G1000/GTX345 Traffic Fail

[David Underwood]

Hi All,

Looking for some help, avionics shop is awesome but hitting a wall here. Garmin support is working on it but no progress.

2007 T206H, G1000, GTX 345R Tx, KTA-810 TAS
Software all at latest versions

Scenario: Plane has been powered off for more than approximately 15 mins. Bring up the Master and Avionics. Everything loads, and then I get "Traffic Fail". If I reset the transponder (pull breaker), it clears and works - otherwise it will persist. If I shut everything down, and start back up, it starts and functions normally - as long as the avionics have been up within the last 15 mins. Wait 15 mins, it goes back to failing.

The problem cropped up after upgrading both the G1000 and GTX 345R software versions, unfortunately we did both back to back and didn't catch the issue at the time. Everything is fine after a Tx reset or an avionics reboot.

In the Garmin GTX data logging app, it's showing a “1090 RX FAULT” - Garmin believes that indicates an IACO mismatch, but that is correct in both locations. Wiring is confirmed correct, ports are confirmed correct.

Anyone else experience this? Had someone suggest the magnetometer, and also to wire the TAS/Tx separately (that doesn't comply with the STC).

Thanks - Dave

 

[AVDB]

[QUOTE=" Wiring is confirmed correct, ports are confirmed correct.[/QUOTE]
Is your KTA 810- GTX 345R wiring diagram is the same as in Installation Manual?

Is your KTA 810- GTX 345R-G1000 configuration is the same as in Installation Manual?

 

[AVDB]

Just for reference, here is a list of all GTX faults

 

[David Underwood]

Thanks, @AVDB - looks like the diagram they showed me, and he's confirmed the wiring and the bus settings, but I'll share this with the shop.

 

[Matt Horan]

Dave, did you ever get anywhere with this? Sorry for dredging up this thread but I seem to be experiencing nearly the same issue on a 2007 DA40 with G1000 and GTX-345. The shop found a number of issues so far but those have been addressed, and now I'm left wondering what's going on with my transponder. I also have an active traffic system (TAS600) but we disconnected that for troubleshooting and the issues persist. My G1000 software was updated when I had GIA-63s swapped for GIA-63Ws for WAAS. I started getting traffic fail alerts around the same time.

Note that in my case, I usually only see this once per flight, and resetting the transponder as you've stated resolves. However, if I am doing some takeoffs and landings in the pattern, I do end up seeing it again sometimes. The only way to resolve is to cycle the XPDR breaker. Traffic continues to show on my iPad, but will never show again on the G1000 until I power cycle the XPDR. The LRU status page shows an GDU 90 fail. FIS-B weather continues to work on the G1000, so it seems something to do with traffic only. Garmin has been incredibly unhelpful, and I'm sure the next steps recommended by my shop (Lancaster Avionics) will be a transponder exchange and I'm sure that'll be pricey.

 

[Airworx]

I also have a 2007 DA40 with G1000 and the 345R that experienced similar issues. I pulled the 345R, cleaned the contacts with Deoxit and re-racked the box and my lost traffic issue went away. Last week I spent some time with a Garmin tech who thought I should probably reload my G1000. He explained that over the years the software slowly gets corrupted and this can also cause the traffic issue. Good luck.

 

[Matt Horan]

Thanks @Airworx . I have re-racked the transponder (and the GIAs as well). I did just find out that the transponder software was likely updated as part of the WAAS upgrade so that may be something to check out. The G1000 software was just updated as well, so it wouldn't surprise me given what I'm hearing about the software updates if something went wrong there.

 

[SnoFlyer]

Last week I spent some time with a Garmin tech who thought I should probably reload my G1000. He explained that over the years the software slowly gets corrupted and this can also cause the traffic issue.

As a software engineer I find that completely horrifying on an essential system like an EFIS. Does the G1000 run in Win95 or something?

I would seriously hope that's not the case...

 

[jrcox19]

As a software engineer I find that completely horrifying on an essential system like an EFIS. Does the G1000 run in Win95 or something?

I would seriously hope that's not the case...

Whatever Garmin rep told him that was 100% lying. Software/config slowly corrupting itself over time is definitely not certifiable.

 

[MonkeyClaw]

As a software engineer I find that completely horrifying on an essential system like an EFIS. Does the G1000 run in Win95 or something?

I would seriously hope that's not the case...

Obviously it's written in Java.

And it's total BS.

 

[mondtster]

Whatever Garmin rep told him that was 100% lying. Software/config slowly corrupting itself over time is definitely not certifiable.

I suspect something got lost in translation during that conversation or someone suggested reloading the firmware to cure another problem and the reason the recommendation was made was misunderstood. I have not personally been responsible for loading the G1000 from scratch but I know it takes forever and there are plenty of opportunities to screw it up.

That said, loading databases is a bit convoluted and I’ve suspected that I’ve had databases become corrupted after a while. Perhaps that was what was being referred to.

 

[Rgbeard]

…….. Does the G1000 run in Win95 or something?

I would seriously hope that's not the case...

Let’s hope it’s a variation of Windows Vista!!

 

[Matt Horan]

After months of troubleshooting it seems the source of my issues was a simple configuration error. The ARINC-429 output on the GIA-63(W) must be set to high speed. For some reason, the output connected to my GTX-345 was set to low (and an unused output was set to high, but there can only be one high speed and one low speed general purpose output). This seems to have been changed by the shop that performed my WAAS upgrade, which explains the coincident failure.

 

[HIOBill]

I am seeing the same issue in my 2014 Cirrus SR22T. It got a new Garmin 345R installed about two years ago. No issues seen once in the air.

 

[Matt Horan]

Definitely check your ARINC-429 configuration on the G1000. You can do this yourself by booting up into maintenance mode. Pull the PFD and MFD breakers, flip on the master, push in the PFD breaker holding the ENT key waiting for "INITIALIZING" to be shown, then do the same for the MFD. You'll need to go to the GIA configuration page and switch to GIA #2. You should have a high speed GEN PURPOSE output wired to your GTX-345. If you have more than one GEN PURPOSE output configured, and one is low speed, that may be your issue if it is feeding the GTX-345R.


Once I had the speed issue fixed, all my issues went away. Unfortunately you'll need an avionics shop to fix any configuration issue here, as it requires access to the special GTX-345R configuration software only available through the dealer portal.

Note that Lancaster Avionics did make one additional change which was running a dedicated heading output from this ARINC-429 output to the GTX-345R (so two ARINC-429 inputs to the GTX-345R.) However, I believe the speed issue was the root cause and this heading issue is only known to be a problem for GIA-63W (WAAS) units.