echoUAT power connection

Just received my echoUAT + SkyFYX-Ext (uAvionix has been backordered for parts for this product bundle).

Seeking advice on the power connection aspect of installation including the 1 Amp (or 3 Amp for both the echoUAT + SkyFYX on same circuit) circuit breaker requirement.

What's the easiest way to install a circuit breaker (CB) or fuse to protect the echoUAT/SkyFYX equipment? I don't have room on the panel of my RV7A for additional switches. Can I piggyback the power connection to the existing Mode C transponder switch? If so, how can I best in-line a CB or fuse?

I didn't build the plane and have limited wiring experience.

Thanks for any advice.

Steve
RV7A

Andreas68 said:

What's the easiest way to install a circuit breaker (CB) or fuse to protect the echoUAT/SkyFYX equipment?

Click to expand...

The purpose of a fuse/CB is to protect the wiring. Make sure the wire gauge is adequate for the current draw, then size the CB for the wire?s capacity.

Steve,

I just installed the same setup in my RV-7A.

I pulled a 22 awg wire from my fuse box underneath the passenger side instrument panel and used it to power both the EchoUAT and the SkyFY-EXT. The wire tunnels under the floor/seats/baggage compartment and into the fuse tunnel to where I mounted the EchoUAT and SKYFY-EXT antenna. I used a 3 amp blade fuse in the fuse box to protect the circuit. I have 2 fuse boxes....one is connected to the battery bus/switch and the other is powered by the avionics master switch. The EchoUAT & SKYFY-Ext are powered by the avionics master bus/fuse box.

Hope this helps. Feel free to call if you have any questions.

R,
Dan
252-458-3309

Here's how I did mine...

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I'm installing the EchoUAT as well in my RV-8. I was thinking of placing an inline fuse vs using a newly installed CB. I don't want to thread hijak but I'm interested in collaborating and posting useful information as I come across it as well.

I have not been actively posting photos on this site due to the share site requirements but I'll probably start a FB post about it where I can post photos more easily. I'll place a link to it once I get installations underway.

Antennas:
I'm also interested in where people place their antennas (both GPS and ADSB ground antenna). I've read the installation guide and note the ADSB ground antenna should be at least 1M away from the existing Comms/Transponder antennas. Since I don't have a DME antenna that should be OK but will require some careful placement. On the GPS antenna, I have seen some mount them just forward of the firewall, in the engine compartment. It seems counter intuitive, but seems to work in these people's experience. Any thoughts on this?

PS - my installation will be pretty simple since I'm at this point only using the Echo UAT for FAA ADSB "Out" solution. I have been using a Stratus 3 for ADSB "In" (with remote antennas) and display of traffic and weather from that source separate display. For now I'll keep it this way and perhaps start using the Echo UAT "out" capability down the road when I have more opportunity to see how the system performs. This is to keep the process at one bite of the apple at a time for me since I'm pretty busy at the moment and want the plane to stay flying in a known configuration for now.

Ed

Echo instlation

Eddie P said:

I'm installing the EchoUAT as well in my RV-8. I was thinking of placing an inline fuse vs using a newly installed CB. I don't want to thread hijak but I'm interested in collaborating and posting useful information as I come across it as well.

I have not been actively posting photos on this site due to the share site requirements but I'll probably start a FB post about it where I can post photos more easily. I'll place a link to it once I get installations underway.

Antennas:
I'm also interested in where people place their antennas (both GPS and ADSB ground antenna). I've read the installation guide and note the ADSB ground antenna should be at least 1M away from the existing Comms/Transponder antennas. Since I don't have a DME antenna that should be OK but will require some careful placement. On the GPS antenna, I have seen some mount them just forward of the firewall, in the engine compartment. It seems counter intuitive, but seems to work in these people's experience. Any thoughts on this?

Ed

Click to expand...

My Echo uat and ADSB antenna are located behind the baggage compartment. My transponder antenna is up front. SkyFX is located in the baggage compartment. Tip up , not slider..... Only had to run the power wire from the front to the back.

Thanks very much for the response. I'm still waiting for delivery of the units - uAvionix appears to be all backed up logistics-wise.

In the meantime, could you clarify the location where you located the two boxes (EchoUAT & SkyFYX)...I don't know what you mean by "fuse tunnel". Did you collocate the devices by the fuse boxes under the panel on the passenger side? I didn't think there was enough room there to mount the boxes. Not in my plane anyway.

Also, where underneath did you mount the external antenna? Did you need to use a backplate? If so, how did you fashion it?

Thanks for the very useful information.

Andreas
RV7A
650 hours

cuzzroy said:

Steve,

I just installed the same setup in my RV-7A.

I pulled a 22 awg wire from my fuse box underneath the passenger side instrument panel and used it to power both the EchoUAT and the SkyFY-EXT. The wire tunnels under the floor/seats/baggage compartment and into the fuse tunnel to where I mounted the EchoUAT and SKYFY-EXT antenna. I used a 3 amp blade fuse in the fuse box to protect the circuit. I have 2 fuse boxes....one is connected to the battery bus/switch and the other is powered by the avionics master switch. The EchoUAT & SKYFY-Ext are powered by the avionics master bus/fuse box.

Hope this helps. Feel free to call if you have any questions.

R,
Dan
252-458-3309

Click to expand...

664781 said:

My Echo uat and ADSB antenna are located behind the baggage compartment. My transponder antenna is up front. SkyFX is located in the baggage compartment. Tip up , not slider..... Only had to run the power wire from the front to the back.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the information. I'm still waiting for the units to arrive; uAvionix is backed up for logistics (parts and shipping). They billed me almost a month ago and I still don't have the devices.

I see you mounted everything behind the baggage compartment. Did you have to make trays for mounting the units, or did you mount them directly to the frame? Also, for mounting the external antenna, did you have to fashion a backplate for this? Not being a builder, am a bit hesitant about drilling into the skin of the airplane and want to minimize my mistakes!

Thanks

Andreas
RV7A

I've installed several of these now, all EchoUAT, one with the GRT SafeFly, one using Garmin 430W GPS and one with the uAvionix GPS.
The GPS antennas have been mounted under the cowling on a shelf attached to the firewall.
After the first installation, I found out that the WAAS GPS antenna was more sensitive and required a larger shelf for the back plane and at least 1" of separation from other passive GPS antennas. Made a larger shelf, with about 1 1/2" of metal around the antenna, and easily passed the FAA flight after that.
If you mount it on the exterior of the fuselage it should work fine.
As for locating the EchoUat box, one was mounted up front behind the panel and two behind the baggage compartment. Both work fine.
In my applications, each installation used a separate circuit breaker or fuse. If you don't have room for a circuit breaker on the panel, you could wire to the hot side of an existing CB, such as the one for the TXP (or directly to the bus) and run the wire with an inline fuse. If your TXP CB is wired to an Avionics Master, then the ASD-B will go on and off with that.
Installing the TXP antenna on the bottom is straight forward; however, I would install a stiffener on the inside of the skin. I believe that their current placement requirement is at least 24" from any existing TXP or Comm antenna. My installations have all been 39" or more to date with no issues.
I like to mount the EchoUAT box as close as possible to the UAT antenna since the coax run is usually harder to run through the fuselage than the 3 or 4 #22 wires. Cheaper, too.

Great information Steve F (and others too).

Andreas I will also share my process as a recent installer of the Echo. I just add this for consideration and to perhaps give your mind something to think about while you wait for your unit (waiting is the worst part right?) When you get your EchoUAT in the mail (I believe you mentioned you are getting the all-in-one solution EchoUAT and SkyFX WAAS GPS antenna) you'll be ready to go with the concept that you'll need to mount your box, decide your input wiring and determine your antenna locations. What you get in the box is of course the Echo unit (nice and small so it's easy to find a place for it). You also get a dongle plug with one side of the wires set up to plug into the Echo. The other side is bare wires. Not to worry though, more on that in a sec. You also get the ADSB antenna plug-in cable that goes between the Echo and the Coax Cable. You get the GPS antenna and it has a long run of attached three wires. You also get the short metal ADSB antenna. That mounts to the coax cable that goes in between the Echo adapter cable and the antenna.

What you don't get in the box is the coax cable (more on this below) and also the instruction manual. You go to the Uavionics website and download the Echo installation manual and work from that (use the latest dash number release of the manual from the website rather than a random link that may pop up from another website, mine is a 10-2018 version). Lots of great info in there but some installation points are located on page 13-22 (mounting, wiring the system, antenna requirements, configuration, etc) as well as in the appendix sections for the wiring diagrams (for me my installation right now i set up for the legacy transponder solution so it's on page 34). Cliffs notes to fact check in the manual are that they recommend 1 meter (about 39 inches) between the Echo out antenna and any existing comm or transponder antennas and also to mount the Echo unit in a place where you can easily see the LED light's on the unit during setup and for diagnosing issues later if required. This seems reasonable, perhaps avoid intentionally mounting the box in a hard to get to place where it's impossible to lay eyes on the lights apparently.

The first order of business is probably to determine where your ADSB out antenna will go. Then where your box will live. Short coax cable runs are good but not a deal breaker if not possible. Then where will your GPS easily mount. Finally, where and how your power will originate and route to the Echo and GPS antenna. Also, your grey wire from your GPS will be attached to the grey wire in the Echo dongle mentioned earlier. (the red and black wires of the dongle attach to the GPS antenna wires and then to the aircraft power and ground). For me I have a few spare fuse outputs in my avionics bus where I'll mount the (+) line to a newly installed 3A fuse. The (-) will go to the designated aircraft ground electrical terminal. Then how will your wire runs be set up. For me, my GPS antenna will attach to the + and - of the Echo box electrical input lines. The the total of the two electrical lines attaches to the fuse box mentioned above protected by the 3A fuse. This means when I turn on my master avionics switch the Echo powers up.

The Coax cable... you don't get that in the box but there is a good reason. You need to buy that separately in the custom length that will eventually go between the Echo box and the ADBS short metal antenna. Each installation will be custom so the length is "as required". After mounting the Echo box and the antenna, you figure out how long a coax cable you need. The instructions show what types of cables are appropriate for what length your cable run turns out to be. I used a run of yarn to route through my cable run, keeping in mind there may be a twist or two in there at places that increases the length of the cable run from what you might think it would be if you are just estimating with a tape measure. This simulates a real wire run reasonably well.

Steve has given some good insight as to the sensitive GPS antenna needing a few inches between it and certain other items and also ideas on where his mounting worked. That will probably save me some hassle as originally I had considered a GPS antenna location that is close to another legacy GPS nav antenna.

I installed uAvionix ADS-B in my early SN RV-12. I have purchased echoUAT + skyFYX-EXT + 24" Antenna Coax with connectors. Installation is very clean. The new WAAS GPS antenna mounts next to the Garmin GPS antenna on the double-wide bracket under the engine cowling. The echoUAT mounts on the rear baggage bulkhead with wire and coax fed through grommets in the floor. Power wire and signal wire from the WAAS GPS to the echo are routed under the pilot side armrest.

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your echoUAT ADSB install

Piper J3 (Jim) - that's a very professional installation, well done.

I installed the echoUAT and external antenna in/on the right wing inspection panel of my RV7A . Installed the SKYFYX GPS on top of the upper brace between the seatbacks per a recommendation from uAvionix. I'm not a builder but the only significant challenge I encountered was snaking the echoUAT wires through the existing wire tunnels from the wing inspection panel back into the fuselage. I didn't see other posts where folks were challenged with doing this, but I was. The existing wire tunnels (rather, holes) in my plane through the wing spars were only a dime's width diameter-wise and they were already full with autopilot servo wiring so to say it was a tight fit for threading additional wires through would be an understatement. And since you can't get your arm up in there, you have to be creative with a copper wire snake. The rest of the installation was straightforward.