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  #11  
Old 07-29-2016, 10:07 AM
DSmith DSmith is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Panama City Beach, FL
Posts: 129
Default

Pull your 480 and file some of the rack front edge off so the 480 will seat deeper. Just be careful and not get metal filings in anything. This helped my 480.
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Danny - PCB, FL
RV-7A, TMX IOF-360, WW 200RV
GNS480, SL40, GRT EIS/Two HWS, TT
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  #12  
Old 07-29-2016, 09:15 PM
Canadian_JOY Canadian_JOY is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2,291
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Filing even 0.010" off the front edges of the rack will make a big difference. I went closer to 0.020 when it became clear the radio wasn't making contact with several connector pins. Now I can grab the face of the radio and wiggle it and it appears all the connections are solid.
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  #13  
Old 08-09-2016, 07:18 PM
dromuald's Avatar
dromuald dromuald is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Newnan, GA
Posts: 39
Default FIXED

Thought I would let you all know that I have located the problem. Before I committed to an $1100 repair I wanted to make sure I had eliminated other possibilities. Suspecting a power issue I started at the circuit breakers and measured the resistance loaded and unloaded. I also checked the voltage drops across the breakers. In a totally accidental way I discovered the problem to be a bad crimp connection on the cold side of the C/B. As I was checking the voltage drop I noticed the GNS powered up. When I removed the multimeter the GNS lost power. My multimeter lead was actually bridging the bad crimp connection and completing the circuit. Luckily the intermittent problem was in a fail mode as I was checking the C/B or I might have missed it. Now I have $1100 to put toward ADS-B
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Dave Romuald (FFC)
RV-8 655CL
RV-14 in work
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  #14  
Old 05-17-2017, 05:57 PM
Fred.Stucklen's Avatar
Fred.Stucklen Fred.Stucklen is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Brooksville, FL
Posts: 356
Default GNS480 Failure while flying

Hi all,

I flew my RV-7A from Florida to CT today. A six hour flight with one stop. Five hours into the trip, the GNS-480 screen warned of "Loss of communications to COMM" and "Loss of communications to VOR". After this notification, I was unable to tune any COMM of VOR frequencies.

Shortly after that I started to get strange navigational signal to the GRT EFIS. The EFIS was navigating by the GPS, but it changed to navigating by the GNS-480 VOR radial (which I was unable to change). This rendered the GNS-480 compleetly useless...

I switched the EFIS GPS source over to the secondary ADS-B GPS and started navigating with the internal GRT EFIS flight planner.

Powering OFF the GNS-480 for over 30 minutes, then powering it ON again, did not fix the issue...

This unit has been operating flawlessly for almost 1400 Hrs.... I'm planning on pulling it out of the plane tomorrow and see if I can fix the issue myself... I'm not looking forward to spending what Garmin wants to fix it....
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Fred Stucklen
wstucklen1@cox.net
RV-7A N924RV Flying (1825 Hrs & counting)
RV-6A N926RV 875 Hrs (Sold)
RV-6A N925RV 2008 Hrs (Sold)

Last edited by Fred.Stucklen : 05-17-2017 at 05:59 PM.
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  #15  
Old 05-22-2017, 10:36 AM
jeffsvan jeffsvan is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: detroit, michigan
Posts: 177
Default

Don't discount the idea that a circuit breaker cant go bad either.

I had a pop out circuit breaker go bad once.

It was pushed in, but if your moved the button with the tip of your finger you could see intermittent contact.
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  #16  
Old 05-24-2017, 07:11 PM
Fred.Stucklen's Avatar
Fred.Stucklen Fred.Stucklen is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Brooksville, FL
Posts: 356
Default GNS480 Failure

Definitely not power related. My local avionics shop took a look at it and came to the same conclusion. Turns out he sent the radio back to Garmin in 2009 (while under warrantee) for exactly the same issue. This time it's not warranteed.... It's at Garmin now. I should know in a week or so just what the repair will cost....

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffsvan View Post
Don't discount the idea that a circuit breaker cant go bad either.

I had a pop out circuit breaker go bad once.

It was pushed in, but if your moved the button with the tip of your finger you could see intermittent contact.
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Fred Stucklen
wstucklen1@cox.net
RV-7A N924RV Flying (1825 Hrs & counting)
RV-6A N926RV 875 Hrs (Sold)
RV-6A N925RV 2008 Hrs (Sold)
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  #17  
Old 06-02-2017, 11:13 AM
Fred.Stucklen's Avatar
Fred.Stucklen Fred.Stucklen is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Brooksville, FL
Posts: 356
Default GNS480 Failure

Ok, So I got my unit back from Garmin yesterday. They replaced the NAV/COMM board, which fixed the error described below. Now none of the knobs are functional! I still can't change frequencies, change GPS way points, or even change the volume of a radio. The softkeys appear to work, but the knobs don't.

How can an FAA Authorized Repair station release a radio, stating that it's able to be returned to service via 14 CFR 43.9, and still have this type of issue? Talk about really bad quality control!

And I still had to pay the shipping charge to ship it back to them for further repair! And, according to the Garmin dealer I've used in the past, exactly the same issues happened in 2009 when this radio was sent back TWICE for the same repairs....

Time to call their customer service number and complain....


Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred.Stucklen View Post
Hi all,

I flew my RV-7A from Florida to CT today. A six hour flight with one stop. Five hours into the trip, the GNS-480 screen warned of "Loss of communications to COMM" and "Loss of communications to VOR". After this notification, I was unable to tune any COMM of VOR frequencies.

Shortly after that I started to get strange navigational signal to the GRT EFIS. The EFIS was navigating by the GPS, but it changed to navigating by the GNS-480 VOR radial (which I was unable to change). This rendered the GNS-480 compleetly useless...

I switched the EFIS GPS source over to the secondary ADS-B GPS and started navigating with the internal GRT EFIS flight planner.

Powering OFF the GNS-480 for over 30 minutes, then powering it ON again, did not fix the issue...

This unit has been operating flawlessly for almost 1400 Hrs.... I'm planning on pulling it out of the plane tomorrow and see if I can fix the issue myself... I'm not looking forward to spending what Garmin wants to fix it....
__________________
Fred Stucklen
wstucklen1@cox.net
RV-7A N924RV Flying (1825 Hrs & counting)
RV-6A N926RV 875 Hrs (Sold)
RV-6A N925RV 2008 Hrs (Sold)
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