Question about Garmin 300XL/SL30/496 stacks

femski · #1 06-24-2009, 07:13 AM

Folks,

I am thinking of a stack consisting of Garmin GNC-300XL GPS, SL30 Nav/Comm and a 496 moving map. I was wondering:

1. Will 496 get Flight plan information from 300XL or do I have to program both ?
2. I am thinking of using a common indicator KI209A. Can SL30 be paired with KI209A ? It seems yes. I know 300XL can be.
3. Can SL30 get remote frequencies from 300XL ? I know 496 can feed it to SL30.

thanks for your help,

-Sanjay

clam · #2 06-24-2009, 12:57 PM

Sanjay,
I'm planning a similar panel with 300XL, SL30, but with an Anywhere Map SST. Unfortunately, I don't have any answers to your questions, but have similar ones myself. I will forward any information I come across relating to this configuration. (Anyway Map SST provides some EFB functions and has geo-referenced approach plates - aicraft overlaid on appr plate.)
-Jeff

mburch · #3 06-24-2009, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by femski

1. Will 496 get Flight plan information from 300XL or do I have to program both ?
2. I am thinking of using a common indicator KI209A. Can SL30 be paired with KI209A ? It seems yes. I know 300XL can be.
3. Can SL30 get remote frequencies from 300XL ? I know 496 can feed it to SL30.

1. The 496 should be able to listen to flight plan data coming from the 300XL.
2. Don't know about this one, sorry.
3. I don't think the 300XL can output comm frequency data to the SL30, since it predates the Garmin/Apollo merger. However the 496 will still work for this, as you know.

good luck,
mcb

femski · #4 06-26-2009, 06:02 AM

Thanks Matt.

I checked SL30 Installation manual and it does have wiring diagram for KI209A. So it should work. I assume 300XL will work with 496 since even GX60 does. I now have to find a DME feed for SL30 - don't think 300XL can do that (GX60 does).

One of rationale of having 496 is to feed remote frequencies into SL30. BTW, is it legal in certified plane ?

Only other question I have is will 496 someday display ADS-B weather from a source like NavWorx or a future Garmin portable ADS-B receiver ? Then I don't have to subscribe to XM. That will be another reason to have 496. Or may be they will come out with a hybrid product for that.

-Sanjay

splevy · #5 07-01-2009, 02:44 PM

You will lose some functionality of the SL30 VOR operation by using the KI209A indicator. The details are in the installation manual, but were not obvious on my first reading. I installed a KI209A initially, but changed it out for the Garmin unit and was much happier.

Stan

Brantel · #6 07-01-2009, 07:51 PM

There are some weird things about using King CDI's with the SL30 that may limit your options as to how it will work and could prevent you from being able to use the standby monitoring functions of the SL30 when you want to monitor the standby VOR.

If you have a CDI that has a built in converter like some of the King units, you will loose the back course capability, standby NAV monitoring and all internal OBS functions on the SL30.

Not sure what EFIS your planning but it can also impact how well your EFIS can integrate with the SL30.

SteinAir · #7 07-01-2009, 09:33 PM

I guess my questions would be:

Why the 300XL? It's sort of kinda outdated by a good bit now and doesn't do that much when it comes to interfacing with much of anything (including the SL30).

Second, the King indicators are just not a great fit...the Mid Continent MD's are a much better choice.

I'm just curious as to why the 300XL and a 496. The 496 is a much better GPS (albeit not certified), but if you're going to spend the money for the 300XL and a 496 and an SL-30, a 430W is an easy decision in my opinion. I can point you to a number of customers whom I suggested the same thing to and who still insisted on the 300XL. After some period of flying most call me back an tell me they wished they would have just bought a 430 to begin with and "why didn't I tell them not to buy a 300XL"!

To be fair, I'm a big Garmin fan but not a big 150/250/300XL fan at all...it's just a weird fit with most modern EFISes and such. I'd just as puzzled by a 300XL+SL30+SST....but that's my 2 cents!

If it were me, and I were building an RV10 with EFISes in them, I'd do some hard studying on this combo along with whatever EFISes you choose as to what it'll do for you. I don't know if you're using EFISes or not (because you mention the King indicator)...but it should be a serious consideration.

Cheers,
Stein

clam · #8 07-02-2009, 02:44 PM

... backup & budgetary for me. 300xl+sl30+handheld is "3" navs in different boxes and potentially different power supplies, and "2+" comms whereas the 430 is a single box. plus, i already have a 300xl. this is an inexpensive way to get a comm and gps, and use a very capable handheld for SA, nav, and efb. certainly, the 430 is a tremendous piece of gear, but it is also $4500 used, nonwaas. not chump change for those on a budget. further, a 300xl in familiar hands is a capable piece of gear. it is easy to overbuild a panel these days. and by that i mean to overspend a particular budget.
300xl+sl30+496/ anywheremap sst would be a quite capable nav system, and let that frame an afs3500 and a dynon d6 for a backup, and i'll fly it ifr all day long. (with the sport aoa and at least a wing leveler).
... just another way to skin the cat.

femski · #9 12-09-2009, 05:49 AM

Hi folks !

I finally bought a plane. So I am thinking of installing that SL30 I had in mind. In the meantime Aera is out so I will go with that - since you can dial frequencies from Aera into SL30. No other GPS in panel planned for now.

Back to question about DME for SL30 - since SL30 has only one serial port, if I dedicate this to connect it to Aera I loose connectivity to DME, right ? Can I at least get remote DME to display the distance with output from SL30 ? ie SL30 gets input form Aera for frequencies but outputs to DME for distance measuring.

How about Aera sending frequencies to SL30 and being coupled to an autopilot at the same time ? Is that possible ?

thanks,

-Sanjay

mburch · #10 12-09-2009, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by femski

Back to question about DME for SL30 - since SL30 has only one serial port, if I dedicate this to connect it to Aera I loose connectivity to DME, right ? Can I at least get remote DME to display the distance with output from SL30 ? ie SL30 gets input form Aera for frequencies but outputs to DME for distance measuring.

How about Aera sending frequencies to SL30 and being coupled to an autopilot at the same time ? Is that possible ?

Sanjay,

I don't have a lot of really detailed knowledge about the aera family, but since those products have similar I/O capability to the x96 products I'm more familiar with, I think I can answer. None of the Garmin handheld products will output DME distance to an SL30 navcom. But, you can drive an SL30 and an autopilot from a single serial port on the Garmin unit if you split the output line and set the format to one of the ones that includes "NMEA & VHF Out".

good luck,
mcb