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Avionics Update is posted

Not what I was expecting, would have been beneficial to know months ago. Oh well something to do waiting for spring and the FWF. Now knowing I need to do my own wiring I will probably rip out the supplied wiring and get rid of those cheap connectors.
 
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Maybe you are misinterpreting what the announcement is saying.....

There will still be plug & play options for the 3 previously mentioned options (Garmin, AFS, and Dynon).
All three have been working to develop their own installation kits and harnesses that will interface with the wiring that has been done in all kits up to this point.

One big benefit is that customers will be buying the entire kit direct from the avionics manufacturer (Stein will be the "kit" supplier for Garmin and can do Dynon as well). Any customer support or troubleshooting help needed after installation will be provided by the people that are most familiar with the system and the kit used to install it.

Before anyone abandons this path, I suggest you talk to the vendors and see what they have to say....
 
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Scott,
You are correct, I did miss that. I am far away from this stage, but will be curious to see prices and options that people choose as they work with Stein and AFS.
 
As an RV12 owner, I think this is an excellent choice on Van's part. Plenty of options, plenty of competition. Ability to customize.

I understand why the RV12 had to have a much more defined configuration. The idea behind the Skyview upgrade was superb. The plug-and-play AV5000 magic box was a great innovation that has since been copied by others and improved. But the execution of the AV5000 is poor. Van's is not an electronics maker and it shows!

It shows in the awful potentiometer placement, for example. Once the radios are installed, access is poor to those. The teeny tiny pot screws (facing inboard and aft) are recessed back from the holes. It is very difficult to see if you have even engaged the screw with your it-had-to-be-cut-in-half tool. Those pots should all have pointed upward.

Also there are wiring errors in it. I bought the Dynon ADSB box a year later. Four wires come from it - Power, Ground, Serial TX and RX. There is a vacant plug on the AV5000 where it was supposed to be plug and play. It wasn't.

Power and ground were OK. The Serial TX and RX have to make their way from the ADSB-IN plug on the magic box, out to the correct two wires on the 37-pin plug into the Dynon screen (where they connected to one of the unused-before-the-ADSB Dynon serial ports). They did not. Traced them, checked every pin connection, power off or on - that plug on the AV5000 went to no serial port at all.

This was easily enough solved by bypassing the magic box for those two wires and putting them straight into the correct two places in the 37 pin Dynon plug. Once the signal made its way into the Skyview, the rest was easy to configure.

So it is a GOOD IDEA for Van's to play to their strengths, and to have strong working relationships with other partners with different strengths - like Avionics.
 
Small pet peeve:

"Yaw Dampener" should be "Yaw Damper".

Another pet peeve is when pilots spell "hangar" incorrectly.

(OK, I feel better now. Thanks!)

Sorry, It was likely one of the non engineer types that wrote the document...:rolleyes:
 
The Serial TX and RX have to make their way from the ADSB-IN plug on the magic box, out to the correct two wires on the 37-pin plug into the Dynon screen (where they connected to one of the unused-before-the-ADSB Dynon serial ports). They did not. Traced them, checked every pin connection, power off or on - that plug on the AV5000 went to no serial port at all.

Sorry Bill,
Not sure what was up with your installation because there have been lots of installations (including all of the S-LSA RV-12's) that are operating fine with the installation done as designed.

But thanks for the confirmation regarding the decision to let Avionics people design and support the avionics....
 
My wife and I decided that when we were going to build our 14A that we would not do the panel by ourselves. I wanted to A: live long enough to fly the plane, B: have a system that worked without bugs from the first flight forward. That being said, we met with Stein and part of his crew at Osh and were very impressed with their presentation. We came home and went online to Youtube and viewed some of Steins videos and were convinced that he would be the right choice to build our panel. I must also add that Rob Hickman also has a very good case for prebuilt panels for RV's but we wanted more of a custom unit and finally decided on Steinair as our builder. I have to say that up to this point in time we are thoroughly impressed with Steins company, staff and attention to detail. We spent a month going back and forth with panel iterations and it took 14 trys to come up with the final design. All communication with Steinair has been immediate and all is proceeding as promised. I think that we will have our panel before we get our FWF kit. Moneywise, what we decided on is way over what we originally planned on but I know that we will have a panel that will be a work of art and will work properly when it is installed in the plane. I don't want to be chasing squawks on a new aircraft. I know that most builders are on a budget but from my reading on the forums, no almost no one ends up spending what they originally budgeted to build their dream aircraft. Enclosed is a pic of our panel as of this week. I will of course post it again when it is installed on the plane and operational. I will be happy to discuss our design and thoughts that went into building with anyone that is interested. [email protected] Ho, Ho, Ho and to all a good night.
 
AFS Panels

We often do custom panel layouts, we have done five RV-14 panels so far and all of them have some differences. We should be shipping three RV-14 panels this week and will post pictures of them soon. With our plug and play Advanced Control Module we can even sell you a panel without an expensive GPS Navigator and you can then easily add it later without doing any wiring.

Rob Hickman
Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
 
I just want it on the record that I am sure that all of the pro panel builders that Van recommends do a great job. As I replied to one of our readers, I was quite certain that Rob will do custom work and that should be discussed with AFS directly. Choosing a builder assist is just a personal decision. As far as costs are concerned, choose what you need, get estimates and make your choice. As I stated previously, I would have built my own design except I don't think I would be around long enough to fly the plane if I did. I know that 90% finished and 90% to go is the truth when it comes to the panel wiring. Been there, done that.
 
This picture is at Steins shop. The screws are a temporary mount.
Thanks, Roger

My comment was just a heads up that it will need to be corrected and for other builders to keep in mind.
They may be temp screws in the photo, but the permanent flush screws will require countersunk holes (which they are not). It is usually better if the holes get countersunk before the panel is powder coated / painted.
 
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