Aera 760 Oddity

[RoundTwo]

Yesterday we plugged the Aera 760 into the plane usb plug ant the screen instantly darkened and then asked about using Mass Storage Mode. Regardless of everything I tried, I couldn’t raise the Day Backlight, I could not change the 30% backlight setting. When plugged into a car USB, I also got the same behavior but I don’t get this in the house.

Does anyone know how to disable the Mass Storage Mode? @donkaye?

[Fly Boomer]

54 minutes ago, RoundTwo said:

Yesterday we plugged the Aera 760 into the plane usb plug ant the screen instantly darkened and then asked about using Mass Storage Mode. Regardless of everything I tried, I couldn’t raise the Day Backlight, I could not change the 30% backlight setting. When plugged into a car USB, I also got the same behavior but I don’t get this in the house.

Does anyone know how to disable the Mass Storage Mode? @donkaye?

Any chance you are using the wrong cable?

[LANCECASPER]

1 hour ago, RoundTwo said:

Yesterday we plugged the Aera 760 into the plane usb plug ant the screen instantly darkened and then asked about using Mass Storage Mode. Regardless of everything I tried, I couldn’t raise the Day Backlight, I could not change the 30% backlight setting. When plugged into a car USB, I also got the same behavior but I don’t get this in the house.

Does anyone know how to disable the Mass Storage Mode? @donkaye?

That’s only supposed to happen when you plug into a computer. Was the plane usb also the usb plug that’s used to update avionics (Garmin GSB 15 USB Charger/data)? Or the car usb one that connects with the infotainment system?  
 

if the Garmin GSB15 is in your panel I believe only one of the two plugs is used for avionics interfacing and the other one should maybe provide power only. Try the Aera 760 with the Cigarette plug that came with in a lighter socket in the car or airplane.

[RoundTwo]

10 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

Any chance you are using the wrong cable?

I’m using the cable that came with the unit and I’ll add that the same cable works fine when plugged into a usb outlet in the house. Evidently it’s picking up a signal that it’s attached to a computer when it’s plugged into the plane or several cars, all with different charging adapters in cigarette lighters.

[RoundTwo]

10 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

That’s only supposed to happen when you plug into a computer. Was the plane usb also the usb plug that’s used to update avionics (Garmin GSB 15 USB Charger/data)? Or the car usb one that connects with the infotainment system?  
 

if the Garmin GSB15 is in your panel I believe only one of the two plugs is used for avionics interfacing and the other one should maybe provide power only. Try the Aera 760 with the Cigarette plug that came with in a lighter socket in the car or airplane.

No, neither.

The plane has a separate dual USB-A plug wired with only two wires, so no way it’s picking up any feed on any of the other pins. In both my truc and my mom’s car in Florida on Wednesday, it was plugged into a cigarette plug charging adapter, so only two wires there as well. But interestingly, when I use the same cable at home and plug it into a Leviton USB outlet, it works fine. I haven’t looked for one, but maybe there is a “power only” cable that might prevent it from being fooled.

I think my best option will be to go ahead and get it wired in permanently ASAP and abandon the need for the USB cable.

[RoundTwo]

15 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

That’s only supposed to happen when you plug into a computer. Was the plane usb also the usb plug that’s used to update avionics (Garmin GSB 15 USB Charger/data)? Or the car usb one that connects with the infotainment system?  
 

if the Garmin GSB15 is in your panel I believe only one of the two plugs is used for avionics interfacing and the other one should maybe provide power only. Try the Aera 760 with the Cigarette plug that came with in a lighter socket in the car or airplane.

According to Garmin, it’s looking like a low amperage condition that it is responding to. Evidently, it’s a bit power hungry. 

[LANCECASPER]

26 minutes ago, RoundTwo said:

According to Garmin, it’s looking like a low amperage condition that it is responding to. Evidently, it’s a bit power hungry. 

USB-c to USB-a cable isn’t delivering the power needed. If you were to eventually have a usb-c PD jack in the airplane that would do it, but as you say wiring it directly with a power/data interface is ultimately the nicest way to go.

[jetdriven]

Definitely wire it through a circuit breaker, and then feed the RS-232 map MX mode to the navigator. They will synchronize the flight plans it's very nice.

[Fly Boomer]

12 hours ago, RoundTwo said:

I’m using the cable that came with the unit and I’ll add that the same cable works fine when plugged into a usb outlet in the house. Evidently it’s picking up a signal that it’s attached to a computer when it’s plugged into the plane or several cars, all with different charging adapters in cigarette lighters.

Hmmm.  I was just thinking back about a hundred years when hooking up certain devices with a telephone cable with the smaller plug (not the RJ45) there were sometimes issues with the number of conductors in the wire (2 or 4).

[RoundTwo]

49 minutes ago, Fly Boomer said:

Hmmm.  I was just thinking back about a hundred years when hooking up certain devices with a telephone cable with the smaller plug (not the RJ45) there were sometimes issues with the number of conductors in the wire (2 or 4).

Yeah, those were the RJ-11 days, either 1 or 2 pairs. Since I've heard back from Garmin, it really looks like amperage limited by USB-a. which was my temporary solution anyway, so I guess that project just got moved up in priority.

[RoundTwo]

18 hours ago, jetdriven said:

Definitely wire it through a circuit breaker, and then feed the RS-232 map MX mode to the navigator. They will synchronize the flight plans it's very nice.

I’m actually thinking Serial #1 to GTX345 for traffic, Serial #2 to GNC255 for remote freq control and Bluetooth to G3X for flight plan transfers. Any reason that wouldn’t work? I’d hate to go through the wiring shenanigans only to find out something isn’t possible.