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Dynon Issue

dick seiders

Well Known Member
At about 18 hrs of flying the 12 the Dynon got a little weird on me. It seemed to have difficulty holding the horizon and the attitude line where brown meets blue got sort of wavy . I spoke with a rep at Oshkosh and he advised me to return it to Dynon for replacement. I flew about 6 hrs since to see what it would do and it was fine until today and the same thing happened so am pulling it and shipping to Dynon tomorrow. Additionally when landing at indicated 55kts it was traveling a bit faster than that. (I would guess 65 to 70).Has anyone else flying had any such issues with theirs?
Dick Seiders (down for a few weeks)
 
My good friend is flying Dynon, he has seen screen issues now three times... last call to Dynon for replacement due to reliability was told to pound sand. I actually told him "I think with your issues Dynon will replace the unit". Not so... They want to keep trying to fix the defective unit.
 
Dynon horizon

I had a similar intermittent issue with my D100 early on. The horizon would **** to the right on departure about 20 degrees, and then level off in a couple of minutes. Sent it to Dynon, and they couldn't duplicate the complaint, so they graciously sent me a replacement.

No hassles at all....

Chris
 
Dynon

My dealings with Dynon have been nothing but great!! I had some instability in the D180 and called tech support. They said that they need to fix the unit so send it in. I said I was leaving for Oshkosh in 5 days. They asked me to overnight the unit to them they would sink up my data to another unit and send it back overnight to me. I got it back and installed in time to leave for Oshkosh. That is customer service. Picture Garmin doing that?

Rich
 
me too.

I am not affiliated with Dynon in any way except that I have two D10A's in my RV7. One of the two units had 3 separate issues: 1) the backup battery went south after a couple of months, sent the unit back, Dynon replaced the battery with a new one, no charge; 2) I was updating BOTH units and although I am quite sure I followed the same steps, one of the units did not take the update and locked up. Sent it back, they fixed it and shipped it back to me, no charge; and 3) One of the 2 Dynons one day just died. Flat. Sent it back, they told me the screen hardware had failed, took maybe a week for them to get the part and fix it, no charge.
These episodes have taught me that:
Electronic instruments fail, just like mechanical ones; I would not fly "real" IFR behind 1 Dynon only, withouth some backup; Dynon's support has been flawless.:)
The post from "Dflyer" makes me think they will make it right once again.
 
Last edited:
Reiley, please have your friend contact me directly.

Robert Hamilton
Director of Sales and Marketing
[email protected]
425-402-0433

I forwarded this thread link to him, he can do whatever with it he sees fit. Like I stated before, I was sure Dynon would replace the defective unit, why this didn't happen going into round three for repair I don't know. Thanks for the offer!
 
here is an update on my Dynon problem:
Sent my unit back for review. Was advised the problem could not be replicated. I suggested that testing should continue as I saw the problem on two occasions, one at 18 hrs, and again at 23 hrs. The tech folks felt testing should continue as well. (I did not get the feeling that the units can be tested in an actual flying simulation based on tech comments. Sounds more like a bench deal with vibration added). Was then offered the option of accepting a repaired unit off the shelf that was said to be newer than mine, and wouild carry the same warranty as my original unit. Considering the fact that they stated they would not replace my (23hr) unit with a new one I accepted the choice offered as it seemed a better one than waiting for an intermittent problem to be found on the bench. Not the best I had hoped for, but am willing to give it a try.
Dick Seiders (still at 23 hrs as down now for three weeks)
 
Dick,

This is certainly an issue Dynon needs to track down. I have 20 hours in an RV12 and see the same thing you are. Dynon replaced one unit already and could not replicate the issue on their bench. The new unit has done the same thing but not as extreme as the first unit. It tends to steady itself eventually, but is very discerning when trying to explain to a student pilot what is happening. There appears to be no way to repilcate it when flying or pinpoint what may be causing it........airspeed? power settings? climb? decsent? The first time it happened I did a stall and after the stall the AI was rock solid again like nothing was wrong.

I hope Dynon continues to search for the cause to this issue and the RV12 guys continue to help them eradicate it. Just wonder if it could be a Rotax vibration issue causing it? Have over 450 hours on dual Dynon in my RV10 and have never seen this issue..............has to be RV12 specific?

Dean
 
Rotax single phase alternator

Just wonder if it could be a Rotax vibration issue causing it? ..............has to be RV12 specific?
The Rotax has a single phase alternator whereas most other installations use a 3 phase alternator. It is much easier to filter a 3 phase output. Even after filtering a single phase output, the output is not a pure DC voltage. It is a pulsing DC that may or may not be causing the Dynon problem. Maybe Dynon can not replicate the problem because they are not duplicating the flight conditions of the power supply and vibrations and temperature and g-forces. Even under the exact same conditions, intermittent problems are hard to solve.
While playing with the Dynon on the bench, I noticed a big drop in case temperature by dimming the display with 2 or 3 pushes of the button. If high temperature is causing the problem, dimming the display might help. But then the display will be hard to read in bright light.
If the display is dimmed more than 2 or 3 steps, I hear a humming noise in the headset. Anyone else have this problem?
Joe
 
The Dynon dimming system in the HS34 and AP74 does cause noise in my headsets as well....
 
Dynon noises

While playing with the Dynon on the bench said:
I have discovered two noises that the Dynon makes that Dynon support wasn't able to enlighten me on. These are low level noises. Depending on how the audio alarms are wired into your intercom system you may or may not experience the following:

1. When dimming the unit the display power supply generates noise which is picked up by the alarm wiring and gets into the audio system. Depending on the dimming setting the tone will change.

2. If the internal battery is charging off the electrical system a noise will can be heard on the audio system. This is noise generated by the charging circuit. Once the battery is charged the noise will stop.

As I mentioned depending on your audio system you may or may not hear this noises.

Please don't waste your time chasing down ground loops and mis-wiring if you hear these noises. I spent days chasing this, multiple phone calls to Dynon, tested 3 D-180's and all were the same. Even swapped out my intercom to see if that was the cause.

I hope this information helps someone. Your mileage may vary.
 
Dynon instability

Still having some instability with the D-180 horizon and the ball. They jump around but only below 4900 rpm. At 5000 and above they are very stable. That must have something to do with the power source or maybe my power source?

Rich
 
Here we go again. I put the replacement 180 in and flew 5.1 hrs total over five flights and the gremlin is back. Flying an approach to land at Monroe Ga today at 2060 ft in pattern and the attitude line dropped almost to the bottom of the Dynon. It then bobbled up to indicate a 10-15 degree climb while the pitch was unchanged. I held the course and pitch steady and the up and down action while less severe continued for 2-3 more cycles then I simply did not look at it further as it was playing with my head. I know we are not to fly IFR in the 12, but trust me such a display is uncomfortable to see even in VFR flight. I will ask Dynon tomorrow what the next step is to be.
Dick Seiders
 
Have flown 4.5 hrs since display abberation with no further event. Will continue to monitor for next 10-15 hrs as the abberations usually occur around 5 hr intervals. I am somewhat optimistic.
Dick Seiders
 
Flew only 30 min. today due to turbulance. Dynon appeared to demonstrate a little bit of detour from parameters again , but it may have been the turb. Will continue to monitor.
Dick Seiders
 
Instability

A bit more testing of the Dynon horizon and ball instability. Since it only happens between 4600 to 4850 rpm I was flying at 4800 rpm and it was wobbling away. A mechanic had suggested pulling the 30 amp fuse at that point which would separate the unit from ships power and go to internal battery. If the problem was coming from ships power it should smooth out on battery. It didn't. Same on internal battery as ships power. I have run out of ideas. Anybody else have any?

Rich
 
A bit more testing of the Dynon horizon and ball instability. Since it only happens between 4600 to 4850 rpm I was flying at 4800 rpm and it was wobbling away. A mechanic had suggested pulling the 30 amp fuse at that point which would separate the unit from ships power and go to internal battery. If the problem was coming from ships power it should smooth out on battery. It didn't. Same on internal battery as ships power. I have run out of ideas. Anybody else have any?

Rich

Hi Rich,
This is only a wild guess as I have no idea if this could cause the problem, but have you set the magnetic intensity and inclination for your location, on the D180?

Tony
 
Another suggestion

Rich,
The 30amp fuse is misslabled as "MAIN". It should be labeled "ALTERNATOR". Next time you pull the 30amp fuse, notice that the transponder and com radio still work. Pulling the alternator fuse makes everything run off from the aircraft battery. But it does not shut the alternator off. In fact, there is no way to shut off the alternator except to physically short the two yellow alternator wires together. Shutting off the master switch will open the alternator circuit at the voltage regulator and keep the alternator voltage out of the instrument panel. I am not saying that the alternator is causing the problem. But if the problem goes away with the master off, then that would point to the alternator as a possible culprit.
Other possible antagonists are the ignition and RPM wires from the engine that connect to the control board. Regardless of the antagonists, avionics should be designed to work in an aircraft's hostile electrical environment.
Joe
 
Instability

I do have the appropriate intensity and inclination in the system. I had shut off all of the radios so I didn't notice that they were still on. I didn't want to have surges in the system. Not being an electronics type person, all of this seems like black magic. I am pretty sure it isn't the Dynon because it was replaced for a different reason (screen flicker) and the last one had the same instability. I have run out of ideas. It is not that big a issue in normal operation but in some circumstance if I had to shoot an approach it would be ugly. It also makes the autopilot wiggle like crazy. Stabilizes and is fine at 5000 and up. I know it isn't an IFR piece of equipment and I wouldn't intentionally set out to use it as such.
 
Pitch attitude display wandering; D180

Here we go again. I put the replacement 180 in and flew 5.1 hrs total over five flights and the gremlin is back. Flying an approach to land at Monroe Ga today at 2060 ft in pattern and the attitude line dropped almost to the bottom of the Dynon. It then bobbled up to indicate a 10-15 degree climb while the pitch was unchanged. I held the course and pitch steady and the up and down action while less severe continued for 2-3 more cycles then I simply did not look at it further as it was playing with my head. I know we are not to fly IFR in the 12, but trust me such a display is uncomfortable to see even in VFR flight. I will ask Dynon tomorrow what the next step is to be.
Dick Seiders

Dynon sent me another unit, it seems to do the same thing, maybe worse than the original unit.

Simple description: Pitch attitude sometimes wanders a small, medium or large amount. Not associated with airplane things or environment (at least I haven't been able to connect the phenomenon to something tangible).
In the topic where I captured this quote, I saw that a couple of people have commented on a similar event with the D180, so I'm hoping there's a trail to a fix!
Anybody else experience this?
If so, was it fixed? . . . . and how?

Thx
 
Mike, as I recall the replacement unit never did work well and suffered the same variations in horizon as the first. When we tried to upgrade it to 5.4 it went spooky and a statement on the screen said "return for repair" So I did that and Mike (tech at Dynon ) said he would return the first one I had as he could find nothing wrong with it. The original came back with the new 5.4 upgrade already on it and it has worked fine ever since. I know this is not much help, but that's the story. If I were you I would work diligently with Mike to resolve. If that fails contact the highest level Sales manager you can find as you may find more help there if you and Mike cannot work out the issue. Good luck!
Dick Seiders
 
Pitch problem, parts tracking?

Dick - Thx for the feedback.
A slightly random question; do you by chance have record of the serial number of the unit that had the pitch problem?


Mike B
 
Mike, I have it at the airport but will not be there for a few days. I do recall checking on the return of my original unit and it was indeed the one I had sent in for replacement. Don't know if you require further info, but if so let me know.
Dick Seiders
 
Pitch problem, serial number commonality?

The two units that I have had (with this problem) are not very far apart in serial numbers. So....I have the wild theory that may the problem units are within a narrow band of s/ns being that only a few folks have experienced this problem. So, if you think of it when you're at the airport, I would appreciate the s/n of the affected units.
Thx Dick
Mike B
 
Mike, I notice I have forgotten to send serial # info. I apologize for overlooking that and will send this Sat. Reason I came to this thread again is I am slightly worried as when flying last Sat. I had to keep nose down (about 1/4 in. below artificial horizon on the Dynon colorview) to avoid climbing about 100fpm. Hope it's not deja vu all over again. Will take another look if I can go up this Sat. Now it was very rough and choppy so I am hoping I saw the results of that, and not a new issue with the 180. Will report back.
Dick Seiders
 
Mike, a surprise BD party wiped out the airport visit last week so didn't get all the info. I have determined that when my original 180 went back to Dynon it was replaced with ser.# 2625. This unit was later returned to Dynon and replaced with the original unit I had returned earlier. I will find that ser. # for you on Sat.
Dick Seiders
 
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