Pitot Heat

[RV9APlane]

Hi all,
This question is really 5 years overdue. Since my plane became airborne 5 years ago this month, my Pitot Heat has never worked correctly. I have a Dynon Pitot tube. It never really bothered me as I'm a VFR only pilot and tend to avoid circumstances that would lead to the pitot tube icing up. What happens is when I turn my pitot heat on, it pops the circuit breaker in about a minute. I have a VP-X Pro and can monitor the current draw while operating it and have it on the recommended 10amp breaker. After turning it on it draws up to no more than 8.7amps, then I see the amperage drop and the circuit opens. I can reset it and do the same thing over and over. I have the circuit on dedicated 16ga wire from the VP-X to the pitot circuit board, and a dedicated 16ga ground wire all the way back to my grounding block on the aft side of the firewall. It might even be 14ga wire but forgot to look it up before posting. Any thoughts?

 

[Marc_J._Zeitlin]

Sounds like the problem is in the VP-X, not in the pitot heat. If it draws 8.7A but the VP-X pops even though it's on a 10A circuit, how can that be anything other than the VP-X's issue?

 

[airguy]

The VP-X will pop on a high instantaneous current, even if the average current it lower. If the pitot heat controller is turning the heat full on (it cycles on and off) then for the first tenth of a second or so the current draw will be much higher while the filament heats up, then will drop down. It's quite possible this momentary surge is what is tripping the VP-X.

 

[RV9APlane]

Ok, thanks for the replies. After re-looking at my documentation from Vertical Power, I can set the circuit breaker amps up to as high as 15A. I think I’ll set it up there and see what happens, hopefully it’s the instantaneous issue and that will resolve it.

 

[DBRV10]

You should have it set to a 15A circuit. Absolutely. Also make sure your VPX does not have the low current function ticked. I cant recall its exact name off the top of my head but it detects low current such as a faulty lamp or something. Make sure it is unticked. Also, check the crimp connectors. I have seen faults there even when it looks OK at first glance.

 

[jakej]

It’s in the manuals, do not use ‘current fault’ with the Dynon Pitot System .

 

[RV9APlane]

Ok, will check those too. Thanks guys.

 

[RV9APlane]

Well that couldn't have been easier, I had the "current fault" set to on. I turned it off and took a test flight and the pitot heat works just fine. Wish I'd noticed that before. Thanks everyone.

 

[Akash408]

Hi friend.my pitot heater is working but pitot heater status on EMS is not working .can you tell me about the problem

 

[jakej]

Akash - IF the ‘fault sense’ wire is connected then the setup is in the install manual - if you don’t understand the manual then I’d be happy to give more info.

 

[Akash408]

Akash - IF the ‘fault sense’ wire is connected then the setup is in the install manual - if you don’t understand the manual then I’d be happy to give more info.

I did not understand.one week before it is working but now its become u/s