Need Help Diagnosing Aspen Intermittent AHRS Failure

[drb930]

Picture of panel for info.
A/p = KFC-200

On the ground or during flight the AHRS Light Fail will come on and drop the autopilot intermittently. This is what it is supposed to do per the STC.
Few minutes/seconds later AHRS light will extinguish and A/P can be re-engaged.

I have tried -
EA-100 was sent to Aspen for 24-Hour shake/bake/freeze and tested good.
2 different Aspen 1000 PFD's
3 different ACU's
Replaced Ethernet cable
Checked wiring.
Any help from the Aspen/Avionics Guru's out there is greatly appreciated!

 

[carusoam]

Great detailed post drb!
 

Aspen and Andy go together…

This may help formulate your next steps…

https://mooneyspace.com/search/?q=Aspen Andy&quick=1&updated_after=any&sortby=relevancy&search_and_or=and

Best regards,

-a-

[drb930]

1 hour ago, carusoam said:

Great detailed post drb!
 

Aspen and Andy go together…

This may help formulate your next steps…

https://mooneyspace.com/search/?q=Aspen Andy&quick=1&updated_after=any&sortby=relevancy&search_and_or=and

Best regards,

-a-

Sent Andy an email, Thanks!

[Marauder]

Picture of panel for info.
A/p = KFC-200

On the ground or during flight the AHRS Light Fail will come on and drop the autopilot intermittently. This is what it is supposed to do per the STC.
Few minutes/seconds later AHRS light will extinguish and A/P can be re-engaged.

I have tried -
EA-100 was sent to Aspen for 24-Hour shake/bake/freeze and tested good.
2 different Aspen 1000 PFD's
3 different ACU's
Replaced Ethernet cable
Checked wiring.
Any help from the Aspen/Avionics Guru's out there is greatly appreciated!
 

How much troubleshooting have you done on the autopilot side? With the amount of Aspen stuff you have thrown at it, maybe there is something funky going on the KFC side.

When I had my Aspen installed with my STEC 60-2, I had a problem where the plane would fly wings level and ignored the Aspen GPSS and even the heading bug. Turned out to be a faulty throw over switch which was supposed to switch the autopilot inputs over from the PFD to the MFD during reversion. I never touched the switch but it caused the wings level problem.

Might be worthwhile making sure the autopilot isn’t doing something weird.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Jake@BevanAviation]

@drb930 Had a customer with a A36 KFC200 and Aspen 1000 with the EA100 that had similar issues.  He ended up getting 5 different EA100s before getting the system to work correctly.  The final EA100 came out of one of Aspens aircraft that had a good known working history.  Powers and grounds were replaced, the Ethernet cable was replaced, shielding was checked and the failure always happened on long cross country flights.  A couple of units failed completely random even had a DOA with one unit.  There is a thread on Beechtalk link that goes over the issues.

[PeteMc]

1 hour ago, Jake@BevanAviation said:

A couple of units failed completely random even had a DOA with one unit.

If you're talking about the failures a few years ago, that was a software issue that was resolved.

Aspen actually thought it was a hardware issue and I lucked out because I had purchased my unit just before the Pro Max was released and the plane was in the shop for the install.  So my 1000 was sent back under a recall and a new Pro Max was sent back.  Shortly after that they figured out it was software and stopped swapping out the hardware.

HOWEVER....  If this is something that's been happening in the last few months, please post more details!!

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by PeteMc

[Jake@BevanAviation]

@PeteMc The aircraft that was referenced was worked on June last year. Last email I have from the owner was January this year when it was working correctly after multiple cross country flights.

[drb930]

3 hours ago, Jake@BevanAviation said:

@drb930 Had a customer with a A36 KFC200 and Aspen 1000 with the EA100 that had similar issues.  He ended up getting 5 different EA100s before getting the system to work correctly.  The final EA100 came out of one of Aspens aircraft that had a good known working history.  Powers and grounds were replaced, the Ethernet cable was replaced, shielding was checked and the failure always happened on long cross country flights.  A couple of units failed completely random even had a DOA with one unit.  There is a thread on Beechtalk link that goes over the issues.

Jake,

Thanks for your input here and your help in the past over on BT.

This is what I am leaning to as well.

Just to test my EA-100 Aspen charges $500. plus the dealer labor which equals out to 1/4 of the total cost of the EA-100 which is robbery in my opinion.

Also Aspen does not have repair capability, so does that mean the equipment is being manufactured overseas?

Problem is that Aspen does not have any loaner units that I have found which seems ridiculous considering Aspen's reliability issues which are well spoken on these forums.

So having said that it gets pretty expensive to replace boxes on my dime.

I've been fortunate so far as I have a friend with an uninstalled Pro-1000 and have been able to borrow some of his equipment, but he isn't using an EA-100.

 

[Andy Smith]

Dave, 

Thank you for reaching out to me directly. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this. As mentioned in my email, it is best to have an Authorized Dealer take a look at the system and diagnose the problem. We will be able to go from there. 

-Andy Smith

andy.smith@aspenavionics.com

Inside Sales Manager

(863) 397-4422

[drb930]

1 hour ago, Andy Smith said:

Dave, 

Thank you for reaching out to me directly. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this. As mentioned in my email, it is best to have an Authorized Dealer take a look at the system and diagnose the problem. We will be able to go from there. 

-Andy Smith

andy.smith@aspenavionics.com

Inside Sales Manager

(863) 397-4422

Andy,

I'm posting your email here as I want others to see how I'm being treated by Aspen over their reliability issues.

 

Andy,

 

I hope you can understand and empathize with me of the frustration that I have had with Aspen for about 330 hours of flight.

I've had to replace my PFD-1000 and now the EA-100 is problematic.

Now you want me to spend $1000's more than I already have over this issue to have a DEALER tell me what I already know?

Where is Aspen's responsibility in all this?

How about arranging through a dealer or some other means a replacement EA-100 for a test loaner or warranty or something?

Is it not obvious to me and many others that there are intermittent problems that Aspen should be learning from failed units like this in 300 hours?

I bought this system as it was supposed to be more reliable than my old KI-256/KI-525.

Now it seems that I have to rebuy the system again in repairs?

Also after it is repaired how long will it last then?

 

On Tue, Apr 26, 2022 at 10:39 AM Andy Smith <andy.smith@aspenavionics.com> wrote:

Dave,

I am not saying that your installation is not valid at all. I was commenting on the fact that BECAUSE it was done in accordance with the STC then a shop would be able to troubleshoot the system accordingly and as accurately as you.

Our policy states that the unit must be installed by an authorized dealer. Please take your aircraft to an Authorized Dealer to resolve this problem. They have the ability and bandwidth to deal these special circumstances. I assure you that we have thousands of EA100s flying the KFC 200 autopilot with no problems at all.

 

We are dedicated to finding the root cause of this problem and solving it. There are numerous shops in the greater Los Angeles area that will be able to help diagnose the problem.

Best Regards,

Andy Smith

Inside Sales Manager

(863) 397-4422

 

Sent to Aspen from external source. Be vigilant.
 

Andy,

I’m not sure I understand your statement. 

Are you saying mine is not installed per the STC?

I sounds like you are giving me what I have come to expect from Aspen. 

A a lot of double talk and side steeping the real issue of Aspen’s reliability issues which are discussed at nauseam on all the forums!

I need a reliable  EA-100, not a shop and more thousands of dollars in addition to what I gave already spent to resolve this same issue many others have/are having. 

Thanks, Dave

 

On Apr 26, 2022, at 10:06, Andy Smith <andy.smith@aspenavionics.com> wrote:



Dave,

Thanks for the response. All installations are done under and in accordance with the STC. This makes all the installations the same (wiring wise, there is room for discretion where to mount things and such but not when it comes to the interfaces and configurations).

Taking it to a shop is the best and correct course of action at this point.

Best Regards,

 

Andy Smith

Inside Sales Manager

(863) 397-4422

Sent to Aspen from external source. Be vigilant.

I don't think any shop will be able to diagnose it any better than I can as I am an installer.

At this point it appears to be a faulty EA-100 like the others have had.

 

On Tue, Apr 26, 2022 at 10:00 AM Andy Smith <andy.smith@aspenavionics.com> wrote:

Dave,

I read the post and the extensive troubleshooting that you have gone through and changing out different boxes. I also had a chance to speak with David on the subject.

You will have to take it to a shop and have them look at it. They will go through it and get to the bottom of what is going on.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Andy Smith

Inside Sales Manager

(863) 397-4422

 

[Andy Smith]

Dave, 

Please take your aircraft to a Dealer for troubleshooting. This needs to be done. Until then, I can not help you. At the dealer level you can get a proper diagnosis the problem. This is our policy. Our Field Service Engineers were able to help you with some basic checks, but now needs to go to a dealer. Thank you for the understanding. If you need help finding a dealer in your area, I will be happy to help. 

-Andy Smith

andy.smith@aspenavionics.com

Inside Sales Manager

(863) 397-4422

[Marauder]

I’m confused about what is going on here. Was the unit installed by an authorized Aspen dealer or not?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Andy Smith]

2 minutes ago, Marauder said:

I’m confused about what is going on here. Was the unit installed by an authorized Aspen dealer or not?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

No it was not. I believe that Dave is going to take to a shop for further testing a troubleshooting. 

[drb930]

Just now, Andy Smith said:

No it was not. I believe that Dave is going to take to a shop for further testing a troubleshooting. 

What difference would it make anyway?

It was installed back in 2015.

This is a recent intermittent problem.

[Marauder]

No it was not. I believe that Dave is going to take to a shop for further testing a troubleshooting. 

Thanks for clarifying this.

I have heard of issues where the the installer used the wrong connectors, wrong Ethernet cable, wrong location of the RSM, etc.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[drb930]

31 minutes ago, Marauder said:

Thanks for clarifying this.

I have heard of issues where the the installer used the wrong connectors, wrong Ethernet cable, wrong location of the RSM, etc.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I wish that was the case here, those problems would be an easy fix!

[carusoam]

I’m looking forward to the positive and quick resolution of this one…

Where MS bridges the gap between Aspen and a Machen A36…. 

Go MS!

Best regards,

-a-

Edited April 27, 2022 by carusoam

[drb930]

9 minutes ago, carusoam said:

I’m looking forward to the positive and quick resolution of this one…

Where MS bridges the gap between Aspen and a Machen A36…. 

Go MS!

Best regards,

-a-

I like MS!!!