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2022 version of what I learned at Oshkosh

You wrote that Vic Syracuse "does not like 6 cylinder P-mags."

Can you elaborate?

The early P-mag for 6 cylinder engines had some failures. I don't want to speak for Vic but I believe that led him to lose confidence and is why he does not recommend them.
 
The vertical power note has me on the fence as well. I like the idea but trying to plan out the breakers so it’s redundant really makes the Vpx Redundant at a large cost.

I have an Essential Bus that utilizes fuses and runs nearly all of my avionics suite. Should both halves of the VPX Pro fail I can still operate normally.

I also have a G5 with battery backup - a friend noted that I should do a full discharge test to ensure that I truly have 45 minutes of backup battery (during phase 1 I ran on the G5 backup battery for 20 minutes successfully).
 
I dont know about that. My plane has a 6 Pmag and Vic and Nick take care of my plane. Never heard that from him. In fact my lightspeed coils had the failures and he replaced them.
 
Vic’s corrections

Vic’s reply on kitplanes ( not approved yet)

VIC SYRACUSE August 1, 2022 at 3:45 pm Comment awaiting approval
A few corrections.
Retard the PMAGS by 1-2 degrees, NOT advance them.
Change the auto plugs every 100 hours or annually.
 
Vic’s reply on kitplanes ( not approved yet)

VIC SYRACUSE August 1, 2022 at 3:45 pm Comment awaiting approval
A few corrections.
Retard the PMAGS by 1-2 degrees, NOT advance them.
Change the auto plugs every 100 hours or annually.

Thank you Carol, I have updated my post with your corrections. And reviewing my notes from Vic's presentation I had written Retard not Advance. I should have double checked before hitting the publish button...
 
Re A3 and RV-10 and 6 cylinder Pmag

Re Best Tug / RV-10
I've got an A3 and it works great on the RV-10 with the Best Tugs clamp/adapters. I bought it used from a guy with a Waco and had to cut down the length of the arms for better geometry but the adjustable adapters that came with it work great. If the holes in the wheel pant are too small just get a stepper bit and take it up a size.

Re 6 cylinder PMag
I had one of the early gold 6 cylinder Pmags that failed. Brad updated it and all has been well. The new parts they upgraded appear to have fixed my problem. I am waiting a while before I install a second one as the first one failed on me early on before the revisions.
 
So as far as the vertical power goes, when you lose the MFD you only lose control over the CBs that aren't programmed to a physical switch. I believe cycling the switch for a programmed CB cycles the power and "resets" the CB. I would call VPX to verify that though. I ran out of switch inputs on my Pro, but only needed 2 outputs that aren't linked to a physical switch. Neither of them are flight critical.

RS232 is point to point communication, so it only supports 2 pieces of hardware on the line. If you split it into both boxes they'll interfer with each other, so your only option is an A/B switch as suggested. The downside to this is if both displays are configured to expect serial data, the disconnected one will display a communication error message the whole time. So it's doable, but it won't be perfect. You might be able to install an active splitter/repeater to get what you want. (https://www.amazon.com/Splitter-Expander-Adapter-Sharing-Capture/dp/B07L2ZN8J6?th=1&psc=1)

As far as the e-bus goes, SDS recommends I think 12 or 14 individual breakers for a full system. That takes a significant amount of the I/O space on VPX. If I wanted to run everything through the VPX, I would have had to buy 2 Pros. I ended up with 16 physical CBs straight to the contactor, and then maxed out a VPX Pro as well.
 
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I also have a G5 with battery backup - a friend noted that I should do a full discharge test to ensure that I truly have 45 minutes of backup battery (during phase 1 I ran on the G5 backup battery for 20 minutes successfully).

The guys over at TCW, makers of our backup batteries, recommend you do that at every condition inspection. Specifically, run those devices on the backup circuit for 20 minutes or until the battery output drops to 9.5v, whichever comes first.
TCW also states their batteries have a 5 to 6 year lifespan.
 
As far as the e-bus goes, SDS recommends I think 12 or 14 individual breakers for a full system. That takes a significant amount of the I/O space on VPX. If I wanted to run everything through the VPX, I would have had to buy 2 Pros. I ended up with 16 physical CBs straight to the contactor, and then maxed out a VPX Pro as well.

You can use blade fuses too as I do in my plane for the last 19 years as well as many of our customers. Lighter, more compact, less expensive, potentially more reliable than breakers.

A typical 4 cylinder dual system will require:

4 for injectors
2 for ECUs
2 for fuel pumps
2 for coils
1 for injector relays

As for using the VPX for breakering SDS, we don't recommend it due to the surge current on the injectors and coils and the fact that the VPX trips on peak, not average current as a conventional breaker does. We issued a SB back in 2015 after an incident brought this to our attention.
 
The vertical power note has me on the fence as well. I like the idea but trying to plan out the breakers so it’s redundant really makes the Vpx Redundant at a large cost.

I can provide some first hand experience with this in conjunction with my G3X setup. I too have the VPX wired to the MFD - no reason why you can’t wire it to the PFD… but the fact remains, when your screen goes down, you lose control. I had an issue with my MFD where it’s kept rebooting in flight. I lost access to the VPX page.

In addition… I had Garmin help me troubleshoot some CANBUS issues. In order to do additional troubleshooting, I need to be in config mode on my PFD. When youre in config mode on the PFD, the MFD is also in “config” mode. When in config mode, you dont have access to the VPX… which sucks, because i need to remove devices one at a time until my network errors go down… that’s impossible to do through the electronic circuit breakers because I cant access them.

Just a few things to keep in mind. I dont regret my decision, however there are times when having the VPX wired like this is NOT ideal.
 
Same here ... VPX-Pro... but my electronic ignition, my backup PFD, my comm1 and my GRT engine monitor will function protected with blade fuses without the VPX. If the PFD and/or VPX go TU, the engine still runs, I can still set appropriate engine power, I can still talk and I can still keep the shiny side up should IMC become an issue between me and a safe landing place.
 
Charlie, you can use the VPX on your MFD to turn off device(s), then restart your PFD (reboot by pressing, then releasing “NRST” + “MENU” + “BACK” simultaneously) then press and hold "MENU" to enter Config mode. Lots of wasted time rebooting but it should work.

I can provide some first hand experience with this in conjunction with my G3X setup. I too have the VPX wired to the MFD - no reason why you can’t wire it to the PFD… but the fact remains, when your screen goes down, you lose control. I had an issue with my MFD where it’s kept rebooting in flight. I lost access to the VPX page.

In addition… I had Garmin help me troubleshoot some CANBUS issues. In order to do additional troubleshooting, I need to be in config mode on my PFD. When youre in config mode on the PFD, the MFD is also in “config” mode. When in config mode, you dont have access to the VPX… which sucks, because i need to remove devices one at a time until my network errors go down… that’s impossible to do through the electronic circuit breakers because I cant access them.

Just a few things to keep in mind. I dont regret my decision, however there are times when having the VPX wired like this is NOT ideal.
 
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