My gyro turn coordinator is beginning to slow down and the red flag is having difficulty hiding. I have noticed the Belite turn coordinator and was wondering if anyone has put one of these in their airplane and could give me feedback. It's solely as a backup for my Dynon EFIS (D100) but I do fly IFR and would want a reliable instrument. I have had the Belite g-meter for about 8 years and it's performed flawlessly (I use it for loops) so I have some confidence in their products and the prices are very reasonable.
Van's Air Force
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Belite turn coordinator query
- Thread starter trib
- Start date
I have one they sent me for evaluation, one of the first units they produced, and it worked just fine installed on top of the glare shield of a couple of test planes. Does what it is supposed to do.
Jut as an aside, for an IFR backup these days, I’d choose an attitude instrument - easier to fly, the same as what you fly in a nominal case (you don't have to maintain a separate skill set). It’ll cost more, but once you get into instrument flying, bottom-dollar can get you into places you might not want to be....
Paul
Jut as an aside, for an IFR backup these days, I’d choose an attitude instrument - easier to fly, the same as what you fly in a nominal case (you don't have to maintain a separate skill set). It’ll cost more, but once you get into instrument flying, bottom-dollar can get you into places you might not want to be....
Paul
I bought one for my 9A after my turn coordinator failed. Honestly I?m not happy with it.
1. My biggest disappointment is with the slip skid ball. It?s minimum movement is 1/16? maybe even 3/32. So it makes these jumps that are way too coarse to provide any meaningful slip/skid info (at least for RVs). Maybe this would work ok for some LSAs with horrific adverse yaw, I don?t know, but for my 9 I?ve really got to put my foot into the rudder to get this thing to even move ?one jump?.
The bank indicator is a little better but I?d hate to have try and use it ?partial panel?.
2. My old turn coordinator powered up when the master was switched on. When I replaced it with the Belite I used the same power feed. What I found was that when cranking the voltage would dip and this would upset the boot up routine of the Belite and it would not recover after normal voltage was restored. I had to cycle the master to get it to restart the boot up routine, then it would power up OK. The fix was easy, I switched it to power up from the avionics bus. I talked to Belite and they said they were planning to incorporate a fix for this in a future release.
1. My biggest disappointment is with the slip skid ball. It?s minimum movement is 1/16? maybe even 3/32. So it makes these jumps that are way too coarse to provide any meaningful slip/skid info (at least for RVs). Maybe this would work ok for some LSAs with horrific adverse yaw, I don?t know, but for my 9 I?ve really got to put my foot into the rudder to get this thing to even move ?one jump?.
The bank indicator is a little better but I?d hate to have try and use it ?partial panel?.
2. My old turn coordinator powered up when the master was switched on. When I replaced it with the Belite I used the same power feed. What I found was that when cranking the voltage would dip and this would upset the boot up routine of the Belite and it would not recover after normal voltage was restored. I had to cycle the master to get it to restart the boot up routine, then it would power up OK. The fix was easy, I switched it to power up from the avionics bus. I talked to Belite and they said they were planning to incorporate a fix for this in a future release.
jliltd
Well Known Member
You might consider the Aerovonics AV-20-S. 2 1/4" EFIS. Great backup attitude indicator with TAS and density altitude. More than twice the price of the Belite but whole different animal. I am aware of a Vans pilot who had his glass cockpit go black on an IFR flight and completed his flight safely to nearest airport with the AV-20-S. I flew with one of the units and the slip ball and AI were fantastic.
