D10 EFIS (original) intermittent issues

rv7charlie

New Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
7
Hi, 1st post, related to a new-to-me D10 EFIS.

I've owned the plane about 3 months. The D10 has the remote compass and OAT probe. Since purchasing the plane, sometimes when I try to configure 'info' to show OAT & true airspeed, nothing shows up. After multiple attempts (often during a flight), it will show up. Occasionally, it'll disappear during a flight, as well.

A new symptom just showed up today, doing T&Gs during my 3rd flight of the day. The display went to monochrome and a message popped up saying that attitude was unavailable (or unreliable; I've forgotten which). As I continued to do T&Gs, the D10 repeatedly would go blank and then reboot itself. I thought at first the reboots were related to flap up/down action, but then I noticed it happening even in level flight with no electrical 'actions' taking place.

Once on the ground, I couldn't duplicate the rebooting problem (of course...).

Any thought on whether the two symptoms could be related? Could an intermittent connection between the remote compass & the EFIS cause the EFIS to reboot?

Thanks for any help,

Charlie
 

Dynon

Dynon Staff
Staff member
Joined
Jan 14, 2013
Messages
14,217
Location
Woodinville, WA
So first thing - Is this an EFIS-D10 or EFIS-D10A? If you don't know, a picture of the unit while powered on would help here. Or go to SETUP > VRSION and report back what you see here.

I don't think we've ever seen the OAT/TAS widget just stop displaying. Do you mean that the widget is still there but is "dashed" (ie, "---" appears for in the field). If that's the case, a remote compass intermittent connectivity issue could be the culprit, as the OAT connects through it.

The "attitude indeterminate" should only show up if the roll/pitch/yaw rate limit of 150 deg/second is exceeded. You wouldn't expect to see this due to the movements seen in normal landings. The fact that it's rebooting could be indicative of an intermittent power connection, or perhaps something more internal to the unit.

You might get in touch with our technical support team directly at 425-402-0433 or support at dynonavionics dot com for further help here.
 

rv7charlie

New Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
7
So first thing - Is this an EFIS-D10 or EFIS-D10A? If you don't know, a picture of the unit while powered on would help here. Or go to SETUP > VRSION and report back what you see here.

I don't think we've ever seen the OAT/TAS widget just stop displaying. Do you mean that the widget is still there but is "dashed" (ie, "---" appears for in the field). If that's the case, a remote compass intermittent connectivity issue could be the culprit, as the OAT connects through it.

The "attitude indeterminate" should only show up if the roll/pitch/yaw rate limit of 150 deg/second is exceeded. You wouldn't expect to see this due to the movements seen in normal landings. The fact that it's rebooting could be indicative of an intermittent power connection, or perhaps something more internal to the unit.

You might get in touch with our technical support team directly at 425-402-0433 or support at dynonavionics dot com for further help here.
Thank you very much for the reply! I posted here because in an earlier phone call to Dynon tech support for just general oprational info on the product, the person that answered basically told me to throw it away (that is almost a quote) since the factory no longer supported it.

It's a *non-A* D-10 (sorry; tried to say that with the [original] in the subject line).

The OAT/TAS display just goes away completely, as if nothing is selected for that 'info' display area. When its having the issue, the OAT/TAS won't display on either the left or right info area. It is often gone when I 1st start the plane, and won't display when I select it. After repeated attempts during a flight, it will sometimes appear. It sometimes remains for the duration of the flight, but will sometimes disappear again during the flight. My 1st thought, also, is that the compass module is losing its connection to the EFIS. Next step on that front is to find the compass module. :)

On the rebooting issue: This is new; just happened on the last flight I took, and happened at least 4 or 5 times while doing about a half hour of T&Gs. I could not duplicate the problem on the ground. The only other anomaly I noticed during the flight was the voltmeter in the EMS-D10 occasionally going into the yellow range, at around 14.7V. Never saw it go higher than 14.7. but obviously wasn't watching the voltage display constantly. Normal voltage in this plane is 14.4V.

The D-10 *does* have an internal backup battery.

So,
Could an intermittent connection to the compass module cause a reboot?
Could intermittent power connection (given the internal backup battery) cause a reboot?
Could intermittent voltage excursion into the high 14V range cause a reboot?
Or, am I likely faced with impending failure of the D-10?

Again, thanks for the help! (Happy to make the call if that would be easier.)

Charlie
 
Last edited:

Dynon

Dynon Staff
Staff member
Joined
Jan 14, 2013
Messages
14,217
Location
Woodinville, WA
So our support team might have been overgeneralizing there, and sorry for that. The more nuanced version is that the EFIS-D10 has been out of production since 2004, and most have since been upgraded to EFIS-D10As. There was a formal program in force for a long time, and though there isn't anymore, our support team still has latitude to help situations like yours with discounted EFIS-D10As with trade-in. What that means is that even our technical expertise on the original EFIS-D10 isn't as good as it used to be (early company folks move on, that first product had a lot more tribal knowledge built into it than the more mature products we've brought to market since.). We don't have the ability to repair them or have spare parts at this point. With our follow-up products, we've been a lot better about thinking about product lifecycle, long term support, etc than we were back in our first few years.

To answer your questions:

-Could an intermittent connection to the compass module cause a reboot?
I wouldn't think so, but that's deep into the level of electrical understanding of the original EFIS-D10 that might not exist anymore. There are failures within the compass (shorts) that could cause the unit reboot. One way to test this is to disconnect the compass electrically. Does this help? (this doesn't test whether there's a short in the harness that brings power/data to the compass. a fault there could cause issues too)
-Could intermittent power connection (given the internal backup battery) cause a reboot?
It shouldn't, unless the battery isn't able to power the unit. If it was very intermittent - meaning that power was being continuously removed/replaced - that it might be the culprit.
-Could intermittent voltage excursion into the high 14V range cause a reboot?
The EFIS-D10 is 10-30V, so I don't think that's it.
-Or, am I likely faced with the impending failure of the D-10?
Possibly? Honestly, hard to say.

Sorry that we're not able to be as helpful as we wish we could be here. Please do contact our support team and ask for the manager if you'd like some personalized help with this. And reference this thread - I've chatted with them about this.
 
Last edited:

rv7charlie

New Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
7
Many thanks for your thoughts. Sounds like the cabling related to the compass is worth a look. And I'll try to call the team with updates.

Charlie
 

rv7charlie

New Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
7
Update on symptoms:
I've disconnected the compass module at the compass.
The D10 is continuing to reboot, whether powered up on ship's power or on the internal battery, with ship's power left off.
As it boots up, it takes about 20-30 seconds after the other screen info, for the altitude tape to appear. As the altitude tape pops up and begins to scroll, the unit will reboot if on ship's power. This continues as long as power is applied. If booted on the backup battery, it shuts down when the altitude tape appears and does not reboot.

I'll call the tech support line this afternoon, and post fixes (if any) once I talk to the folks on the support line.

Thanks,

Charlie
 
Top