[bmarvel]

In 950 hours in my -8A, I have had two failures of the Ray Allen Servo Relay Deck. In talking to the company, I learned that they have a new version out that is much more reliable than the earlier one. The physical difference makes it easy to tell one from the other. The old one is about 3/8 of an inch thick and the new one is about one inch thick. I purchased two new ones, wiring one for my aileron trim system and the other for elevator via multi pin connectors. Last week leaving Mobile, Al the old pitch relay deck failed and I had to return to the airport. It took only 30 minutes to unplug the dead component and plug in the new one. If your flying is taking you long distances from home as mine does and you have one or more of the older units installed, you might want to travel with a new style spare and have it all wired up ready to go.

 

[Ironflight]

I had this happen in my first year of flying the Val, Bill - lost the pitch trim. Ray Allen sent me a new deck, and it's been working fine ever since - but it is the same size as the old one. i guess we'll see how long this one lasts before I go to a new model. of course, not everyone puts on 300+ hours a year like we do - maybe we need to form a group called "accelerated life testers Anonymous"....

Paul

 

[Kahuna]

I too lost a couple old ones before the new one, which is larger.
It currently has twice the life as the first 2 combined.
Best,

 

[Rick S.]

I just installed the Safety-Trim system. I had a relay deck I built from automotive relays but the safety trim system had a bunch more safety features that I had to swap it out. It's a breeze to hookup, replaces the relay decks and I think the whole thing is solid state...might want to check them out, Vans and Stein are both distibutors