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billpilot1

Active Member
Boy, I hope someone out there can help me. It's Sat and I probably can't call the support at Dynon till Monday. I have installed the Dynon Auto Pilot in my RV7 and during the AP Configuration everything was going fine. Have the New Software installed (5.0) and everyone was talking to each other. Then Doing the Servo test. I moved the stick Forward and right, Forward and left, Back and left, and Back and right (what ever order it asked for) and after centering the stick and pressing the OK button, it's supose to pull back and to the right under the power of the servo.....It only goes back (climes). So it asked if it did it right and I have to answer NO. That is as far as it will go. Under the possible reasons it says that "the most common cause are not enough travel being detected, or too much travel." Mechanical adjustments muct be made.
OK during the installation it says that the hook up should be on the outer most hole of the servo arm and it sounds like that should stay there and you should not have to move it in to the closer holes. I think I have it just as the photo shows it. I have the dimensions set as presented. The only thing I think I can do is shorten or lengthen the connecting arm.
If that is it, any ideas which way to go, or what to look for that might tell me.
I sure would like to get back to it Tommorow (sunday).
I'm open to any help you might have.
Thanks in advance.
Bill
 
Bill,
Check too make sure your Dynon 1XX shows both servos (Pitch & roll) are 'on line'. If they are I would try a re-cal. If not check dem wires. Outer holes on the arms should work if you mounted using Dynon supplied mounts.
 
Bill,

After you updated the software you have to configure the DSAB. Once this is done, it should come back and tell you how many Dynon items are on the DSAB network. In my case it finds five items (D100, D10, AP74, & both servos).

Then you need to calibrate the servos. It is very important you follow the instructions exactly as this defines how far the servos can move and which the pitch servo is and which the roll servo is. (Did you notice it never asked you to tell it which is which?)

The process is as follows:
1. Center the controls (not the stick) & press either OK or the disconnect button (I can't remember which).
2. Put the stick in the upper left corner & press the disconnect button
3. Put the stick in the upper right corner & press the disconnect button
4. Put the stick the lower right corner & press the disconnect button
5. Put the stick in the lower left corner & press the disconnect button
6. Press OK

Then it asks you to test the servos and moves the stick to the lower right corner and the upper left corner.

I may have left some steps out, just follow the prompts on the Dynon and you should be ok.
 
Thanks for the replys!

Hay, Thanks for the replys. Its the 10a that I'm working with but I think the procedure is the same. I thought I followed the steps just as written. I did get the 5 items it saw which is right. After I moved the stick to the four corners, when it is supose to move the stick to the bottom right corner... it only goes back, no roll servo movement. That is where it stops. I answered the question weather it did it right as NO , then it drops me out of the procedure. I re-did the last few steps but same results. It keeps refering to the travel being either too much or too little! I will try the full setup again. Check the mesurements of the attached tube. I may try to get some one else to listen and watch the roll servo to see if it even starts to move. I might try a resistance test of the wires I've run from the servo to the EFIS...I assume that when it checks to see if it sees the servo, it's checking all four wires (plus ground) but maybe it doesn't!!!!
Thanks again for your help.
Bill
 
Bill, two things... (I must have missed these on your first post.)
1. If the Dynon is telling you that the travel on a servo is too great, then you need to resolve that first. When I was beta testing the thing I ran into this on one servo and had to move the rod to the outer most hole on the servo. This message is telling you run the risk of having the servo go over center and it will not allow you to configure the AP.

This is a safety issue so do not fly the plane until you resolve this.

Some airplanes use a capstan and thus the servo has to be able to turn more than 90 degrees, but since your plane uses the arms, it will not let you configure it that way. (Believe me, I tried to do this during testing and it just won't work and is not safe.)

Once you get this straightened out, I'm sure everything will work properly.

2. I doubt you need to check the wiring. The DSAB is the network to the servos. There is a power and ground wire as well. Without these being connected, the network would not recognize the servo and you wouldn't see it when you config the DSAB. The fifth wire is the disconnect wire and simply grounds the unit.

It sounds to me like you are OK with the wiring but it will not hurt to check it.

Hope that helps.
Bill
 
Bill,

In reading your posts, I have a couple questions, and maybe a couple things to check, along with what Bill R has recommended.

When you do the servo cal, if it is successful, it will give move automatically to the servo test. It sounds like you are not getting a good servo cal, so are you manually selecting servo test, and then getting the pitch-only movement you are describing?

If so, I'm pretty sure you'll need to go back and re-do the servo cal, until it is successful with no error messages. Then it'll move to the servo test and you should see the stick move to the correct positions (pitch and roll together). Sounds like you may only be getting a good cal on the pitch servo (if that is possible) since in test, the stick is only moving in the pitch axis.

Since it is giving you the movement error message, you might check to make sure both servo arms have unobstructed movement, and that with the control surfaces neutral, the servo arm is neutral (straight up and down). You might also check that when you move the stick full throw in both directions, that the servo arm moves the same amount each direction. If you have the overcenter brackets installed, you might check that at full throw in each direction it comes to about the same distance from the OC bracket on each side (and doesn't hit the OC bracket...you should get to the aircraft control stops before the servo arm gets to the bracket).

One other thing to check is the status of each servo in the DSAB menu. If it says TST, it means that the servo still needs a test. It will say ACTIVE when both the servo cal and servo test are completed successfully. Not sure what it says before a successful servo cal...might be blank. But if the two servos have different status comments, it may help you troubleshoot this with Dynon.

Just some thoughts...hope this helps, and best of luck with the AP!!

Cheers,
Bob
 
Thanks again.

Well I came down at 5 in the morning and read the responses. Couldn't sleep thinking about this. I'm going to go check the travel on the roll servo. It struck me that I don't have the floor in when I did the set up procedure. I'm wondering if the floor pan/cover limits my roll travel at all, and if so, it might keep me in tollerence, within the limits! I don't have the safety limit bracket on this servo, but I think I will put it on. But first I want to see if the floor stops the travel at all ! Thanks again for the ideas. I'll let you know if I figure anything out today, or if its a Phone call to Dynon on Monday!


Bill
 
Follow up

Well I got to the hanger this morning and the first thing I did was to check the postition of the arm on the Roll Servo in the Neutral postion. It was a littl off, so I reset that first. Had to shorten the rod about 1/16 inch. Not much but maybe enough. Went through the set up procedure completly again and when I did the test, the stick just went back ... OK, lets try this again. This time I was looking at the aleron to see if there was any movement and yes there was, not much, but it doesn't take much to turn these things!!! So this time I answered the set up question "Yes" and went ahead. It seams to be ok, and maybe it was before I adjusted the arm! Anyway, it trying it on the heading and moving the bug, it wants to turn... I will try to give Dynon a call tomorrow just to be sure, unless anyone out here can answer the question ....
Durning the set up, the pitch moves a lot more than the roll when you hit the OK button. Normal/ or Not!!!!?????
If it's normal, I'm all set for the next nice day (Ya right... Winter in Wisconsin!) and tweek it in.
Thanks again for all the help.
Bill
 
billpilot1 said:
...unless anyone out here can answer the question ....
Durning the set up, the pitch moves a lot more than the roll when you hit the OK button. Normal/ or Not!!!!?????
If it's normal, I'm all set for the next nice day (Ya right... Winter in Wisconsin!) and tweek it in.
Thanks again for all the help.
Bill
Click to expand...
Yes, this is normal.

In the early beta version of the software it moved the stick to all four corners. Then they reduced the roll movement in the test to keep from hurting a guy sitting in the seat who might hit the test button. If you know what I mean. ;)

I always configuare and test the thing while sitting outside the aircraft. It just makes getting full deflections easier w/o my big 'ol butt in there.

Sounds like you are ready to go fly.
 
PS. If you have anyone standing around the airplane, make sure they are clear of the controls when you hit the test button. Yesterday I almost hurt a friend who was playing with the controls when I hit the test button.

I was looking at the Dynon and not what he was doing. Not a good thing.
 
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