Sumo

Member
Hi there,

I have a Garmin GNS 430 in my RV-6A.

On a trip 3 weeks ago, the screen got pretty light, and I didn't really think anything of it (it was near sunset - maybe it was just gaining down?).

No problems last week, then this past weekend, it started making noise. There's nothing obviously broke about it when I took it out to take a look, but I suspect there's something wrong with an internal fan (due to the 'spinning' noise it's making).

Has anyone had this problem/have any good advice for a fix?

Thanks!
-Anna
 
The fan in mine makes a bit of noise too. At least you can tell it's running :)

I've seen the screen go very bright when the sun is shining from over my shoulder directly onto the instrument. There's a sensor on the front face which is used to adjust the display's contrast and backlight brightness based on ambient light. In bright sunlight, mine decides to turn itself up so bright that it shows vertical artefacts on the LCD. Covering up the sensor with a finger for a few seconds to make the instrument think it's dark causes it to dim again and lose its "whiteness."

- mark
 
Thanks! I just don't remember it ever making noise before. I'm going to do a good cleaning of the avionics stack this weekend and hope for the best :)