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Has anyone gotten an IFD440 to talk to a GTX345?


Markmp

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I own a Mooney M20J (1985) with a few partners and we're looking to do ADS-B and upgrade our GPS. We currently have a non-waas Garmin 430 and have been considering an update to a GTN650 or an Avidyne IFD440. We like the interface and hybrid (buttons+touch) of the IFD440 - but we can't figure out if it will talk to a Garmin GTX 345 transponder. I talked with several avionics shops and I got conflicting answers:

A) no 

B) somewhat, you can only feed waas to the GTX from IFD

C) yes, GTX can get waas from IFD, and IFD can get traffic + weather from GTX

An Avidyne sales support engineer thought you could get traffic but not weather from GTX to IFD. 

So which is it? Has anyone actually gotten this working in a real setup? 

If this does work - how do you iPad/Android users connect to the IFD? Foreflight says it only gets position and can exchange flight plans with IFD - no weather or traffic. So if I connected to GTX for all that, can I not get GPS signal? Seems awkward to have to switch connections back and forth connecting to IFD and GTX separately. Two shops advised against doing this setup - others said no problem at all. 

Also, a few shops I talked to said they don't do a slide-in replacement for IFD even though we have a 430. They said they redo all wiring anyway because of issues they've had in past. So no savings there.


Basically, what we're trying to achieve is:

1) dual band traffic (978 + 1090) + weather displayed on GPS and also portable tablet (ios or Android), ideally including Foreflight and Android apps like FlyQ etc
2) ADS-B with 1090 ES out for international compliance
3) Backup attitude indicator that can be displayed on tablet (e.g. in foreflight or FlyQ)
4) GPS should drive our KAP150 autopilot

Let me know if anyone has actually gotten a IFD440+GTX345 setup working. We also looked at SkyTrax100 + 340 for ads-b, but SkyTrax doesn't seem to do dual-band (978 only) traffic and can't pick up 1090 traffic without a relay from a ground station. 

But I'm finding it harder to make a case for doing IFD440. Looking more likely to do GTX345+GTN650+FS510

thoughts?

 

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Have you already installed a GTX345? If not look at the Lynx NGT9000. You wont have this compatibility issue. I am surprised the shops you talked to wont do a slide in replacement declaring your wiring junk on the front end, especially if one is the same shop that put in your 430 in the first place. Now if your 430 is not working now, thats different

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1 hour ago, mike_elliott said:

Have you already installed a GTX345? If not look at the Lynx NGT9000. You wont have this compatibility issue. I am surprised the shops you talked to wont do a slide in replacement declaring your wiring junk on the front end, especially if one is the same shop that put in your 430 in the first place. Now if your 430 is not working now, thats different

If the NGT9000 had been available when I upgraded my transponder, it would have been my choice. The NGT900+ version includes SkyWatch traffic if you want it. If you already have a SkyWatch system, you can lose 10 lbs. of hardware and reuse the antenna when you install the 9000+.

The Avidyne IFDs and the L-3 Lynx products seem to work together well. Something you might consider reviewing during your search.

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If the NGT9000 had been available when I upgraded my transponder, it would have been my choice. The NGT900+ version includes SkyWatch traffic if you want it. If you already have a SkyWatch system, you can lose 10 lbs. of hardware and reuse the antenna when you install the 9000+.

The Avidyne IFDs and the L-3 Lynx products seem to work together well. Something you might consider reviewing during your search.

The 9000+ is a great product. Integrated with the ATAS, it raises situational awareness to a new level.

 

To add to this post, I was really hung up on whether to go with the GTX-345 or the L-3. The GTX fully integrates with the GTN and provides weather and traffic to the 650. It also would feed the Aspens. What it lacked was the TAS capability. I initially was concerned about traffic near the airports and at lower altitudes.

 

What surprised me was the flight below. I was certainly in ADS-B coverage. The 9000+ provides priority to reporting TIS-B traffic. What caught my attention that although I was at 3500’, I had a TAS hit on a plane and not a TIS-B. Makes me wonder what TIS-B misses.

 

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I have both IFD 540/440 and the GTX 345 installed.

The GTX 345 will definitely connect to the IFD440 for both in ADS-B FIS-B and TIS-B data. The IFD 440 will also provide the necessary GPS source data if required by the GTX345 for position reporting.

I DO NOT have weather displayed on the IFD440 but it does have TRAFFIC input from the GTX 345. 

CAUTION! Competing products from differing manufacturers require CONFIGURATION. I found out the hard way that the Avidyne IFD requires a different configuration than the Aspen PFD. In other words, you can't display on both units at the same time.

HOWEVER, the Avidyne IFD 440 (if WIFI enabled) when connected and configured with the GTX 345 will connect to the iPad IFD100 app and stream weather and traffic to the iPad, no other connection or configuration needed .

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