Flying new panel at night

[bkthomps]

Took the RV4 out last night for some night XC time behind the new panel/AP now that I've done about 10hrs of day VFR with it verifying everything works

Here's some shots, still fine tuning a few bits but so far it's a blast to fly. If you haven't upgraded your panel yet, hopefully this is some extra motivation

[panhandler1956]

That is too cool! Really makes it nice at night!

[BillFear]

I love the high quality resolution that the new skyviews seem to have.

[RV6_flyer]

Very nice. I am thinking about doing an upgrade but have one concern. How is your night vision with all the "white" light that the "glass panel" puts out?

ADS-B will be required in 7-years to use the airspace the way I use it now. The airplane will be over 20-years old then and an update would be in order.

[bkthomps]

the screens dim very nicely, i haven't had any issue with night vision, i have a strip of red LED's that fires down from the canopy bow that I use as well, the mixture of these two light sources gives me all the visibility i would need

[flion]

Speaking in general, because I'm flying a different EFIS, I am more comfortable at night with a glass panel than the steam gauges. I have always found the steam gauges difficult to read in a low-light setting; even a good lighting ring leaves dark areas. Shining a light on them usually makes it worse as the reflection off of the glass just makes them harder to read. On the other hand, a glass panel is easy to read, even at extremely dim settings. At about 40% dim, I can look out my RV cockpit and see perfectly well if the night conditions permit. On a moonlit night, that means seeing terrain reasonably well. However, a glass panel in a C-182 made it difficult to see across the cockpit and out the other side, so I believe placement is a potential factor. In the RV, there is no direction to look out of the cockpit that puts the panel directly in my line-of-sight.

[bkthomps]

i agree with this, it's very easy to control the DIM setting and it is simple to read this screen versus the steam panels i've flown in the past

[rockwoodrv9]

Brian,
I am building a -9. I was working on the wings and found a great deal on a mostly complete airframe. I thought I had time to learn about what I wanted in a panel but now I have to start making choices. Your panel looks great and I have heard good things about the Skyview. Do ylou have a full picture of your panel or a list of what you have installed? I am confused when I try to understand what options I need to add. There is a list of many items I can't figure if they are included or not.

I would love to have your dual screen setup. Do you have a lock on your plane and where is it parked! haha!

[bkthomps]

It is a dual 7" skyview, dual adhars, dual backup batteries, dual alternators, PAR100EX with radio, G430W (dual radios)

I can tolerate a failure of any of the components with this configuration, and it's a LOT stuffed into a RV4, but is still most likely lighter than my previous panel

[rockwoodrv9]

thanks, that helps. Wow, you got it in a 4. Good planning!