Rutan Defiant

[thebora]

Customer has the only Defiant in the United Kingdom and has requested that we supply and install a EFIS-D100 and Qty 2 Ea EMS-D10 instruments.
Has any one out there installed Dynon instrumentation in to a Defiant?
The EFIS-D100 and the front engine EMS should present no great installation problems, however the rear engine will require introduction of a longer engine monitoring harness.
Longer wires mean more resistance. Will this have a detrimental effect on the signal input to the EMS?

Bob.

 

[dynonsupport]

The longer length of the wiring harness is fine. Don't know if we have any systems in a defiant, but we do have plenty in single engine pushers, and extending the harness works. Just make sure you use thermocouple wires to extend the thermocouple connections.

You can also order custom length harnesses from StienAir instead of extending it yourself.

 

[thebora]

Thank you Dynon. We will be getting the aircaft for pre-installation survey next week and will have a better idea of harness leghts required for the rear engine.

Bob.

 

[16FW]

Any update on this instalation? I would like to know how well the Dynon preforms in a Defiant.

 

[PhantomPholly]

Don't know much about the Defiant except that it has two engines (front and rear or pushme-pullu), they are fiberglass, and there is one parked near my hanger at LZU.

I recently discovered, however, that even a very small amount of resistance in the ground path from the engine to the avionics bus can result in a tremendous error in the oil temperature reading. This error will only occur when the alternator is running (single engine - don't know what will happen in this dual engine setup).

Because of this, you will either have to work real hard to insure virtually zero resistance in the ground path, or instead use the oil temp probes used by such units as GRT ($20 each) which use two wires.

 

[16FW]

FWIW, I just finished installing and testing a EFIS-D10A in my Rutan Defiant airplane. As far as I can tell, it is the only one with a Dynon.

The bottom line is, it works well. There was some concern due to the strange vibrations caused by having two engines on the same fuselage. Other Defiant owners had put another brand EFIS in their planes, and never could get them to work properly. That company no longer has a website, so I assume the problem was with the company itself, not the Defiant aircraft  

 

[dynonsupport]

Thanks for the report!