Hi Gary,
I installed an R.C.Allen electric gyro horizon from new. It was nothing
but trouble - a major pain, and I never did get a satisfactory horizon
indication from it. Most of the time it showed a diving turn when flying
straight and level. I sent it back to the factory 3 times and they did
various things to it but it never worked correctly in flight. (When
powered up on the bench, it seemed to work fine.)
Re voltage, the data sheet value for the power failure indication flag
is 11.8 volts. If your flag is up, the theory is that the instrument
should indicate correctly. If you rig up a temporary connection to a
separate dedicated battery maybe you could confirm if lower volts are a
problem during flight.
Anyway, I changed mine out for a DYNON EFIS-D10A with the remote compass
module. See http://www.dynonavionics.com/docs/EFISD10A_Intro.html. It
was a straight swap in the panel and it works very well for me. If you
get the internal battery option, this gives ~2 hours running with a dead
electrical system.
Cheers, John
N262WF, mono XS, 912S
Mooresville, North Carolina
704-664-4167
From: "Garry" <garrys@tampabay.rr.com>
Subject: Europa-List: Electrical Shortage
Being VERY electrically challenged, I'm hoping some of my smarter Europa friends
can help point me in the right direction to solve a recent problem. I have
an R.C. Allen electric artificial horizon instrument which began to "tumble"
several
months ago. I returned it to the factory and they said it tested OK, but
replaced the bearings anyway. I reinstalled it, but same thing happened.
When I telephoned the factory they suggested that perhaps I wasn't getting full
electrical power to the unit. I'm assuming by that they mean 13.2 volts (2.2
volts per battery cell, times 6 cells). The voltmeter in my panel reads 11.9
volts with radio, GPS and transponder turned on, and reads 12.1 volts when I
turn off the radio, GPS, and transponder. My Ammeter reads
003.............whatever
that means. Increasing my RPM from 4900 to 5200 increases the voltmeter
reading by about .1 volt. Do I have a voltage problem? If so, why? I've
been flying my trigear 914 for 6 years without this problem, and have not added
any additional electrical equipment to the plane in the 6 years. My battery
is 2 months old. Should I be looking at my alternator.........or my
regulator/rectifier..........or
what? Is there a way to turn up the juice (volts) going
to my artificial horizon? How would I go about trouble shooting this problem?
What fixes are most likely? If you respond, please remember the first 4
words in this email! Thanks in advance.
Garry Stout
914 tri, 460 hours, 6 years flying
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