AHARS/Autopilot problem

[jrwilson]

Hoping someone has an easy answer on this...was flying today and my AHARS warning light popped on (aspen still working, no failures) and at the same time, autopilot shut down.  A few minutes later, AHARS warning turned off and I could restart autopilot.  I don't think my autopilot is connected to AHARS (king 150), but the aspen does do heading and GPS steering for the autopilot.

both AHARS and autopilot are on the same circuit breaker.  The circuit breaker did not pop.  Throughout the flight the AHARS warning would go on and turn off.

any ideas?  Hopefully cheap solutions because I just had to get a new turbo check valve...

[peevee]

I'm no expert but your king 150 can be run from the Aspen with the adapter, or from the original attitude indicator if you kept that as a backup. 

If it has the digital to analog adapter, would that maybe explain it? 

[jrwilson]

It must have the adapter because I can do heading and GPS steering from the Aspen to the autopilot.

[Marauder]

Hoping someone has an easy answer on this...was flying today and my AHARS warning light popped on (aspen still working, no failures) and at the same time, autopilot shut down.  A few minutes later, AHARS warning turned off and I could restart autopilot.  I don't think my autopilot is connected to AHARS (king 150), but the aspen does do heading and GPS steering for the autopilot.
both AHARS and autopilot are on the same circuit breaker.  The circuit breaker did not pop.  Throughout the flight the AHARS warning would go on and turn off.
any ideas?  Hopefully cheap solutions because I just had to get a new turbo check valve...

The interface with your autopilot is done through a box called the EA100. https://www.aspenavionics.com/products/ea100-adapter-for-autopilots

I suspect it is the EA100. The error you are mentioning sounds familiar to the error Brett Nicolette saw with his EA100.


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[StevenL757]

Agree...was thinking same.  I've heard of many KFC/KAP-150 AP and Aspen combinations where either the Aspen and/or EA100 adapter failed...not just in Mooneys but other aircraft.  Time to consider a G500 and GAD43/43E perhaps??

[kevinw]

I have the EA100 adaptor and a Century 21 / S-Tec 60PSS. About a year and a half ago my AP just kicked off and I wasn't able to re-engage it for the rest of the flight. AHARS light was on. I landed and shutdown then flew it the next day and everything worked perfect. Avionics guy suspected a EA100 failure and to watch it. If it happened again he would replace it. It never happened since but I lost a lot of trust in it. I watch it like a hawk in IFR.


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[Marauder]

Agree...was thinking same.  I've heard of many KFC/KAP-150 AP and Aspen combinations where either the Aspen and/or EA100 adapter failed...not just in Mooneys but other aircraft.  Time to consider a G500 and GAD43/43E perhaps??

Pretty funny Steve. Recommend a 20AMU installation for a 1AMU repair.


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[peevee]

I don't think we have a ea100, we still have the king ai and I beleive that provides attitude info to the king ap, can the Aspen provide cdi info without the ea100? 

[Marauder]

I don't think we have a ea100, we still have the king ai and I beleive that provides attitude info to the king ap, can the Aspen provide cdi info without the ea100? 

If you kept the AI and it is the primary input for the autopilot, the EA100 would not be needed. It is only used if the Aspens AHRS is used to drive the autopilot. The Aspen is a digitial device and the autopilot requires an analog input. That is what the the EA100 does.




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[Marauder]

I don't think we have a ea100, we still have the king ai and I beleive that provides attitude info to the king ap, can the Aspen provide cdi info without the ea100? 

And yes, the Aspen can still provide CDI information. I am surprised they would have installed it this way since you would most likely lose the GPSS capability of the Aspen.


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[peevee]

17 minutes ago, Marauder said:

 

And yes, the Aspen can still provide CDI information. I am surprised they would have installed it this way since you would most likely lose the GPSS capability of the Aspen.


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Gpss works great. I think the Aspen calculates and provides the heading. No different than if it was a nav radio

Edited December 31, 2016 by peevee

[Marauder]

Gpss works great. I think the Aspen calculates and provides the heading. No different than if it was a nav radio

I wonder how they get that to interface. You have it working, so had to be done somehow. It must be feeding the information to the AP's computer through the AI somehow.


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[peevee]

17 minutes ago, Marauder said:

 

I wonder how they get that to interface. You have it working, so had to be done somehow. It must be feeding the information to the AP's computer through the AI somehow.


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No clue. Gpss definitely works though. 

Funny story, we have a ifd540 and coming home ifr they gave us a fix to miss military space. The guy flying added it to the flight plan, which redrew the line and the plane took about a 90 degree turn to join the new flight plan instead of proceeding direct that fix. Surprise! 

 

Purely a guess but I think the adapter is just for attitude info and the GPSS is all handled internally and the Aspen just tells the ap to correct left or right just as a cdi would. Haven't had the setup long enough to dig into it all yet. 

Edited December 31, 2016 by peevee