Garmin 496 not seen

[jamespearce]

Today I find another problem if you can help? I tried to get my Garmin 496 to communicate through the HS34 without success. I tried, in turn, ALL the available interfaces through the GPS, NMEA in, NMEA out, Aviation in, NMEA out, in all about 10 possibilities but non allowed the Dynon to see the 496. I checked the serial interface settings in the Dynon menu and it all looks good. Cycling through the Nav Src button, the purple GPS light annunciates but the screen dialogue says it is waiting for a GPS fix. I assume I am waiting for the Dynon to adopt all the data and display it on the efis? One more issue, the altimeter takes maybe 15 minutes to adjust to an accurate elevation with the QFE set ( should be 0 ft ). It will start off up to 100 feet in error but improves to within + or - 20ft after 15 minutes. I'm grateful for any help you may be able to give me, thanks, James.

 

[Dynon]

That message (when the HS34 is connected) means that we're not actually getting a serial data stream from the 496. What do you have the 496's data output settings set to?

 

[jamespearce]

I tried all the available options in the Garmin menu. I particularly persevered with nmea in/nmea out, aviation in/nmea & aviation out, Garmin data transfer, tis in/nmea & vhf out but had a shot with all the other options. Could be th serial cable? Unlikely but I'll check it. It's charging the GPS ok so at least the power link is good through the serial lead. Thanks, we'll get there, James.

 

[jamespearce]

Did I say unlikely to be the serial cable? Guess what? The power wires from the serial cable were in place but the plug carrying the data was disconnected : Its a very untidy wiring job and the plug was in the middle of a birds nest. Thanks for your input, James.

 

[jamespearce]

Re: Error code 6. DSAB Network could not be configured

My Garmin 496 now works well with the 180 with the HS34 but the DSAB connection drops out regularly. In the setup menu I get ERROR Code 6, DSAB Network could not be configured when I try to configure and a message to Contact DYNON. Any help would be appreciated, thanks, James.

 

[Dynon]

We don't expect you to ever see that error unless there's something actually wrong, but, this didn't happen before you had your 496 working, right? This is making me wonder if there's something up with the power or other connectivity here that's inducing a problem with the HS34. Does turning off the 496 change anything? You might test one step further and yank the power/data cord off the back of the 496. Does that change anything?

 

[jamespearce]

Hi, yes I tried both those things, recycling the 496 and then disconnecting the power / serial cable from it. I also recycled the Dynon. The purple light on the nav source button stays lit and pressing the button has no effect. To answer your first question, I did used to get the red DSAB not working strip appear intermittently with the ACK1, ACK2 responses required before I had the GPS connected. Thanks, James.

 

[Dynon]

Try disconnecting the HS34 entirely, then reconfigure DSAB. Does that work? If so, then try turning it on and again reconfiguring. Part of what we're trying to do here is isolate the device that isn't playing well.

 

[jamespearce]

I'll try that, thanks. Can I use the 496 to produce an HSI without the HS34? Does it just mean I will have to switch between NAV and GPS via the 180? What will I lose without the HS34? Thanks, James.

 

[Dynon]

You can. You need to route the 496's serial port to the EFIS (full wiring is in the manual). If you don't have a NAV radio, about the only thing you lose are the voice alerts that the HS34 can provide vs the tones that you can get from your EFIS or FlightDEK's own audio output.

 

[jamespearce]

I may have found the solution. From my Garmin data output menu I have advanced NMEA options and I changed the data transfer speed from FAST to NORMAL. I flew a route yesterday and the HSI and wind arrow features are all working fine with no dropouts, fingers crossed, thanks for your help, James.