Wanted to pass along this information to GRT EFIS owners. I redid the panel on my -7A recently, replacing the Horizon 1 EFIS with a Sport SX. Worked great for a few months, but then the serial ports that transmitted GPS info to the autopilot and the altitude info to the transponder went bad. Sent the unit back to GRT who confirmed the diagnosis and promptly replaced the offending circuit board, saying that this was a very rare occurrence. Reinstalled the unit and all was back to normal....until a few weeks later when the same problem occurred. Additionally, on a subsequent flight, the screen suddenly went completely white with no input from me. Yikes! Im only a VFR guy, but it was nice to have a backup GPS and airspeed at that point.
Contacted GRT, and their initial reaction was there must be something in my wiring that is frying this thing. Not sure how that would happen when Im pretty much limited to 14 volts, but regardless, I sent the unit back in for their diagnosis. Long story short, the problem was found to be a small batch of defective boards that short out, allowing full voltage to get to a chip designed to run on 5 volts. I was apparently the first to report the problem and was unlucky enough to have my replacement board come from the same lot of defective boards. Problem resolved, and unit is on its way back to me, while GRT is having a conversation with their supplier. Im feeling much better now.
Bottom line: I don't focus all that much on whether a company has had problems with their products. Everyone has had problems from time to time. Its how they deal with the problems and the speed at which the problems are resolved that matters. Good job GRT.
erich
Contacted GRT, and their initial reaction was there must be something in my wiring that is frying this thing. Not sure how that would happen when Im pretty much limited to 14 volts, but regardless, I sent the unit back in for their diagnosis. Long story short, the problem was found to be a small batch of defective boards that short out, allowing full voltage to get to a chip designed to run on 5 volts. I was apparently the first to report the problem and was unlucky enough to have my replacement board come from the same lot of defective boards. Problem resolved, and unit is on its way back to me, while GRT is having a conversation with their supplier. Im feeling much better now.
Bottom line: I don't focus all that much on whether a company has had problems with their products. Everyone has had problems from time to time. Its how they deal with the problems and the speed at which the problems are resolved that matters. Good job GRT.
erich
