R

RayMc

Active Member
Just over 6 hours total time and my G3X touch PDF has gone dark!

Yesterday I was flying the test card procedures and all was great. After landing I shut down and realized I hadn't remember to write down the hours from the display, so I turned it back on and the PDF failed to light light up! The MFD came to life as usual and that is where the data was that I was after.

I pulled the PFD out and checked the Stein assembled connectors and all seemed normal (no connectors were pushed back in the shell). I then pulled the MFD and swapped positions The MFD still lit up fine on the left side but the PFD was still dark on the co-pilot side.

I don't know what else I might check to troubleshoot the problem so I have an email off to Van's for guidance.

Any ideas what else I can try?
 
If the button labels do not illuminate when turned on, the display is not receiving power. You may have to look closely if you're not in a darkened hangar.

Of course you could always check the voltage at the connector to be sure.
 
There was one time that I had gone night flying and forgot to change the back light when I shut down. The next time I went to go flying I thought the PDF has gone kaput, only to realize it was the back light so low that I could not see anything in a daylight.
 
Thanks Matt.

I assume there is power to the connector as the MFD powers up when plugged in to it.
I have never noticed the buttons light up, so it must be too bright in the hangar and it's still too soon for a night flight.

Edit:
Also the MFD did light up in the PFD's hole so it's getting power.
 
I hadn't thought about the back light, also I don't know how to adjust it.
Is it possible that I could have tweaked it inadvertently while I was messing around with features on the screen?

(Night flight is prohibited in the operating limits until completion of flight testing)
 
If a screen goes dark, isn't the system supposed to recognize that and automatically put the other screen into revisionary mode?

That might be one thing to think about when troubleshooting. If it's not happening that should tell you something...I'm just not sure what :)
 
I believe you are correct.
My MFD did begin displaying the flight instruments on the left half and the previously used screen on the right half of the screen.
 
If it went into rev. mode then I don't think it's just a case of accidentally dimming the pfd. Seems like the system is recognizing that it's offline.

That, combined with the fact that it didn't light up when you swapped it to the MFD position would seem to indicate that the screen has tanked.

Before assume that though, I'd call Garmin. I've found that if you call G3xpert they are good about walking you through troubleshooting over the phone.
 
I had already tried everything to troubleshoot the G3X/T so Garmin's last recommendation was to remove the SD card and try to restart, to see if the card caused the start sequence to fail.

It still does not restart, they have issued an RMA... getting a new unit.

6 Hour TBO... I hope the rest of the Garmin equipment lasts a little longer!:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.