Compass way off

[174SR]

My D10A's compass has always been off by 40 degrees or more and is completely erratic in flight sometimes frozen sometimes spins.  Purchased a remote EDC and installed.  Updated to latest firmware, inclination set, N,E,S,W calibration done and now is 90 to 120 degrees off.  EDC is mounted with tabs down, and plug forward - D10A and EDC are identical angles etc.  When I run a headset by the EDC the heading does change.  Makes no difference where the EDC is located the heading is always way off??? When on ground heading West it indicated North.  Went flying anyway -  going North it indicated North - turning to the East it just stayed at North, continued to South and all the sudden it spun all the way around to South.  D10A has already been returned (twice) for pitch and roll issues which seem to be okay now.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Scott

 

[dynonsupport]

Scott, where did you mount your compass and in what kind of aircraft?

 

[174SR]

The remote is mounted above the window - yes not very far away from D10A -but right next to a $3 auto store compass that is dead on.  Aircraft is a Murhpy Moose.  A buddy with the exact same airplane, panel and engine setup has been dead on out of the box with no EDC.  I thought maybe my inclination was incorrect (+66, salt lake city, UT) so I tried -66, no.  I also tried a reload of the firmware this morning and a recalibrate - nothing.  I do not get any error messages.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[174SR]

Duh.... I will go mount it correctly and see what happens. Quick read of instructions mention mounting oreintation same as D10A - so I put the long axis the same as the long axis of the D10A...of course very next sentence tells you to put long axis parallel to wings.  Sorry to waste electrons.
Scott :-[

 

[RV2HW]

I'm having the same problem.
The remote is located behind the back seat. It is mounted within 1 degree pitch of the D10A. The tabs are down. The plug is forward. I've calibrated it, on the ground. The wire bundle is not located next to any power wires, that I know of.
When flying West, it indicates correctly; but heading East (whiskey compass) it indicates around 210. North is off by around 30 degrees, as is South.
What to do?

 

[Etienne]

The remote is mounted above the window - yes not very far away from D10A -but right next to a $3 auto store compass that is dead on.

That also may be the problem... Mounting a large, turning magnet right next to the EDC is going to mess up Earth's very weak magnetic field in the vicinity of the EDC something chronic.

 

[dynonsupport]

Just to check:

"The plug is forward"

Do you mean that the pins on the plug are facing forward or that the long axis of the box is perpendicular with the wing and the plug is on the forward end?

The pins need to be facing forward.

If they are, we really suggest using a compass on top of the EDC and seeing if it's accurate in order to find anything that is messing with the local magnetic field.

 

[RV2HW]

Just to check:

"The plug is forward"

Do you mean that the pins on the plug are facing forward or that the long axis of the box is perpendicular with the wing and the plug is on the forward end?

The pins need to be facing forward.

If they are, we really suggest using a compass on top of the EDC and seeing if it's accurate in order to find anything that is messing with the local magnetic field.

The long axis of the box (EDC) is parallel with the wings, and the pins are facing forward (the plug is in front).
I eagerly wait for the solution.
Thanks.

 

[khorton]

I'm having the same problem.
The remote is located behind the back seat. It is mounted within 1 degree pitch of the D10A. The tabs are down. The plug is forward. I've calibrated it, on the ground. The wire bundle is not located next to any power wires, that I know of.

What type of aircraft?  If it is an RV, with a sliding canopy, was the canopy closed when the ground calibration was done, so the steel frame was in the same place it would be in flight?  I'm not sure if tip-up canopy RVs have any steel in the canopy frame or not.

 

[RV2HW]

What type of aircraft?  If it is an RV, with a sliding canopy, was the canopy closed when the ground calibration was done, so the steel frame was in the same place it would be in flight?  I'm not sure if tip-up canopy RVs have any steel in the canopy frame or not.

Thanks for the heads-up on the canopy. Recalibrated with it closed and it's now working.