Contact inputs on D180 and HS34

[rhole]

My install includes D180, HS34, etc.  D180 has two contact inputs (install manual p.3-16) and HS34 (p.8-11) has four on pins 18-21.  Do I end up with six independent contact inputs (I hope!) to eliminate all my annunciator lamps  

 

[rhole]

This question was answered to me at Light Sport Expo in person by Mikle Schofield. Thanks Mike. The anwer is there is a total of six contact inputs, two on the D180, four on the HS34.

 

[rhole]

Follow up question: May I use a contact input to indicate on-off for a voltage circuit? For example, connecting the contact input to the power lead on the heated pitot tube to get a green/red indication on the screen. It would need to handle 12 V bus voltage (0-15V or so).

 

[dynonsupport]

It can handle the 15V, but contacts work a bit differently:

They need to be driven low. They have pull-ups inside, so they go to 5V when nothing is connected. So if you just hook them to a switched power line, you may not get a "closed" state. If the thing on the switched line has enough draw, then you might.

If you are using our heated pitot, then there's a better way- it has a status line that warns you of any failures. This can hook right to the EMS contact line. The advantage of this output is it actually tells you if you are getting heat, not just if it's switched on.