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Martin Sutter

Well Known Member
Yesterday I decided to load GRT's beta software on my HX screens. I had seen a preview of it at Sun and Fun and was eager to try it. You can find it on their soft ware page under "beta soft ware".

Two of the significant new features are way point and traffic presentation on the PFD screen. The set up page of the PFD screen allows you to turn these features on or off.

Way points now appear on the PFD as a magenta ball on a pylon. The height of the ball above the horizon is corresponding with the selected altitude. If it is an enroute way point and you preselect your cruising altitude on your EFIS, all you have to do is place the flight path marker on the magenta ball and you will end up over that point at the selected altitude. While I was flying a GPS WAAS approach the initial fix and all subsequent ones appeared as pylons with magenta balls at the appropriate altitude. You can also select the path to the way point to be shown as a magenta haze ribbon. Situational awareness is even better now with this feature.

Traffic is now displayed on the PFD also. This is a new feature for GRT. Targets show up as a diamond in the same location you see them thru the windscreen. Once the target gets within 2 miles, the diamond changes to a yellow ball.

There are several other changes relating to graphics and labels.

Great job GRT!

Martin Sutter
Building and flying RV's since 1988
EAA Technical Counselor
 
I've been running it on my Sport SX for the last two months. I do not have traffic but everything else Martin describes is there. Great situational and navigation awareness on the PFD screen. There are still some bugs in the Sport software and every few minutes my screen blinks but other than that it has been great. One thing Martin didn't describe is there is a thin horizontal line across the PFD which shows the selected altitude along with the height of the magenta waypoint ball.
 
Excellent report and thanks. I have been aware of this Beta version but did not loaded since I fly IFR often times and did not want to fool around with beta version. I hope we get more hours and reports on this version to build confidence for IFR, looking forward to it very much.
 
Screen shot from my flight to pancakes this morning. Notice the magenta waypoint ball at the 1800' I have selected and the horizontal thin white line across the screen at the altitude selected. The thin line is great if you are not heading toward or have a waypoint programed in but have the altitude selected you want to fly. The actual gps flight path from the previous waypoint to the new waypoint has the magenta ribbon off to the right. If flying in HDG mode using the heading bug, all you need to do is steer the nose so the flight path marker is on the waypoint and that gives you the wind correction. Something not shown but pretty cool is when you get to the turning point of a waypoint the magenta ball turns white. If you have a few lined up such as programing into the gps an RNAV approach that white ball becomes a circle you fly through as you get to it. Seeing the waypoint(s) at the correct altitude on the PFD screen makes having the map screen up not really necessary for enroute nav if you are not worried about airspaces.

33wtj6q.jpg
 
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FAST RV-4

Sid

If you look at the top right corner of his EFIS, you'll see that he is in 500 fpm descent at 86% power so 178 Kts ain't that super fast considering..

Cheers

Bruno
 
Something is way off with those % power numbers.

You can calculate the max HP you can get just from fuel flow. You can't produce more HP than the fuel you have. A really good Lycoming has a BSFC of .40 in the 80% power range, assuming you have the mixture juuuuust right.

However, this is listed as a 160HP O-320, then 86% of power should be 138HP. In order to get 138HP on 7.7 GPH, you need a BSFC of .33, which is off the charts for efficiency, better than most diesels even.

At 7.7GPH you really shouldn't ever read more than about 70% power.

Also, it appears from the image that the RPM is significantly below redline, but in order to hit 86% power at 1800', you need to be at 2500 RPM based on the Lycoming charts, and it says you'll be at 13 GPH.

See a reference for a lot of this here:
http://www.epi-eng.com/piston_engine_technology/thermal_efficiency.htm

and here:
http://3limafoxtrot.com/image/eng.JPG

So, Capflyer, you may want to look into how you have your system configured if it's giving you those numbers.

--Ian Jordan
Dynon Employee and general engine geek
 
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I have not been successful finding a good chart for my EFIS %hp settings and I do not use that number for anything anyway. I generally cruise at 25in & 2400rpm with my mixture pulled to 20-25deg ROP and that gives me about a 7.6gph fuel flow at 6000' and yields a TAS of 174kts. With WOT and 2550rpm I'll add a few extra TAS kts. Not sure how that calculates out on the charts but the sensors giving me those numbers are accurate.
 
What intrigues me from Cap's pic are the EGT #'s. 1515 is way high. My ECI engine manual states EGT red line should be 1450. 21 deg ROP is squarely in the danger zone for pre-detonation. Plenty of power but very risky. I would be interested in knowing more details about your adventures flying at these power settings. I am no expert but it seems to me these readings show you are running in the danger zone.
 
Respectfully, the actual EGT temp is pretty meaningless and to be honest one of my probes is about a 1/4" off from the others in the exhaust pipes. In fact, my engine manual does not even give a max EGT temp. In cruise flight I like to fly at Best Economy, it keeps my fuel consumption, EGT's, and most importantly my CHT's down. No, I do not get any detonation, nor do I get detonation at Peak or even 25deg LOP but I can sure feel the power come down. For performance flying I'll richen up my mixture to around Best Power.

Looks guys, I have read all the engine stuff out there and feel comfortable with they way I run my engine. 400+ hrs on it and it runs great. Now let's get back to the wonders of GRT on this thread.
 
RVbySDI said:
What intrigues me from Cap's pic are the EGT #'s. 1515 is way high. My ECI engine manual states EGT red line should be 1450. 21 deg ROP is squarely in the danger zone for pre-detonation. Plenty of power but very risky. I would be interested in knowing more details about your adventures flying at these power settings. I am no expert but it seems to me these readings show you are running in the danger zone.
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Absolute values of EGT really don't mean anything, other than how close you drilled the probes to the exhaust flanges - fractions of inches are good for a 50 degree difference.
 
I'd love to see pictures of your airplane. You are easily 20 kts fast than most 160 HP RV-4's at that fuel burn.

I have the GRT SX and love it. I would try the BETA if I weren't going on a 3000 mile trip in a few weeks.


Capflyer said:
I have not been successful finding a good chart for my EFIS %hp settings and I do not use that number for anything anyway. I generally cruise at 25in & 2400rpm with my mixture pulled to 20-25deg ROP and that gives me about a 7.6gph fuel flow at 6000' and yields a TAS of 174kts. With WOT and 2550rpm I'll add a few extra TAS kts. Not sure how that calculates out on the charts but the sensors giving me those numbers are accurate.
Click to expand...
 
Cap, I understand your point, along with Paul's. My apologies for high jacking this thread. I was interested in hearing about your experiences running at those settings.
 
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