flickroll

flickroll

Well Known Member
I'm having a devil of a time getting my SL30 to communicate with the HS34. Everything is wired on a bench using a 15 amp power supply. I believe the Tx & Rx wires are properly connected. I cannot get the SL30 to display anything on the Dynon HSI. Can someone who has done this installation before tell me what settings were used? The Dynon install manual is vague, and the SL30 manual is about the same. Here are my settings:

Dynon:
Serial 2 (the SL30 is connected to serial 2)
Input: SL30
Output: SL30 CMD
Baud rate: 9600

SL30:
Indicator Head Type: Serial

Also, I cannot get my Garmin 696 to move frequencies to the SL30. The Dynon does display 696 data.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Jim Shannon
RV-8 N52VV
Charlottesville, VA
 
I am such a bonehead. Had the serial wires on the wrong connector.....Put them on the correct connector and now the GPS dumps frequencies to the SL30, and the Dynon now displays the tuned frequency on the HSI. HOWEVER....I still cannot get the SL30 to display flags, g/s & loc data when in SL30 test mode. Any ideas? Thx
 
I THINK it's all working OK now, except I cannot get the LOC or G/S indicators to show L/R or Up/Dn indications using the SL30 test setup. It does show LOC, BC, NAV, G/C flags, but not the TO/FRM arrows. This may be a function of the SL30 test setup and not the Dynon HSI. I do know the SL30 and the D100 are communicating :)

Jim Shannon
RV-8 N52VV
Charlottesville, VA
 
The SL-30 isn't like the GNS-430 in test mode where it sends out all sorts of data. The only real way to test it is either with a signal generator (ramp tester or equivalent) or go fly. If the thing is communicating and you know it, then everything is OK....don't worry about trying to do a full blown test on the bench with things in test mode. Unless you have the equipment to do it, you're not likely to get a good result until you go fly.

Anyway, sounds like you're just fine and got everything working ok...so I wouldn't be to worried.

Cheers,
Stein
 
Thanks Stein. Everything seems to be communicating fine so It's probably better time spent finishing this thing than worrying about it :)

Happy New Year!!
 
Stein, one last observation/question. In the SL30 setup you can select 'Indicator Head Type' as 'None', 'Resolver', 'Converter', or 'Serial'. I had assumed that when using a serial interface between the SL30 and the HS34 you would select 'Serial' under 'Indicator Head Type'. Seems a no-brainer. However, with all of the monkeying around with the system yesterday I found that it does not matter how you configure the 'Indicator Head Type'. The HS34 gets data from the SL30 regardless of the selection in this setting. I tried them all and the HS34 and SL30 communicate with any one of the types chosen, and the D100 seems to properly display HSI data. Any idea why this is the case? Thanks
 
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You will need to ensure that you can send the OBS setting back to the SL30 from the HS34. I have seen conflicting info on if this setting should be "None" or "Serial". Pick whichever one allows you to set the OBS (course) setting from the HS34. Keep in mind that the SL30 does not allow OBS settings when tunned to a LOC frequency. This is a limitation of the SL30 not the HS34/Dynon.

flickroll said:
Stein, one last observation/question. In the SL30 setup you can select 'Indicator Head Type' as 'None', 'Resolver', 'Converter', or 'Serial'. I had assumed that when using a serial interface between the SL30 and the HS34 you would select 'Serial' under 'Indicator Head Type'. Seems a no-brainer. However, with all of the monkeying around with the system yesterday I found that it does not matter how you configure the 'Indicator Head Type'. The HS34 gets data from the SL30 regardless of the selection in this setting. I tried them all and the HS34 and SL30 communicate with any one of the types chosen, and the D100 seems to properly display HSI data. Any idea why this is the case? Thanks
Click to expand...
 
Can you do this with 496 connected

Brian
I wanted to do this but as I understand it you have to choose between the 496 frequency upload to the SL-30 OR the HS34 SL-30 CMD input to the SL-30 to allow the OBS to be controlled from the HS34. This is because there is only one RX line in the SL-30.
In my case I chose the 496 frequency upload input as I was led to believe you cannot just gang the RS232 inputs together, is this correct or is there a way to do both.
In my setup the result is everything works well except the OBS control from the HS34.
 
I don't have an SL-30 connected to my Dynon, but I think you use indicator head type "None" and you are correct that you can't gang together multiple RS-232 inputs into the SL-30....you get to use that line for one thing as uk_fig mentioned.

Cheers,
Stein
 
With my setup using the HS34, I can set the Nav Course needle (OBS) through the HS34 AND I get frequency downloads to the SL30 from the Garmin 696.
 
flickroll said:
With my setup using the HS34, I can set the Nav Course needle (OBS) through the HS34 AND I get frequency downloads to the SL30 from the Garmin 696.
Click to expand...

You very well might be, but it really depends on how you have it wired. Do you have the 696 going to the Dynon and then to the SL-30? If so, then that's why it's working. If you have spliced the RS-232RX into the SL-30 from multiple sources, then I'd be a little suspect...that's generally a No-No.

Cheers,
Stein
 
The 696 connects to the HS34 using Serial 1. The SL30 connects to the HS34 using Serial 2.

Serial 1 is set up as follows:

Input: NMEA
Output: None
Baud Rate: 9600

Serial 2 is set up as follows:
Input: SL30
Output: SL30 CMD
Baud Rate: 9600

The 696 is set up as follows:

Serial Data Format: Aviation In/NMEA & VHF Out
NMEA Output Mode: Normal

There is no Serial setup on the SL30.

So it appears that the HS34 is taking data from the 696 and then is sending it out to the SL30. I can transfer both Com and Nav frequencies from the 696 to the SL30. I can adjust the OBS using the course knob on the HS34. If you push the course knob it syncs the OBS to present heading. Pretty cool stuff :)
 
As an added data point, if I put the SL30 in OBS mode, turning the HS34 Course knob changes the OBS value on the SL30 to the same value as is displayed on the D100. When the SL30 is in OBS mode, changing the OBS setting on the SL30 does not change the OBS on the D100. Here's an excerpt from the HS34 Pilot's Guide:

"When using the HS34 you can set the OBS using the course knob; the HS34 can communicate with the NAV radio instead of just receiving data from it, as with a standard serial connection. The HS34 sends the course change to the NAV radio, just like a mechanical HSI or CDI does. In the case of the SL-30, either the OBS knob on the SL-30 or the HS34 may be used."

So I THINK a change of the OBS on the SL30 should change the value on the HSI on the D100. I have a call in to Dynon to clarify. But other than this minor issue it appears that the system is working well.
 
Like Flickroll confirms, it should do both. The HS34 intercepts the frequency data from the GPS and adds it to the data stream out to the SL30. This passthru feature has been a selling point that Dynon has mentioned many times. So with this setup, you only need one RX line on the SL-30 and it is connected to the HS34.

uk_figs said:
Brian
I wanted to do this but as I understand it you have to choose between the 496 frequency upload to the SL-30 OR the HS34 SL-30 CMD input to the SL-30 to allow the OBS to be controlled from the HS34. This is because there is only one RX line in the SL-30.
In my case I chose the 496 frequency upload input as I was led to believe you cannot just gang the RS232 inputs together, is this correct or is there a way to do both.
In my setup the result is everything works well except the OBS control from the HS34.
Click to expand...
 
Trut - it can do both, but only because the data is going from the GPS to the Dynon, then passing from the Dynon to the SL-30. I don't want people to start thinking that you can gang multiple input lines into the one SL-30 port. Just a small point of clarification for future readers so they don't misunderstand.

Also, the passthrough on the GPS data is fairly common to all the EFIS mfgrs. Dynon wasn't the first to do this....

Cheers,
Stein
 
Aha

Ok I figured out what I have done, I wired the 496 RS 232 TX to the SL-30 pin 4 (RX) and to the HS34 pin 1 (RX), as a result I could not wire the HS34 TX to the SL-30 hence the HS34 cannot drive the Sl-30 only the other way around. I did not realize that the HS34 would "pass through" the 496 data to the SL-30 (must have missed that in the installation manual).
So to get all the functionality I need to remove the 496 connection from the SL-30 and replace with HS34 TX connection correct?
 
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