bjustus

Well Known Member
Oh the sinking feeling :(

Below is the message I sent to Dynon Support. Posting here in case anyone has some insight/advice in the interim:


I just received my D10A (Serial # 005768) and got right to work installing it in my RV4. Love the new display over the older ones I’ve seen! Very sharp! Also sharp was the acute sickness I felt in my stomach (after I apparently shorted it) when I hooked up the wiring harness for the first time. I hope it’s just an internal fuse?!

After I got the EDC-10A mounted and wired to the Connector along with the OAT, I decided to momentarily plug in the wiring harness to the back of the EFIS to check the compass connection. I plugged in the harness with aircraft power off. I looked to make sure no wire ends were stripped and draped all the wires over to the side of the fuselage (including the power wires which were not connected yet) to prevent any potential shorting. So the only part of the D10A harness in the avionics bay was the EDC cable which was now connected at both ends.

I turned on the D10A with the button to bring it up on battery power. I almost immediately had a heading indication at the top which was about right for the orientation of the plane. I heard what I thought was a very faint arcing sound somewhere so I quickly pushed the button to turn off the unit. I’m not sure if it shorted out first or if I shut it off, but it will not come back on. I tried disconnecting the internal battery and bringing up on ship’s power after hooking up harness to CB and ground (and bagging all other wire ends!) Applied ship’s power with battery disco’d (verified 12.8 volts at D25 Pins 1 and 3) and still nothing.

The three possibilities I can come up with are:

1. I noticed after the fact that the wires draped over the fuselage curved just perfectly in such a way that the .002-.003” of conductor that protruded where they (had been cut apparently with dikes leaving a little ridge) were actually making contact with the aluminum skin! Could they have shorted even on the painted aluminum? I couldn’t find any physical evidence of arcing anywhere.

2. Short in EDC-10A (probably not likely)

3. Made a mistake wiring the Connector. I checked all the wiring from the EDC even though I had triple checked it before hookup. I took it back apart to see if somehow a strand of shielding poked into another conductor or migrated somewhere – seemed fine. I checked for continuity between pins on the EDC connector – no connections were shorted to one another. Pin checked again between EDC connector and EFIS’ D25 – continuity pin to pin all were good except one thing perplexes me. When checking between EDC Connector Pin 1, (3-way ground with blue wire, shield and white wire soldered together) and D25 – I get continuity at D25 pins 3, (main grd) and 24 (EDC grd) as expected. At pin 1 – main power, I get 700 Ohms?

Obviously my goals are to get the unit in and fixed as soon as possible. And, be absolutely sure what caused the short so I don’t have a recurrence. If the cause is not obvious from what I’ve reported about the EDC wiring, maybe you can tell when you open it up where the errant juice came from by what was affected?
 
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Crappy Day

It doesn't sound like you did anything that anyone of us wouldn't have done.
It's going to be very interesting to see how Dynon responds to this.
Please post updates on the outcome.
 
Well first, no worries! We'll take a look at it and fix it. Stuff happens, we understand, and we fix it. Anyone that has worked with us over the last 5 years wouldn't be suprised to hear this, as it's SOP for us.

I can't tell from your description what went wrong, but we can usually tell when we get it. The most common thing has been to short all the EDC wires together, but that doesn't sound like what you did. We'll just have to look it over, fix the broken bits, and then do our best to tell you what might have caused it so you can look your wiring over (if it turns out to be your wiring).

When we get in on Monday we'll respond to your email to us with an RMA number so you can get it shipped back to us ASAP.

Sorry for the trouble!
 
Great Move Dynon!

Well first, no worries! We'll take a look at it and fix it. Stuff happens, we understand, and we fix it. Anyone that has worked with us over the last 5 years wouldn't be suprised to hear this, as it's SOP for us.

I can't tell from your description what went wrong, but we can usually tell when we get it. The most common thing has been to short all the EDC wires together, but that doesn't sound like what you did. We'll just have to look it over, fix the broken bits, and then do our best to tell you what might have caused it so you can look your wiring over (if it turns out to be your wiring).

When we get in on Monday we'll respond to your email to us with an RMA number so you can get it shipped back to us ASAP.

Sorry for the trouble!

It's great to hear of a manufacturer standing behind their product and allowing some "Room" for us amateur builders to wiggle a little. This type of service should not go un-noticed by the home building community and I for one commend you. This will now be one of my stories to share with new builders and hopefully others will do the same. Here's to your company and a great business model to build customer loyalty.

Regards,
 
For Sure!

Now if we can just Dynon to pay for the shipping of Louise/Paul Dye's replacement for their brand new (but dead) D-180 with the display board failure instead of making the customer pay for it that would be even better!

Wink-Wink-Hint-Hint....

Was I subtle enough?!?! :)

Happy New Year to all.

Cheers,
Stein
 
Thanks so much! Awesome response (on a Saturday) for something that's probably my fault. It's in the box and ready to go.

- Brett


Well first, no worries! We'll take a look at it and fix it. Stuff happens, we understand, and we fix it. Anyone that has worked with us over the last 5 years wouldn't be suprised to hear this, as it's SOP for us.

I can't tell from your description what went wrong, but we can usually tell when we get it. The most common thing has been to short all the EDC wires together, but that doesn't sound like what you did. We'll just have to look it over, fix the broken bits, and then do our best to tell you what might have caused it so you can look your wiring over (if it turns out to be your wiring).

When we get in on Monday we'll respond to your email to us with an RMA number so you can get it shipped back to us ASAP.

Sorry for the trouble!
 
I am a Dynon Bigot!

Their support is tops! They have helped me out at no charge when I thought my EMS had a problem and it turned out to be my wiring. Then again, when the internal battery was DOA and all it needed was to be charged.

They are just outstanding! The best part is they listen to their customers. If you come up with some crazy enhancement to their products, they want to hear about and will let you know if they can include it in an upcoming product release.
 
They are just outstanding! The best part is they listen to their customers. If you come up with some crazy enhancement to their products, they want to hear about and will let you know if they can include it in an upcoming product release.

One of the great things about the experimental EFIS and Flight Instrument market today is that you can insert the name of many of the manufacturers into this post and it would be true as well. Working with small companies with engineers and owners that are part of "our scene" is a great formula for rapid development. And most recognize that great customer service is key. I've had nothing but the best from GRT, and so far, I am pleased by Dynon's responsiveness as well.

Paul
 
RMI

One of the great things about the experimental EFIS and Flight Instrument market today is that you can insert the name of many of the manufacturers into this post and it would be true as well. Working with small companies with engineers and owners that are part of "our scene" is a great formula for rapid development. And most recognize that great customer service is key. I've had nothing but the best from GRT, and so far, I am pleased by Dynon's responsiveness as well.

Paul

Anyone want to buy an unused RMI Engine Monitor?......:)

Unfortunately, the above is not true for all vendors...:rolleyes:

gil A
 
Stay on topic

I don't want to start a fight, but I feel a little uncomfortable with both Stein's and Paul's comments. Here we have a vendor that not only monitors this site, but responds above and beyond the norm. Let's stay focused on Dynon's quick and positive response.

Just my $0.02.

Mark
 
For Sure!

Now if we can just Dynon to pay for the shipping of Louise/Paul Dye's replacement for their brand new (but dead) D-180 with the display board failure instead of making the customer pay for it that would be even better!

Wink-Wink-Hint-Hint....

Was I subtle enough?!?! :)

Happy New Year to all.

Cheers,
Stein


Amen, Stein. I have had very good support from Dynon, and they are one of my favorite vendors, but I must admit that I was quite disappointed at having to spend my nickel for shipping back a D-10A that arrived DOA (and I was told they couldn't go ahead and send a replacement while the dead unit was in transit back to the factory). If a vendor delivers a dead unit, they should pay to have it shipped back along with shipping for the replacement. The end user shouldn't be obligated to pay for the vendor's error. When I discussed this matter with the Dynon person on the phone, I was told that "that is just the way it is".

Sorry if this offends any Dynon supporters, but good business is good business, and I hope "dynonsupport" reads this post. Dynon is a great vendor, but this is a area where there is room for improvement.
 
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Wow,and on a Saturday night.

That was an unexpectedly fast and pleasantly reassuring response by Dynon I've found here this morning. Hope it's genuine. Looks like I may have to reevaluate my panel choices. Might be something better than steam after all. Time will tell. Keep us posted bjustus.
 
Atta-Boy Dynon

Once again Dynon has reaffirmed my decision to purchase their D-180.

As noted, not only do they have great customer support but they actually posted on a Saturday. Now that is customer service.

The experimental aircraft market is small compared to most markets and there is growing competition in the field of EFIS's and EMS's. Price, functions and reliability may help make someones decision to buy from one or another manufacture, but great customer service may tip the scale.

Atta-Boy Dynon
 
Between TruTrak and Dynon I can't tell who has the better service. They are both excellent!! These companies that cater to the experimental crowd seem to go WAY above and beyond, therefore they will always have my business!! To even top it it off, they both have GREAT prices, although I could currently use about $10k for my paint job, so if anyone wants to pay for an endorsement please e-mail me right away!!

Travis

PS - If you buy everything through Stein you get the best of both worlds, top notch customer service from the manufacturer and vendor!
 
RMA issued

Brett,

An RMA was issued to you in response to your email to the "support" account.

We'll get this unit repaired and back to you as quickly as possible.

We are very sorry to hear about the trouble and we'll get you back in the air in no time.
 
Dynon FIXED it less than 24 hours turn-around!

Eric said no evidence of a short -- just a PCB? board memory dump requiring reprogramming. It might just be that I confused it when I hurriedly turned it off while it was recognizing the EDC for the first time when I heard noises, (apparently normal with internal battery installed) I thought were shorting sounds.

I didn't get it to them until yesterday because of the holidays and today it is already on the way back. Also he took time with me over the phone to verify all my wiring was correct.

Still very impressed with Dynon.
 
Since Stein posted on our behalf a ways up this thread, I do want to close the loop....Dynon DID send us a D180 overnight, Saturday delivery and didn't charge us for it. Then last weekend, we discovered a problem with the DSAB communication between the D180 and D10A, and after scratching our heads, the only thing Eric could think of was to try another D10A, so he sent me one overnight, Saturday delivery to try - and gave me their UPS account number to ship the old one back. He offered to send me another D180 as well to help the troubleshooting, but I deferred that to another time - I'm going to examine the wiring with a fine tooth comb first, and frankly, although I'd like to get the DSAB working, it is not our number one priority...

Good job on Eric at Dynon stepping up to the plate!

Paul