How hard is it to install this thing ?

[Tailwind51R]

I am bringing my W-8 Wittman Tailwind home tomorrow morning to begin a recover job on it and to make a number of upgrades.  I would like to add an EFIS but am concerned about installing it.

Can anyone comment on how hard a D-100 is to install? How well does it work ?  Is it worth the hassle ?  Would you do it again ?

Thanks

 

[khorton]

The hardest part will be redoing your whole instrument panel to make room for the D100.  Once you have a place in the panel, installing the EFIS is not hard at all.  You will need to purchase a tool to crimp pins or sockets for D-sub connectors, but they are not expensive.  You can get a good one from B&C Specialties, http://www.bandc.biz/parts.html (you want the RCT-3) or Steinair http://www.steinair.com/tools.htm (it's cheaper at Steinair, but the SAT-004 looks like the same tool).  And you'll need a tool to install and remove those pins and sockets.  Buy several of these, as they are flimsy and cheap, and you'll almost certainly destroy one or two before you master them.

 

[dynonsupport]

Actually, if you buy our wiring harness ($90) you shouldn't need to crimp anything unless you install the OAT probe. Since that's only three pins you can probably just use a pair of pliers.

Electrically, the EFIS will work just hooked to ground and power. There are other connections that you can choose to make, but they aren't required to make it work.

Connect power and ground to the wiring harness, run the remote compass wires out to a good location, hook up pitot and static, and you're good to go.

 

[Delta_Zulu]

A person with average mechanical abilities, with basic tools can accomplish this installation. Heck, if you've installed a car stereo you can do this.

We installed the D100 in the RV6 last Nov. And it did take some time to do, but not because it's hard, but because we spent lots of time figuring out where to put things and how/where to run wires and lines.

We didn't have to "re-do" the whole panel. The EFIS will take up the space of two 3 inch instruments. Because of the way our panel was laid out, we determined that the best place to locate the EFIS was right where the Altimeter and Airspeed instruments were. So what we did was to remove the T&B and VS instruments (cause the EFIS has these functions anyway) and we moved the Altimeter and Airspeed instruments into their place (the Altimeter and Airspeed are now used as standby/comparison instruments). That gave us two 3" holes that we opened up to the rectangular dimensions of the EFIS tray. Some time was spent making sure the EFIS was level with the airframe. Some shimming of the EFIS tray installation was requires. Of coarse we had to do some pitot and static line re-routing, but we would have for just installing the EFIS anyway.

The second thing we spent a lot of time on was locating the the remote compass. We located it the fuselage midway between the baggage compartment bulkhead and the horizontal stab. In our A/C this area has no magnetic influences and the installation of support brackets and the unit itself was done using non-magnetic hardware. I guess what took the longest was to come up with a method for the remote compass to be installed with some kind of adjustable attachment (for level adjustability), then ensuring the remote compass was indeed level with the fuselage (with the fuselage level in roll and pitch), and that it was also exactly 90 degress in orientation to the instrument panel. For that we used a very large builders square on the panel and shot a lazer line down the square to the remote compass.

We didn't install at this time the AOA/Pitot probe, but if we had it again would have taken some time as there is a pneumatic line for the AOA to would have to be run from the pitot location (on the L/H wing) to the panel/EFIS.

Although it can be as easy as just installing the EFIS alone in the panel and making a power and ground connection, with all the other stuff like OAT sensor, remote compass and AOA sensor, these things do take time to plan and to install.

 

[Frankh]

Not at all...Dead easy, hardest part is cutting a square hole in the panel if you want the large format (7" screen). The small format units slide directly into a 3 1/8th instrument panel hole with no modification...as long as you have the depth behind the panel..remember to allow for the connectors and wiring (add at least 2" for that).

As to crimping, I think I used solder type plugs from Radio shack, If I were doing a whole airplane again I would buy the crimper as it is much fsater than soldering all those little connections...hindsight has 20-20 vision. But solder connections work just fine.

Frank

 

[Tailwind51R]

Frank and all,

Thanks for the reply.

I really appreciate the detailed information, especially the clearance needed behind the panel. The Tailwind  fuel tank is located behind the insturment  panel so I have to always keep that in mind. I'm planning to purchase a D-100 in the spring after the fabric job is completed.

Have you flown the Dynon D 100 in cold weather ? I often see -10 below zero in the hangar in January and Feburary...any idea what effect that might have on the unit ?

Thanks,

Dan .....Tailwind51R

 

[Frankh]

Slightly Below freezing in tha hangar and it fired up just fine.

Frank