REMOTE COMPASS DETECTION

[clcarter]

D-180 installed in RV-7 (not flying yet). Powered up the unit, works great other than Remote Compass not detected. My first instinct was to check the cable wiring with an ohm meter to verify pin assignments between the DB-9 and the DB-25 on the EFIS. This I have done 5 or 6 times. Conductivity is good, pin assignments are good. I'm concerned at this point there may be a hardware failure (possibly in the compass). I attached an aligator test lead from the whit/black ground wire on the DB-9 end during testing... still no bueno. The software updates will not apply when attempted because the software update tool reports EDC ERROR, which is the compass problem. Unless there is something I'm missing I may have a genuine hardware failure.

Please advise...

Chris Carter, Frankln, TN

 

[dynonsupport]

Everything you said there checks out. A couple other things to test and check:

Make sure your remote compass is the EDC-D10A and not the older EDC-D10 (this is not likely to be the problem).

Make sure there's 16.8V coming out of the appropriate pins on the EFIS-D10A. This will at least let us know if power is getting to the remote compass.

If these check out, give us a call at 425-402-0433 for further help

 

[pfranke]

Sorry to jump onto your thread Chris, but I have a very similar problem. I've just wired my EDC for the D100, and the wiring all test out fine, but when turned on, the unit will display a heading for 0.5 second perhaps, and then revert back to Remote Compass Not Detected. 5 or 10 seconds later, it will momentarily show heading data again, with this cycle just randomly repeating itself.

I'm at a loss as to why it's not working.

Peter

 

[clcarter]

Peter,

If you are getting even a momentary reading on the compass (even an inaccurate one) then the cabling is correct. Most likely you have an intermittent cable connection problem. Sometimes the small D-sub pins wiggle around in the connectors and intermittenty make contact with the mating connector opposite them. Also, one of the D-Subs may have been inadequately crimped causing the intermittent conductivity. Unplug the EDC-10A cable at both ends and check continuity with an ohm meter or continuity checker on each of the four pins. Wiggle the pins while looking at the continuity and see if you can see the line open and short when you wiggle them. That will confirm if it is a cable problem or not.

 

[dynonsupport]

Peter - your problem is usually caused by the EDC having different (earlier) firmware than your EFIS is expecting to see.

The solution is to re-upload the latest firmware on our website to your EFIS WITH the EDC connected.

 

[pfranke]

Well I finally got a chance tonight to check the firmware versions, and once I updated them to the latest version, all is well.

Thanks again,

Peter