I am looking forward to buying and installing the Dynon ADSB weather receiver when it comes out – hopefully in December 2012. So I am planning the installation in an EXISTING E-LSA Skyview panel. Here are my thoughts, I hope for some more ideas! A retrofit may have a different, easier solution than an original installation might be.
The ADSB box is a 7 inch by 4.6 inch by 1.2 inch thick rectangle. It has an antenna connection and a DB9 connection. No weight listed, probably about a pound. The mounting holes on the base are at 6.5 inches by 3 inches. Only 4 wires are used on the DB9 – power, ground, TX and RX to the Skyview network (CORRECTION - to a Skyview Serial Input). There is a plug for these on the AV-5000A junction box. There is no length restriction on these wires so the box can be mounted anywhere.
The antenna (not included) is a simple blade type like
http://www.deltapopaviation.com/UAT_Antenna.html (or even a rod type) that is supposed to be 2 feet from other antennas, particularly the transponder antenna.
The main issue for mounting the box in the instrument bay is the difficulty of routing the thick antenna cable (with BNC connectors on each end!!!!) through the panel base and the brake pedal tray and down the tunnel etc. I really don’t like this idea! Van’s announced S-LSAs options lists includes the ADSB so there will be some sort of additional option to add it from Vans for kits-in-progress and even retrofits. I bet it will be in the instrument bay with the installation difficulties mentioned for completed planes.
Now, the box and antenna could be put behind the tail bulkhead. My bulkhead cover panel is already “split” (see the “modifications” sticky thread) so there is access without removing the fuel tank. But it isn’t “great” access for getting head and hands back there. But, mounting the box and antenna back there would seem good, and running 4 small wires up to the panel (where they plug into the AV-5000A box) seems a lot easier than routing an antenna cable.
But in looking around further, I am really wondering about under the passenger side seat in the outside bay where there is access to the headset jacks. (Passenger side because there is no autopilot servo around there.) And maybe even mounting the antenna somewhere around that area. The benefit is that the antenna cable routing is easy, and even the four small wires avoid going through the system blocks tunnel etc. Maybe mount the antenna in that empty space next to the elevator cable pulleys – a little backer plate with nutplates would be easily accessed there.
Now there is benefit to mounting the antenna to one of the bottom outboard inspection plates below the landing gear. And the antenna wire could possibly be run straight aft from that headset bay location somehow (avoiding the system block tunnel) to such a location.
Other thoughts or ideas? I will probably do the installation in April 2013 during my 1st condition inspection when everything is open anyway.
ADDED: Hmmmm - I wonder if the 4 wires from the box could be simply electrically spliced into the 4 similar wires to the ADAHRS back in the tailcone? Then mounting the box and antenna back in the tailcone would involve no wires anywhere else in the plane! I will inquire with Dynon. Note that doing it that way would not separately power the ADSB box via the GPS/ADSB fuse on the right side of the fuse panel - it would be extra load on whatever the power source to the ADAHRS is. A quarter-amp, I think.
CORRECTION - it is 200ma.
WHOOPS - bad idea. The ADSB uses one of the Skyview Serial inputs, not the Skyview Network like the ADAHRS. So it will need 4 wires to the AV-5000A Box.
Installing the Dynon ADSB Weather-Traffic Box
Linear Mode
