GD-40 Carbon Monoxide Detector and Dynon Skyview?

Has anybody had any luck connecting a Flight Data Systems GD-40 Carbon Monoxide detector to their Dynon Skyview system? I put one in my airplane but can't seem to figure out how to program the Skyview EMS sensor input from the GD-40. The Skyview installation manual is a bit vague on the subject, and the GD-40 manual (all two pages of it) is not very helpful for connecting to an EFIS.

Any experiences or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Karl,

It appears that they are connecting to a General Purpose input on the EMS, not into an RS-232 Serial data connection.

You can download the SkyView Installation Manual onto your PC or iPad at www.dynonavionics.com/docs/ On page 7-50 is the explanation on how to use a general purpose input as a contact. In the Flight Data Manual it appears you use their instructions for "Relay" to connect to the SkyView "Contact."

I hope that helps. I don't think we've seen one of these CO sensors ourselves. Contact our tech support if you need further guidance.

-Robert
Dynon Avionics

Okay thanks Robert. I've made the electrical connection to the General Purpose EMS input, but can't figure out how to configure the Skyview sensor input and EMS display for the CO detector. For a Skyview "Contact" sensor input, I need to define contact voltages for what is a CO "detection" so that I can make an alarm and button turn red on the Skyview EMS page. Still scratching my head here...

Old thread, relevant question

I have the same question. Once the GD-40 is wired into the Dynon on a general input into the EMS (Violet/Yellow Wire P22 for example) what should values/settings be used in the sensor setup?

Power or ground from CO detector wire?

You need some information about your CO detector. Does the wire out of it provide voltage or ground when a warning is generated? If it supplies voltage you can take it directly to the Dynon EMS contact input. The settings for that pin will be Contact/Contact/CO Warn. The last one is the function. You will initially select Custom from the choices offered. This allows you to name it CO Warn or whatever you like. I would choose a small round widget. In the sensor range you set 0-2.5v as black color. Set 2.6-5V as red and enable the warning. You will want to make it self clearing.

If the wire out of the detector supplies ground in a warning state, the wiring is only slightly different. Both ways are in the Dynon installation manual.

From GD-40 Installation/Operation Manual
RLY (Relay) This terminal connects to ground (is pulled low) when a CO alarm is present. Connect this to an EFIS ?switch input? or it can complete
the circuit for an external warning lamp. Do not connect this terminal to 12-28 Volts
So the GD-40 connects to ground when an alarm is present.

Thanks. The GD-40 comes with its own alert LED that is wired direct to the unit and mounted on the panel. I was looking to add a widget onto the EMS screen to show a green/red dot for an additional warning. If the GD-40 completes a ground circuit when in alarm mode, is this setup in the Dynon EMS as a contact or a switch input? For either of those what would be applicable settings be within the configure page?

RV10Pilot said:

From GD-40 Installation/Operation Manual
RLY (Relay) This terminal connects to ground (is pulled low) when a CO alarm is present. Connect this to an EFIS ?switch input? or it can complete
the circuit for an external warning lamp. Do not connect this terminal to 12-28 Volts
So the GD-40 connects to ground when an alarm is present.

Click to expand...

from the FDS GD-40 page:

Four Ways to Alert:

Digitally through your EFIS

AFS

Dynon - via switched input

GRT

GARMIN

MGL

Got it to work.

Thanks for all the insight. This is what the final solution looked like for me.

1. Connect GD-40 to the Dynon EMS via pin 22. Make sure the GD-40 is grounded to a common ground with the Dynon.
2. EMS Setup - Use function -"Contact", sensor - "Contact" and then I named it CO2 in the third field.
3. Sensor Setup - Here I enabled only Range 1 and Range 2.

Range 1
Enable - Yes
Name - OK
Color - Green
Top - 5.0 volts
Bottom 2.5 volts

Range 2
Enable - Yes
Name - WARN
Color - Red
Top - 2.4 volts
Bottom - 0.0 volts

For the remaining ranges 3-5 just select Enable - No

After that went in and setup a widget for the 100%, 50% screens and left it off the 20% screen.

When I tested the GD-40 holding down its button and releasing, it would alert the Dynon and turn the widget red and the standard audible engine warning.