Mounting Dynon Skyview GPS-2020 Antenna

Piper J3 · #1 09-22-2018, 02:40 AM

Has anyone noticed an interference with the GPS-2020 antenna wires passing through the F-1201Z retaining plate?

There is a large hole in the retaining plate but it is extremely off-center with respect to the wires protruding from the bottom of the Skyview GPS-2020 antenna. The wires actually interfere with the edge of the clearance hole and the aluminum plate can easily cut through the wire insulation.

Jamesey · #2 09-22-2018, 04:19 AM

Agreed. Just file out a small arc to make clearance. That?s what I did.

pilotyoung · #3 09-22-2018, 06:25 AM

I made the hole larger to give the wires clearance.

Piper J3 · #4 09-22-2018, 07:44 AM

I thought maybe I just had the problem. I sent an email to Van's Tech Support detailing the wire interference. Maybe Van's will issue a SB so folks make sure they address this before problems occur in the field.

benfra · #5 09-22-2018, 08:26 AM

I just enlarged hole, be sure to clean and de burr. Good luck!

dbhill916 · #6 09-22-2018, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piper J3

Has anyone noticed an interference with the GPS-2020 antenna wires passing through the F-1201Z retaining plate?

There is a large hole in the retaining plate but it is extremely off-center with respect to the wires protruding from the bottom of the Skyview GPS-2020 antenna. The wires actually interfere with the edge of the clearance hole and the aluminum plate can easily cut through the wire insulation.

Ditto to the other responders. I found the hole to be off center/too small for the 2020, so I just used a Dremel tool to remove sufficient offending material to allow easy passage for the wiring bundle.

Don't forget to UPDATE YOUR SYSTEM to tell it that it's got a 2020 installed! I spent way too much time & money debugging a "bad" 2020 that was merely my fault for not following instructions.

bruceh · #7 09-23-2018, 09:52 PM

When I first installed the Dynon GPS-250, the wires that exited the unit were off center, so that's where I made the hole in the doubler. This last year, I upgraded to the GPS-2020 and lo and behold the wires are now centered. I did as others here suggested and just enlarged the hole in the doubler to make it centered for the new wiring exit. It was just about 1/4 to 3/8" off from the original unit. Makes me think that Dynon is the culprit here in moving the wiring on their units and Van's designed to the original offset hole.

az_gila · #8 09-23-2018, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bruceh

When I first installed the Dynon GPS-250, the wires that exited the unit were off center, so that's where I made the hole in the doubler. This last year, I upgraded to the GPS-2020 and lo and behold the wires are now centered. I did as others here suggested and just enlarged the hole in the doubler to make it centered for the new wiring exit. It was just about 1/4 to 3/8" off from the original unit. Makes me think that Dynon is the culprit here in moving the wiring on their units and Van's designed to the original offset hole.

According to the Dynon documentation the old (250) and new (2020) units are identical and both have a small offset.

1.75 inches between mounting holes and the wires are 1 inch from set of holes.

Perhaps rotating the unit 180 degrees might help? The antenna does not have a mounting direction requirement.

Note, rotating the unit would move the position of the wires exactly 1/4 inch per your posting.

Piper J3 · #9 09-24-2018, 01:03 AM

What prompted me to start this thread? a friend?s RV-12 built by Synergy in Eugene, OR developed an intermittent GPS fault on Dynon dual screen HDX displays. Dynon was contacted because units are still in first year of warranty. Dynon theorized bad GPS antenna and sent a new replacement. When we changed out the antenna we noticed wire cut-through at the F-1201Z Retaining Plate. Synergy didn?t add clearance and just mounted the antenna with wires forced against sharp metal edge. At 80 flying hours a big red X was displayed on both EFIS screens, which was a little disheartening to say the least.

A big thank you to Dynon for stepping up to the plate, but real problem is poor build quality at Synergy. I?m sure Dynon will re-coop their cost now that we have full discloser. I suggest all owners of Synergy built aircraft should look for this assembly fault.