Final Verdict: Declutter GI275 ADI & Brightness

[AdamJD]

Hi all,

Just installed two GI275s for ADI and HSI, along with the GFC500.  While I am absolutely loving the upgrade from steam gauges, I do have a few issues I'm hoping someone can help with. 

1) The ADI is very cluttered.  At the bottom it has the heading ribbon, GPS / ENR annunciation, heading deviation indicator, etc.  However, my HSI has all of that same information right below.  While I appreciate the redundancy, I really want to get rid of the heading / course info from the ADI.  A friend who has the same model installed had this done by the shop.  See attached for his 275 ADI vs. mine.  He also has wind vectors, temps and groundspeed.  I want all of that to show in mine without the heading.  Is there some way I can setup mine like his without having to go back to the shop?

2) The ADI is super bright at night.  I thought maybe they wired it into my panel dimmer, but turning that makes no difference.  The photocell seems to not do anything.  I did manually reduce the brightness for my night flight.  Then when I went to fly during the day, I had to manually turn the brightness back up.  Is there something I'm doing wrong that the photocell seems to not be working?

Thanks for any insights you can provide!

Adam

[David Lloyd]

Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to get the menu items.  Go thru everything to see what is available and understand how each works. Yes, you can turn off the nav indicators. I don’t have gps enr displayed so must have turned that off. Where he has four info blocks displayed at the bottom, you will only be able to display one. Heading tape stays.

[RoundTwo]

It sounds like it can be connected into your dimmer circuit:

1.6 DISPLAY BACKLIGHTING

The MFI has a built-in photocell to detect ambient lighting conditions and adjusts its

display brightness accordingly. In certain installations, the MFI is integrated with the aircraft

lighting dimming bus and will respond to dimming bus changes. If automatic or dimming bus

brightness changes are inadequate, display brightness can be adjusted from the MFI directly.

[AdamJD]

Thanks David.  Removing the heading tape and adding those additional fields must be an installer setting.  I'll go back through the menu settings and find how to get rid of the CDI.  It's interesting that heading tape would default to ON if you have an HSI installed as well.  There's duplicate heading / course info within inches of each other.  You would think the heading tape would default to OFF but would pop on if the HSI were to fail (or be turned off).  Maybe that's how it works with the installer config.  Need to do some digging but the manual isn't overly descriptive on this.

RoundTwo - yes, some installs tie to the dimming bus.  But mine doesn't change with my panel dimmer switch.  Post lights and backlit avionics work fine - dimming up and down.  ADI doesn't budge with the dimmer switch.  We never discussed this at install, so I need to follow up with the shop on this.  All I know is that it was very very bright at night until I manually dimmed on the ADI.  And then the next flight in the daylight, the ADI was very dim until I manually brightened.  Minor annoyance.

I'll ask about both when I go to the installer for the sw upgrade for the auto trim issue.  Hopefully soon.

[RoundTwo]

1 minute ago, AdamJD said:

Thanks David.  Removing the heading tape and adding those additional fields must be an installer setting.  I'll go back through the menu settings and find how to get rid of the CDI.  It's interesting that heading tape would default to ON if you have an HSI installed as well.  There's duplicate heading / course info within inches of each other.  You would think the heading tape would default to OFF but would pop on if the HSI were to fail (or be turned off).  Maybe that's how it works with the installer config.  Need to do some digging but the manual isn't overly descriptive on this.

RoundTwo - yes, some installs tie to the dimming bus.  But mine doesn't change with my panel dimmer switch.  Post lights and backlit avionics work fine - dimming up and down.  ADI doesn't budge with the dimmer switch.  We never discussed this at install, so I need to follow up with the shop on this.  All I know is that it was very very bright at night until I manually dimmed on the ADI.  And then the next flight in the daylight, the ADI was very dim until I manually brightened.  Minor annoyance.

I'll ask about both when I go to the installer for the sw upgrade for the auto trim issue.  Hopefully soon.

My Googling didn’t turn up anything about the auto brightness feature. Hopefully that is simply switched off in the setup somewhere.

Good luck!

R2

[PT20J]

Try Googling GI 275 installation manual.

[JimB]

It is in section 5.6.1 of the installation manual. Did you contact your installer? Also the lighting is highly customizable in the GI 275. 

Edited December 9, 2022 by JimB

[AdamJD]

9 hours ago, PT20J said:

Try Googling GI 275 installation manual.

I couldn't find it.  I googled for a while.  Found the maintenance manual, which doesn't address my issue.  Found versions of the installation manual which only included the first 14 pages.  Can't seem to find the full install manual.  Seems that's pretty secretive.  Will call the installer next week.

[PT20J]

8 minutes ago, AdamJD said:

I couldn't find it.  I googled for a while.  Found the maintenance manual, which doesn't address my issue.  Found versions of the installation manual which only included the first 14 pages.  Can't seem to find the full install manual.  Seems that's pretty secretive.  Will call the installer next week.

Comes up at the top of the hit list when I do it: GI 275 installation manual. 

[AdamJD]

6 minutes ago, PT20J said:

Comes up at the top of the hit list when I do it: GI 275 installation manual. 

+1 for Google.  I've been using duckduckgo.com for searching.  It does NOT come up in that search engine.  When I said I "googled", I was using the verb.  So I went to Google.com and viola, you are correct, it came up first from piperowner.org.  Thanks! 

Digging in now...

[AdamJD]

Ok.  That helped me with some answers. 

1. Per installation manual section 4.2.25.1, you can select from 3 different ADI display modes, one without tapes (Basic), one with just airspeed and altitude tapes (3-In-1) and one with airspeed, altitude and heading (4-In-1).  So my friend's config in the photo above is the 3-In-1.  

2. Per the pilot's guide, you can only add a Misc Field.  However, in the 4-In-1 mode, you can only select TAS as the Misc Field.  It doesn't show other options.  However, in the 3-In-1 mode, you apparently can add TAS, GS, OAT and wind vectors because the heading tape is gone.  So that explains why I didn't see the option for anything but TAS in mine as it was in 4-In-1 mode.

3. For brightness, in the installation manual section 4.2.26, you can select photocell or lighting bus and then configure the photocell.

I will report back when I get a chance to configure all of these.

[PT20J]

Just keep in mind that Garmin keeps these manuals confidential between Garmin and its dealers, so any that leak out are almost never  the most current software rev.

[201Mooniac]

On 12/9/2022 at 6:00 PM, AdamJD said:

2. Per the pilot's guide, you can only add a Misc Field.  However, in the 4-In-1 mode, you can only select TAS as the Misc Field.  It doesn't show other options.  However, in the 3-In-1 mode, you apparently can add TAS, GS, OAT and wind vectors because the heading tape is gone.  So that explains why I didn't see the option for anything but TAS in mine as it was in 4-In-1 mode.

Check section 8.7 of the pilots guide, you can set the field to the other values, even when in 4in1 mode (I have done it on mine):

8.7 ADI - MISC. FIELD (OPTIONAL)

The Misc. Field on the ADI can be configured to display True Airspeed (TAS), Ground Speed (GS), Air Temperature (OAT, ISA, TAT), or Wind (Direction and Velocity).

Displaying True Airspeed:

1. 1)  From the 'ADI' Page, open the menu and select ADI Options > Misc. Field.

2. 2)  Select the TAS Button to toggle True Airspeed.

Displaying Ground Speed:

1. 1)  From the 'ADI' Page, open the menu and select ADI Options > Misc. Field.

2. 2)  Select the GS Button to toggle Ground Speed.

   Misc. Field Display

   ADI - Misc. Field - Ground Speed Display

Displaying Outside Air Temperature:

1. 1)  From the 'ADI' Page, open the menu and select ADI Options > Misc. Field.

2. 2)  Select the preferred temperature option, ISA, OAT, or TAT.

3. 3)  Select the button to toggle Temperature.

[AdamJD]

20 hours ago, 201Mooniac said:

Check section 8.7 of the pilots guide, you can set the field to the other values, even when in 4in1 mode (I have done it on mine):

8.7 ADI - MISC. FIELD (OPTIONAL)

The Misc. Field on the ADI can be configured to display True Airspeed (TAS), Ground Speed (GS), Air Temperature (OAT, ISA, TAT), or Wind (Direction and Velocity).

Displaying True Airspeed:

1. 1)  From the 'ADI' Page, open the menu and select ADI Options > Misc. Field.

2. 2)  Select the TAS Button to toggle True Airspeed.

Displaying Ground Speed:

1. 1)  From the 'ADI' Page, open the menu and select ADI Options > Misc. Field.

2. 2)  Select the GS Button to toggle Ground Speed.

   Misc. Field Display

   ADI - Misc. Field - Ground Speed Display

Displaying Outside Air Temperature:

1. 1)  From the 'ADI' Page, open the menu and select ADI Options > Misc. Field.

2. 2)  Select the preferred temperature option, ISA, OAT, or TAT.

3. 3)  Select the button to toggle Temperature.

I have that already set to TAS.  But I can't find a way to do all 4 at once.  See the picture in the original post from my friend's 275.  He has all 4 displayed at the same time.  I can display either TAS, GS, OAT *OR* Wind Vectors.  I changed mine to 3-1 last night and successfully removed the heading ribbon.  But I still can ONLY select ONE of the 4 Misc Fields at a time.  I really want TAS and Wind Vectors, as I get GS and OAT from other areas (430, iPad, GTX345, etc).

 

[PT20J]

7 minutes ago, AdamJD said:

I have that already set to TAS.  But I can't find a way to do all 4 at once.  See the picture in the original post from my friend's 275.  He has all 4 displayed at the same time.  I can display either TAS, GS, OAT *OR* Wind Vectors.  I changed mine to 3-1 last night and successfully removed the heading ribbon.  But I still can ONLY select ONE of the 4 Misc Fields at a time.  I really want TAS and Wind Vectors, as I get GS and OAT from other areas (430, iPad, GTX345, etc).

 

I would go through all the user and config settings on your friend’s unit and write them down and then compare with yours. Garmin equipment has a lot of settings and sometimes the interact in unexpected ways. 

[AdamJD]

Update - just s

11 minutes ago, PT20J said:

I would go through all the user and config settings on your friend’s unit and write them down and then compare with yours. Garmin equipment has a lot of settings and sometimes the interact in unexpected ways. 

Good idea.  I'm going to see if he's comfortable going into his sw config settings.

I just spoke with Garmin support.  They were nice but not overly helpful.  They said it's a 'software configuration' and my installer will have to talk with the Field Engineer.  I went through the available software configurations when I changed the display to 3-1 to remove heading last night.  I could not find an option to increase the number of Misc Fields allowed at a time in the sw config.  I've sent an email with screen shots to my installer as well to get his thoughts.

[201Mooniac]

2 hours ago, AdamJD said:

I have that already set to TAS.  But I can't find a way to do all 4 at once.  See the picture in the original post from my friend's 275.  He has all 4 displayed at the same time.  I can display either TAS, GS, OAT *OR* Wind Vectors.  I changed mine to 3-1 last night and successfully removed the heading ribbon.  But I still can ONLY select ONE of the 4 Misc Fields at a time.  I really want TAS and Wind Vectors, as I get GS and OAT from other areas (430, iPad, GTX345, etc).

 

Sorry, I misunderstood, I thought you meant you wanted the choice of them, you are correct, when I'm using the 4 in 1 as I do, I only get one optional data field.

[Tom 4536]

On 12/8/2022 at 7:19 PM, AdamJD said:

Hi all,

Just installed two GI275s for ADI and HSI, along with the GFC500.  While I am absolutely loving the upgrade from steam gauges, I do have a few issues I'm hoping someone can help with. 

1) The ADI is very cluttered.  At the bottom it has the heading ribbon, GPS / ENR annunciation, heading deviation indicator, etc.  However, my HSI has all of that same information right below.  While I appreciate the redundancy, I really want to get rid of the heading / course info from the ADI.  A friend who has the same model installed had this done by the shop.  See attached for his 275 ADI vs. mine.  He also has wind vectors, temps and groundspeed.  I want all of that to show in mine without the heading.  Is there some way I can setup mine like his without having to go back to the shop?

2) The ADI is super bright at night.  I thought maybe they wired it into my panel dimmer, but turning that makes no difference.  The photocell seems to not do anything.  I did manually reduce the brightness for my night flight.  Then when I went to fly during the day, I had to manually turn the brightness back up.  Is there something I'm doing wrong that the photocell seems to not be working?

Thanks for any insights you can provide!

Adam

My GI275 AI use to look like your friends, but when the GFC 500 was installed I lost 2 of the Misc data fields and mine now looks like yours. The GFC 500 needs some of the data fields.

[AdamJD]

6 hours ago, Tom 4536 said:

My GI275 AI use to look like your friends, but when the GFC 500 was installed I lost 2 of the Misc data fields and mine now looks like yours. The GFC 500 needs some of the data fields.

But you still could keep 2 displayed at the same time? I really want TAS and wind vectors.  I can get the other 2 elsewhere.  But I can't get 2 to display at one time.

Based on your experience, I suspect that maybe the GFC500 annunciations are reserved for the bottom of the 275  and that's why the Misc Fields can't use that space.  That's the one difference between his install and mine.  I have a GFC500 and he doesn't.  

[Tom 4536]

21 hours ago, AdamJD said:

But you still could keep 2 displayed at the same time? I really want TAS and wind vectors.  I can get the other 2 elsewhere.  But I can't get 2 to display at one time.

Based on your experience, I suspect that maybe the GFC500 annunciations are reserved for the bottom of the 275  and that's why the Misc Fields can't use that space.  That's the one difference between his install and mine.  I have a GFC500 and he doesn't.  

I can have wind vectors or TAS, but not both on the AI. So, I display wind vectors on my 275 AI, and display TAS on my other 275 that displays HSI but with a turn of the knob will also display AI & TAS. Therefore I always see wind vectors, and only see TAS temporarily when I switch the HSI to the AI mode.

[AdamJD]

On 12/13/2022 at 4:44 PM, Tom 4536 said:

I can have wind vectors or TAS, but not both on the AI. So, I display wind vectors on my 275 AI, and display TAS on my other 275 that displays HSI but with a turn of the knob will also display AI & TAS. Therefore I always see wind vectors, and only see TAS temporarily when I switch the HSI to the AI mode.

That is a great workaround.  I'm going to do that too.  Thank you!

[AdamJD]

Received the final verdict.  According to the installer, you cannot display more than 1 Misc Field with the GFC500 installed.  Must need the space for annunciations.  So I will use Tom's workaround.  In 3-1 and Basic mode, there certainly is screen space for those small fields.  I hope they fix this minor annoyance - after they fix the runaway trim.

[Fly Boomer]

3 hours ago, AdamJD said:

Received the final verdict.  According to the installer, you cannot display more than 1 Misc Field with the GFC500 installed.  Must need the space for annunciations.  So I will use Tom's workaround.  In 3-1 and Basic mode, there certainly is screen space for those small fields.  I hope they fix this minor annoyance - after they fix the runaway trim.

I'd like to see Garmin fix the pitch oscillation, which I fear is a fundamental engineering faux pas.  Someday, I'm going to need an autopilot, and I'm not impressed by the experience of others on this forum.

[DiMora]

I wanted to add to this topic; I had the same issue with screen brightness.  My shop fixed it for me; we used the photocell setup option and not the aircraft's instrument lighting rheostat.  The process is described in the GI-275 installation manual page 4-39...we ended up setting the minimum brightness to something like .02

It is beyond me why Garmin didn't just make a simple 0-100 scale...but programmers are not pilots...and vice versa, so sometimes things are silly.  Now it is perfect at night and blends well with my instrument and red flood lighting in my plane.

 

One more issue with GI-275 winds:

I have 3 GI-275's PFD/ND (or attitude/heading/HSI/enhanced HSI if you prefer) in the L seat and then a MFD in the R seat.  I configured the PFD for winds, the HSI for GS and the MFD for TAS.  Cool...but there is a huge issue with the GI-275 winds.  The crosswind arrow on my PFD is 180 degrees backwards!  I also have a GTN750, and it is perfect, but the 275 is completely opposite.  Meaning if you are flying on a heading of 360 and the winds are say 100@20, you have a 4 knot tailwind and a 20 knot crosswind from R to L.  The GI-275 will correctly show the 4 knot tailwind, but it will show an arrow pointing L to R with a value of 20...(The arrow should point R to L).

I called Garmin on 6/19/2024 and they did not know about it; said to talk to the installer.  It's got to be a software issue; I'm on Firmware 3.10 but the Garmin guy told me there is V 3.2 available; I'm hoping that fixes it.