GFC 500 YD

[FADEC]

Picked up my airplane a few weeks ago after getting a GFC install with electric pitch trim and yaw dampener.  Absolutely love the GFC 500 great autopilot, but I'm not sure if the yaw dampener is working correctly. I know it not suppose to be a sub for yaw trim but here is how I am using it and how its responding hoping that some with with the GFC 500 with yaw dampener can let me know if this is correct behavior. 

On climb out I place the aircraft in trim and engage the yaw dampener, if I relax pressure on the peddles the airplane will go back out of trim.  I can feel the peddles making rapid small inputs against my feet. I normally turn it back off put the aircraft back in trim and leave it off.

Once established in cruise and everything is trimmed and leaned out with the aircraft in trip I reengage the yaw dampener and relax pressure.  The plane tends to settle 1/4 ball out of trim and again I can feel rapid small inputs against my feet.  After a period of time it feels like the plane starts to very subtlety hunt in the yaw axis.  

I'm assuming that it is not operating correctly, the ride with the yaw dampener seems to be measurably worse with the yaw dampener engaged.  

From reading posts on here about the GFC500 yaw dampener seems like the behavior I am getting is not correct.  Any feedback would be welcomed.

 

Andy

 

[mhrivnak]

That doesn't sound right. If turning it on makes the ride worse, something is definitely wrong.

In smooth air, I find that the yaw damper does nothing. It's definitely not intended to be rudder trim. I leave it off during climbs and fast descents so I can manually apply the appropriate rudder input.

In turbulent air, turning the yaw damper on and off has an obvious impact on the amount of yaw that the turbulence induces.

I think it's time to take your installer for a flight.

As an aside, while most people (myself included) seem to initially assume that these are called "yaw dampeners", they are in actuality called "yaw dampers". I don't know why.

[ArtVandelay]

Could be a configuration issue,like the AHRS or the GFC parameters, get the shop to look at it. If you have a G3X it has a log on the sdcard they can look at to see what’s happening.

[LANCECASPER]

11 hours ago, mhrivnak said:

As an aside, while most people (myself included) seem to initially assume that these are called "yaw dampeners", they are in actuality called "yaw dampers". I don't know why.

You're attempting to damp (check or retard the energy, action, etc) the yaw, not dampen (moisten) it. Every autopilot manufacturer calls it a damper, so I'm going to go with that. But you hear dampener occasionally so it doesn't make a lot of difference - we all know what you mean. Sort of like when people say "irregardless" we know they mean regardless.

[Pinecone]

Dampen also means to make less strong or intense.  So it is also an appropriate term

[201Mooniac]

I had much the same issue when I first had mine installed.  It turned out the cable tensions were right in the middle of the range and Garmin suggested they be tightened to the top of the tension range.  Also, I had a little bit of friction (not noticeable to me hand flying) in the controls and I had them carefully lubricated,  After those two things everything worked as described by @mhrivnak above.  Checking the gains and settings is important though as it is easy to get one wrong.