Dynon heated pitot controller

[Jrskygod]

I am installing my Dynon heated pitot controller. It sure would make my life much easier if I could ground this thing locally to the airframe. The instructions advise to take the ground to the source. Anybody ground locally? Have any problems doing so? Thanks

[ronschreck]

I have it grounded locally. No problems with over 1800 hours of use.

[RV10inOz]

You may not suffer any problems, but running one wire or two at the same time is not any extra work.

The controller takes several amps, into double digits and when you get weird radio noise problems from strobes and pitot heat controllers and other devices you start wishing that the shortcuts were not taken.

Its one wire or two wires?..not much harder, and less risk.

[ChiefPilot]

Originally Posted by RV10inOz

You may not suffer any problems, but running one wire or two at the same time is not any extra work.

The controller takes several amps, into double digits and when you get weird radio noise problems from strobes and pitot heat controllers and other devices you start wishing that the shortcuts were not taken.

Its one wire or two wires…..not much harder, and less risk.

But qualifying that risk is what an engineer would do. In this case, the risk is small since the device is well-shielded/grounded - it's enclosed in an aluminum box that is bolted to and therefore at ground potential. Additionally, the device *may* be passive i.e. not contain any switching circuitry and therefore not have an RF emission potential.

I've had mine grounded locally with no RF of any kind, and in looking at installation manual for my Dynon, I can't find where it suggests grounding it to a common source other than the aircraft itself which implies local grounding is sufficient. If a separate ground run is used, be sure to re-check wire sizes accordingly to account for the added voltage drop the additional run length will introduce. This probably means going from a 16 gauge wire to a 14 gauge wire, but check the Dynon install manual (or AC43.13B) to be sure.

[Bill.Peyton]

I ground it locally in the wing with no issues after 2 years and 340 hours

[ron sterba]

Say did get the new dynon pitot tube that was just released. There was a service e bulletin on the tube and not the controller. Just a note.

Ron in Oregon

[Jrskygod]

Running another wire will mean installing larger bushings in the rib holes so I'm gonna try the local ground first. I did get the new probe, Ser. No. 6100