Where do I put my GDL39-3d

[aviatoreb]

Yay - I just got a Garmin GDL39-3d.

 

Sitting here on the couch it seems nice.

 

Where have folks put it in their airplanes?  I am inclined to put it at the very front of the glare shield under the center bar.

 

But there are three uh-oh's in the manual.

1) Don't put it closer than 6'' to your compass.

2) Don't charge the battery if hotter than 104F.

3) May get too hot on your glair shield.

 

But the picture in the manual shows it sitting on the glare shield right where I propose.

 

What is your experience oh GDL39 early adopters who goeth before me.  Please share your wisdom.

[scottfromiowa]

I have mine exactly where you proposed Erik. I have a charge port on the far right side of panel. I have mine plugged in with wires hidden under glareshield cover. I have had some "issues" getting weaher to "paint" on my I-pad...another story as I have good signal. Enjoy your 3D. I think it was worth the wait.

[scottfromiowa]

Don't forget to power down battery/unit after shutdown. The unit will stay on and drain its battery. Mine has a pretty bright light (blue) that is hard to miss...but we have. It will charge/work as long as you can plug in/use/charge.

[Marauder]

Erik - I place the unit on the right side of the glare shield. No issues.

[FlyDave]

Erik,

 

I put mine on the glareshield with the antenna parallel to the unit (not 90 degrees to the unit). Reception is fine with the antenna in that orientation. But I have had what I think are overheating issues so I now have a black cloth over it to keep it from direct sunlight (black so it doesn't reflect off of the windshield). I haven't had the heat issues since putting the cloth over it.

 

Dave

[aviatoreb]

Thank you all!  I can't wait to fly it - tomorrow I have a 280nm trip South so can't wait!

 

I was hemming and hawing for two years as to which ADSB solution to get.  I felt like I found clarity as to which one I wanted when the 3d version came out and Garmin Pilot released their gorgeous svt on the iPad.  

 

So everyone but one person said they are not worried about heat problems - but Dave you said you needed to put a cloth on it due to heat problems?

 

So for now I will place it just like I was thinking and Scott confirms works for him.  Thank you.

 

Does anyone use the screw down plate or do you just place it?

 

It is not clear to me to what degree it needs to be level and facing forward?  If it does not need at all to be level and facing forward I would mount it on the co-pilot door beam just below the strap - this is where I have my to be removed gps source - the bad elf.  That would put it upside down and sideways - but the antenna would have good view of the sky, and it would be shielded from direct light for heat - I am guessing this does not work but I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

I have been using fore flight for about 5 years and I really like it but I do think garmin pilot is its match - I'm just not as used to it yet.  I think I will keep fore flight just a bit longer, but will downgrade to the $75 version - since I like it better still for ground briefing and esp for the suggested routes. Garmin pilot in the air for now on!

[Marauder]

I have been using ForeFlight and Garmin for the past 2 years. They keep inching each other out on features. I believe FF does a better job of getting routinga that Garmin still can't find. The "pack" feature I was hoping was the storage of charts in binders for departure and destination airports. It is not. It just makes sure you have all of the pertinent data for your flight. Since I download everything onto the iPads, it does nothing for me other than make sure I have the weather in case I forgot it. I also never warmed up to the FF interface. Others say they like the simplicity. It just was never intuitive for me.

The Garmin looks and feels like the GTN in the plane. So the jump between the panel mount and the app is very easy. I also believe that Garmin will probably steal (yes, Peter, they didn't innovate the Connected Pilot concept) the wireless download features like the Aspen Connected Pilot. That will speed up the plane prep piece.

As for overheat. Never has done it. I fly in the mid-Atlantic area and will find out for sure this summer as I fly with it for a full summer.

I believe the unit needs to be faced with the tear drop portion facing the cockpit. For the 3D version, I found this in the manual: For optimum performance (most accurate), of the AHRS function, the GDL 39 3D should be placed as close as possible to the center of the aircraft (along its longitudinal axis).

My unit is not mounted and I have not seen it come off of the glare shield. I have seen it move though.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[scottfromiowa]

Not mounted. No issues.

[carusoam]

Do they have a remote antenna option?

I recently went with a remote antenna for my old device because I don't like things up on the glare shield with wires everywhere.

Best regards,

-a-

[FlyDave]

Anything placed on the glareshield will get hot as it's in direct sunlight under the windshield and on top of a black surface. I found this even in the cooler months. But as the days warm up the temperature on the gdl-39 gets too hot to handle. The temp specs on the non-D model are as follows:

 

Charge Temperature: 0 to +40º C (32º F to +104º F)
Operating Temperature: -20º to +60º C (-4º F to +140º F)

 

I did have issues a couple of times before I put the cloth over it so I assume it was a temp issue.

One note on the Garmin Pilot app: After doing an app upgrade check to see if your Chart "Binders" are still there. Twice, after doing an app upgrade, I was flying and looked for approach plates in my Binders only to find that my binders weren't there. If I wanted to use a plate I had to either re-set up the binder or go to the "Airport Info" tab, find the airport I needed the approach plate for and then select "Procedures". If you check your binders on the ground after doing an upgrade, you'll save yourself a lot of time in the air.

[flyboy0681]

Two questions, can somebody post a picture of their unit on the glareshield, I want to see how obtrusive it is. Second, as far as other mounting places go, doesn't the AHRS feature require the unit to be as level as possible? That requirement would make it difficult to place under the panel or back seat.

[PTK]

What I would do is buy an antenna extension cable and position the antenna somewhere convenient on or through the glare shield. This will allow positioning of the base under the glare shield and even somewhere close to an avionics cooling fan. This eliminates the base sliding around on top and exposed to the sun. 

 

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/shop-by-accessories/antennas/ads-b-antenna-extension-cable/prod122798_010-11825-10.html

 

Personally I'm waiting for the GDL 39R with 3D capability.

[aviatoreb]

I flew with it yesterday.

VERY cool!!!

 

Some thoughts - I guess I want to level the surface I put the gdl393d on since on the glare shield it tilts down slightly - I know - but still why not improve it - I think a wedge of hard foam.  Or maybe......I just got my son a 3d printer - maybe I will get him to print me some sort of wedge shape cradle.

 

I definitely need to get an ADSB out solution soon now!  It is very cool seeing traffic but sort of funny seeing how there are clusters of traffic and then no traffic for large swaths of country - obviously due to no one pinging the ADSB system.  (Editorial - I really think the FAA in their so-called everything for safety mantra is actually withholding the complete ADSB signals to try to force us to upgrade to ADSB out early as a carrot - but at the same time the same FAA makes it hard for people like me who want to upgrade to do so because the unit I want the KT74 is mired in FAA certification).

[aviatoreb]

Very impressive I am finding.

[scottfromiowa]

Very impressive I am finding.

Do you mean your groundspeed?

[aviatoreb]

Do you mean your groundspeed?

 

:-)  Well - it is a rocket....

 

Actually you can see from the rest of the panel that I am descending so that is sort of cheating.  I was doing 198TAS in level flight at 13,500 in smooth air just a few minutes before at 18gph, but I pulled back a bit and then a bit more when I tipped the nose down, to 14-15gph, since I was anticipating possibly bumpy air over the Adironacks where you see me.  When descending these big engine Mooneys require a lot of attention to where you are relative to the yellow arc and what the bumpy air might be.

 

But - no I wasn't pointing out ground speed or I would pick something faster, and in level flight to be fair.

I was saying that SVT view is impressive and cool to look at over the mtns and match the real vision (RV ... out the window) vs the SVT.

[Awqward]

.....Personally I'm waiting for the GDL 39R with 3D capability.

If you get the Flightstream210 it has the AHRS built-in so you just need the GDL39R....and you can mount it behind the panel with external ADS-B and GPS antennae....

[KSMooniac]

I believe the 39R is only for experimentals, right?

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[Piloto]

I located my XM antenna underneath the glare shield with a custom made bracket. It works very well and is not visible. I would do the same for the GDL-39. For the ADS-B external antenna I would put a right angle BNC adapter on top for the cable. The ADS-B external antenna is just a regular Txpr/DME antenna. You can locate it anywhere on top or bottom of the fuselage. The top mounting gives you better chance for receiving the signal while on the ground.

 

José

[M016576]

Mine is far right, next to the passenger door suction cupped to the windscreen near the glareshield.

BUT....

I'm currently looking at external UAT antennas. Im going to mount one of those on the belly, and put a 25 dollar GPS antenna forward on the Glareshield, then mount the GDL39 below the Glareshield, out of sight. Should improve all signals- and free up space.

[Bob - S50]

I put mine as far forward as it will go, just to the left of the tubing.  When I first used it, it tended to move around due to vibrations.  I cut out about a 9" square piece of anti-skip rubberized mesh (bought at Home Depot if I remember).  I put down the mesh, then the GDL.  Flew S50-BDN-SQL.  Came back SQL-EUG-S50.  No overheating problems.  Battery lasted the entire flight (1.5 + 3.0)

 

I have only had one time when it indicated it was receiving a good ADS-B signal but it seemed to paint rain when we came back home.

 

I noted that the attitude indicator showed a slight bank which did not agree with my ADI.  I then took a look at the ball in the TC.  It wasn't quite centered.  If I hold just a little light pressure on the rudders to center the ball, the GDL ADI shows wings level.

 

Bob

[aviatoreb]

Mine is far right, next to the passenger door suction cupped to the windscreen near the glareshield.

BUT....

I'm currently looking at external UAT antennas. Im going to mount one of those on the belly, and put a 25 dollar GPS antenna forward on the Glareshield, then mount the GDL39 below the Glareshield, out of sight. Should improve all signals- and free up space.

 

I would love to hear what you eventually come up with.

[M016576]

I would love to hear what you eventually come up with.

Me too- I should have more info in a week or so, but I got the idea from a vans RV forum. Here's the non-TSO'ed antenna that those guys are using. There is a TSO'ed equivelant for about $150.00... I'm trying to see what the shop's opinion is on legally installing a TSO'ed ADSB antenna for use with a portable, though.

"Delta Pop UAT antenna"

[aviatoreb]

Me too- I should have more info in a week or so, but I got the idea from a vans RV forum. Here's the non-TSO'ed antenna that those guys are using. There is a TSO'ed equivelant for about $150.00... I'm trying to see what the shop's opinion is on legally installing a TSO'ed ADSB antenna for use with a portable, though.

"Delta Pop UAT antenna"

 

Huh - that is an interesting call.  I bet they are allowed - since I believe it is allowed for a hand held radio to hook it into an installed antenna.

[thinwing]

Mine is placed using mount just forward of copilts side pocket..external antenna a comant 105 blade mounted 3 ft aft of the transponder ant on second belly panel..I/a logged antenna install..gps remote ant under glareshield...works well..tis b and weather recieve from ground stations over 100 miles.