What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Dynon D180 wouldn’t turn on in cold

Majorpayne317641

Majorpayne317641

Well Known Member
This morning I checked my fuel gauges and lights in my hangar after a cold morning (25 degrees). Dynon worked as usual. Then when I pull the plane out and switch the master on for engine start the Dynon won’t come on. At first I thought it was my battery but I was able to start my engine no problem. I checked my fuses, wire leads and wiggled the connectors. Nothing. It has a standby battery and it would not come on with it either. So I put the plane back inside and then tried it one more time. It came on. Then it would randomly not want to come on until what I think is that it began to warm up. Now all day I cannot replicate the no power on problem. Any thoughts? I’m going to check in with Dynon today.
 
Last edited:
If you can’t see the screen outside but can inside, perhaps the dimmer needs adjusting.
 
Webb said:
If you can’t see the screen outside but can inside, perhaps the dimmer needs adjusting.
Click to expand...

Not the screen. It did boot up at all outside or inside the hangar. Using the standby battery or ship power. I just flew it to my pitot static test shop for my pitot static test and the Dynon ran fine on the flight and during testing. We used the standby battery for about an hour without any issues too.
 
Update from Dynon. They said it may have been cold soaked. They are trying to say it may be my ship's battery (although this was ops tested as not it) or the standby battery (although mine showed 14.6v during this failure period). I will keep updates going as I learn more.

I either need to have a spare D180 on the shelf or I need to switch to skyview. Expensive choices!
 
They now charge $850 for flat rate repair and about 3 weeks. They can exchange for an additional $400 if I don’t want to wait.
 
Dynon Power up

i had an intermittent connection similar to your issue. Sometimes it wouldn't boot up at all or it would boot up then shut off in flight then come back on later. I traced the issue to a faulty crimp on the bottom of the CB that the EFIS is wire to so that fixed the problem permanently.
 
olyolson said:
i had an intermittent connection similar to your issue. Sometimes it wouldn't boot up at all or it would boot up then shut off in flight then come back on later. I traced the issue to a faulty crimp on the bottom of the CB that the EFIS is wire to so that fixed the problem permanently.
Click to expand...

That would make sense if I didn’t have a backup battery in it. This will run regardless of ship power. In my case it wouldn’t run on the charged backup battery inside the D180.
 
Dynon

Interesting problem, I live in Anchorage AK and while my plane is generally hangared I do fly it in the winter and it may sit outside for extended periods of time. I do have the Dynon 180 with internal battery and have never had an issue with it at any temperature. Good luck on your search for the cause.
 
Dynon power off

Chris,

I have a backup battery wired in as well and if I shut off the master it reverts to backup power. When I was having the issue the EFIS would shut down and the backup battery would not power the EFIS. When I found the bad crimp and fixed it everything is back to normal.
 
Trouble shooting steps

Mine is an early model, but assuming your backup battery is the internal one for the D180 (call it the D180ib) my troubleshooting by web hunch is that the D180ib needs to be replaced. No matter you get 14.6VDC (actually shouldn't the D180 IB display 16.2 or some such?). Replacing the D180ib is a quick relatively inexpensive test that if nothing else will leave you with a new spare D180ib. Moving on... Simply remove or replace the D180ib and see if the problem goes away or remains. If problem remains you know it is not the D180ib. Now pull the D180 and bench power it to see if the problem still stays with the D180. If you need to simulate conditions, stick it in the fridge for a day and then test again. If the D180 passes your bench test then, for the moment, you can assume the D180 internals are OK. Were are we? The D180 and D180ib have been checked. This leaves the RV wiring. Start by checking the connector pins on both the D180 and its wire harness. Make sure they are flush with each other and not bent and or recessed. Next check the connector for pins that didn't seat fully. I can do a tug on each of mine but my unit is one of the very early models. Next, using an ohmmeter (continuity checker) and extra wire test each related wire in the harness from beginning to end point. You should have pin connector diagram for your unit. Given what Dynon charges, the key is to be sure as much as possible that your D180 does in fact have a problem before sending it to them. I believe my suggestions will help you with that.
 
I’m going to try and replace the standby battery. It was 13.8v today after attempting to replicate my problem. Good news is I was able to replicate the problem. Bad news is the same thing! Master power on, unit comes on it’s been cold soaked since yesterday. Master power off the standby battery takes over and starts the 30 second count down. It makes it to count down timer unit turns off and now will not turn on with master power or the power button on the unit attempting to utilize the standby battery.

I gave it a few minutes and it turned on with the unit power button using standby battery again.

After keeping it on for 20 minutes or so now it turns on and off as it should without any problems again. Regardless of whether I try standby battery or ship power.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top