Van's Air Force
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Backup to the glass ...
- Thread starter RV6-KPTW
- Start date
Dan 57
Well Known Member
As stated by previous posters, not sure about the iPad for BU... thought about it myself, and finally installed a AV-20 as as back-up to the back-up (primary is dual battery BU G5s).
The AV-20 is small and cute, has many different functions, and could hopefully be used to find the way out of the murk... it also has a battery BU.
The AV-20 is small and cute, has many different functions, and could hopefully be used to find the way out of the murk... it also has a battery BU.
I suppose by Sentry 3 you just mean Sentry. There is no version number there. On the other hand, there is a Sentry mini which does not have backup attitude.
I have been using Sentry for 2 years (or 200 flight hours). It's surprisingly stable with good signal (adsb and gps) reception. If I'm in the soup and all other instruments failed, I have no hesitation to use the synthetic vision from foreflight+sentry to guide me to somewhere safe. The artificial horizon depends on how it's mounted, so if it changes you need to calibrate it during level flight.
I ended up having a G5 as backup because even sentry is very stable, it did quit on me twice, which required a hard reboot to recover. It took quite some attention from flying.
bill.hutchison
Well Known Member
I have used/tested a Stratus 2 in combination with a yoke-mounted iPad mini in a simulated emergency.
It'll work in a pinch, but it's twitchy and a bit hard to smoothly fly using the instruments on the iPad getting fed from the Stratus. If it's all you have, it's better than having no AHRS at all.
I have a Dynon D3 EFIS backup that is much cleaner/simpler than that set up. I'm going to keep it handy in the airplane as a backup to the backup if, in my new panel, the Dynon AND the G5 die.
It'll work in a pinch, but it's twitchy and a bit hard to smoothly fly using the instruments on the iPad getting fed from the Stratus. If it's all you have, it's better than having no AHRS at all.
I have a Dynon D3 EFIS backup that is much cleaner/simpler than that set up. I'm going to keep it handy in the airplane as a backup to the backup if, in my new panel, the Dynon AND the G5 die.
Everyone has their own comfort level with risk and redundancy. As is likely true for many others, I did quite a bit of round dial IFR in decades past--no autopilot; backup to a vacuum failure was needle/ball/airpseed and a whiskey compass; no in-cockpit Wx (remember when center's response to a Wx question was that their radar didn't paint Wx? The workaround was to ask them to press the Wx1 and Wx2 buttons on the side of their console and describe the "slashes and Xs" displayed along my route of flight). Not interested in going back to those days, e.g. I will no longer launch on a single pilot IFR flight without a functioning AP to reduce workload, but...
When I bought my -10, it had one battery and one alternator. Adding a B&C standby alternator seemed like a particularly good idea given the electrical dependency, and I did that. I've seen other posts describing much more redundancy and failure protection. If I were building, I might well pirate many if not all of those e-system design features.
I chose a Stratux ($200 version of a Stratus) and an iPad as my backup. I use FlyQ rather than ForeFlight, but that's just a matter of preference. I have a TruTrak AP, so if it were just the glass that failed, the AP would still fly a course, hold altitude, do climbs/descents, etc... However, if I had to shut the electrical system down entirely, the stratux and iPad would still be running as they are completely independent. I mounted the stratux on the cross bar behind the rear seats with a velcro strap. It's "solid" but I added a "gyro reset" to my cruise checklist anyway. Most of my flying is in the SW. Hot is an understatement. My iPad (full size) is mounted to the center post using RAM components (motorcycle handlebar clamp, a short extension, and what IIRC is called an X-grip). It's also my ADS-B-in solution as well as my moving map, approach plate source, etc..., so I use it every flight. The mounting location doesn't require head movement to reference it. In 3 years, I've not had an overheat or a disconnect. Granted, the -10 doesn't have a clear canopy, but it's bathed in sunlight though the windscreen. If the iPad were to overheat, I've got an iPhone in my pocket that could be running the FlyQ app within 30 seconds. I power the stratux from a 20,000 mA-h power pack. I place the power pack on top of the tunnel between the two front seats, and keep a spare ready to go should it be needed. Change out is quick and easy. A 10' cable is adequate to keep it routed "out of harm's way".
Using split screen mode (PFD and a geo-referenced plate) I've flown practice approaches with the iPad alone as a reference. It's crude compared to fully operational glass suite, but amazingly good v what an electrical failure would have left me with in the old days.
When I bought my -10, it had one battery and one alternator. Adding a B&C standby alternator seemed like a particularly good idea given the electrical dependency, and I did that. I've seen other posts describing much more redundancy and failure protection. If I were building, I might well pirate many if not all of those e-system design features.
I chose a Stratux ($200 version of a Stratus) and an iPad as my backup. I use FlyQ rather than ForeFlight, but that's just a matter of preference. I have a TruTrak AP, so if it were just the glass that failed, the AP would still fly a course, hold altitude, do climbs/descents, etc... However, if I had to shut the electrical system down entirely, the stratux and iPad would still be running as they are completely independent. I mounted the stratux on the cross bar behind the rear seats with a velcro strap. It's "solid" but I added a "gyro reset" to my cruise checklist anyway. Most of my flying is in the SW. Hot is an understatement. My iPad (full size) is mounted to the center post using RAM components (motorcycle handlebar clamp, a short extension, and what IIRC is called an X-grip). It's also my ADS-B-in solution as well as my moving map, approach plate source, etc..., so I use it every flight. The mounting location doesn't require head movement to reference it. In 3 years, I've not had an overheat or a disconnect. Granted, the -10 doesn't have a clear canopy, but it's bathed in sunlight though the windscreen. If the iPad were to overheat, I've got an iPhone in my pocket that could be running the FlyQ app within 30 seconds. I power the stratux from a 20,000 mA-h power pack. I place the power pack on top of the tunnel between the two front seats, and keep a spare ready to go should it be needed. Change out is quick and easy. A 10' cable is adequate to keep it routed "out of harm's way".
Using split screen mode (PFD and a geo-referenced plate) I've flown practice approaches with the iPad alone as a reference. It's crude compared to fully operational glass suite, but amazingly good v what an electrical failure would have left me with in the old days.
