G5’s installed - pickup tomorrow

[Philip]

Stopped by the avionics shop today and got to play with the new G5’s.   They were completing the reassembly and just lacked the calibration and setup.  They later called and told me to come get the plane.  It’s done.  

If the weather holds out, I mean VFR, then tomorrow I’ll go bring her home.  I don’t think it would be wise to go jump in the soup with a brand new AI.

Anyway, one of the big questions I had was how do you select between HDG and GPSS mode on the G5.  I took out an stec gpss steer computer that had a simple switch on the panel to go back and forth.  Today while playing I found the answer.  The G5 has one knob and a click of th knob and you get a menu acros the bottom.  Nothing new with that except with the Gad29b connected, the menu has GPSS.  A few clicks to the right and it’s selected and  then a press in and its active.  Then both displays show gpss and also show the heading bug X’ed out.  This selection can be made on ether G5 as this selection cross fills.   At this point, I’m not sure what else might crossfill.

The only other thing I tested at this early stage, I mean on the ground before they were done,  was to engage the autopilot and rotate the heading bug and confirm that worked.  It was a beautiful thing.  

As you can imagine, I’m pretty pumped about flying tomorrow and playing with my new toys.  I have two trips of over 1000nm planned by Dec 1st so more PIREPS to follow.

 

[ArtVandelay]

You can download the pilot guide, might help to be familiar before flying.

[carusoam]

I can sense the enjoyment..! 

Looking forward to hearing how well the devices work on the trip...

best regards,

-a-

[MooneyBob]

Mine with 2 G5’s, GMU11, GAD29B and new ELT should be ready tomorrow too. Manual downloaded and studied. 

[Skates97]

5 hours ago, Philip said:

The only other thing I tested at this early stage, I mean on the ground before they were done,  was to engage the autopilot and rotate the heading bug and confirm that worked.  It was a beautiful thing. 

So the certified version has the heading bug? The Q&A on the Aircraft Spruce site said it was only in the experimental version but then sometimes those Q&A's are out of date. 

[Philip]

6 hours ago, Skates97 said:

So the certified version has the heading bug? The Q&A on the Aircraft Spruce site said it was only in the experimental version but then sometimes those Q&A's are out of date. 

Yes.  The GAD29B enables the G5 to provide course correction to a large list of autopilots.  It has both HDG and GPSS modes.

[Browncbr1]

Mine is going in on the 4th for dual G5s, GAD29b, GTN and other goodies... One thing I was curious about is the heading cross fill.   Are you able to set the AI heading to GPS ground track and the HSI on heading?  I don't think so, as the heading bug crossfill would go wonky.. do you know the answer to this?

[MIm20c]

I’m not sure I’d like a buried menu item for turning on and off GPSS. We have a lot of vectored approaches and it would be nice if the G5 had a programmable button for this. 

[Browncbr1]

Just now, MIm20c said:

I’m not sure I’d like a buried menu item for turning on and off GPSS. We have a lot of vectored approaches and it would be nice if the G5 had a programmable button for this. 

you just push the knob and turn to the right a few spaces... nearly as quick as setting altimeter.. but yea, a separate small programmable shortcut button would be nice..   

[MIm20c]

7 minutes ago, Browncbr1 said:

you just push the knob and turn to the right a few spaces... nearly as quick as setting altimeter

Not disagreeing with you but I’d rather just push a single button when bouncing around in IMC on a missed approach where ATC gives a non standard procedure.  

It won’t be an issue when combined with the gfc500, that will really be an amazing system. 

[Browncbr1]

5 minutes ago, MIm20c said:

Not disagreeing with you but I’d rather just push a single button when bouncing around in IMC on a missed approach where ATC gives a non standard procedure.  

It won’t be an issue when combined with the gfc500, that will really be an amazing system. 

Yea, the programmable button would be nice.   The only think I don't like about the GFC is that it takes up a huge amount of panel space..  Too bad they couldn't have made it a little smaller for the short panel mooney folk.. 

[rbridges]

great to hear.  I'd like to see pics of the G5s in your panel.  Just wanting to see how well everything looks.

[gsxrpilot]

Hmmmm... so IF I installed a GAD29b, AND a toggle switch to go between the Aspen and the G5, I could possibly have a backup heading bug for the KFC150?

[MIm20c]

19 minutes ago, gsxrpilot said:

Hmmmm... so IF I installed a GAD29b, AND a toggle switch to go between the Aspen and the G5, I could possibly have a backup heading bug for the KFC150?

Not sure if the G5 will operate the AP unless it is attached to a magnetometer?  Will it provide cdi bars for a precision approach without dual units?  The second nav head would be far more important to me during an Aspen failure vs AP control.  

[ArtVandelay]

Hmmmm... so IF I installed a GAD29b, AND a toggle switch to go between the Aspen and the G5, I could possibly have a backup heading bug for the KFC150?

There are 5 wires connected to your AP, so you would need a double throw, on-on 5 pole switch...don’t know if they make those.

[N201MKTurbo]

2 hours ago, teejayevans said:

There are 5 wires connected to your AP, so you would need a double throw, on-on 5 pole switch...don’t know if they make those.

Two of the wires are the reference signal and can be bridged between the two. You only need to switch three of the wires.

[N201MKTurbo]

You can switch between GPSS and regular autopilot mode by just switching your radio coupler between heading and nav modes. You will need to change the setting in the G5 to switch from GPSS to heading bug.

[ArtVandelay]

22 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

You can switch between GPSS and regular autopilot mode by just switching your radio coupler between heading and nav modes. You will need to change the setting in the G5 to switch from GPSS to heading bug.

What is a radio coupler?

[N201MKTurbo]

2 hours ago, teejayevans said:

What is a radio coupler?

 

It is the device that takes heading corrections and feeds them to the roll amplifier. It generates the drive signal for the heading synchro and detects the phase change from the heading indicator to generate the DC heading error signal. It has a summing amplifier with limiters to combine the heading error with the radio (VOR or GPS) error signal. The limiters set the intercept angle. Nav, OMNI and LOC Normal just have different levels of attenuation or gain for the radio error. LOC REV reverses the polarity of the radio error at the LOC gain level.

Other analog autopilots have the same functions just packaged differently.

[N201MKTurbo]

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 3:42 PM, N201MKTurbo said:

You can switch between GPSS and regular autopilot mode by just switching your radio coupler between heading and nav modes. You will need to change the setting in the G5 to switch from GPSS to heading bug.

Actually, if you did this you wouldn't have a proper heading error and it would behave very strangely. It would be using the GPSS steering command plus the error from your radio. It would probably still track but occasionally strangely.

[ArtVandelay]

I just flight tested my G5s. Didn’t do an exhaustive test, but went up for a short flight:
A couple notes:
They connected the G5s to the master, not the radio.
Very readable even in sunlight after I cleaned off the fingerprints.
Same GUI as GP, GTNs... I have an irresistible urge to bypass knob and select items using fingertips.

I’m having a problem with my STEC 50 tracking in heading or GPSS mode. It swings left and right, full standard turn constantly, this is with heading mode set on the autopilot, but if I switch to approach mode it stops? Any ideas? Could it be a setting issue?

[MIm20c]

8 hours ago, teejayevans said:

I’m having a problem with my STEC 50 tracking in heading or GPSS mode. It swings left and right, full standard turn constantly, this is with heading mode set on the autopilot, but if I switch to approach mode it stops? Any ideas? Could it be a setting issue?

I have an stec 50 as well. The behavior you described sounds like the AP is not receiving the heading output from the G5. What happens in approach mode does it track the heading bug, fly straight and level, or does it only work when dialed into a LOC?

[ArtVandelay]

I have an stec 50 as well. The behavior you described sounds like the AP is not receiving the heading output from the G5. What happens in approach mode does it track the heading bug, fly straight and level, or does it only work when dialed into a LOC?

After some research, I had a nsd360, the G5 emulates the 55, apparently the stec has a jumper or resistor to select the hsi it’s connected to, Im betting they didn’t change it. I checked online for STEC 50 install manual for more information but no joy.

[NotarPilot]

13 hours ago, teejayevans said:

I just flight tested my G5s. Didn’t do an exhaustive test, but went up for a short flight:
A couple notes:
They connected the G5s to the master, not the radio.

I’m almost quite certain that the G5 is supposed to be wired to the Master and not the radio/avionics master. I believe that is spelled out in the installation manual.

[Philip]

Turns out my time was very limited to do much more than get my plane back home from the avionics shop.  It’s just a 12 minute flight.  So I setup a very short 4 waypoint flight plan on the 430w and was off.

my observations thus far: Brian dump on an iPad - no particular order

1 - G5’s are wired to the master.  I don’t know if this is by the book or not.  Makes since that way once I thought about it.  They are primary AI and DG and those devices that were just pulled were on when the radio master was off.  

2 - every common annunciator, setting, etc will cross fill between units.

3 - the screens are very bright and clear.  Backlight settings are easy to get too.  I have not set behind the units in the dark yet.

4 - boot up is very fast.  Shutdown on the ground gives you a delay countdown.  In the air they just stay on.  

5 - When running on the ground on the internal battery, I’m seeing it predict about 5 hours of battery life.

6 - preflight was very simple, altimeter set, heading bug set.

7 - the ASI was measuring the wind speed when I was sitting still.  When I lined up on 17L it showed 22 knots before I started my takeoff roll.  The steam gauge was oblivious.

8 - this is my first time to fly behind a PFD and 8 like it.

9 - my airspeed tape was configured to display knots and that threw me off when I started my approach and landing.  I’m used to 100, 90, 80 mph in the pattern and that being in knots made we wonder if I want the tape in mph.  The gs and tape can be configured independently.

10 - switching between  gpss and hdg mode was easy enough.  More actions then before.   But not hard.  

11 - while enroute I bounced back and forth between hdg and gpss modes and they worked as expected.

12 - I flew and RNAV approach with a procedure turn and the gpss steering worked  as expected.  It was very windy and it had no problem nailing the horizontal nav without much back and forth.

13 - while on the approach, I had my second 430w and gi106b tuned in to compare things.  They were agreeing on horizontal and vertical navigation.  However, I looked and looked for my VNAV indicator while between the iaf and faf and it was not to be found.  My 106b showed the glide slope pegged up top while the g5 showed nothing.  Once I got to the faf, I noticed the vnav scale show up on the PFD.  I’m not sure if it ever was on the HSI.  This is an area that I will study more today when I fly again.  

14 - setting the hsi to a backup PFD is easy as pie.   I don’t believe the PFD will become a hsi in the dual setup.

Thats all for now.  I plan to fly again today with a more deliberate test plan including an ILS approach.

 

Edited November 20, 2017 by Philip