D-180 Intermittent

[JohnWF]

Flew RV-12 first time today. After short flight got warning of no oil pressure, so made immediate landing.

On ground unit shows oil temp 15-degrees, CHT 10 and 12-degrees, EGT 269/253, fuel pressure 86.1 psi. Power up and down keeps changing things from "normal" to above readings. Pulled plugs and reseated them. Checked ground, battery, etc. Nothing found, nothing helped. Seems like as 'massive' intermittent inside the D-180. Even the 'required' rap on the case didn't shake anything up. Tried to talk to trech support but got "leave a message" response only.

 

[Brantel]

John,

Do you think the crash of the first flight busted something inside the D180?

Most of the time it is a ground issue that causes everything to go wacko but since yours took a dive on the first flight maybe something got broken inside.

Does anything rattle around inside when you take the D180 out and twist it around?

Congrats on getting your bird repaired and into the air!!

 

[JohnWF]

I talked to Dynon and they said they just had another D-180 come in with the same indications. Checked OK on the bench. Dynon tech said it might be loss of "reference voltage" on Van's circuit board, but he can't be certain, and recommended that I have Van try to solve the problem, but Dynon is willing to bench check the unit. I sent it to them this afternoon.

 

[JohnWF]

I received the D180 back from Dynon and its worse now than when I sent it in. they upgraded the software to version 5.4 which has added problems relating to that action, and that masks the original problems I had, so I now have a real mess. The upgrade wiped out all my settings and because of the D180's weird behavior I can't tell if the oddities are due to the upgrade or the original problem. Also I cannot put back in the settings I had because the thing just isn't working.
God ! I wish I had simple, reliable, solid steam gauges. This D180 has been and still is a tangle of confusion.

 

[JohnWF]

More investigation re the D-180 problem: Now I cannot get a "value" reading for the trim tab, even though the voltage is properly returned from the trim system, and cannot get the icon for the trim tab placement. Also while only the D-180 is 'on" the fuel pressure says I have 86.1psi (impossible) and the MAP is 52.9-indhes (also impossible.)
The autopilot set up stops midway and tells me it was unsuccessfuyl. Cannot get the OAT or the magnetometr either.
Ap-74 lights up for one second when turned on and then the lights go out.

Idea?

 

[JohnWF]

Now another glitch! Dynon wirped out my settings without restoring them when they checked my D180. Now I can't set up my servos without setting IASCLR settings, which are set by Vans; and I can't use the Dynon support program to reload Vans stuff because the PC and the D180 won't "talk" to each other. What a never-ending mess!!!

 

[JohnWF]

I finally got the laltelst (5.4) version re-loaded into my D180 after several re-loads and Van's locked file. That restored most of mm "missing" items...still have problems, but many were resolved by undoing what looked like a corrupted download.

 

[JohnWF]

Problem solved ! Bad oil pressure sender. This is the second one I am aware of....the defective sender seems to cause the D180 to make the MAP, the fuel pressure, and the trim icon all go haywire. Upon removing the input to the D180 from the bad oil pressure sender the indications return to normal, and the trim icon can be set and is completely normal. :

 

[JohnWF]

As a follow up I removed and discarded the defective Honeywell oil pressure sender and installed a VDO sensor on the firewall. That is working flawlessly.

 

[dynonsupport]

Just an FYI - Rotax isn't getting any of these failed sensors back as warranty claims (or problem reports), so they're essentially unaware that there's a problem here. We're seeing reports on our forums, but since the sensor comes on the engine, there's not much we can do here except to pass along information. Basically, if you have a Honeywell sensor that's failed, make sure Rotax gets it. In fact, if you can't get a hold of the right folks there, send it to us, and we'll make sure it gets to them.