Foreflight with G3X, GTN 650Xi, GTX 345

[PT20J]

All three units have Bluetooth. Anyone figured out an optimum setup to transfer flight plans, display ADS-B traffic and weather in Foreflight and supply GPS and AHRS data to Foreflight? 

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[Neshi]

Will need a flight stream to transfer flight plans and attitude info.

Garmin Flight Stream 510 | Aviation Cockpit Connectivity

For  ADSB T&W have my ipad connected to the 345.

[jlunseth]

+1 on the 510, and if you happen to have a second, older GNS 530/430, installing the 210 with that unit will not do what you want. I tried that. The  GTN and GNS series will crosstalk, but only up to a point, so the stuff you want to display on your iPad would be fed into the GTN but not fed from there to the GNS, to which the 210 is wired. At least that is how it happens - or does not happen - on my panel. I think you can get ADAHRS from the 210 because that is generated inside the 210, but not traffic or other ADSB, which is fed from the 345 to the GTN.

[PT20J]

No, the G3X includes a Bluetooth gateway to transfer flight plans to the GTN. The GTX has the ability to Bluetooth GPS, AHRS, and ADS-B In data to the iPad. However, Garmin’s fairly clueless tech support told my avionics shop that everything will have to go through the G3X, but could not provide me information on how to configure it. I think the correct solution is to simultaneously pair the iPad with the G3X and GTX 345, but I’d like confirmation from someone that actually has this configuration.

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[ArtVandelay]

No, the G3X includes a Bluetooth gateway to transfer flight plans to the GTN.

Are you sure about that? I thought the G3X talked to the GTN via RS232 interface. I imagine that’s required for certified installations, can’t believe they would be okay with a wireless connection.
BTW, for those with Aeras, they only handle 1 Bluetooth connection, so I think they require a RS 232 connection.

[PT20J]

47 minutes ago, ArtVandelay said:

 

Are you sure about that? I thought the G3X talked to the GTN via RS232 interface. I imagine that’s required for certified installations, can’t believe they would be okay with a wireless connection.
BTW, for those with Aeras, they only handle 1 Bluetooth connection, so I think they require a RS 232 connection.

 

Well, as I understand it from Garmin's typically crappy documentation, the GTN communicates flight plan and navigation data to the G3X via a RS-232 MapMX interface. The G3X has the Bluetooth connection to the iPad for transferring flight plan info which it passes to the GTN since the G3X and GTN each store the flight plan.

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[kortopates]

I have a fair amount of time instructing with this setup. As I recall, the Connext function is accessed from the G3X menu.  From that connection you'll get everything (position, FIS-B and TIS-B). But if I were you I would make a second bluetooth paring to your GTX-345 so its always ready to provide backup ADHRS if you lost your G3X for some reason - that's what I do on my aircraft with G500 and GTNs rather than G3X. 

[Niko182]

I have the G3X and a GNX375, which is practically the same as a GTN650 with a FS510 in terms of flying with it. I stay connected to the GNX375 only because its the only practical way to fly IFR. If youre connected to the G3X, you need to switch to the internal GPS in order to send the flight plan, and then switch back to the external GPS.

[Mooney Dog]

4 hours ago, PT20J said:

All three units have Bluetooth. Anyone figured out an optimum setup to transfer flight plans, display ADS-B traffic and weather in Foreflight and supply GPS and AHRS data to Foreflight? 

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I believe for the 650/345 you need to have the flight stream 510. I dont hav ea g3x to test it though. 

[PT20J]

50 minutes ago, kortopates said:

I have a fair amount of time instructing with this setup. As I recall, the Connext function is accessed from the G3X menu.  From that connection you'll get everything (position, FIS-B and TIS-B). But if I were you I would make a second bluetooth paring to your GTX-345 so its always ready to provide backup ADHRS if you lost your G3X for some reason - that's what I do on my aircraft with G500 and GTNs rather than G3X. 

Thanks, Paul. Garmin told my avionics shop that the GTX 345 ADHRS is not available when installed with a G3X. But, if that is true it would only be because the STC requires disabling Bluetooth on the 345, and one could always turn it back on. But, more likely this is another case (I've been running into this a lot lately) of Garmin support not knowing much about the G3X. I get good answers from the Experimental support team, but you have to be careful because the experimental G3X isn't exactly the same as the Certificated version. 

I asked Garmin support how to set this up and they said I had to ask ForeFlight which I thought was just a way of brushing me off so I called their bluff and asked how to do it in Garmin Pilot. No response yet. 

I did email ForeFlight and they immediately got back to me and told me that everything will come through the G3X Bluetooth connection. They suggested I have the Garmin dealer demonstrate the functionality with Garmin Pilot and said that if it works with Garmin Pilot, it will work with ForeFlight. In my experience ForeFlight tech support is top notch. It's rare that they don't know an answer but will admit it and research it and get back to me if that's the case.

Sorry for the rant -- I try to avoid that. But Garmin has really tried my patience trying to understand how all the stuff works. You'd think they would be more accommodating for someone purchasing $50K worth of avionics.

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[PT20J]

3 hours ago, Niko182 said:

I have the G3X and a GNX375, which is practically the same as a GTN650 with a FS510 in terms of flying with it. I stay connected to the GNX375 only because its the only practical way to fly IFR. If youre connected to the G3X, you need to switch to the internal GPS in order to send the flight plan, and then switch back to the external GPS.

According to the Pilot’s Guide, the flight plan should pass through the G3X to the GTN if external flight plan source is selected. It doesn’t mention GPS source. Are you saying this only works if the GPS source in internal?

[mhrivnak]

I have a G3x Touch, GTX 345, and a GNS 530W. It was installed in February by a shop that I think is pretty sharp and spent significant time understanding how to make the flight plan transfer work. I had a similar experience with Garmin support regarding the G3x Touch; they're very uncertain about whether flight plan transfer would work at all or how it would work to a GNS unit.

Good news: it does work. I don't need a flightstream for my setup, so I can't imagine why you would need one with the newer navigator.

I connect foreflight to the G3x Touch for flight plan transfer, and I have a second bluetooth connection to the GTX 345 for everything else. I works great and is seamless. Flight plans go straight from foreflight to the 530W.

[mhrivnak]

I remembered another data point that might be relevant for you. When I bought this plane a year ago, there was no bluetooth working from the GTX 345. Going into its setup menu, the place where you would turn it on and off was completely absent. I had a Garmin tech connect their laptop to it and run the Garmin config tool; they found a setting, called "GTN PRESENT", set to On even though the plane did not have a GTN unit. Turning that to Off enabled bluetooth to work from the transponder.

So in your case, maybe it will be a bit more difficult to configure things so you can connect with bluetooth to the transponder.

[PT20J]

2 hours ago, mhrivnak said:

I remembered another data point that might be relevant for you. When I bought this plane a year ago, there was no bluetooth working from the GTX 345. Going into its setup menu, the place where you would turn it on and off was completely absent. I had a Garmin tech connect their laptop to it and run the Garmin config tool; they found a setting, called "GTN PRESENT", set to On even though the plane did not have a GTN unit. Turning that to Off enabled bluetooth to work from the transponder.

So in your case, maybe it will be a bit more difficult to configure things so you can connect with bluetooth to the transponder.

I've got to spend more time with the manuals, but I'm beginning to think I see how the architecture works. It appears that the idea is to make the GTN a data hub with connectivity provided by Flightstream and that the G3X incorporates the Flightstream communication functionality so that a GTN + G3X has the same Bluetooth capability as GTN + Flightstream and the GTX is Bluetooth is probably disabled in a G3X/GTN installation. Maybe. I think. 

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[Warren]

28 minutes ago, PT20J said:

GTX is Bluetooth is probably disabled in a G3X/GTN installation. Maybe. I think. 

It moves the control of the GTX Bluetooth to the GTN screen but does not disable it.  I have the GTX345 and the FS510.  Both are accessed through the Connext settings on the GTN.

[PT20J]

I'm still waiting for a response from Garmin support. Fortunately, the shop that is installing my system is part of a larger organization that has a flight school and two fleet airplanes were recently upgraded to G3X/G5/GTN 650/GTX 345. So, I will be able to try stuff out on their airplanes while mine is in the shop. I asked the chief flight instructor how this works and he confirmed that flight plans, traffic and weather are all connected to the iPad through the G3X Bluetooth and the GTX 345 Bluetooth is disabled. He hasn't tried AHRS, but I'm sure it comes from the GSU 25D. It will be interesting to try failing that to see if it reverts to the G5 AHRS. He said that with the G3X FPL source set to External, the flight plan uploads from ForeFlight to the GTN and after that they stay in sync.

There is a thread on BT where someone talked to numerous Garmin reps at Oshkosh and they all said that the flight plan transfer through the G3X will not support flight plans containing SIDS, STARS or IAPs. The chief CFI hadn't tried that, but I will when I get a chance.

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[Unit74]

That was my understanding as well. It will take a standard plan, but if you try to push the departure or load an approach from the ipad, it cannot push it to the navigator and you have to go into the nav box to load up the IFR stuff. Or in other words, if you re used to using a iPad to select the approach and stuff from the ipad, you can’t with the G3X installed. You have to touch the nav box to do so.  

[ArtVandelay]

I'm still waiting for a response from Garmin support. Fortunately, the shop that is installing my system is part of a larger organization that has a flight school and two fleet airplanes were recently upgraded to G3X/G5/GTN 650/GTX 345. So, I will be able to try stuff out on their airplanes while mine is in the shop. I asked the chief flight instructor how this works and he confirmed that flight plans, traffic and weather are all connected to the iPad through the G3X Bluetooth and the GTX 345 Bluetooth is disabled. He hasn't tried AHRS, but I'm sure it comes from the GSU 25D. It will be interesting to try failing that to see if it reverts to the G5 AHRS. He said that with the G3X FPL source set to External, the flight plan uploads from ForeFlight to the GTN and after that they stay in sync.
There is a thread on BT where someone talked to numerous Garmin reps at Oshkosh and they all said that the flight plan transfer through the G3X will not support flight plans containing SIDS, STARS or IAPs. The chief CFI hadn't tried that, but I will when I get a chance.
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I believe the traffic and weather come from the GDL50R, not the G3X. This is important because the Aeras only support 1 Bluetooth connection, so you’ll need to hardwire the Aera.

[PT20J]

7 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

I believe the traffic and weather come from the GDL50R, not the G3X. This is important because the Aeras only support 1 Bluetooth connection, so you’ll need to hardwire the Aera.

In a G3X the traffic and weather could come from a GTX 345 as on my case, or a GDL 50R. In either case, the ADS-B data is wired to the G3X via an RS-232 connection and the Aera would only need a Bluetooth connection to the G3X.