Warning on update procedure

[cmarbach]

My update went badly (only I didn't know it).

First, my two 10" Skyviews, share two ADHRS and the autopilot servos. When I power on the battery to start the engine, only the pilot skyview is powered. I have a separate avionics buss switch and #2 EFIS switch. When I did the update, I left both the avionics buss and the #2 EFIS OFF.

The update of #1 apparently went well and I went flying, believing that if something were wrong with 3.0, I still had the #2 EFIS on 2.6. Wrong. When I switched on the Autopilot power (not engaged it), the Pilot's EFIS went blank with a Red X for both the PFD and the EMS. Wow, no EFIS. I switched the Autopilot power off and rebooted and the Pilot's EFIS worked. Wondering if that EFIS was unstable, I turned on EFIS #2 and.....Pilot's EFIS went to Red Xs again as did #2. Scary.

What happened is that when you do the update, it updates the ADHRS, EMS and the Autopilot servos. Because I had he autopilot power switch OFF it could not update the servos, so when I switched them on, Failure of main EFIS. Note: to Dynon, please be more forgiving, we do not like inflight failures. EFIS #2 did not work because he ADHRS and EMS had been upgraded to V3.0. Why it caused the pilot's EIFS to fail is a mystery. Do not try to have split versions if you have multiple Skyviews.

Again, Power everything up then do the update. Second, do not Mix versions.

Dynon, a little more fault tolerance is needed, after all I still had the Pilot's EFIS and the ADHRS on V3.0. When it saw bad servo software- why fail?

 

[meljordan]

Your message is a very valuable one, as it points out an important lesson to all.   We need to understand just how complex electronics systems have become and learn to treat them as the nervous system of our aircraft.   In the certified world, only a licensed and hopefully trained service tech would be allowed to touch these components.  In our experimental world the owner is permitted to do this work, but that does not mean it is any less complicated or important.

I suspect that nobody would like to see Dynon have to lock down their products so only a trained and licensed service tech could update them.  Dynon has worked very hard to make the update process easy and robust.  However, there are certain steps that the owner must take in order for the update process to complete.  Your message serves as a warning to others to be very careful and through when servicing their electronics, just as they would be when servicing the engine or any airframe components.  If you are going to do work on your airplane, be sure you know what you are doing and to do that work as if your life depends on it.  

Before the first flight following a firmware update you must check out your system as any service tech would do.  As a Dynon Beta tester, I have done quite a number of firmware updates over the years, and here are the points I follow:

1.  Make sure you have an electrical supply adequate to power the entire system for the whole update process.   I normally plan that a complete firmware update on a two screen, two ADHARS, two servos, EMS and ARINC system will take 45 minutes to an hour, including system testing and verification.  

2.  Turn on the entire system, all screens and modules and leave them all on during the entire update.

3.  Start with the "Master" screen in a multiple screen sysem and load it first.  If you are not sure which screen is operating as the master, do a network configuration on the screen you want to be master.  

4.  Run the update and watch what the system is doing.  Follow through the process.  Verify that it updates the screen, confirms the BIOS is up to date, updates the RTIO and then watch as it updates each servo and module.  By watching the process, which Dynon shows clearly on the screen, you can verify each units has been updated successfully.

5.  After the master and all modules have been updated, update the second SkyView screen if you have one installed.   Once this is complete, you can update the third or fourth screen if you have them.  Updating the non-master screens will not update the servos or modules again as the system will see they are already on the same revision firmware.

6.   After all units have been updated reboot, verrify and test the complete system.   With the whole system powered up, cycle each screen through all the pages.  Make sure the PFD shows correctly on all screens, check the EMS pages to see all readings are as expected.
Bring up the MAP pages and get a GPS fix, verify it is correct.  Do a Network status and verify all units show active and on the same firmware revision.   Preform a autopilot servo test and confirm the AP servos move as expected.  

7.  Treat the first flight after a system update as a "Test Flight".  Don't launch on a night IFR flight first thing.  Take it around the pattern a few times to verify everything looks correct and is working as expected.


 It is up to you, functioning as the service technician, to insure your aircraft is airworthy.  It is the foundation of experimental aircraft certification.  So please be sure you approach the update process just as you would working on any complex system in your airplane.  

Best Regards,
Mel Jordan

 

[cmarbach]

Boy are you right!

I certainly learned something and will be much more cautious and regimented in my next update!

 

[jakej]

Well put Mel.

With this equipment there is NO difference in the methodology re installations ,software upgrades or testing. We know that some would rather ask a question on a forum than Read The Manual first. :

Jake J