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Apple Watch vs. Whiskey Compass


Ricky_231

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22 minutes ago, jlunseth said:

That's why I asked.  You can push the slaved button and adjust the HSI all you want with the KFC200 system, but the minute you hit "Slaved" it goes back to whatever input the flux gate is giving it.  In other words, there is no point in adjusting it.  The adjustment only applies with the KFC200 if you are flying in "free gyro" mode. The KFC200 manual seems to say it can be adjusted if slave mode does not appear to be reading correctly, but that is not how it actually works.

At least in my aircraft, the compass is the least accurate.  Before that comes GPS information, which may be a little off because of wind crab, but way better than a compass.  

I don't know how your system works though.  

ah, the century HSI doesn't "snap" in place once it's slaved. instead it'll slowly sync up (i think it's one degree every 30 seconds or something like that). So you can (and sometimes need to) adjust it even while slaved - just because it could take several minutes to get there on its own.

to be fair, most times, by the time I hit the run up area, it's completely synced up and ready to go. sometimes it isn't, then you have to adjust the card once - then it'll keep synced. 

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When I first got my aircraft I tried to adjust the card and got the same result you did only I did not have an Apple watch to blame it on.  It just always went back to where the flux gate wanted it.  I had my avionics shop adjust the flux gate, I think you have to go into the wing and actually physically move it or something.  At any  rate, I don't worry about it anymore.  

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On 3/14/2020 at 4:10 PM, Ricky_231 said:

I'd be interested to know the results. My watch is the cellular/SIM equipped version - not sure that has anything to do with it, but to keep it "scientific" :-)

I can confirm that the behavior is identical with the cheap watch. My non-cellular model causes noticeable compass effect, almost equal to a tablet at the same range. Eek. Fortunately I wear my watch on my left wrist and it's almost never near the compass, but still. 

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2 hours ago, toto said:

I can confirm that the behavior is identical with the cheap watch. My non-cellular model causes noticeable compass effect, almost equal to a tablet at the same range. Eek. Fortunately I wear my watch on my left wrist and it's almost never near the compass, but still. 

me too - but i noticed small fluctuations even from a distance. anyway, I flew without it today, and everything worked perfectly. so i guess I'll be retiring the apple watch as a flight companion.

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On 3/18/2020 at 6:00 PM, jlunseth said:

When I first got my aircraft I tried to adjust the card and got the same result you did only I did not have an Apple watch to blame it on.  It just always went back to where the flux gate wanted it.  I had my avionics shop adjust the flux gate, I think you have to go into the wing and actually physically move it or something.  At any  rate, I don't worry about it anymore.  

Flew without the watch and everything was fine. I have a backup flux gate on my plane (not sure why, but it's there), so I can switch between the 2 to check whether they're consistent, and they are. So I guess as long as I verify on the ground that the card is aligned with the compass (without wearing the watch), then I can trust the HSI later in the air.

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Since GPS navigators the only time I look at the magnetic compass is while taxiing and because it’s on the checklist. I would like to permanently remove it. I have to remove it to take the glare shield out

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12 hours ago, Ricky_231 said:

Flew without the watch and everything was fine. I have a backup flux gate on my plane (not sure why, but it's there), so I can switch between the 2 to check whether they're consistent, and they are. So I guess as long as I verify on the ground that the card is aligned with the compass (without wearing the watch), then I can trust the HSI later in the air.

I don’t have the back-up flux gate, but that is what I do, check that the HSI is indicating correctly on the ground and then I don’t fuss with it.  I have it on my checklist.

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