jcovington

I have owned my M20J for 20 years, 22 years CFI/CFII, based at Huntsville Exec (KMDQ). Happy to help if I can. Jim

Too bad it isn't the same. I agree that there probably are some similarities as the dimmer is just having to change the voltage to the lights. Not too many different ways to accomplish that. Jim

Those are the pin numbers that match the connector on the box. From memory, the connector is a DB-25 shell with some larger pins. The A1 and A2 are high current (large) pins. The other pins are fairly small (about 20 gauge or so). If you look at the connector on the box the pin numbers are marked (at least on mine). Jim

@toomany. Attached is the schematic that I drew after the dimmer control panel failed on my 1996 M20J. I suspect it is the same control box as the M20M as the later Js share a lot of the same parts. The LM338K voltage regulators are what has failed on mine (twice). Pretty easy replacement if you have soldered on circuit boards before. The voltage regulators are mounted on the outside of the box but can't be removed until you open the box and desolder them. After that, remove the screws, put in the new and resolder. The cases on these voltage regulators are isolated from the case so don't lose the plastic washers. Jim Panel Light Board.pdf

Tom The intercom is yours. The only problem is that I am out or town this week and it is in my hangar at home. I can ship it to you when I get back on Sunday. PM me your address if that will work. Sorry about the shorted wire. You are right the intercom won't be worth repairing. Jim

@Yooper Rocketman I have one that I pulled out several years ago to put in a PSE intercom. It was working fine then. It won't be hard to talk me out of it. The unit you have in your hand is the control head. There is another box that is actually the intercom. The head unit comes apart if you want to try to repair it. There is a header behind the board that holds the switches. On mine the solder was poorly done and I had to resolder it a few years before I replaced it. Jim

To expand on Rick's comments a bit. There are over 90 tail numbers that are hand appliqued and in almost all cases they match the paint scheme of the owners airplane. There were a few cases where she could not find a photo of the plane so those had to be generic. There was one or two cases where planes had been painted and the scheme changed. Teresa did a nice job on the quilt. Everything on the quilt is designed around or about airplanes. The tail numbers are hand appliqued, the Mooney logo and Mooney Summit logo are accurate and used with permission, the backing fabric is custom created using the Mooney airplane outline. It is hard to see in the pictures but the Mooney airplane has the panel lines hand drawn on the wings and fuselage. The quilting is a wind pattern. It has a hanging sleeve so that the quilt can be hung and displayed as a wall hanging. Just some of the features that you can see when it is displayed during Mooney Summit. Please indulge me a moment while I brag on my wife. Teresa has been quilting a long time and has made well over a hundred quilts (I will never be cold as I have lots of quilts to keep me warm ). She has donated quite a few as raffle prizes and fund raisers at events. She has given quite a few to friends and family as mementos of time spent with them. She has won many awards for her work as well as having one of her quilts adjudicated to be hung in the Huntsville Museum of Art as part of a special showing. This quilt took her longer to complete than any others that she has done. It is a one of a kind piece and there won't ever be another one. I am proud that I had a small part in the drawing of the custom backing fabric. First time I have ever participated in any of her quilts. Jim

I had the same problem and spoke with @Mscheuer at an AOPA flyin. He provided a setup manual that explains how to adjust the limits on the PMA450B. It involves removing the unit, changing a jumper and reinstalling the unit. You then get a set of menus that let you adjust several settings including the automatic squelch. I lowered mine slightly and it works perfectly for us now. I am sure if you contact Mark he will explain or provide you the documentation on how to change it. I still have the document but since it isn't mine I'm not comfortable sharing it without permission from PS. Jim

Sorry, it has been a couple of months since I looked up the FS 510 version. It is in a different place: https://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=6895. The current Flight Stream version is 2.62. Did I mention that the software versions are not easy to find? That version has been working fairly well for me. Once it is connected the transfers usually work. I have seen the transfers hang even with the 2.62 version. I have reset all my network connections on my Android phone and waiting until the next DB cycle to see if that corrects the last problem. My FS 510 was installed in February so I don't have a lot of experience with it yet. Jim

The software versions are not easy to find. I use the link https://www.garmin.com/en-US/aviationalerts/category/service-document-notifications/. That gives you the bulletins for all the software updates for everything. To narrow it down to what I want I will use the browser search function to look for something like GTN. If you do that you will see that the last service bulletin for the GTN released main software version 6.71 and for the GTN Xi was 20.11. The Flight Stream 510 version is 2.51. The GTX 345 is 2.54. I keep all of the software versions for my avionics in a spreadsheet and I will check every few months to see what has changed. If the service bulletin has something I feel I need I will get the new software installed. Jim

Agree. The Type II pins are better and it does appear to be what he removed from the connector. I followed the reference he gave to the Newark site. My concern was that he would buy the Newark referenced pins and have the incorrect crimper. Jim

Interesting. When I look up that connector on the Newark website it shows a 164164-1 pin which fits the crimper I referenced. The one you referenced certainly fits the pin that you show. I wonder if there are multiple pins that fit that connector. Probably need to make sure to order the crimper and pin as a matched set. Jim

I don't believe that the crimper that @N201MKTurbo references crimps the 164164-1 pins that fit the connector you referenced. The crimper you need for those pins is something like the Molex 0638190901 that DigiKey sells. I have a much cheaper version that is non-ratcheting that I have had for a long time. I can't find a reference to it but it cost about $40.00 dollars. The Molex 0638111000 looks like it will work although I wouldn't want to do a lot of pins with it. If you zoom in to either picture of the Molex crimpers you can see that the crimp is designed to roll the flat metal over to capture the wire and insulation. If you are anywhere near Huntsville, AL I will be happy to crimp the pins for you or lend you my crimper. Jim

See if the attached drawing is what you are looking for. It is from the information that I have for my 1996 M20J. I suspect it is similar to yours as the later J share a lot in common with the long body planes. The first page of the drawing is where I have extracted just the wiring for the lights from the aircraft schematic so it is easier to follow. The second page is the internal wiring for the control box in the avionics bay that I did when mine failed the first time. The part that fails is the LM338 voltage regulator (power transistor). The LM338 as well as the diodes are readily available. If you decide to repair your box the only really tricky part is the transistor output is the case. The control box has plastic spacers and insulators to keep the transistor case from contacting the control box case to avoid shorts to ground. The transistors have to be unsoldered from the board to remove the board to gain access to the nuts, spacers and bolts that hold them on. Reassembly is fairly easy after the transistors are remounted. The box in my airplane has failed twice. The first time was a buzzing that got worse over time until I replaced the transistors. The second time the panel lights just quit working. Jim Panel Light Connections.pdf

When I updated my JPI EDM700 to an EDM830 I added fuel flow. It has been a couple of years but as I recall you are required to have the JPI switch in FF for it to recognize the fuel flow sensor after a new installation. After my installation the fuel flow wasn't recognized at first. After flipping the switch it was and everything worked normally. I suspect that the factory reset is the same. Jim

Yes, that is the correct crimper. It requires two steps to crimp. The first around the bare wire and the second around the insulation. Sometimes with real small wires I start with a larger die to start the metal bending over and then crimp a second time with a smaller die. There are one step ratcheting crimpers available but those are fairly expensive. If you don't want to fool with crimpers there are solder cup pins available. I have used both and prefer the crimp version. Jim

That is the one that I have and it works for all the large pin front extraction CPC connectors on my M20J. There are a few plastic high density connectors that use the MIL standard pins that require a different rear extractor. Easy to tell the difference as the pins are quite different in size. Jim

Mark I have a PMA450B so I should have Flightmate. I have the PMA450A setup guide because of a question that I asked you at one of the AOPA fly-ins in the fall of 2018 (I think). I wanted to change my squelch setting and you provided that manual so that I could make the adjustment. I assumed (probably shouldn't do that) it was the latest that was available and applied to the B version. Sounds like the information I was using was out of date. @Tahir K will need to pick the PMA450B input that works for his Sonalert or will need some simple external conditioning to invert the signal. Thanks for the clarification. Jim

I am not sure I understand your second comment. In the 450A Set Up Guide you provided me a couple of years ago it says in section 3.9: 3.9 Flightmate® discrete inputs Flightmate offers four alerts triggered by external inputs. Flightmate MUST be enabled in the installation setup mode to ensure standard PMA450A backward compatibility with the GMA340. Each of the four discrete inputs has three states. OFF (ignored), Rise (Active high), and Fall (Active low). Doesn't the Fall (Active Low) allow the Flightmate to be turned on with a ground? If I misreading that information that then @Tahir K may require external conditioning to invert the signal. Jim

I agree with @Vance Harral that the PMA450B voice alerts will work with your plane. For the gear warning I would connect at the Gear Warning Horn (wire 38 in the diagram). The signal will be high true so depending on the Alert Trigger you connect to you may have to change the setup configuration in the PMA450B. For the stall horn I would connect at the the Pre-Stall Warning Switch (wire 86 in the diagram). The stall warning is low true so may require configuration changes depending on the PMA450B connection. Jim

You're correct. Thanks for correcting that. Jim

Vance I'll take a look at the diagram you have attached. I believe that we can say almost certainly that @takair will be able to connect the PMA450B to his stall and gear inputs since you were able to connect your AV-17. Sounds like they connect the same way. I spent some time yesterday looking at the connections to my M20J. It sounds like your system is similar to mine. A bit different as mine is low true. I have a diagram of the M20J to PMA450 connections I will upload when I get to a computer. The good news is that the PMA450 inputs are programmable. They can be active high or active low so should work with the older and newer systems. You are correct that the newer aircraft have just a tone generator that drives a speaker as well as outputs to an audio panel. No custom sounds as far as I can tell. Jim

The answer to your question is that it is highly likely that you can do what you want. I say highly likely instead of for certain because I don't have the wiring diagram for your plane. Originally, you said you wanted to replace your up/down lights with Sonalerts which as @Vance Harralpointed out you don't want to do. You want to connect to the gear warning system (I assume that your plane has one) then you can connect that to the PMA450B Flightmate system and get your voice warning in addition to the gear warning. There are several possibilities on how you connect the gear warning system to the PMA450B. The good news is that the PMA450B has configuration options so should accommodate just about any gear warning interface. There might be some external circuitry required for signal conditioning but I doubt it. It should be fairly easy for the avionics tech to look at your airplane wiring diagram and the PMA450B installation manual and connect things together. If you have a wiring diagram available for you plane that you can provide to me I'll be happy to look at it and tell you how to connect it for sure. I only have the M20J wiring information available. Jim

I am sure that Vance is correct on the older models of the Mooney aircraft. Somewhere in the product line the boxes that drive the Sonalerts have an audio out that can be connected to an audio panel. In my 1996 Mooney MSE the Stall/Gear Warning box drives a speaker and has an audio out that is connected to the audio panel. The Bendix King AP disconnect box KAA15 also has an audio output. Trust me, you may not be able to hear the Sonalerts but when they are piped into the audio panel they are hard to miss. Just ask my wife. The attached drawing shows the connections to the PMA450B in my aircraft. I know this also works with the KMA24 and 8000BT panels as I had those before. The drawing is very busy as the audio panel connects to just about everything in the aircraft. About halfway down the sheet on P1-31 and P1-32 the stock Mooney Stall/Gear Warning audio is connected. At the bottom of the drawing at P2-15 and P2-14 the BK KAA15 AP warning is connected. Jim PMA450B Schematic.pdf

Jake Thanks for confirming that. I thought that the actual voltage was being monitored as there is an analog/digital chip in the circuit. I suspect that my problem is that the trim servo voltage regulator is at the lower end of the spec. I think that by cleaning and reseating the AP computer I am getting things flowing well enough the computer is happy for a while. I suspect that you will be seeing my trim servo in a few months for a rebuild when I have confirmed where the problem is. Jim