RV 6 Auto Pilot.

Hi , Looking for a autopilot for a RV 6 any suggestions ? I have a stock standard RV 6 ( steam gauges, no GPS). I’m leaning toward a Garmin 760 GPS coupled to a Xcruze 100 autopilot. Would appreciate any input pros & cons.Regards �� Sorry Guys forgot to mention I do have a AV 30 EFIS installed.

We have a Trutrak Vizion 385 (older version of XCruze 100 I think) coupled to an Aera 660. It works well. We chose the setup largely because the round control head integrated well into our steam gauge hybrid panel (we have dual G5's now). We have found it difficult to integrate the autopilot with the G5s - if you want that you have to buy a GAD29 which we have done but not fitted it yet. We hope it will give us heading bug, altitude bug and altimeter setting integration.

Over the years, Trutrak and Trio have been the two that most guys would use that did not have glass panels. I have a Trio and a lot of friends have Trutrak. Both work well but the Trutrak appears to be slightly better / smoother at course tracking. Many portable GPS units will run the autopilot. Have friends using iFly and Garmin hand held units and I am using a panel mount IFR GPS navigator to drive mine.

Why not Garmin 500 series autopilots

Consider the Garmin 507 for Experimental, It's affordable and plays real nicely with the Garmin 760. You can even hardwire it to the 760 (snaps in/out of bracket) and keep the Bluetooth available for other functions. I have it installed with a Aera 760 and a pair of G5's and its Great!

I am planning on installing the Trutrack in my 6 this winter. I also have an AV30. I bought the iFly so that I could see weather and traffic from my ADSB receiver. I’ve wired the iFly to the AV30 to show GPS track. When I install the autopilot I’ll use the AV 30 to drive it. That way I can use the heading bug on the AV30 or the GPS track from the iFLy to drive the autopilot.

Garmin Autopilot

Hi Dom,

Here is an example of a basic autopilot installation using Garmin components:



This installation would include auto-trim support for your existing trim motors and allow you to couple both lateral and vertical guidance from the Aera 660 to your autopilot, for GPS navigation and enroute VNAV descent profiles.

There are a number of different ways to configure the system and facilitate different functions, you can always expand from here to do things like couple the autopilot to an ILS or GPS approach. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Justin

Full disclosure: I have a Trio Pro with auto trim in a -10, and love it.

IMHO most of the available autopilots are quite good, so your decision really comes down to a few things:
Panel space available. Many TruTraks (but not the one you mentioned) can fit in a 2 1/4” hole. But the small size means one knob does many functions, which can be a bit confusing in operation. If you plan to slave it to an efis, then this may be a non-issue.
Drive motor: stepper, or continuous?
Fail safe: shear pin, or clutch? I personally like the clutch. (Actually, Trio has both).
When not in use, is the autopilot ‘out of the loop’ or still in it (but with low drag)?
Are you planning, now or in the future, to interface the autopilot to an efis? If so, are they compatible?
If you have electric pitch trim, do you want the autopilot to run it automatically?

g3xpert said:

Hi Dom,

Here is an example of a basic autopilot installation using Garmin components:

This installation would include auto-trim support for your existing trim motors and allow you to couple both lateral and vertical guidance from the Aera 660 to your autopilot, for GPS navigation and enroute VNAV descent profiles.

There are a number of different ways to configure the system and facilitate different functions, you can always expand from here to do things like couple the autopilot to an ILS or GPS approach. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Justin

Click to expand...

Thanks but I just don’t have room for the controller in the panel, that’s part of the reason I’m looking at Trutrak( fits in a hole).

Grt Sport EX with pitch and roll AP
Note toggle switches above efis
https://imgur.com/a/gnacAwA
Posting because the cost is probably about the same as the trutrak and you get more capability with it coupled to a actual efis

Saw a Trio removed for upgrade here on Vans yesterday. The "wing Leveler" function only as in this advertised Trio worked fine in my RV9 . It worked great connected to an iFly for course tracking or would track a heading without the connection. Depending on your investment, installation efforts and your decision to have an altitude hold, the Trio did everything I needed it to do in a general aviation VFR airplane. I added altitude hold to that set up couple years ago and can say that I almost never use that for my kinda flying.

+1 For Trio

Love my Trio, very programmable, and when set up properly (which is easy), very smooth.

What I like the most is that when the A/P is not engaged, there is NO (Zero) friction on the flight controls. Full clutch release, no stepper motor.