Starter Contactor Indicator

[Dynon101]

Hi All,

I have wired up pin number 20 the orange and brown wire to be a starter engage indicator and I would like it to show a yellow. When the starter contactor is energized and I would like it to be a black Hollow. When the starter contactor is not energized however I cannot seem to get the screen indication to indicate correctly because my indicator on the screen will continuously show a white dot and the word ENGD regardless if the starter contactor is energized or not.

I have set up that PIN 20 to be a contactor / contactor /STARTR.

The maximum graphical display is set to 5.0 volts and minimum graphical display to 0.0 volt.

Range 1: enable yes, name ENGD, color white, top 5.0 volts, bottom to .5 volts.

Range 2: enable yes, name nothing, color black, top 2.5 volts, bottom 0.0 volt

I have checked the ships wiring and the I pole of the starter contactor is cold when the starter is not engaged and it becomes 12 volts when the starter push button is pressed in so I know that the starter contactor I pole is correct.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated and is always thank you very much!

 

[kurtfly]

Try setting your Ranges to:

Range 1: enable yes, name ENGD, color white, top 5.0 volts, bottom to 3.0 Volts.


Range 2: enable yes, name nothing, color black, top 3.0 volts, bottom 0.0 volt

The "Pull Up" in skyview is keeping in the high state.

You may need to add a diode in series with the contact wire, cathode (point end) connected to the contactor/relay terminal.

If this does not fix the problem I will need to know how your starter circuit is configured. Are you switching the power or providing a ground to the relay?

 

[Dynon101]

THANKS Kurt for the information... GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!

I am on a trip for a week but I will try it when I get home.

 

[Dynon101]

Kurt,

I got back from my trip and tried the EMS settings you recommended with no success. I also tried various other values however the EMS continued to show ENGD regardless of if the starter pushbutton is pushed or not.

If I remove the EMS sensor wire from the solenoid "I" pole I can confirm the following:

-There is 0 VDC power to the "I" pole when the starter push button is released

-There is 12 VDC power to the "I" pole only when the starter pushbutton is pressed in

-The ENGD will no longer annunciate when the EMS wire is removed however it will annunciate again when connected back up to the "I" terminal regardless of solenoid being energized or not.

-I can register 5 VDC on the EMS pin wire when the end is hanging in free air.

The starter solinoid is a Wells 490 F so there is nothing odd about it (see attached).

>You may need to add a diode in series with the contact wire, cathode (point end) connected to the contactor/relay terminal.

I have not tried this yet because I have a a couple of questions...

-What value of diode do you recommend?

-When you say "contact wire" are you referring to the wire that runs from the starter switch to the "S" pole (in other words I should disconnect the starter wire from the "S" pole and then splice in the diode in between the end of the starter wire and the "S" pole?

-Other contactors need a diode to protect the EFIS system from voltage spikes caused when the coil field collapses so should I also run a diode an my starter solenoid as well?

>If this does not fix the problem I will need to know how your starter circuit is configured. Are you switching the power or providing a ground to the relay?

The starter circuit starts at a CB and then runs to the pushbutton switch and then to the "S" pole of the solenoid.

THANKS AGAIN Kurt for your time and advice!!!

 

[kurtfly]

Connect your circuit as I have attached, with the diode and contact input connected to the "I" terminal.  Configure the contact levels as 0 to 3.0 V = Starter not engaged.  3.1 V to 5.0 = Starter Engaged.

The diode should be a 1N4004, 1N4005, or 1N4006.  Any will do, whichever you can get easily.

In this configuration, with starter and EMS connected, you should see ~0V at terminal "I" when start button not pushed. 

Also note - this requires the starter to be connected as it provides the "pull down" to the contact input. If the starter is not connected to the "To Starter" terminal the contact will float high and indicate starter engaged all the time.

 

[Dynon101]

>Also note - this requires the starter to be connected as it provides the "pull down" to the contact input. If the starter is not connected to the "To Starter" terminal the contact will float high and indicate starter engaged all the time.

Hmmm...I guess I did not mention that. Since the airplane is in the garage, for safety reasons I currently do not have the 4 AWG cable connected to the starter.

Perhaps I should connect the starter motor cable and see if the EMS signal shows correctly. Regardless I will need a diode to protect the EFIS because of the voltage spike.

THANKS AGAIN!!!

 

[Dynon101]

Hi All,

I know everyone has been rooting for me so I figured I would post back on my progress.

I tried wiring up the sensor pin using the diode as Kurt suggested however I did not have any luck so I had to use my lifeline and called Dynon tech support and as usual they were extremely helpful. After trying different EMS settings and diode polorisation and such it appears that the only way I could get my starter contactor annunciation to work is to connect the sensor pin to the same 5/16 starter contactor output terminal that the starter motor cable is connected to... in other words the "I" terminal will not work. It seems that the sensor pin needs to see some kind of a ground for it to get "pulled down" to low and since the "I" terminal does not have any path the ground there's no way I could get it to work.

I'm happy that at least now my starter engaged annunciator will illuminate however after I got off the phone I am now wondering if I need some kind of protection between the starter pole and the EMS sensor wire.

Anyhoo, thanks for all your help, well wishes, moments of silence, finger crossing, and other positive energy thought waves!!!

Baby steps to Dynon Bliss!!!