Skyview screen garbled and unreadable on startup

[Juvat]

My Skyview 7" screen starts up with a black screen, no text, and multi-colored thin vertical lines all across the screen that do not go away until I recycle power. After restarting, the screen is usable again.

This has happened the last two times I've gone out to fly. Luckily the screen always comes back with a power recycle, but I'm getting worried about an in-flight failure now.

Any ideas on cause and how to stop this from happening?

 

[preid]

How old are your displays? Maybe you have one of the SB ones that Dynon would repair. http://www.dynonavionics.com/docs/support_bulletin_030413.html

 

[chinaone]

Had the same issue and the problem seemed to be associated with the charge state of the backup battery. Dynon replaced the bad backup battery and the problem has gone away except when the backup battery charge is low. Suggest you give the backup battery a full charge and try again.

 

[Edwardoc]

I also had some strange behavior from the screen when the BU Battery went bad. I finally had to unhook the Backup and it has worked fine. Haven't gotten around to sending the battery back yet but have a return authorization already. ;D

 

[trevpond]

Interesting this item after all the past problems with the Standby Battery.

When it was revealed that there was a problem some 2/3 years ago, I disconnected mine and have not had any of the problems for a couple of years now other than the replacement board when my unit was shown up with the mac address. Yet again, Dynon came to the rescue, replaced the board and I'm sure a couple of more bits and the unit has been brilliant ever since.

Seems to me that the battery has always been the weak link in the system.

regards

Trev ;D

 

[flyingboy]

I agree guys I had this issue with both screens and it was the battery backups causing the issue, seems now they are charged everything works fine

 

[Juvat]

My displays are 18 months old, and they did not require a replacement due to the recent Service Bulletin. I did backup battery tests on my displays about 3 months ago, and everything was fine. I fly about twice a week, so I don't think the backup batteries would have time to discharge.

I fly IFR in actual instrument conditions in this airplane. Display malfunctions like this make me feel uncomfortable with the system, obviously. Waiting for a response from Dynon please.

 

[Juvat]

Dynon support, please respond to this thread. My screen is still doing this every time I start up, and the backup battery checks good.

 

[preid]

Karl;
Did you unplug the battery from the display and try booting up?
The battery charge may be fine, its the connection that is the issue, although the SB was supposed to fix this there still can be an issue with the battery.

 

[dynonsupport]

Karl,
If your screen is literally doing this every power up, then something is wrong, and we should look at it. We've had some issues in the past with batteries casing some boot issues, and firmware has helped, but I have never heard of a unit doing it every time. At the same time, once a unit boots, it should be reliable. The weird booting probably doesn't affect the reliability once it's up and running.

Before we do a repair though, a few questions:

1) What firmware are you running?
2) Have you tried unplugging the battery to see if the behavior changes?
3) Does a simple power cycle always get the unit running again, or does it take more?
4) Does the unit really just boot to a bunch of lines and not flash or do anything else? Does it take a long time to bring up the lines when you flip the master on?

 

[aerofurb]

Dynon support, please respond to this thread.

May I suggest if you need a quick answer to a direct problem you email Dynon Support rather than waiting for help through the forum.

Whilst all questions, comments and problems are potentially useful to all SV users, it may not be the quickest method to get assistance.

 

[Juvat]

aerofurb: My reasons for posting--and waiting for responses--is to benefit all Skyview users. Public questions and answers are useful to us all. Your point regarding expediency and the use of direct email is of course valid, but I'm trying to achieve the "greater good". Thanks.

 

[Juvat]

Dynon Support:

I'm away from the airplane on a trip at the moment, but here are answers to some of your questions:

1) Firmware: don't know until I get back to the hangar. Screens were purchased from Stein around May 2012 if that helps.
2) I have not tried unplugging the battery.
3) Yes, one power cycle always gets the screen to operate correctly. I have never needed more than one power cycle.
4) Yes, the unit boots directly to the vertical multicolored lines. No flashing or other activity. It doesn't seem like a long time at all, but I can check it with a stopwatch when I get back to the plane. About another week until I'm back.

Apologies for the incomplete answers, but I didn't want to leave this thread "hanging". Does any of this help?