DonFromTX

DonFromTX

Well Known Member
Some questions, so here is the deal (Possible useless information):
OK, here is the hot poop.
An SL40 will fit easily into either a 30 or a 40 tray, no mods, no changes..
A SL30 will fit into either just fine except for the nav antenna coupling when put into the SL40 tray. That could be easily remedied by just putting a Bnc connector on the nav cable (which would not make a quick pull out easy any longer), or extending the nuts that holds on the regular fitting (this could be easily fixed by special nuts also.
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Nice!

I'll most likely follow your lead in installing an SL-30 into the panel of my 12. And a compass! Kind of nice to have the 'old fashioned' tools available for back up. Thanks for all of your posts, you are the man!:cool:
 
For anyone with a Skyview and an SL40, moving up to a SL30 gives you LOTS of extra good stuff, and costs very little.
 
slow down a little

Don't move to fast to crude workaround on the tray interface. I did this a few years ago in the RV-6A and I remove and install the new SL-30 just like it is designed - no cable pullout and disconnect involved.

Bob Axsom
 
Please elaborate. I have a Skyview and an SL40. What would I get for an extra $2k besides VOR nav capabilities?
 
Well you get a full HSI, including glideslope for starters. If you sell the SL40 after you buy a used SL30, the cost is very, very small. A nav antenna will however set you back nearly $300! Like this professional stuff in a toy airplane:
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If you are interested in installing an SL40 during the build but anticipate swapping out to an SL30 after you are flying perhaps you should consider installing an SL30 tray and wiring everything that is necessary to allow for the SL30 radio to talk with the EFIS while you are building your panel. This would make swapping out very easy.

I did this on my build. After flying for 2 years with just the SL40 I purchased an SL30. I was able to slide the SL30 into the already installed SL30 tray the SL40 was sitting in with most everything working as needed. I say "most everything" because there was a problem of an antenna cable fitting pulling out that caused me a problem after the swap, but that was not really related to the initial installation. I also had forgotten about an audio wire for the NAV side of the radio I had stubbed out for this swap during the initial build but had not installed into the D-sub connection of my intercom. I had run the wire and even labeled it as audio for the SL30 but because it was hiding behind the panel out of sight I had forgotten all about it until I was troubleshooting the lack of audio from the NAV side of the radio with Walt. Once we found this wire laying around and installed it into the intercom everything worked perfectly.

My suggestion would be to purchase the SL30 tray when you buy the SL40 and install it into the panel. I purchased my radio equipment from Stein and just purchased an additional SL30 tray with the purchase of the SL40 radio and SL40 tray. I did not install the SL40 tray. This allowed me to sell an SL40 tray and radio when the time came to remove the radio from the plane. This worked out good for me.
 
With more and more pilots installing just one vhf nav radio, the ability of the SL30 to display (digitally on the radio, or as a bearing pointer on your efis) a second VOR makes it a great choice. Track the primary, use the second one for cross fixes.

Also, if you forgot the nav audio wire, there is a menu option to send nav audio out on the com line (and turn on or off using "ID" button).

Finally, the SL30 uses modern digital techniques to decode the VOR signal- there are no analog phase shift circuits to drift with time. Legally you are still bou d to do the 30 day check for ifr use, but you will never find it off.
 
If anyone is interested in doing this, there is an SL30 tray just listed on VAF classified, from the same person I got mine from (AERODON)).

RVbySDI said:
If you are interested in installing an SL40 during the build but anticipate swapping out to an SL30 after you are flying perhaps you should consider installing an SL30 tray and wiring everything that is necessary to allow for the SL30 radio to talk with the EFIS while you are building your panel. This would make swapping out very easy.

I did this on my build. After flying for 2 years with just the SL40 I purchased an SL30. I was able to slide the SL30 into the already installed SL30 tray the SL40 was sitting in with most everything working as needed. I say "most everything" because there was a problem of an antenna cable fitting pulling out that caused me a problem after the swap, but that was not really related to the initial installation. I also had forgotten about an audio wire for the NAV side of the radio I had stubbed out for this swap during the initial build but had not installed into the D-sub connection of my intercom. I had run the wire and even labeled it as audio for the SL30 but because it was hiding behind the panel out of sight I had forgotten all about it until I was troubleshooting the lack of audio from the NAV side of the radio with Walt. Once we found this wire laying around and installed it into the intercom everything worked perfectly.

My suggestion would be to purchase the SL30 tray when you buy the SL40 and install it into the panel. I purchased my radio equipment from Stein and just purchased an additional SL30 tray with the purchase of the SL40 radio and SL40 tray. I did not install the SL40 tray. This allowed me to sell an SL40 tray and radio when the time came to remove the radio from the plane. This worked out good for me.
Click to expand...
 
Ah, now I know why there are so many SL40 trays out there. Wonder if you can order a SL40 with an SL30 install kit? Don
 
Aerodon said:
Ah, now I know why there are so many SL40 trays out there. Wonder if you can order a SL40 with an SL30 install kit? Don
Click to expand...

It's not the install kit that is necessarily that much different (except for the backplate), it's the trays themselves....which is why buying a blank tray with no backplate or connector kit doesn't easily get you there. The tray is the cheap part of that combo/set. We have stacks of both sitting around, and as others have noted we often recommended they get the -30 tray with with the -40 radio because everything works that way, but not easily the other. Either way both products are being superceded, even in the -12, though we've done a lot of -30 conversions, GNC/GTR/GNS trades & conversions in those planes.

Cheers,
Stein
 
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Just an update on this thread. An SL40 will slide into an SL30 tray, but not vice versa. BUT if you install the SL30 Nav connector in the tray, the SL40 will no longer slide all the way in. The connector gets in the way. Don
 
Aerodon said:
Just an update on this thread. An SL40 will slide into an SL30 tray, but not vice versa. BUT if you install the SL30 Nav connector in the tray, the SL40 will no longer slide all the way in. The connector gets in the way. Don
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ahhh, not exactly true. This is exactly what I did when building my panel. I flew for almost 3 years with the SL30 tray fully wired for the NAV side but with an SL40 radio installed. The connector was in the back of the tray, wires run to their respective locations but not connected on the other end. To make this work I left the securing screws installed but loosely so that the NAV connector was attached correctly to the back of the tray but because it was loose the connector did not make contact with anything on the back of the SL40 radio. It was just sitting there waiting to be tightened. Once I finally upgraded to the SL30 I just tightened up the securing screws, connected the ends of the wires on the other end of that connector to the appropriate location for the intercom and I was set to go. I flew for almost 3 years with the NAV connector just sitting there in the back of the tray. It can be done.
 
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Locating the Nav Antenna

I initially installed the nav antenna on the top of the fuselage, just behind the baggage bulkhead. Beautiful job, looked very nice.
Problem was, the prongs were exactly at eye level, and after a week or so decided either mine or someone elses eye would not tolerate that. I moved it to the top of the vert stab, looks much nicer and only very tall people can get their eye poked out now!
 
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