K

kritsher

Well Known Member
My skyview system does not recognize the two autopilot servos on the skyview network. I have double=checked all of the connections but am at a loss for what to try next. Anyone else ever have this problem? Any suggestions much appreciated.
 
Have you configured the network per page 4-9 of the SkyView System Installation Guide (Revision K)?
Joe Gores
 
Joe,

The step on page 4-9 is exactly what I'm trying to do. The system recognizes the ADAHRS and the EMS, but does not see the servos.

Larry,

I tried pressing the AP disconnect switch and then doing the network configuration step again, but with the same results. Is the AP disconnect switch supposed to illuminate or something to indicate status? Mine does not.

Thanks guys.
 
Skyview Autopilot Servos

I initially had a problem with the software version not being = to the other updated Firmware Skyview components'.
I did not have power turned on when the initial firmware upgrade was done.
We did our own interconnect wiring.
I believe the Auto Pilot Disconnect light should be illuminated.
Check for power at the servos.
Check to make sure the Autopilot switch is not grounded to the servos.
Check continuity for the 4 communication wiring.
 
Al is correct. The autopilot switch on the switch panel has to be in the on position when updating the firmware.
My autopilot disconnect switch only illuminates when the nav/strobe light switch is in the on position.
 
Servo wiring

Initially our Skyviews couldnt see the A/P servos either.
Probably a rare occurance- the Skyview A/P servo wiring harnesses we received were packaged wrong- we got D10/D100 harnesses instead which have different D-sub pin outs. So when checking those harness pin outs, check both ends!
 
The autopilot disconnect switch should illuminate along with other panel switches. Like skydiverlv said, the nav/strobe switch needs to be on in order for the panel switches to illuminate. If the autopilot switch never illuminates, it could be wired incorrectly. Whether illuminated or not has no relationship to the autopilot. The light and switch are two separate circuits. They only thing they have in common is that they share the same housing.
Joe Gores
 
Call Dynon.
This is a known issue with the servos. I had to swap one servo twice to get one that worked.

Apparently, all of the servos work with the D10/D100, but need upgraded firmware to work with SkyView. Some of these un-updated servos are still around.

To make things worse, even with the firmware update there are still some hardware problems that may need fixing.

Turns out I got both problems. Cost me a lot of $hipping, time and hassle. I talked to Dynon about upgrading their factory test program, hopefully they've got things settled now.

I also should throw a brick at Aircraft Spruce... they sold me a servo for the SkyView system that was not correct (un-updated).

A buddy of mine using SkyView was recently contacted by Dynon for a 'recall' for the servos with prepaid shipping, so I think they learned from my experience.
 
Thanks for the helpful suggestions. It turns out, I didn't have power going to the servos. When I fixed that issue, the Skyview saw ONE of the two servos and I was able to update that servo's firmware.

The Skyview still doesnt see the second (roll) servo (in the tailcone). I have confirmed that it is receiving power and that the connectors are wired correctly and securely. I am now studying the electrical schematic so that I can verify proper connections at the panel end.

If I don't find a problem there, I will switch the positions of the two motors and see what happens.

Any other suggestions? It seems strange that the system sees one servo and not the other. The servos are sequential serial numbers, so I am assuming that they are identical.
 
The two servos are wired in parallel. There is NOT separate set of wires from each servo going to the instrument panel. The wires from the panel go to the pitch servo and are spliced and then continue on to the roll servo. If one servo works, the problem can not be at the panel end. There is either a wiring problem between the two servos or else the roll servo is defective.
Recheck the splices and crimps and matching of wire colors at each servo.
Joe Gores
 
Joe, are you sure?

Looking at the schematics, two of the wires going to the servos (red POWER and orn/yel DATAI) are indeed spliced together in the harness as you describe.

However, the two network twisted pairs (blu/grn and wht_blu/wht_grn) from the roll servo go to the OPTIONS connector at the Control Module while the twisted pairs from the pitch servo go to the FUSELAGE connector. (The two twisted pairs going to the pitch servo are spliced in the harness to the wires that go to the ADAHRS).

I'm still hoping the issue might be in the OPTIONS connector, since both the pitch servo and the ADAHRS are being recognized fine.

Thanks again!
 
Ken,
The servos for the Dynon D-180 system are wired in parallel. I assumed (maybe incorrectly) that the SkyView was wired the same way. No, I am not sure about the SkyView.
Joe Gores
 
servos

the skyview servos are wired in parrallel +ve -ve disconnect and 2 sets of data wires the 2 sets of data wires go to both servo for redundency purposes so if one works and the other doesnt it is either a wiring fault at the last servo or a faulty servo
 
Check wiring

I had the same problem. My data wire for the roll sevo was swapped with my headset wire at the 37 pin options plug. Re-pinned plug and re-ran network setup and all is well. I think it was either pin 21 or 22 that was wrong? Don't hold me to that!
 
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. My problem is now fixed. I'm not quite sure how I fixed it, but I'll describe what I did in case it helps someone in the future.

When I first installed the servos (servo #1 in pitch position and servo #2 in roll position), the system recognized servo #1 as needing a firmware update but it didn't see servo #2 at all. After updating #1, it still didn't see #2 and that's the situation I was in when I last posted.

Today, I checked the continuity of all the wiring between the roll servo and the panel, and all of the connections were indeed correct. [As an aside, the network wires (twisted pairs) are all connected in parallel as a couple of people mentioned above, but the two servos are wired independently to the Control Module, so it is in fact conceivable that an error in the harness could affect one servo and not the other.]

Anyway, I pulled servo #2 from the roll position, thinking that there was something wrong with that motor (since I found nothing wrong with the wiring). I then connected servo #2 to the harness in the pitch position just to confirm that it was defective. I didn't expect it to work, but when I powered the system up, the Skyview recognized servo #2, and indicated that it needed a firmware update. After updating it, I put servo #2 back in the roll position and reconnected #1 at the pitch position.

At that point, everything worked fine and the system recognized both servos on the network.

Strange, but I'm glad it worked, and hopefully this might help someone who finds themselves in the same situation.
 
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kritsher said:
After updating it, I put servo #2 back in the roll position and reconnected #1 at the pitch position.

At that point, everything worked fine and the system recognized both servos on the network.

Strange, but I'm glad it worked, and hopefully this might help someone who finds themselves in the same situation.
Click to expand...

That is indeed strange. I would think that the only possible problem left was with the connection of servo #2 to the wire harness in its roll servo position. You might want to check for loose crimps, broken wires before moving on as it might fail later if one or more of these conditions exist undetected.
 
Torsten, you were right to be suspicious. My system worked fine for a little while (including through the system 5.1 upgrade, after which both servos were still working fine) but it appears that some sort of intermittent problem in the servo came back.

The day after the system upgrade, after charging the battery, I got a "servo fail" warning. Reconfiguring the network resulted in the original issue: Servo #1 identified; servo #2 missing. This time, switching the position of the bad servo had no effect.

After triple-dog-checking the harness and replacing all 7 crimps on the suspicious servo, I called Dynon, who promptly gave me a return authorization.

Thanks for the reminder to be skeptical when a problem seems to be solved even though it hasn't been conclusively identified.
 
kritsher said:
Thanks for the reminder to be skeptical when a problem seems to be solved even though it hasn't been conclusively identified.
Click to expand...
Ken, I had my fair share of Dynon debugging a while back (actually, a bit more than just a "fair" share), so I'm glad my hours of searching for the bugs actually saved you at least a surprise in an unduly moment.
 
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