SonexBuilders.net

Greetings,

How many people are using the MGL iEFIS Lite units now? Anything good or bad to report about them? I've been thinking of using the Explorer size in my Onex, and I just thought I'd ask about opinions before I start spending money. It would be really hard to beat for ease of installation, and capabilities. I also really like the RDAC design, but I have heard a few people mention issues with the RDAC units.

Thanks,
Rusty

I am weeks away from my first flight so I can only speak of installation and customer service. Matt at MGL has been great and friendly. When I have any questions, he responds very quickly.

As for the install, it was incredibly easy. I purchased the lite, Sandia remote transponder and v6 radio. Add to that the air temp probe, cht, egt, oil temp, oil pressure and the most important part...his wire harness kit. It was a plug and play with minimal soldering needed. His harness kit has three audio inputs (efis, aux in for music and a third I have my iPad w garmin pilot on). This gives me audio alerts to weather and traffic. The v6 can lower or mute all background music when an alert from the efis or traffic starts. Music resumes after. Same when the v6 is in rx or tx.

The menus and setup were easy. Now I'm 2020 adsb compliant.

I really wanted the Dynon because of the ability to load flight plans from fore flight but the $2,500 in additional product cost just wasn't worth it. If you interested call Matt directly.

Thanks for the comments. I've already bugged Matt with a few questions, so I know he's good at answering them. It's amazing that one device can be your entire panel, and it would be nice to have two of them, but I don't have the panel space or budget for that. I'll also have the V6, but no transponder. Once I'm into the phase 1 time, I'll add an ipad and ForeFlight as well.

Rusty

jjbardell wrote:I am weeks away from my first flight so I can only speak of installation and customer service. Matt at MGL has been great and friendly. When I have any questions, he responds very quickly.

Ditto to the above. Haven't flown it yet, but I have done all my ground running with the unit and like it a lot, great features in such a small package.

The screen programming is a bit intimidating and not exactly user friendly, but with enough patience and guidance from MGL you can setup the screens to pretty much whatever you desire. Or MGL says they can set them up for you, given your desired parameters.

Right now my only remaining issue is getting a correct RPM reading, but I think this has more to do with the RDAC than the iEfis lite. I just need to find the correct settings.

Something to keep in mind when designing your electrical system around the iEfis. You'll want the screen and the RDAC switched ON during engine startups (MGL confirmed this is fine) so you have engine instrumentation. However you'll want your radio switched off (it's more sensitive to startup voltage spikes.) The V6 in particular doesn't have its own off switch, so I have an avionics switch and a separate radio switch (I'd put a transponder on the radio switch also if I had one.)

jjbardell wrote:I am weeks away from my first flight so I can only speak of installation and customer service. Matt at MGL has been great and friendly. When I have any questions, he responds very quickly.

As for the install, it was incredibly easy. I purchased the lite, Sandia remote transponder and v6 radio. Add to that the air temp probe, cht, egt, oil temp, oil pressure and the most important part...his wire harness kit. It was a plug and play with minimal soldering needed. His harness kit has three audio inputs (efis, aux in for music and a third I have my iPad w garmin pilot on). This gives me audio alerts to weather and traffic. The v6 can lower or mute all background music when an alert from the efis or traffic starts. Music resumes after. Same when the v6 is in rx or tx.

The menus and setup were easy. Now I'm 2020 adsb compliant.

I really wanted the Dynon because of the ability to load flight plans from fore flight but the $2,500 in additional product cost just wasn't worth it. If you interested call Matt directly.

Can you post a pic of your panel please.
Thanks
Ben

I know you didn't ask but here's a pic of mine. Standard size Sonex/Waiex panel. iEfis Discovery lite.

Rynoth wrote:
Right now my only remaining issue is getting a correct RPM reading, but I think this has more to do with the RDAC than the iEfis lite. I just need to find the correct settings.

I'm pretty sure I've ready a few comments about RPM issues, but I think everyone eventually sorted it out. Hopefully it will be an easy fix for you.

Cheers,
Rusty

13brv3 wrote:

Rynoth wrote:
Right now my only remaining issue is getting a correct RPM reading, but I think this has more to do with the RDAC than the iEfis lite. I just need to find the correct settings.

I'm pretty sure I've ready a few comments about RPM issues, but I think everyone eventually sorted it out. Hopefully it will be an easy fix for you.

Cheers,
Rusty

I had mostly chased the alternator RPM gremlins from my old RDAC XD, but they returned with the new XF. Reads find and accurate from 0 - 2000 but above that it goes nutz. I also have a hall sensor pickup on my flywheel and just switched to that instead of trying to scare those gremlins away. they are very pesky.

Nice panel Ryan, thanks for sharing.

Well, it appears I just solved my rpm indication problem. I switched to the other lead from the alternator, now it works great. The wires aren't labeled, so it if doesn't work on one, try the other.