M20J Valuation

[Jerry 5TJ]

I bought a King KFC225 autopilot. Great system.  It came with an Ovation attached. 

[KSMooniac]

I bought a King KFC225 autopilot. Great system.  It came with an Ovation attached. 

Wait until you start going thru servos every few hundred hours... There are some horror stories out there.

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

[Jerry 5TJ]

 

13 hours ago, KSMooniac said:

Wait until you start going thru servos every few hundred hours... There are some horror stories out there.
 

Yes, the pitch servo in particular seems to take a beating.  I tend to take pity on the servos and hand fly in turbulence. 

The next step up is the KFC325 which has a "soft-ride" feature.  It tells the autopilot to not try so hard, allegedly improves the ride in turbulence, and really it reduces the wear & tear on the servos.   You can get one of those autopilots with a TBM700 attached.

Edited March 28, 2017 by Jerry 5TJ
more is better

[Jerry 5TJ]

13 hours ago, KSMooniac said:

Wait until you start going thru servos every few hundred hours... There are some horror stories out there.

I suppose I can maintain servos with the money I save by not having to service the KEA-130 or KCS-55A or any spinning mechanical gyros or any vacuum system that are no longer in the plane.  (which argument is like saying I can use the money I saved by not buying a new Gulfstream 650)

Factual Item:  This aircraft & KFC225 are 1250 TT.   Pitch servo repaired at 374 TT.  Pitch servo replaced at 780 TT.  Pitch servo replaced at 1062 TT.   

No other servo replacements in the logs.    Clearly the pitch servo works hard.  Perhaps too hard. 

But that's why my wife prefers I leave the autopilot engaged--it does a much better job of holding everything steady than I do.

[Bob_Belville]

11 minutes ago, Jerry 5TJ said:

I suppose I can maintain servos with the money I save by not having to service the KEA-130 or KCS-55A or any spinning mechanical gyros or any vacuum system that are no longer in the plane.  (which argument is like saying I can use the money I saved by not buying a new Gulfstream 650)

Factual Item:  This aircraft & KFC225 are 1250 TT.   Pitch servo repaired at 374 TT.  Pitch servo replaced at 780 TT.  Pitch servo replaced at 1062 TT.   

No other servo replacements in the logs.    Clearly the pitch servo works hard.  Perhaps too hard. 

But that's why my wife prefers I leave the autopilot engaged--it does a much better job of holding everything steady than I do.

Hum, I have a STEC50 that's been in the plane 20 years. I use ALTHLD all the time and I do not believe there's ever been an issue with the pitch (or roll) servo. And the short coupled Es are supposed to be squirrelly in pitch so I suppose the servo is busy, particularly in turbulence.

[KSMooniac]

Google up Peter Holt's website related to the KFC 225...you'll find a wealth of info about the design deficiencies with their servos. And they're happy to keep selling them instead of fixing them.

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[Jerry 5TJ]

I researched the autopilot before buying the Ovation.  Even with the servo issues the KFC225 is a fantastic autopilot.

[Godfather]

15 hours ago, KSMooniac said:

Wait until you start going thru servos every few hundred hours... There are some horror stories out there.

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Those horror stories are mainly in reference to one type of installation. In 2500 hrs I've had the pitch servo worked on twice. One at ~400 hrs and the other time at ~2200 hrs.  No reason to worry...I've spent almost as much replacing my O2 tank as replacing servos. 

I kind of equate it to someone saying don't buy a Mooney you will be fixing the tanks every few hundred hrs. 

Edited March 28, 2017 by Godfather

[Jerry 5TJ]

50 minutes ago, KSMooniac said:

Google up Peter Holt's website related to the KFC 225...you'll find a wealth of info about the design deficiencies with their servos. And they're happy to keep selling them instead of fixing them.

Peter Holt keeps flying over a specific site in France where his autopilot fails, 4 times over the same spot.  He thinks there's an autopilot death ray in use there, saying " Obviously the French have something down there which is zapping the aircraft with intense RF and is destroying the servos."  ref:  Peter Holt KFC225 Agony Sheet

At least he gives us the precise Lat / Long and I plan never to fly over that site.

Edited March 28, 2017 by Jerry 5TJ