Autopilot install/firmware upgrade

[shersha]

Well, you guys at Dynon already know me because of our many phone converstations. The question/problem I have is with the inability for me to upgrade my autopilot servos and AP74 to the new firmware. I talked to Eric today - and Mike too, and was told to call back in a few minutes while you researched a possible cable driver that will work so I can try once again to get my autopilot working. When I called, she said 'Eric doesn't work here anymore'. I can't tell you how frustrated I am with this autopilot. It's been 3 weeks of spinning my wheels and I still have no results. As it stands now, I have an autopilot that doesn't work, and a software upgrade system that doesn't work either. No one there seems to know what to do. Your system has way too many limitations on computer/software requirements to make it widely acceptable. I am running out of patience.... please help!!

Scott

 

[dynonsupport]

Ahh, a bit of name confusion. Eric used to be our tech support person, but a different Eric is also our IT person. If a customer calls and asks for Eric, the receptionist is probably going to say he doesn't work here anymore because our IT guy basically never talks to customers, and Eric the tech person hasn't worked here for 6 months.

There's really nothing I can do to help you on the forum. You need to get the USB to serial working on your computer, and this works no problem for 99.9% of our customers. We have 5,000+ customers and the forum isn't full of people saying "I can't update" so you're pretty unique. We've been doing updates this way for the last 6 years.

Sorry you're having the problems you are, but we are doing all we can, as evidenced by getting our IT department to help you with your PC (which is so rare that nobody expects a customer to ever ask for him).

I'm not the person that answers phones, so I only half know of your issues. I think all you can do is to call us back when we are open again. We're closed tomorrow and Thursday for the holidays, and I'm not sure who is in on Friday, but you can try then.

You could also try to borrow another laptop and see if you can get it working that way. We really don't have very many issues with PC's anymore. The cable is generally easy to install and reliable.

We did make it clear for anyone ordering the AP before the software was out that it would need to be updated in your plane, but that was a tradeoff for getting it installed earlier. We would of course be happy to update everything here at Dynon if you want to ship it back.

 

[agrantz]

Scott,
I don't know the specifics of your cable issue, but if you need a USB to serial (DB9) connector, Radio Shack makes one (Model: 26886 | Catalog #: 55008871) for $27.99. You can view/order it online at radioshack.com, or buy it in one of their stores. Thats what I did for my laptop running Windows XP. As I re-call, it took some fiddling during the install to get it working on the laptop. It now works great, and updating the Dynon firmware is easy. Good luck.
-Alan

 

[Brantel]

Scott,

The problems you seem to be having with the USB to RS232 converter is a widespread problem in the computer world and has absolutely nothing to do with Dynon.

I work with hundreds of devices a year that only speak RS232. The problem is that all the computer makers decided that 99% of the laptops did not need a RS232 port now that USB is on the scene.

The problem with that is that apparently there is absolutely no standard for USB to 232 converters and everyone that makes one of these gems decided to make them different and with their own idea of how they should work and what the drivers that run them should act like.

Dynon's support program is just trying to use the virtual RS232 port that your computer and USB-232 converter is creating on your computer. If that port does not work correctly, the support program won't either.

There are some of these converters that have basically no settings you can tweak and then there are others that have a few dozen settings to tweak. The problem is figuring out the best settings for your computer.

Again, RS232 firmware updates are common place from everything from portable GPS's, many other EFIS makers products, Autopilots, Engine monitors, NAV/COM/GPS's, and about a billion other electronic and microprocessor controlled devices. Dynon is not unique in this regard.

If your computer had a real RS232 port, most likely you would be a happy camper by now instead of frustrated.

Do you know any local computer geeks? Not a gamer but someone that works with industrial automation devices or similar? They would be able to get you going in no time.

Hope you can get it worked out!

 

[dynonsupport]

Just for people's info, Scott is trying to use the Dynon supplied USB-serial cable under Vista.

Normally, you just plug this in, let it find he drivers online, and go. For some reason this isn't working on his machine. The Dynon cable uses a Prolific USB-Serial chipset, which is probably the most common and stable one out there and has Microsoft WHQL drivers.

Scott's issue is truly rare and a head scratcher.

 

[Camps]

I had the same problem using Vista, and the computer didn't find the driver. So I tried the Dynon driver. And it worked.

Roberto Camps

 

[shersha]

Well, I got the driver that Eric sent me and loaded it onto my son-in-laws Vista and it loaded and installed just like it's supposed to. Unfortunately, it still won't update my EFIS or autopilot servos/AP74. After configuring the servos/AP74 again (the EFIS was just returned to me from Dynon after they fixed it), I tried the update. The screen turned yellow (which I thought meant it was communicating with the laptop) it began searching for a comm port. After a couple minutes of this I got the error connecting FlightDek-180 can't find instrument on any comm port. I tried every USB port on the computer (4) and went through this process several times, all to no avail. The screen stayed yellow the whole time. Even though it said not to power the unit down without calling Dynon first, I had to - or leave it on until Friday or possibly Monday. I powered down and when I powered back up, everything seems to be working fine - with the EFIS only of course. My son-in-law heads home tomorrow, so unless you guys figure out how to make this work with a MAC, I'm done until Jon Thocker or someone else with a IBM comes back to town. Jon finally got his to work after about 10 attempts and a new -180 you sent him. I'm just going to finish my flight test phase and take to the paint shop next week. While it's down for paint maybe you can come a solution. It seems odd to me that I bought a new autopilot - never been used - and it needs an update. I think your method of updating your product is problematic and unacceptable.

 

[dynonsupport]

Scott, the problem you are now seeing is indicative that there is a bad connection in the wiring harness somewhere. If the screen goes yellow but then the update fails, it means the PC was able to send data to the EFIS, but the EFIS could not send data back. Please make sure pin 10 on the EFIS is connected to pin 2 on the PC connector. Also make sure that pin 5 on the PC connector is hooked to ground.

This is no longer an issue with your PC for sure. The support program is working and so is your USB converter. If the PC can make the screen go yellow, any issue after that is a wiring problem or a failure in the EFIS.

Again, we made it clear to people buying the AP in the beginning that it would need an update and you should only buy at that point if you understood that and were willing to do the update once it was out. We're sorry if you did not get this message. This is not the way we normally sell products, but we had enough customers saying "I'm just waiting to close up my wings for your servos" that we decided to ship them before the final software was ready. AP's sold today do not need an update because they shipped after the day the AP software was released.

The advantage of this whole system is that we CAN update the AP. Other manufacturers require you to send the unit in to get an update, while a customer that bought an EFIS from us 4 years ago can update to the AP without ever sending it to us. Most customers find this to be a far superior solution than other AP systems.

As a final note, it's fine to power down the unit in your case when on the yellow screen. It's only after the update has started (indicated by a status bar on the PC) that a power down can cause issues.

 

[shersha]

Believe it or not, I didn't check to see if the pins were in the right place and secure. I didn't think I needed to because when I did the EFIS update prior to sending it back to you it worked and updated the EFIS to 5.0. The EFIS found the servos and AP74 and configured them, so I assume they were wired correctly too. The update program just wouldn't update the servos and AP74. I think the pins are in the right place, but maybe they aren't secure... I'll head out to the airport today and start tracing wires. It's made a little easier on my RV-8 because it's a fastback and I can take the upper panel off and get open access behind the panel. I'll let you know what I find out. I'll have to wait to try another update until I can get ahold of a PC. I'm also going to look for after Christmas sales on those small laptops. Is there anything wrong with buying a serial cable from Radio Shack? It comes with an installation disc and it's a lot longer and would be easier to use in my case.

 

[dynonsupport]

Scott,
You can try the Radio Shack cable if you want. We have customers using it and it works fine. Just be aware that our cable also comes with a driver disk- but it's only for XP because the manufacturer of the chip inside the cable released drivers for Vista in a different way (via Microsoft update). So there's a chance that if the RS cable uses the same chip manufacturer it won't have a Vista disc either.

If the only reason you need the laptop is for this update, see if you can find a 4 year old laptop on Craigslist or eBay. They'll have native serial ports and will be running XP, and you can probably get one for $50. We don't need a fancy PC.

 

[shersha]

Not having a lot of patience when something isn't going well, I decided I needed another laptop, justifying it because I travel and my Mac is so heavy.... I bought one of those netbooks with windows XP, a 6 foot cable from Radio Shack, loaded everything on the computer and headed for the airport. I checked my wiring to make sure and it was all OK. I fired everything up and despite my lack of confidence, everything worked. 5.0 is loaded on everything, ground calibration/setup is complete and I'm ready to flight test it tomorrow. The only thing I can figure is the cable, the stubby one I got from Jon, is faulty. It's a good thing I didn't have to go looking for a comm port to program, because I couldn't find it. The ports weren't where the windows help menu said they would be, so fortunately it just found the right one on it's own. It only took me 3 weeks to set this up - flight test will take about an hour...

Scott

 

[almarton]

Hi, if I buy an AP74 today what is the current version of software/firmware shipped? Is that provide GPS horizontal steering if I link AP74 with a Garmin 296?

 

[dynonsupport]

You will never get GPS steering with a 296. It doesn't send out GPS steering commands.

You will be able to follow a course line with the 296, which is probably what you want, but it won't cut corners or anticipate turns.

The firmware on the latest AP's is 5.0. We have had GPS support since the day the AP started shipping.

You can always update the firmware in the AP yourself. If your EFIS isn't updated, you'll need to update it to 5.0 anyway, since it's the actual AP, not the AP74.