Jesse

Jesse

Well Known Member
I'm about to do my second panel upgrade on N256H after 6 years and 1,200+ hours of flight. I started out with an EFIS D10A and an EMS D10. Then I went to a D180 with AP74 and HS34. Both of these with an unchanged PMA-6009, G430W, A200 and GTX327 stack. The second rendition also added a VP-200 and Dynon Auto Pilot. I will now be removing all of the legacy Dynon equipment and the GTX327 and going full Skyview with a single 10" screen and the transponder and ADS-B. I'm sticking with the Dynon A/P, but now linked to the Skyview.

In reading through the manuals, many of the transitions look fairly easy. If anybody has done this recently and has any gotchas to point out, please do. Also, I'll post any that I become aware of. It would be nice if Dynon offered a transition wiring schematic, but one module at a time should go fairly easy, I assume. I have done a partial transition before, but not quite this involved.

I know the EMS cables can transition directly over. The hs34 connector should require only a slight change in pinouts for the ARINC convertor. The servos should be fairly straightforward. The ADAHRS will be the biggest pain because of not having pitot in the back of the plane yet. The screen shouldn't be too hard. I hope the transponder and ads-b won't be too difficult, but that's probably the biggest unknown.

Stay tuned for more as I dig into it.
 
I updated from the D-180 and D-100 last November to the SV-1000 with the 261 txp. I was told it was plug and play, it mostly is but there are some gotchas. The EMS 37 pin connector needs a couple of modifications. #1 pin needs to be connected to a voltage source so that you have a voltage value on your volts widget. If you have a Carb temp sensor, you must remove the +5v exicitation wire and resister completely to get a correct value on your carb temp widget. If you had the early directions that connected the OAT sensor wires to a GP source, you must remove the wires and then connect to the ADAHARS, the later directions had the OAT connected to magnetometer. The pitot, static, and AOA tubing must be rerouted from the D-180/120/100 units to the ADAHARS location. If you purchase the Dynon GPS (recommended), it must be mounted somewhere convienent. I drilled a hole on the glareshield above the SV and used velcro to hold it in place. I highly recommend that you use premade cables and if you have the autopilot servos, purchase the 9-pin Dynon serial splitter 4into1 device. I ask the techs why there were no instructions for those of us upgrading and was told that there were expected to be so few customers upgrading that it would not be cost effective. By the time I had my new install fully operational, the two tech guys, Mike and Steve, could recognized my voice on the phone when I called from Reno. I see the v5.0 install manual now some of the upgrade changes noted. It is a nice unit and well worth the effort to upgrade, it could have been so much easier with seperate upgrade instructions. Oh well, excutive decision making, I guess nothing is impossible for the guy who doesn't have to do it. Dan
 
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All of my Dynon stuff arrived today. I couldn't wait to open everything up and look at it. Now I'm waiting for my panel to be cut by the laser shop. I read Bill's log. I hope it isn't as complicated as all that. I'm only going single ADAHRS, so no need for a network hub in the back. The servos are already wired to a db25 behind the panel, so that should help some on the upgrade. Now I need to sit down an compare pinouts between the gtx327 and the Dynon xpndr, the hs34 and the sv ARINC box, the d-180 engine monitor wiring and the sv EMS, and then the d-180 main harness and the sv 10" screen. I did get a network hub for behind the panel, but I'm wiring my own network cables.
 
Well, I just spent 15 minutes typing a description of what I had done so far and my browser crashed and I lost all of it. In summary, I removed the old panel and instruments, mounted most of my accessories and wired up all except the ADAHRS and one more skyview network cable. I will need to add the antenna for the ADS-B and trade the BNC for a TNC for the new transponder (I hate that the transponder has a TNC, both because everything else under the sun seems to be fine with BNC, and because the TNC connectors cost about $15 each, whereas the BNC connectors are about $1.50 each.

The only wires I will have to add to my plane besides a few network cables behind the panel are the ADAHRS wires to the tailcone. I used my original TruTrak harness to wire up my servos and am using the remote compass wire to connect my ADS-B module in the tailcone.

In summary, it has gone MUCH faster than I expected. While it may be nice to have the premade Dynon network cables, I really prefer making my own because I can make them the exact length I need (with a service loop, of course). The servos only require 2 pair going to the network hub from the TruTrak harness (just used a male 25 pin dsub to adapt), and everything else just requires 4 pair, almost all of which I was able to make from wires that I removed from the Skyview Display 37 pin dsub. Being already twisted in at least pairs helped a lot in that respect.

After one day, I now just have to finish mounting the ADAHRS and run 2 4 conductor shielded wires from the display to the ADAHRS, have to mount the ADS-B box and an antenna, need one more 12" network cable to go from the display to the network hub, and have to change out the transponder antenna connector.

I already powered up the system and did most of the setup. The servos, transponder, ARINC adapter and EMS are all talking to the display. There is only one connector that shows an error, and I don't remember which. It is incredibly easy to transfer the servos from D-180 compatibility to Skyview compatibility. Much much easier than I expected. Even inside a metal hangar the Skyview GPS picked up 6 satellites and pulled up my position on the map page.

I don't have my new panel yet, but it should get here on Monday. I just need to clear coat it and I will be able to install it. I hope to be flying on Monday afternoon or Tuesday. Overall, from what I see now, it should end up taking about 2 days of my time and maybe 4-8 hours from a helper to make the complete transition.

On the EMS transition, I just had to remove a couple of wires from the EMS harness from the D-180 and most of the sensors are already configured. I need to finish setting up the others, but it looks like it is going to be almost a drop in replacement on the EMS end of things. Dynon has just come out with a manual for making the transition, but I haven't looked through it yet. I just had the Skyview and D-180 manuals in iBooks on my iPad and switched back and forth between the two (while making notes on my paper copy of the Skyview manual).

Interestingly, the Skyview shipped with software 4.0, even though I think 5.0 has been out for a while. In my quick call to Vertical Power for the settings for the VP-200, I was told to upgrade to version 5.0, but not to put in 5.1 yet because Dynon has changed their format for the serial data output.

That's it for now. Tomorrow I expect to have everything installed, wired and configured, then just waiting for the new panel itself on Monday. May even have time to calibrate the fuel tanks tomorrow. I'm glad that my last flight saw me back on the ground with less than 10 gallons per side. Don't need nearly as many fuel cans now.
 
They did send me that the other day, but I actually didn't need to use it. The conversion is actually very simple.

I finished the conversion today including the ADAHRS and ADS-B module mounting and wiring. Really the only hassle so far is that they shipped my system with software version 4.0 (quite old), and they just released 5.1. With 4.0 there is not ADS-B access and with 5.1 they changed the data output format that the VP-200 uses. The solution is to run 5.0, which they don't have an option to download. Dynon tech is trying to figure out a way to send me the 40MB file as I write this (I hope I don't have to wait until next week) so I can finish the software setup. VP says they will support 5.1 in their next software release, which isn't expected for a few more months.

I really like what I have seen of the SV so far. Very nice screen, easy navigation, lots of real estate and very nice graphics (IMHO).

The panel comes on Monday, so if everything fits we should be flying Monday afternoon.

For those who have flown with a remote transponder, do you miss the always available buttons on the GTX-327/330? You actually spend so little time on the transponder that I imagine it isn't a big deal. We'll see.

I hope to post some pictures once I get the panel in. As I mentioned before, the conversion is really quite easy. I only had to run one set of network wires to the tailcone, and everything else was available in preexisting wires except the stuff behind the panel. It wasn't a big deal making my own network cables, and saved a fair bit of $, but I exhausted my supply of BNC pins and connectors. The network hub is a must.

Can't wait to fly it with all of the new features and info.
 
I have a problem. I need the 5.0 software and the Dynon tech guys can't find a way to get it to me. Does anybody have the 5.0 software that can post it somewhere for me to download, or can upload it to me Dropbox? [email protected].
 
Jesse said:
I have a problem. I need the 5.0 software and the Dynon tech guys can't find a way to get it to me. Does anybody have the 5.0 software that can post it somewhere for me to download, or can upload it to me Dropbox? [email protected].
Click to expand...

Sent it to you on Dropbox. Let me know if it you don't get it.
 
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Thanks, Don. That's a great help. On a Saturday, no less. You must be the IT guy they were wanting to talk to yesterday.

Off I go to the shop.
 
Now I realize that those 2 posts were from different people. Thanks Don and thanks, Dynon.
 
Well, I downloaded the 5.0 software onto the thumb drive and hooked it up to the USB port on the SkyView. Went into setup and it automatically listed the option to update to 5.0. About 10 minutes if waiting and it was all updated. Now I have ADS-B connectivity and still have VP-200 data. There is still a red X on the VP where the fuel levels go, but I haven't calibrated the floats yet, so I hope they will show up after I calibrate.

The panel should come on Monday, so I need to clear coat it, install a few nutplates and drill a few holes before I can install it. Pretty easy, I hope. Hopefully I'll be able to fly by the end of the day on Monday.
 
I finished buttoning things up today and went for a quick test flight. Everything worked great! The planes were like Bees today and the ADS-B showed them everywhere. It also got metars and radar, which was really nice to see for free on the EFIS.

I just need to calibrate the fuel flow, maybe tweak a few sensor values and calibrate the heading.

Overall it was a very simple upgrade if you don't mind a little harness repinning.
 
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