Aspen

frfly172

frfly172

Touchdown! Greaser!
PoA Supporter
Joined
Oct 22, 2008
Messages
17,081
Location
mass fla
Display Name
Display name:
ron keating
Looking for a shop in Fla. With reasonable rates to overhaul an aspen pro unit.
 
Take it to Saint Avionics .... he is really helpful here and last check he has been doing some Aspen E5 installes and Trutraks too.... looks like he is near Ocala
 
At this point I am very non-committal on the Aspen products. I have 2 E5's sitting on the shelf and one installed that is still waiting on a functioning RSM. We installed it 5 weeks ago and haven't heard Boo from Aspen on a fix for the RSM problem.
 
why would an aspen unit need an "overhaul"? What does that mean? Isn't that a euphemism for the thing is toast and you need to get another one? Does Aspen not have a flat rate repair policy like the Garmin critters do?
 
Checking any options that may be available.
 
Aspen finally contacted the customer the other day and said they found problems with the RSM when the cable to the RSM was too long. Hopefully shortening the cable will fix the problem, but we’ll see.
 
Jesse Saint said:
Aspen finally contacted the customer the other day and said they found problems with the RSM when the cable to the RSM was too long. Hopefully shortening the cable will fix the problem, but we’ll see.
Click to expand...

Did they say what’s too long? Sounds like it could be a constant problem for an average installation, que no?

Did they answer why the GPS RSM worked just dandy and the non GPS one didn’t?
 
Unit74 said:
Did they say what’s too long? Sounds like it could be a constant problem for an average installation, que no?

Did they answer why the GPS RSM worked just dandy and the non GPS one didn’t?
Click to expand...

From the tech conversation I had with Aspen yesterday, there were a few where the shorter cable fix was employed with success. I got the impression that they are now using a thicker cable also as a result of this. I can only guess on why the older RSMs are less affected by signal loss BUT I'll bet it had something to do with FAA having them improve the resistance to lightning on the E5 RSM late in the approval process. Overall I'm satisfied with the follow up by Aspen and having flown again (twice) today, the E5 is working well and I'm happy with it. I look at this as teething pains from being one of the first ones installed.
 
My installer called me today. He had talked to Aspen (they called him to give him up update as they knew mine was going in) and got the same explanation. They found that the 30 foot (I think 30?) cable that is shipped for the RSM was having noise issues at about 25 feet in length. The RSM issues they had found, was where the installer didn't trim the excess cable off, and made a big-ass service loop with whatever was remaining. My cabling was only about 14 total including the service loop he left, which is why we didn't see any issues with the RSM.

I imagine this was a tricky ghost to find for Aspen. Their test benches were probably already wired up with a short length of cabling so they'd never see the issue even with the returned units.

I go Monday to sit in the airplane and sign-off on all the work he's done, before the installer puts the interior back together. I had a crap ton of other work done while he was doing the E5, wired in some front and rear seat audio inputs so my 3 year old can listen to her iPad and ABC Mouse game without disturbing us, or ATC disturbing her. hah. He also had to fix a bunch of pitot-static plumbing hack-jobs that'd been done over the 40+ years of its life. I have no idea how it didn't leak like a sieve. Hopefully if Monday's sign-off goes good, I'll be flying it home Next Friday to play with the Aspen.
 
Good luck with it Lynn! just an fyi on the cable, was perusing the paperwork and mine is 35 feet long. The bummer is that you can't do a simple splice on it and it has to be cut from the front. Of course my Lasso is in the back. You're going to enjoy flying with it, it really is a nice, functional display.
 
Thanks flybuddy. Glad you got yours straightened out and are enjoying it. I owe ya a few adult beverages for being the sacrificial lamb on figuring out the cable weirdness. Hah.
 
just sent my unit to aspen , has an airspeed problem.will see how that go,s.
 
I’m sure Aspen won’t send cables that long any more. The harness shops often will use the full length provided to allow flexibility in installation. Of course, the assumption would always be that Aspen wouldn’t provide more cable than would be functional, so our harness shop used the full cable. Any lasso would be stored where there is less congestion, which is why it’s in the tail.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top