GRT Mini and TRIO

So I seem to be a little confused about the GRT Mini X. Can anyone tell me how exactly it will pair with a EZ Pilot Autopilot?

Will the Mini X send L/R steer commands to the EZ Pilot? If yes, is it through a RS232? Or will I need that Airinc connection?

With the Mini A (or Mini X), Is it possible to send L/R steer commands straight to the EZ Pilots Servo?

I have three different servos. Two installed and one sitting in a box. 1) navaid (installed) 2) altrak-altitude hold (I stalled) 3) EZ Pilot Trio (in box). Can any of these easily be made to work with the GRT Mini A (or X)?

I ask because the salesman told me that the Mini X will not send any info at all to any autopilot, but the tech guys told me it will. The tech guys were leading me to believe that more could be done with my current autopilot servos with the Mini A, but wouldn’t come out and say it. I seem to get different info from sales as I do Tech.

If I had a mini X and it did indeed give L/R commands to the EZ Pilot, when coupled it would naturally follow the given course. But if you had the EZ Pilot connected, and ended the direct function on the Mini X, and turned it to a heading, would the EZ Pilot follow the heading selected on the Mini X, or would it need to be uncoupled and the EZ pilot turned to a heading on the AP controller?

Thanks for any insight any can offer.

X

Point 1... CALL GRT and talk to them directly. They'll walk you through the in's and outs.

Point 2... GRT Mini will drive only GRT servos directly. (Same deal for Dynon and Garmin EFIS products.)

Point 3... If you have a COMPLETE EZ Pilot, including the controller, the Mini will use RS232 to send lateral navigation info to the EZ Pilot. The source of this navigation information is the Mini's built-in GPS and the flight plan that you have activated in the Mini.

Point 4... If you have an external GPS navigator (GNS4xx or 5xx or Avidyne IFD-series) you will need an autopilot that speaks ARINC 429 to get the full benefit of the capabilities of those expensive GPS navigators.

Point 5... If you don't have the EZ Pilot control head you are going to need to either install the Mini-X and the GRT servos, or install another type of EFIS and its matching servos, or source an EZ Pilot controller.

Point 6... If you want the airplane to be controlled in both lateral (Nav) and vertical (altitude hold etc) then you will need either two servos from the same manufacturer or you can source a TruTrak altitude controller (Altrak) to drive the TruTrak servo for altitude and the EZ Pilot to do the lateral navigation.

Bottom line is you have a mish-mash of hardware, some of it outdated, that will make for a complex solution that is not well integrated. If you really want an autopilot I would suggest you ante up the $$ and go for a fully integrated solution from one vendor.