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11-17-2012, 02:22 PM
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Super Moderator
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Hangar/home at Hicks Airfield (T67), Fort Worth, TX
Posts: 629
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Aerotronics Customer Support
My panel was built by Aerotronics for the original builder of my RV6A back somewhere around 2001-2002 since the first flight was December 2002. I purchased my RV from the builder's estate in September 2003.
Recently there was a thread about instrument panel lights and someone mentioned an invertor. I jumped in and said my panel lights went dark on me several months ago. Until DST ended it wasn't a big deal but now I was interested in troubleshooting the problem.
Jason Smith of Aerotronics answered me thru that thread and told me to call him. Within minutes he emailed me photos to help me locate the terminal block where my UMA lights were wired to along with the Bezel Inverter. He assisted me in several troubleshooting steps to isolate that the inverter was indeed the culprit.
All of this support on a 11 to 12 year old panel with photos and schematics still kept on file after all these years.
I received the pre-wired inverter in 3 business days and took a few hours to install and test it. I now have excellant panel lights thanks to Jason.
It's really great to find someone dedicated to their product and that stands behind their work so that they are there to help, even to a second owner!
Thanks again Jason and to Aerotronics!
__________________
Mike Reddick
VAF#153
Pilots N Paws Pilot
RV6A N167CW 1,900 HRS
Ft Worth, TX (T67)
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11-17-2012, 04:19 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Windsor Colorado
Posts: 33
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Aerotronics !
I have had excellent service and support from them....Even after 4 years they are quick to return my call....These guys are great ! 
__________________
Les Preston
RV-7 flying
Rocky Mountain High !
300 hours of pure pleasure !
RV7 sold
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11-19-2012, 09:04 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2,291
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I'll echo Mike's sentiments. Our panel was wired by Aerotronics in 2006. It's still not in the airplane, which I purchased from the estate of the original builder. Jason has been very good at answering questions.
The one beef I do have with Aerotronics is that their wiring diagrams don't show every connection in the panel, only the wiring to their "plug and play" connectors out to the rest of the airplane. In short, they consider the entire instrument panel to be a "black box" to be wired into the airplane; their customers don't need to know what's inside that "black box". This is justified by Aerotronics believing that folks who contract the construction of a panel with them don't need to know the details of how their GPS is wired to their EFIS or autopilot. While this makes sense for "Day 1" operation it really is a pain in the keester when one wants to make mods downstream. I'm trying to install a 2nd comm radio (not spec'd by the original builder) and am having to reverse-engineer all of the panel's internal wiring connections. Thankfully this is a fairly simple panel. If it was one with multiple EFIS, multiple nav sources etc this process would make the use of a panel pre-fabber like Aerotronics a deal breaker for me.
Irrespective of my comments above, the Aerotronics panel work is definitely of very high quality, as is their customer service.
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11-19-2012, 09:24 AM
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Senior Curmudgeon
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Dayton Airpark, NV A34
Posts: 15,420
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Moved thread
I moved this to "Reviews".
__________________
Mike Starkey
VAF 909
Rv-10, N210LM.
Flying as of 12/4/2010
Phase 1 done, 2/4/2011 
Sold after 240+ wonderful hours of flight.
"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."
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11-20-2012, 06:10 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Flagstaff, AZ
Posts: 2,653
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Canadian_JOY
I'm trying to install a 2nd comm radio (not spec'd by the original builder) and am having to reverse-engineer all of the panel's internal wiring connections. Thankfully this is a fairly simple panel. If it was one with multiple EFIS, multiple nav sources etc this process would make the use of a panel pre-fabber like Aerotronics a deal breaker for me.
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As the OP mentioned, Aerotronics is more than happy to support their panels. It wouldn't be free, of course, but you could ask them for diagrams to help you do what you want and they would provide them for you. Both my panels were accompanied by a statement regarding support and indicating that re-engineering could be accomplished to any level (including having them do all the work for you) at fair rates. I've only had minor issues when I was bringing the RV-6A to life and they have provided help at no charge, so my sense is they will be pretty reasonable. I know eventually this BMA unit will need replacing and guess who will get the job.
__________________
Patrick Kelley - Flagstaff, AZ
RV-6A N156PK - Flying too much to paint
RV-10 14MX(reserved) - Fuselage on gear
http://www.mykitlog.com/flion/
EAA Technical Counselor #5357
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11-30-2012, 01:39 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: MI
Posts: 91
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Hmmm?
Quote:
Originally Posted by flion
I know eventually this BMA unit will need replacing and guess who will get the job.
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...Aerotronics? And what to replace it with?
GRT Avionics HXr
Regards,
Carlos Fernandez
GRT Avionics
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12-04-2012, 03:20 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2,291
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When I asked about "internal" wiring diagrams for my panel the response wasn't as positive as I had hoped. Seems there are no more wiring diagrams available than what I already have - that is, to the "plug and play" aircraft interface connectors. That's really my major beef as these "internal" wiring diagrams really should be part of the basic documentation package.
Again, I have to say the folks at Aerotronics have been great to deal with. In my instance they're working with limited info so they're doing the best they can. They certainly have had the right attitude and have provided speedy replies every time I've asked a question, so top marks given for customer service!
Quote:
Originally Posted by flion
As the OP mentioned, Aerotronics is more than happy to support their panels. It wouldn't be free, of course, but you could ask them for diagrams to help you do what you want and they would provide them for you.
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And as for Carlos' comment...
"...Aerotronics? And what to replace it with? GRT Avionics HXr"
I just upgraded our WS screen to HS. Wish I had the space to go with an HXr, and the budget. In this instance my wallet is very happy to hear that I'm short on panel space!
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12-05-2012, 08:03 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Flagstaff, AZ
Posts: 2,653
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I meant that Aerotronics provides engineering for a fee, so they'd probably be happy to help you redesign the way you want. My drawings are the same as yours but I had an installation question and they provided a diagram for a slight re-wiring of the harness in my RV-6A. I'm betting if you approach it not from 'what I currently have' but from 'what I want to have' they can figure something out for you.
*reactionary comment removed by poster*
__________________
Patrick Kelley - Flagstaff, AZ
RV-6A N156PK - Flying too much to paint
RV-10 14MX(reserved) - Fuselage on gear
http://www.mykitlog.com/flion/
EAA Technical Counselor #5357
Last edited by flion : 12-05-2012 at 04:39 PM.
Reason: Removed my snarky comment
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12-05-2012, 12:00 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Livermore, CA
Posts: 6,797
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Thread drift
Narco, Apollo/UPS were once "big guys" whose products are now orphans. So there are no guarantees. Except, if Garmin is successful in driving out the little guys, you can be sure prices will rise, and service will fall.
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