uAvionix announces its certified AV-30 magnetometer preorder

hindsight2020 said:
Ended up installing an RCA 2610 last month to satisfy AC 91-75. I was drawn by the lack of pitot-static connection, really simplified the installation. Space savings was also nice compared to the TC it ended up replacing, which is nice since the back of that panel is a rat's nest to work on.

My only complaint was the unit cost, which is why I'm taking it with me to the replacement aircraft. Since I'm married to an OEM autopilot feeding from vacuum AI and DG, I keep the vacuum system in the cert spam can. In an experimental I know I'll keep for the duration, I'd have no issue going to an all electric suite, especially since I plan on doing [non-competition] aerobatics and formation work, so moving away from mechanical instruments would fare a bit better for longevity.
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I was super happy with my RCA 2600, and the 2610 is supposedly even better. Solid, reliable product, and crazy simple to install. 4 screws and 2 wires. Planned to keep it when I restored my Decathlon, but I set it on the roof of my truck one night and forgot. Found it banging around the truck bed a few days later. Had been rained on. Still works!! But I decided that was pretty good reason to replace.

I went with the AV-30C because of the capability to switch between the AI and DG. Finishing the install now. Every now and then I look at that Mini 6 and wish I had stuck with RCA.

I converted my pitot static to push-on fittings and PU tubing. Way more easy to install and modify. Installed a 6 port manifold for static, so really easy to add devices.

Capture.PNG

https://www.kitplanes.com/all-about-avionics-pitot-static/
 
Wagondriver said:
I liked Uavionix early on, but after having a tail beacon, I won’t buy one of their products again.
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I have their Echo UAT unit in my experiential. Easy install, easy setup, and flawless performance.
 
Just finished building the d-sub harness for my AV-30 install. Wired for Magnetometer, OAT, and GPS. Did not see much point in audio. Everything has to be shielded, even power, which is a little ridiculous.

PXL_20230410_214050110.jpg
 
Ed Haywood said:
Just installed my AV-30 and noticed it aligns with the compass. That is without any setup or preset on the AV-30. Must have some kind of internal magnetometer.

View attachment 116681
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Look at the part number. If it ends in -002, then it does have an internal magnetometer. If it ends in -001 then it does not.

The internal magnetometer is supposed to help with drift but not provide true slaving. GPS input supposedly helps it even more, so you might want to figure out a way to feed it from your portable.
 
asicer said:
Look at the part number. If it ends in -002, then it does have an internal magnetometer. If it ends in -001 then it does not.

The internal magnetometer is supposed to help with drift but not provide true slaving. GPS input supposedly helps it even more, so you might want to figure out a way to feed it from your portable.
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I pre-wired my AV-30 for GPS input, should I ever get a portable.
 
So, if the AV-30 is connected to both an external magnetometer and a GPS, which one does it slave to?
 
In our av30 you can choose gps track, or heading. The magnetometer probably slaves the heading, but you would still have option to use GPS trk.
 
Ed Haywood said:
So, if the AV-30 is connected to both an external magnetometer and a GPS, which one does it slave to?
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The GPS does not provide magnetic heading, only ground track. If the AV-30 does not have an external magnetometer hooked up, the GPS supposedly helps with the DG drift, therefore there is nothing to slave to without an external magnetometer. uAvionix has not said exactly how GPS helps with the drift, or even stated that it does via formal channels, but I imagine that ground track probably provides some sort of stable reference for filtering noise in the gyro/force sensor data.
 
Ok, but if connected to external magnetometer and GPS, what does the DG face indicate: heading or track?

In standalone configuration, the face indicates heading, with periodic adjustment to compass needed.

When connected to GPS, the face indicates track, with a heading bug (I think).

So when connected to both magnetometer and GPS, is the behavior the same as when connected to GPS alone, eg face indicates track and bug indicates heading?
 
Ed Haywood said:
Ok, but if connected to external magnetometer and GPS, what does the DG face indicate: heading or track?

In standalone configuration, the face indicates heading, with periodic adjustment to compass needed.

When connected to GPS, the face indicates track, with a heading bug (I think).

So when connected to both magnetometer and GPS, is the behavior the same as when connected to GPS alone, eg face indicates track and bug indicates heading?
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Ah, that's an entirely different question. There's a lot going on, so we can look at the G5 for completeness:
g5-dghsi-wlpm.jpg


The orange lubber line is compass heading, but you already knew that. If you ignore all that magenta stuff, it's just like a DG except that it's slaved and therefore you never need to adjust it. The blue thing is your heading bug, but you already knew that too. What's new and handy is the digital representation of the heading above the lubber line and the bug in the lower right corner. Both are actually handy in some circumstances, but we'll get to that in a minute. On your GPS, you'll have TRK (actual track in degrees), DTK (desired track in degrees) and XTE (cross-track error in miles). The magenta arrow head is DTK and the deviation bar is XTE, which in this picture indicates that your airplane is to the left of DTK. The dashed white line from the airplane to the small magenta triangle is TRK. When you are perfectly on course, all three magenta items will be lined up, but because of crosswind correction they can be offset to the right or left of the lubber line.

Coming to the AV-30, it has a couple of different modes. The first of which turns off guidance, which was advisory anyway. This should be self-explanatory.
avmag-wide.jpg

The next is more comparable to the G5.
av-30c.jpg

In this picture both the heading bug and the lubber line are pointing to due North. I don't know why they chose magenta for the bug instead of blue. Maybe the bug is slaved to TRK, but then that raises the question of why the numerical representation on the left is green instead of magenta. The green triangle at 16degrees is bearing to the station, like on an RMI. DTK is the magenta arrowhead as on the G5 but here pointing at 23degrees and the deviation bar is XTE also like the G5 but here they also have a numerical representation on the right.

And then we come to the GPS Arc-Map mode.
uavionx-av-30-hsi-800x800.jpg


Similar to the previous, except that it's an arc instead of a full circle and there's no more deviation bar. As the name implies the inside of the face is now a map and the magenta arrowhead is replaced with a course line overlaid onto the map.

In any case, there's a Windows simulator that you can use to get the hang of the modes. It's been a while since I played with it, so feel free to correct my mistakes in this post.
https://uavionix.com/support/av-30-c/
 
asicer said:
In this picture both the heading bug and the lubber line are pointing to due North. I don't know why they chose magenta for the bug instead of blue. Maybe the bug is slaved to TRK, but then that raises the question of why the numerical representation on the left is green instead of magenta.
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Thanks for the detailed write up. Very helpful!

Here's where my confusion comes in. Based on the pilots guide, which is not completely clear, it sounds like the lubber line in HSI mode indicates TRK, not heading.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Here's where my confusion comes in. Based on the pilots guide, which is not completely clear, it sounds like the lubber line in HSI mode indicates TRK, not heading.
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Yeah, I saw that too. No doubt that it's poorly written. But if you think about it, if the lubber line indicated TRK then there would be nothing else on the instrument to indicate heading, and that's its primary function.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Here's where my confusion comes in. Based on the pilots guide, which is not completely clear, it sounds like the lubber line in HSI mode indicates TRK, not heading.
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Which is what I’ve been trying to tell everyone for a long time now. The “HSI” page is nothing of the sort. It simply shows GPS track and your course deviation.

The uAvionix documentation is mediocre at best.
 
In that "HSI" page I change one of the custom fields to HDG. However, I have to cycle through the pages to the page where I can reset the heading when it needs adjustment.
 
For those interested, uAvionix stated today that the HSI and autopilot integration for the AV-30 is still being worked. Getting AVmag certified has been the bigger issue, but the others have not been dropped. For those with the skyBeacon, and wanting ADS-b in they are getting skySensor TSOd for the other wing with dual band in receiver.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Just finished building the d-sub harness for my AV-30 install. Wired for Magnetometer, OAT, and GPS. Did not see much point in audio. Everything has to be shielded, even power, which is a little ridiculous.

View attachment 116497
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You should install a db-9 for the serial port while you have the harness on the bench. It will make the firmware updates a breeze.
 
AV-Mag is STC approved, but isn‘t shipping yet. Maybe suffering from part supply issues.
 
Wagondriver said:
I liked Uavionix early on, but after having a tail beacon, I won’t buy one of their products again. The tail beacons and sky beacons are junk. I know of several failures, including my own. Then, the customer service was horrible as well. I know of avionics shops that won’t sell the because “everyone one of them will fail”.
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I've got over 400 hours in our two Cardinals this past year alone and both Skybeacons are working just fine. Everything fails given enough time, thanks to the laws of entropy, so I'm sure that's an accurate statement, to some degree, but so far ours are holding up.
 
RyanShort1 said:
Everything fails given enough time
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It's also an accurate statement that devices exposed to the elements fail faster, unless built with sufficient protection. Not saying that is not the case with wing and tail beacons, but exterior mounting does add several additional potential failure modes compared to an under-panel device.
 
Ed Haywood said:
It's also an accurate statement that devices exposed to the elements fail faster, unless built with sufficient protection. Not saying that is not the case with wing and tail beacons, but exterior mounting does add several additional potential failure modes compared to an under-panel device.
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Let me mix the certified & experimental stuff a bit to say that I have the Echo unit with the exterior mounted GPS antenna. The echo unit is mounted inside, out of the sunlight, rain, and extreme temperatures. I'm guessing that much of the same build quality and technology is used on all their units. It might even be said that the certified units are better built.

This would seem to support your assertion that these units exposed to the elements would tend to fail sooner if not built to withstand the elements they are subjected to. I've had the Echo installed for nearly three years without any concern at all ...
 
Ed Haywood said:
It's also an accurate statement that devices exposed to the elements fail faster, unless built with sufficient protection. Not saying that is not the case with wing and tail beacons, but exterior mounting does add several additional potential failure modes compared to an under-panel device.
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Yeah, but I'd bet good money that the birds I manage are flying a LOT more than most of the other birds out there with the stuff installed, so I'd be more likely to experience a failure by now, whether from the elements, or just hourly usage.
 
mondtster said:
Which is what I’ve been trying to tell everyone for a long time now. The “HSI” page is nothing of the sort. It simply shows GPS track and your course deviation.

The uAvionix documentation is mediocre at best.
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I purchased a set of these AV30's; AI, and DG; the AI works ok, but the DG does not, The unit simply does not perform a reliable DG function. I have had it installed since April, and the DG would drift 15-30 degrees, and lately , it drifts a lot more; 90degrees on a flight of one hour; I even brought my flight instructor along and we tried to fly some instrument approaches in VFR conditions; and the DG drifted wildly. I ordered the magnetometer in april, and am still waiting on it, currently it is connected to the GNS 430waas, and it does not help; it would be shaky to fly ifr with this unit . If I had it to do over again, I would have purchased the dual G5's, Uavionix had to know about this problem before they released the product. My original steam gauges worked much much better. I would never ever recommend this product to anyone!!
 
I did try screen #2, and #3 as depicted above, and they both work a little better than screen #1, but it is the track received from the GPS,
That was a good explanation of the screens.
 
ktup-flyer said:
Not yet. It failed on my base turn yesterday
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That's pretty crazy that an AHI approved for IFR could fail in flight with no internal fault detection or alert. My RCA 2600 gave me a big red X when it lost orientation during sustained aerobatics. Usually restored itself within 5-10 seconds. DG reversion capability would be useless if the primary AI did not know it had faulted.

Please let us know how the magnetometer performs.
 
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KEVIN BURKE said:
I purchased a set of these AV30's; AI, and DG; the AI works ok, but the DG does not, The unit simply does not perform a reliable DG function. ...
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This is not surprising because the AI shows direct measurement of the accelerometer, while the DG has to integrate from acceleration to get position. This integration has cumulative error.

My AV-30C both work "OK" (Cessna 172 superhawk with vac system removal). It's nice to know that I'm never going to have to overhaul another vac pump or gyro ever again. The DG drifts about 5* / 15 minutes which is about the same as a mechanical gyro. I've adjusted all the trims, etc. in setup and that's as good as it gets. uAvionix support has been very responsive and they say this is typical. The built-in internal magnetometer drifts worse, apparently because of all the EMI behind the panel. So running it unslaved and setting every 15 mins or so is good enough for me - I'm used to that, having done it for years with the mechanical. While I am considering adding the external magnetometer, I don't feel any urgency.
 
My AV-MAG arrived from Aircraft Spruce a few days ago. Won't have a chance to install it for a couple weeks. Good to hear positive PIREPs about it.

The reports from OshKosh on new AV-30 functionality are encouraging, if the certification can happen somewhat quickly. Experimentation world gets things first, of course.
 
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