Garmin G5 Insallation

[Raymond Ritter]

Does anyone have experience with installation costs of a single G5 AI?

[201Steve]

Should be around $1,500 rough estimate

[Vance Harral]

Depends on what else has to be done to get the G5 installed.  I'm sure some are being installed for the $1500 201Steve quotes, but none of many shops within 50 miles or so of the Denver area would do our airplane for that rate.  The place we wound up actually having the work done a few months ago billed 27.5 hours of labor total, for the following invoice detail:

 

Removed attitude indicator, mounted G5 instrument, plugged vacuum system lines going to attitude indicator, removed RH side C.B. subpanel, relocated Autopilot C.B. to lower bus bar, installed short throw 5amp CB for G5 installation, fabricated G5 wire harness and installed, replaced Garmin GTN650 P1001 Dsub connector, tapped into pitot/static system for G5 instrument, adjusted vacuum to 4.8 IN, performed system configuration.

 

At $95/hour that's $2612.50 for the labor alone.  I don't think we got a particularly good deal, but I don't think we got grievously gouged, either.  A lot of the cost depends on the hourly rate for labor where you're having the installation done.  Mooney speeds allowed us to consider shops further away with cheaper labor cost, but then you have to weigh that against the potential need to return to the shop in the event of a problem.  We decided having the work done nearby (in fact right at our home field) was worth a premium.

 

So in summary, the single G5 installation itself is only part of the labor.  In our case there was re-work of the existing vacuum system (either you pay to remove it entirely or you pay to plug lines and readjust the vacuum regulator), a circuit breaker had to be relocated in order for the G5 breaker to be installed, and a Dsub connector on the GTN650 we used as a GPS position source for the G5 wound up needing to be replaced (your guess as to whether it "wore out" vs. the installer "breaking it during the work", it's essentially impossible to tell).  Anyone who tells you what the installation cost should be without going into at least a little detail on ancillary work isn't giving particularly useful information.

 

Finally, if you fly IFR, note that 91.411(a)(2) requires a fresh static system check "following any opening and closing of the static pressure system", and installing a G5 certainly counts.  If you happen to do this around the same time your IFR static system check was coming due anyway, there's no extra cost.  Otherwise, add a few hundred bucks for a static system check you would not have otherwise needed.

[Igor_U]

Yes,

27.5h Vance mentioned above is not unreasonable. Depending of your panel and scope of the change (recessed panel, for example) might drive hours even more. I recentlly installed mine and it took more thne 30h with new panel, recessed install and A/P relocation.

 

Good luck.

[Ragsf15e]

I agree, somewhere between 1500-2500 installation labor is reasonable depending on exact situation.  Mine were on the high side of that but they are connected to the gps and autopilot.

[Floyd]

What is being installed?  G5 Attitude stand alone? HSI with GAD and Magnetometer Temp prob.  Big difference in install time depending on what is going in.

[carusoam]

On 6/7/2021 at 8:36 PM, Raymond Ritter said:

installation costs of a single G5 AI?

Floyd, right from the OP’s question...

Things evolved a bit as the thread grew in length...

-a-

[Floyd]

Still lots of options there.  Connect it to gps or use external antenna? Want heading vs track?  I have installed them in various configurations.  If just AI with external antenna, probably about 6 hours to install.

[bob865]

When my ADI failed I went with the G5.  The installation cost me $1700.00 and was no where near right.  They spent hours searching for a static leak they created and I refused to pay for and other miscellaneous grievances during the install.  I spent the next few years slowly correcting errors in the installation as I found them.  This should have taken 1-2 days and they kept my plane for 2 weeks.

1. G5 connected to hot side of breaker so it wasn't protected
2. Pitot/Static system of the G5 (despite hours searching for a leak) was not calibrated
3. Per the STC the G5 has to be on with the master switch.  Ours was wired on the avionics bus.
4. RS-232 was not properly configured on the G5 giving errors
5. V Speeds were not configured on the G5

Just a word of caution.  It should be between $1500 and $2000, but be wary of the low estimate.  Our original estimate was for $800.

[carusoam]

Bob,

That’s some great real world experience!

Thanks for sharing it...

Best regards,

-a-

[RobertGary1]

With the amount of labor to get into avionics it’s easy to talk yourself into a new panel while everything is apart. 

[Skates97]

43 minutes ago, bob865 said:

When my ADI failed I went with the G5.  The installation cost me $1700.00 and was no where near right.  They spent hours searching for a static leak they created and I refused to pay for and other miscellaneous grievances during the install.  I spent the next few years slowly correcting errors in the installation as I found them.  This should have taken 1-2 days and they kept my plane for 2 weeks.

1. G5 connected to hot side of breaker so it wasn't protected
2. Pitot/Static system of the G5 (despite hours searching for a leak) was not calibrated
3. Per the STC the G5 has to be on with the master switch.  Ours was wired on the avionics bus.
4. RS-232 was not properly configured on the G5 giving errors
5. V Speeds were not configured on the G5

Just a word of caution.  It should be between $1500 and $2000, but be wary of the low estimate.  Our original estimate was for $800.

Reading that it makes me feel even better about my self installation. I put in dual G5's, a GNC355, and a PMA450B and I think probably had about 120 hours in the job. An avionics shop I'm sure could do it quicker but I went methodically slow and haven't had any squawks from the installation.

[dzeleski]

2 hours ago, bob865 said:

1. Per the STC the G5 has to be on with the master switch.  Ours was wired on the avionics bus.

Just as a FYI this could have been done correctly, the install guide has like 30 revisions and they at one point had you set it up on the avionics bus. My install has the ADI on the master and the HSI on the avionics bus.