was more worried about flying the plane, looking outside for traffic and smelling for smoke :p



Some things to notice in the video....

Had full TIS-B coverage in my area. I started getting it at about 1800msl. Most of the traffic in the pattern at KMOR was showing up. Anything above traffic pattern was displaying. There was a ton of traffic around me today!

FIS-B was working well also.

Some things I noticed while flying....

Amazing system so far. A major leap fwd in technology for my airplane. I will need a few hours of OJT to get used to everything. It is a major departure from my old panel that I was very comfortable with.

I need to learn what all the buzzers and beepers are and were to look when one goes off.

The Trutrak GX Pilot worked flawlessly out of the gate with absolutely no adjustment whatsoever. Plug it in and turn it on and it works and works well. I am sort of amazed at the performance so far of this unit! I expected it to be better than what I was used to but this thing is off the chart!

The VP-X Pro and the G3X play nice together and the functionality is just awesome!

I started ripping the plane apart on 12-6-2012 so a few days over 3 months start to finish. Not bad since there are a few major holidays in there, I have a full time job and a family with a wife and three girls....Oh and it has been cold here in East TN!

More to come later with some better video!

Happy! Happy! Happy! this evening!
 
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Congratulations!!!

You're an inspiration! This thread will be in my bookmarks for a long time. Good stuff and I'm looking forward to the pireps
 
Congrats for getting it all fired up and airborne Brian. I've done enough panel projects to know that it takes longer than expected, but it is worth it. I think that you'll enjoy learning the G3X - we sure like it in the -3.

Paul
 
Congrats Brian! Looks awesome...bet it feels great to be flying behind all that cool technology!! Been watching the progress, and it seems like 3 months is screamin' fast for all you did!

Have fun...and lots of panel envy here! ;)

Cheers,
Bob
 
Thanks guys! Last night I slept like a brick. It was similar to the night after my first flight. All of the work coming to a critical point and then once the rush wears off, it is crash time!
 
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