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Ray Allen trim indicator failure

prkaye

Well Known Member
Anybody ever experience a failure of a Ray Allen LED type trim indicator? Mine has gone dark (no lights). My trim switch/servo still work fine. I checked the ground and 12V connections and they were both good. I didn't check the three wires back at the servo that connect to the indicator (a pain, because they're routed through the HS). If one or more of the three connections between the servo and the indicator (orange green and blue wires) were to be broken, what would be the mode of failure? Would the indicator go completely dark or would it still illuminate in some fashion (i.e. indicate full trim down)?
 
I have heard of and seen several failures of these indicators...sometimes they come and go and or work when you peck on em...
 
Me too...

My pitch trim indicator failed early in my Phase 1 flying. Every once in a while it comes on, but not very often. I think it is an internal failure in the indicator because I checked all the connections also. They are annoyingly expensive!
 
Sometimes it works/ Sometimes it doesn't

Mine has been a "sometimes it works" "sometimes it doesn't" situation ever since the first flight.
I am dissapointed with this indicator. I agree that for the price it should work better.
If I had it to do over again I think that I may try and seek out another device to display this information.
 
Yup - I also have a dead one in my broken parts drawer - if I remember, I could get it to work if I wiggled the ground wire. Poor connections inside or something. I wish Ray Allen Co. didn't have a seeming monopoly on servo systems for our planes....
 
pitch trim can be displayed on the PFD of the
Grand Rapids Tech. EFIS and probably others as well. why buy one at all?

Erich
 
Tru Trak EFIS, too.

pitch trim can be displayed on the PFD of the
Grand Rapids Tech. EFIS and probably others as well. why buy one at all?

Erich

Same goes for the Tru Trak EFIS/EMS. Seems as though the Ray Allen indicator will go the way of the HSI: Cool, but too expensive and unreliable given the alternatives in the experimental avionics market.

M
 
My roll trim indicator is the LED type and only works part time but my pitch indicator is the old analog meter movement type and has worked perfectly. It looks like something off a piece of test equipment from the '50s but so what? They changed to the LED type about ten years ago. Maybe you can find one of the meter type indicators somewhere, I believe they wire up the same.

Paul Danclovic
Jamestown NC
RV-8A N181SB
 
My pitch trim indicator started to fail on the way to Oshkosh, and completely quit on the flight home from Oshkosh. I will not be purchasing a new indicator from Ray Allen. $80 for five LEDs seems a little steep for me.:mad:

I'm in the process of rewiring my pitch and rudder trim to my Dynon.
 
its aileron

Your rudder doesnt have an adjustable trim on it, dad. And i was wondering what was with the trim indicator on your dynon since it wasnt yet operational. Sad. I could have walked downstairs to say this to you:D
 
It seems like I heard of someone opening the case up and finding some sloppy solder joints. With some heat, they were able to dress them up and its worked fine since.

I can't tell you for sure, but it seems like I heard that story on one of boards or lists.

Phil
 
Pushing on the indicator face

will re-light the LED, most of the time. I have the same problem and have been living with it for over a year. Not sure if the Louisiana humidity contributed. I called the company who made a vague reference to internal connections being the culprit. I will probably call again to press them for a repair. If it can be opened up without destroying it, I would like to try.
 
Thanks guys. Can those three wires be easily re-routed to three compatable wires on the Dynon, or do I need another piece of hardware to interface the trim servo with the dynon?
 
You can directly connect the trim servo pot wires to the Dynon. Details in the install manual. I have both pitch trim and flap indications on my D120.
 
If you are good with a soldering iron you can buy the 7 segment leds from Digikey or any of the other electronics supply houses and fix them yourself for MUCH cheaper. I have done that many times over the years for mine and other airplanes. They usually run about $7-$10.

Vic
 
Phil,
You'll need to use +5 volts on the white/orange power wire for hookup to your Dynon for trim display. There is a 5 volt excitation lead coming from the efis which your MAP sensor is using.

Dynon FD180 installation manual:

"If you are using the output from a Ray Allen servo or sensor, connect its white/orange wire to the Dynon 5V excitation line (pin 18), its white/blue wire to ground, and its white/green wire to your GP input of choice
 
It's good that my seventeen year old teenage son (who obviously knows everything) has found a way to communicate with me.

I'll be upstairs momentarily while I give him a whooping for correcting me publicly!;)
 
If you are good with a soldering iron you can buy the 7 segment leds from Digikey or any of the other electronics supply houses and fix them yourself for MUCH cheaper. I have done that many times over the years for mine and other airplanes. They usually run about $7-$10.

Vic

Vic, any chance of getting a part number????

I found this page on Digikey's site, which seems to be where the parts should be listed, but there are hundreds, if not thousands of possible combination's to search through.

Thanks, pretty sure others out in VAF land will appreciate the info also.
 
Resolder

I had the same intermittent problem. Push on it and it would work fine for a while. I took the thing apart and resoldered everything.
No problems now for 9 years.
 
I still have to fly. Light now has disappeared. Pushing on it maked things better for a while. Now, even pushing it doesn't came alive.
 
Conversion to Dynon

I finally did the deed this evening.

I began by testing the "press on the MAC trim LED indicator to make it work again" trick. It worked... for about 10 seconds. Then the indicator went dark again.

The MAC / Ray Allen trim indicator has six wires going to it. Three wires are from the servo, two wires are 12V+ and Ground, and the last wire is connected to a dimming circuit.

The Dynon only uses three wires. The Dynon supplies 5V excitation to the MAC indicator circuit with one wire, the second wire runs from the MAC indicator circuit to aircraft ground, and the third wire connects the Dynon GP contact to one of the three MAC servo wires. The trim indication on the Dynon doesn't work until you calibrate the trim, which involves running the servo from full up/left to full down/right and also setting TakeOff Trim position. Total time to fabricate a new 5V/GND/GP Contact harness for two indicators, unplug the MAC LEDs, plug in the Dynon, and calibrate was about an hour. Very simple operation.

Now I have to pull the trim indicators out and figure out what to do with the holes in the panel... Anyone interested in two MAC/Ray Allen LED trim indicators?
 
Another report of failed LED trim indicators here. Two failures in rapid succession in the RV-10 I helped wire last year and the second replacement is acting up now, and an RV-6 builder on our field had his fail after just a couple years.

I used the Dynon's trim indicator in the new RV-8 ;)

Those RA LED indicators are just not reliable.
 
I contacted Ray Allen and they said it soudns like a faulty internal ground. They said this can be tested by pushing on the face of the unit to see if it lights up. In any case, they said it has to be returned for repair, and that they offer free 1-day turn-around time on repairs of those units. So I mailed it back today. Coming from Canada it's goign to take a while in the mail, but as many of you have mentioned, this indicator light is not a critical issue that will ground my airplane in the meantime. Hopefully the repaired unit is more robust than it was originally.
 
I'll stay away from Ray Allen CO.

Another failure here. Both the indicator and relay deck have gone west. I guess one of their three products still functional is acceptable quality to them.

Talked with them this morning, and they will service the indicator if I send it in, but will only sell me a new relay at their standard cost (Fat chance I'll do that!)

I'll be putting a couple micro switches in the stick today.

Roger Bloomfield
Camp Verde Az
RV-9A flying
RV-8 painted
 
I have three LED indicators I'd like to sell. Were working fine when removed for a Dynon conversion last March.

As for their reliability, I only experienced failure after an over voltage condition 7-8 yrs ago. Replaced with new and they operated fine since.
 
Another Ray Allen failure

About one month ago, the lights on the aileron trim indicator wheren't visible for the first 10-30 mins of the flight.
Then they came on, indicating as usual.

After a few flights of this, the lights on the aileron-trim didn't came on at all.

All the time, the aileron trim itself (the motor) has been operating as usual.

The trim-system was bought from Vans in 2006 or 2007.

It seems like my indicator is another one of all those with bad quality of the circuit board. Too bad I'm not within "driving distance" of the company. :eek:
I'm not even withing flying distance.... :eek:

I think I'll send a mail to them and hear what they have to say....:confused:
Maybe they'll ship me one for free....:D
 
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