Adding altitude preselect to Century 41

[RideOrFly]

I have a 201 under contract and I'm thinking about some upgrades already. It has a Century 41 AP that works fine, but doesn't have altitude preselect and that's a feature I'd like to have. I see that Century offers a preselector for the 41, but I'm wondering how practical/rational of a solution this is. It looks like the unit is just under $5,000 and I have no idea about install time. I also worry about how wise it is to invest heavily in a piece of "legacy" tech. The other option would be upgrading to a GFC 500 (which I've flown with and loved) but that's a whole lot more money since the plane doesn't have a G5.

Does anyone have any experience with or thoughts on this? 

[201Steve]

Just a thought, adding only an ALT mode will do nothing by way of increasing its value. Adding a GFC500, while more expensive, you are in fact adding equity. Offsetting “some” of the cost… kind of. 

[LANCECASPER]

2 hours ago, RideOrFly said:

I have a 201 under contract and I'm thinking about some upgrades already. It has a Century 41 AP that works fine, but doesn't have altitude preselect and that's a feature I'd like to have. I see that Century offers a preselector for the 41, but I'm wondering how practical/rational of a solution this is. It looks like the unit is just under $5,000 and I have no idea about install time. I also worry about how wise it is to invest heavily in a piece of "legacy" tech. The other option would be upgrading to a GFC 500 (which I've flown with and loved) but that's a whole lot more money since the plane doesn't have a G5.

Does anyone have any experience with or thoughts on this? 

That 40 year old autopilot may work at the moment, but that’s temporary. Save your money and put it toward a new autopilot, rather than adding something new to an autopilot that’s at the end of it’s service life. 

[carusoam]

There are a couple of things to consider in your first year of ownership…

Have a stack of dough ready for the inevitable fix something phase…

Worst case… an engine OH can be really expensive the first year….

Getting through that first oil change tells a lot….

 

This also gets you some time to think about the upgrades you like and want to install…

It will also tell you if the old AP is really working well… or if it’s servos are on their last legs…. Ready for OH.

Throwing dough at ancient equipment won’t make a ton of sense… to anyone but you…. (Your plane, your dough, your limitations) it may make sense…

If you are building a forever plane… the GFC is getting really good reviews…

Best regards,

-a-

[RideOrFly]

18 hours ago, 201Steve said:

Just a thought, adding only an ALT mode will do nothing by way of increasing its value. Adding a GFC500, while more expensive, you are in fact adding equity. Offsetting “some” of the cost… kind of. 

That did occur to me. Seems like I need to either spend enough to make it worth it or nothing at all. 

 

15 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

That 40 year old autopilot may work at the moment, but that’s temporary. Save your money and put it toward a new autopilot, rather than adding something new to an autopilot that’s at the end of it’s service life. 

Pretty much what I suspected. I would be inconsolable if I dropped $5k on a feature and then the AP crapped out a year later...and it sounds like that's an "when, not if" kind of question. 

 

14 hours ago, carusoam said:

There are a couple of things to consider in your first year of ownership…

Have a stack of dough ready for the inevitable fix something phase…

Worst case… an engine OH can be really expensive the first year….

Getting through that first oil change tells a lot….

 

This also gets you some time to think about the upgrades you like and want to install…

It will also tell you if the old AP is really working well… or if it’s servos are on their last legs…. Ready for OH.

Throwing dough at ancient equipment won’t make a ton of sense… to anyone but you…. (Your plane, your dough, your limitations) it may make sense…

If you are building a forever plane… the GFC is getting really good reviews…

Best regards,

-a-

Thank you for that. For now, I'm planning on doing nothing for a while and see how I like everything as is. My experience with the GFC 500 is the only time I've had with an AP and I'm worried that I'm spoiled now. The VNAV function was remarkable. It did have a problem disconnecting (twice) on approaches in not-too-significant bumps, but I'm not sure if that was an AP problem or not. 

The big money problem isn't really the GFC 500 by itself...it's adding the G5 to drive it, which leads to the second G5 to go with it. And it's got that VNAV function, so may as well upgrade the GNS to a GTN to take advantage of all of the features. And if you're getting a GTN, why not get the remote audio panel and transponder to go with it? 

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