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Dynon D180 pitch wandering

M

Mike Buettgenbach

Active Member
I'm having a problem with my D180 attitude presentation. In straight / level flight, it sometimes "wanders" in pitch (roll is okay). Sometime 5deg, sometimes up to 20 deg, and eventually it stops.

I left a post on another thread, it appears that at least a couple folks have had this problem. Thought I'l post a this new thread for more visibility.

The Dynon Service guy (Mike) is working hard to fix it, but since it can't really be duplicated on the bench and is intermittent, it's tough to troubleshoot.

Anybody else had the same or similar problem?

Thx
 
I had it very intermittantly for a short time early in the life of New Blue. It went away all by itself over two years ago. Never did return. I have the Skyview in it now, so I suppose I'll never know why.
 
Service exchange unit required.

I had one that did something similar in roll. Not enough to kill you in cloud....but enough to have me worried.

I am sure they will look after you. :)
 
D180 Pitch Wandering

With only a few hours on my RV-12, the D180 not only lost the pitch but also the roll. It was swinging up and down and left and right. Gentleman flying my 12 that day as PIC stated, "well, let's see what happens in a stall". After he did a couple of stalls the pitch and roll returned to normal. A couple days later the D180 totally shut down. Tried to reboot with the backup battery with no results. Contacted Mike at Dynon and the unit was returned. Mike called back a number of days later. He advised they were not able to reproduce the pitch and roll problem on the bench but the powered down problem did occur so they eventually sent me another unit. Will never know what the problem was with the pitch and roll.
 
Mike Buettgenbach said:
I'm having a problem with my D180 attitude presentation. In straight / level flight, it sometimes "wanders" in pitch (roll is okay). Sometime 5deg, sometimes up to 20 deg, and eventually it stops.

I left a post on another thread, it appears that at least a couple folks have had this problem. Thought I'l post a this new thread for more visibility.

The Dynon Service guy (Mike) is working hard to fix it, but since it can't really be duplicated on the bench and is intermittent, it's tough to troubleshoot.

Anybody else had the same or similar problem?

Thx
Click to expand...

Try setting the servo torque a little higher and make sure the trim is neutral
 
Wrong attitude ;-)

Hi,

Similar problem today, to those reported previously. I fired up the Dynon and the horizon slowly rolled through 60 degrees then pitched up until I lost the horizon.

Took off to see what would happen. Attitude seems to be shot. Slip ball was way off. Wind vector from the GPS showed a 40 knot wind, in no-wind conditions. All other indications seemed normal, and ASI, heading, and altitude matched the steam gauges I have.

I tried rebooting the Dynon in the air, got a message "attitude recovering", but it didn't display correctly afterward.

Any ideas? Do you thing dumping the stats will reveal anything?

If the solid-state attitude sensor is on the blink, I don't see there's anything I can really do to diagnose further.

Happy to learn from anyone who has been there before, or may have other insight.

I see the "Dynon Issues" thread discusses similar issues, but no resolution other than shipping the unit back to Dynon. From the UK that's not the cheapest or timeliest solution, unless a UK agent can help...

Cheers...Keith
 
Last edited:
Mike I responded on the old thread on serial number. The slight pitch issue I had last time out is minor compared to what I am seeing on this thread, but haven't flown since so don't know if it will repeat. This thread indicates it is apparently not an unusual issue. Good luck with yours.
Dick Seiders
 
I pulled my unit out of the plane today. As a stand-alone unit running on its internal battery, the problem is still present, so seems like a solid hardware fault. I need to pitch the unit down by 45 degrees and roll 10 degrees left to get the horizon back to where it should be. Not sure I'd want to fly this unit in IMC ;-)

Serial number is 2570.

Cheers...Keith
 
Fixed, but...

I got the unit back from Dynon after 3 weeks (including shipping from/to the UK) and reinstalled it in the plane.

I flight-tested it yesterday, and all seemed OK except the wind vector. It was showing wind speeds of up to 82 knots at 3000 feet. The GPS ground speed just didn't bear this out.

Any ideas on what could cause the GPS to compute erroneous wind speeds, or the Dynon to not display what it is being sent?

Cheers...Keith
 
High Wind speed

Does the D-180 display the correct airspeed?
Does the compass show the correct heading? It might need to be calibrated after the repairs.
Joe Gores
 
Recalibrate compass

I had a similar problem-- you need to do the full calibration procedure. Enter the inclination and intensity numbers, then use a compass rose (or known accurate compass) to set the cardinal headings.

Wayne 143WM
 
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