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Garmin GAD 27

Wingit

Active Member
In regard to switching and interfacing with the GAD27 it seem redundant to have a switch for example to control interior lighting and the have the switching running through the GAD 27 when the initial switch is capable of controlling the load. What is the advantage of controlling lighting through GAD27. Thanks
Dave
 
First we need to be clear what you mean by lighting. This could be interior or Landing Lights. For the interior one advantage is dimming. For the landing lights it could be wig-wag or you might be able to use a switch that has a lower current rating and therefore physically smaller. I agree there are not huge advantages though. I have larger switches anyway but I do plan to use the wig-wag function.
 
I'm using the GAD 27 dimmer function for panel and cabin lighting...

I have wingtip landing lights which will be switched through the GAD 27 for wig-wag purposes.

Taxi light wired normally, not using the GAD 27.
 
Gad27

Thanks for reply. I understand using for landing lights and wig wag function but to dim interior lights you still need a rheostat style switch to initially control the dimming process or is the Gad 27 need to control a specific kind of light.
Dave
 
I use the GAD 27 for flap control (presets), trim mixing (inputs from either stick), trim speed control (finer adjustments in cruise than in landing and takeoff), and light dimming. Lighting inputs to the GAD (up to 3) are potentiometers that simply vary an input voltage - I used 10k pots. Each pot controls a lighting circuit (up to 3) and each circuit has 2 outputs - one is DC voltage and the second is PWM (pulse width modulation) for LED control - thus a total of 6 possible output circuits. Garmin screens (G3X and GTN) use DC voltage input for lighting control while LEDs (typically in buttons, switches and lighting strips) behave better with PWM.

I used all three input circuits (3 pots for input) with one for screens, second for switches and buttons (including buttons on devices), third for an LED strip for panel splash lighting (either red or white). GAD 27 allow different profiles (voltage to brightness conversion, and cutoffs) for all 6 output channels. GTN also allows different profiles.

More control than you can ask for, but I really like the results night flying.
 
Actually that is not completely true. You can use the PWM outputs to dim cabin lights as long as they don't need more that 500mA. If you use LED lights that should be plenty.
 
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