Using the ADI Pilot II as AH backup..

[pierre smith]

Since TruTrak doesn't (yet??) offer the Digiflight II with vertical guidance in a round style face with AH and pitch information, I'm planning on using it as a backup when I install the Digiflight II.

The Digiflight II control head is rectangular with no AH information (as I understand it), so why can't I just leave the ADI face but send the tracking info to the Digiflight?

I really wish that TruTrak would listen and address this issue because I don't really want two control heads in the dash but here I have no choice if I want AH backup, other than to spend big bucks for an electric AH if I remove the ADI II

Best,

[dav1111]

Consider the following alternative:

Sale the ADI Pilot II (I just bought on for my RV-7 build or I would be a potential buyer). You should be able to sell it without the servos for about $500.00 less than a new one. Then buy the Digiflight II VSGV and a TruTrak ADI in either 3 1/8" or 2 1/4 " with or without Internal GPS and Backup Battery options. If TruTrak ever changes their Digiflight II to have a round head with an ADI built in you could sell the TruTrak ADI to somone who was considering buying an ADI Pilot and they could trade the ADI in on an ADI Pilot I of II for full credit. (I bougth an ADI used at a discount and traded it in for full original purchase price on an ADI Pilot II). Not only do you have something better than an Electric AH but at about the same price.

Originally Posted by pierre smith

Since TruTrak doesn't (yet??) offer the Digiflight II with vertical guidance in a round style face with AH and pitch information, I'm planning on using it as a backup when I install the Digiflight II.

The Digiflight II control head is rectangular with no AH information (as I understand it), so why can't I just leave the ADI face but send the tracking info to the Digiflight?

I really wish that TruTrak would listen and address this issue because I don't really want two control heads in the dash but here I have no choice if I want AH backup, other than to spend big bucks for an electric AH if I remove the ADI II

Best,

[mikegraycmg]

I think they'll take back what you have for full credit on your new autopilot, and they make an electric AI that's not very expensive.

[bcondrey]

No solution for the overall desire but a couple of clarifications...
1) the Digiflight II series controller is available in either 2.25" round OR rectangular. The round version is actually a square shaped instrument with the corners milled and threaded inserts installed. The rectangular "flat pack" is actually a 1/2 ATI form factor.

2) There are 2 different series servos that TT's autopilots use (or at least used to) so upgrading to a Digiflight II will potentially require a change out of the servos also. In particular, the pitch servo is trim sensing and this info is fedback on the screen.

While TT will give you full credit on trade-in of towards purchase of the Digiflight II, you'll need another hole for a backup ADI of some sort. I'd suggest flying with the Digiflight II for a while and see if you desire more redundancy. With only a GPS feed it will follow a flightplan, allow you to select a ground track to fly, hold altitude, allow selection of climb/descent speeds. Finally, the older versions also have built in magnetometers so they can also drive to a magnetic heading even if no GPS signal is present. Sometime in the last year or so they changed the design and now they don't include the magnetometer - they allow specification of bank angle (I think that's it). Apparently the self contained magnetometer was too finicky about stray magnetic fields.

Bob
RV-10 N442PM