V

Vlad

Well Known Member
My friend from FAR FAR AWAY, brilliant engineer and overall handy guy has "burned" SL-40 in his posession. He is looking for detailed schematic of the radio. Could you please direct me to a source where I can buy drawings for him. Garmin site has only installation manuals. Two cents will be sent to Stein Inc if he responds:D
 
Most avionics mfgrs keep tight reins on their schematics.

I have gotten schematics from mfgrs, but it's rare. And Garmin is known for keeping things close to the chest.
Good Luck.
 
I would just send it in and see that damage has been done. They will give you an estimate.

They are not gonna let X- KGB have the schematics! ;)
 
Even if you had the schematic, most likely some proprietary chip inside will be smoked and the only way to get one will be to send it back to Garmin for repair.

The days are gone when you can fix complex processor controlled products yourself without a means for obtaining proprietary chips etc.
 
The gentleman has retired from a scientific research institution. He did some work on historic airplanes for private collectors. He has his own project where he plans to use RV9 empennage plus he likes fixing unfixable things.
 
I'm afraid even my 2 cents won't be of much help here. The best I can do is the install manuals, no repair manuals or board schematics, etc..

Garmin (like many of the mfgrs) has moved away from repairs in the field and at shops and towards "send it to the mfgr" for repair. With the newer generation goodies out there, it ends up being almost as economical for the mfgr to quickly change a complete board over having a technician or repair shop trying to replace individual components on a board. Not sayings its right, just saying it's the way it is. Gone are the days when you could open up a radio and quickly identify a burnt fuse, voltage regulator, capacitor or whatever. Things are much more integrated now, so I'm afraid that's the way it is.

Sorry I'm not much more help.

My "2 cents" as usual!

Cheers,
Stein
 
Thanks Mel Larry Brian and Stein

Now it's clear and make perfect sense. But I am positive this guy will fix it, it's a matter of time. To ship the thing (in customs language - double purpose for civilian and military use) is not just a headache, almost impossible.
 
SteinAir said:
Gone are the days when you could open up a radio and quickly identify a burnt fuse, voltage regulator, capacitor or whatever. Things are much more integrated now, so I'm afraid that's the way it is.
Click to expand...
Come on Stein. You're not showing enough age.
It used to pretty easy to open up a radio and find which tube is bad. Have you never replaced
a 5U4 or 12AX7?
 
Speaking as an Electrical Injunear...

SteinAir said:
..... Gone are the days when you could open up a radio and quickly identify a burnt fuse, voltage regulator, capacitor or whatever. Things are much more integrated now, so I'm afraid that's the way it is.
.....
Cheers,
Stein
Click to expand...

...we always blame problems on the mechanical parts...:)

Opening it up to see if the switches are OK or the boards and internal plugs/sockets are still mated is worth while. Some units may also have internal fuses.

Switches on Narco NAV and old Terras come to mind here...

Older displays seem to have a lower reliability than the later ones, and can usually be easily replaced if they are still available.
I did this to a German Dittel comm, and it was no big deal, just "fiddely".

However, if the internal custom ICs are fried, forget it...:)

A friendly local avionics shop can usually do a quick bench check for less than an hours labour to make sure a transmitter is not going to flood the wrong airwaves when you are done...
 
But I am positive this guy will fix it, it's a matter of time.
Click to expand...

IF Garmin did not use any custom chips (very unlikely) AND Garmin is willing to give out a schematic (very unlikely), than it is possible he could fix it. Of course, he could just keep the case, install new guts, and call it fixed. ;)

Reminds me of an old joke: That hammer? That was Grandpa's favorite hammer. I've replaced the head once, and the handle twice, but it's still old Grandpa's favorite.

Have you never replaced a 5U4 or 12AX7?
Click to expand...

One of my first good projects I built when I was a kid used 12AX7 triodes. It does date a person. :D
 
Mel said:
Come on Stein. You're not showing enough age.
It used to pretty easy to open up a radio and find which tube is bad. Have you never replaced
a 5U4 or 12AX7?
Click to expand...

Ha! Surely you jest....the teribly UNfunny thing is that my piper PA-12 still has a tray installed for a NARCO OMNIGOATOR. I have the radio sitting around as a museum piece, but the extra 20lbs in the Super Cruiser isn't good...so it's sort of a quasi map box!

Cheers,
Stein
 
I used to do quite a bit of component level repair before board changing became the standard repair method and many times you can go into a unit and sorta find your way around the basic areas. Like was said before if the IC's are toast then you done for, but most of the time the bad components were the power transistors and associated components like RF output stages and voltage regulators. Open it up and poke around, you never know, you might get lucky :D
 
Who remembers the tube testers in the drug stores and corner grocery stores?? How about the "fix your tv" books with the symptoms and the screen pics??? The worst...."no sound, no picture....:)
 
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