EDC not found (sporatic)

[jim]

On Thursday I finished the wiring on my new EFIS D100 with OAT. I am having a problem with the EFIS sporatically seeing the mag compass. If you leave everything alone and power up the EFIS, it generally won't recognize the mag compass, but sometimes it does. But if you put metal or a magnet near the EDC, it will recognize the remote compass and synch. If you stop moving the metal/magnet, it will then lose comms with the EDC.

The EFIS never sees the OAT.

The PC & GPS connections are fine.

When trying to read the EFIS firmware version with my PC, it aborts when it says the EDC is not found. Waving a magnetic "wand" over the EDC does nothing to help the PC software recognize that an EDC is attached.

EFIS D100 is v1.08.

Could this be something other than a wiring problem?

 

[dynonsupport]

As discussed on the phone earlier, this sounds like it could be new EFIS firmware mismatched with older EDC firmware. Try reapplying the latest firmware update with the EDC connected. Also, start the firmware upgrade process within 2 minutes of the EFIS being turned on.

 

[jim]

I tried unsuccesfully several times to reload my EFIS-D100 with v1.08 software. Then after disconnecting the EDC-10A from its mount (in preparation to ship it to Dynon) I tried one more time. That time I was able to successfully reload the firmware. I can’t remember if I did a check version or if it just displayed them, but it showed EFIS-D100 version 1.08.00 and serial#; and EDC-D10A v1.05.00 and s/n. Are these the correct version numbers?

After the upgrade I moved the EDC around and it continued to sometimes see the remote compass and sometimes not. It still never sees the OAT. I tried to check the version numbers again (about 6 times) and they all said remote compass not detected.

 

[dynonsupport]

Since we have an email thread going as well, we'll continue to troubleshoot this issue that way.

 

[lucaberta]

Quick question on what looks to be part of the yet-another-ECD-which-was-not-updated syndrome which, I presume, sucks most of your Technical Assistance time... :-?

Me wonders, would it be possible to include the EDC microcode within the EFIS firmware, and let the EFIS manage the EDC update process at bootstrap, avoiding the recurrent issue of people not upgrading their EFIS+EDC correctly...

If not, what prevents this? Is it code size?

Just curiosity... it strikes me to think how much of your time is wasted by fixing customer issues like these... don't get me wrong though, your approach provides the best possible customer experience, every single message on the forum with a problem ends up with an even happier customer, but I wonder if your valuable time might make newer releases appear faster, for instance...

Ciao, Luca

 

[dynonsupport]

Without getting too into the nitty gritty, be assured that if we could easily do this, we would.

 

[funflying]

I have not fired up my D100 yet, but sent it in for the screen upgrade and requested the firmware be upgraded at the same time. I was reading the installation manual and there was a reference to both the unit and EDC having the same or both updated firmware information. I wonder if the firmware in my EDC will be off from the version in the D100, and if this will cause problems from the very beginning?

I guess when I start things up I will anticipate this possible issue and deal with unit upgrades if needed at that time.

What do you think?

Pat

 

[dynonsupport]

Yes, it is possible that not having the EFIS and EDC on the same firmware could cause you some problems. You may need to do an update on the unit once it's all wired together. If the unit is having EDC communication problems, try a firmware update and see if that fixes it.

 

[jim]

The problem was in my wiring. On my DB25 at the EFIS-D100 I had EDC-D10A Data A on pin 21 instead of 23 (so it wasn't connected at all).

With the new EDC-D10A you sent (which was shipped with an older version of software, 1.04.00 instead of the required 1.05.00 for EFIS-D100 v1.08.00.), I never got a synch so I checked and corrected the wiring. After powering up the EFIS w/remote compass connected (sw v1.04.00), it then started behaving just like the original EDC (with SW version 1.05.00); i.e., occasionally synching for a brief period (5 sec), but mostly not (1 min). However I was able to check version and upgrade to 1.08.00/1.05.00, after which the compass was recognized right away and the signal remained stable. I then found that my EFIS was set for a type 1 rather than type 2 probe.

What is surprising is that as originally reported, I would sometimes get a good compass synch to my EFIS-D100 without ECD-D10A Data A connected at all. Perhaps I might have also gotten an occasional OAT if I had the correct probe type set. I don't know how this could have worked at all without DB25 pin 21 connected (through Data B or ground?).

Everything is working fine now. Sorry for the trouble. Maybe you can put this one into your databanks for future reference.

 

[dynonsupport]

The link to the EDC is RS-485, which is a differential signal, so it kind of makes sense that it would work sometimes and then die other times with only one of the two wires hooked up. Glad you got it figured out!