The autopilot install was easy. Great documentation. The hardest part was opening and closing all the access panels to do the wiring, and crawling on my belly to the back of the fuselage to access the pitch bellcrank (I though I was done with that after the build was complete).
Took the autopilot for a spin yesterday. Altitude hold works great. In light turbulence it is capable of holding +/- 10 feet most of the time. In smooth air, it is rock solid. Quite impressed.
The NAV(GPS) portion ... well, it tends to overshoot the track in light turbulence. Too much gain, and it twitches. In smooth air though, it tracks nicely (I lowered the gain to 8).
My settings (for now) on the RV-9A: roll = 8, pitch = 13
I have an Avmap EKP IV GPS. It may have issues of its own, as my friend has the same GPS and a Trio autopilot that has similar symptoms. I'll be trying other GPSs. Note that similar behavior is observed in the Heading mode (I have calibrated the compass, however will do so again shortly), so a different GPS may not offer an improvement.
I have the SV32 servos, and saw some occasional slipping when in light turbulence. The percent slip counter did not record anything (I am assuming because slips were about < 1%. I kept the torque at 100% during when in turbulent air. When lowering the torque, I may have seen more slips, however since the slip counter did not record anything, it is difficult to compare.
My controls are fairly tight, however with the servos locked, I get about a +/- 1 degree of 'slop' on all the control surfaces (roll/pitch). This control movement is mainly due to the servo arm motion.
I am extremely pleased with the pitch capabilities. For the roll function, I'll need to do some more testing. The adjustment levels provided by Dynon is basic (gain only), so adjustment capabilities are limited. I would expect that new versions of software will just make this setup better.
Going for a cross country today, so I'll have more time to 'play'.... err, test/get familiar with the autopilot functions.
Alfio
Took the autopilot for a spin yesterday. Altitude hold works great. In light turbulence it is capable of holding +/- 10 feet most of the time. In smooth air, it is rock solid. Quite impressed.
The NAV(GPS) portion ... well, it tends to overshoot the track in light turbulence. Too much gain, and it twitches. In smooth air though, it tracks nicely (I lowered the gain to 8).
My settings (for now) on the RV-9A: roll = 8, pitch = 13
I have an Avmap EKP IV GPS. It may have issues of its own, as my friend has the same GPS and a Trio autopilot that has similar symptoms. I'll be trying other GPSs. Note that similar behavior is observed in the Heading mode (I have calibrated the compass, however will do so again shortly), so a different GPS may not offer an improvement.
I have the SV32 servos, and saw some occasional slipping when in light turbulence. The percent slip counter did not record anything (I am assuming because slips were about < 1%. I kept the torque at 100% during when in turbulent air. When lowering the torque, I may have seen more slips, however since the slip counter did not record anything, it is difficult to compare.
My controls are fairly tight, however with the servos locked, I get about a +/- 1 degree of 'slop' on all the control surfaces (roll/pitch). This control movement is mainly due to the servo arm motion.
I am extremely pleased with the pitch capabilities. For the roll function, I'll need to do some more testing. The adjustment levels provided by Dynon is basic (gain only), so adjustment capabilities are limited. I would expect that new versions of software will just make this setup better.
Going for a cross country today, so I'll have more time to 'play'.... err, test/get familiar with the autopilot functions.
Alfio