Has anyone installed a uAvionix AV-20S/AV-30?

[MichaelFarley56]

Greetings Everyone,

As I walked around the vendor buildings last week at AirVenture, I stopped by the uAvionix booth to ask a few questions on their EchoUAT (planning on installing one). While I was there, I took a look at the new AV-20S, 12 in 1 MFD EFIS display. This little thing looks pretty cool and I have a perfect spot in my panel for such a little EFIS unit. I like the idea that, even if I don't tap into my pitot/static lines, the AV-20S is supposed to give me a full artificial horizon and inclinometer, along with a ton of other options. If I do tap into the pitot/static lines it also offers an AOA system.

Before I really consider ordering one though, I was curious if anyone on here has installed one or had any experience with it. Do they work as advertised?

Thanks everyone!

[GraemeSmith]

Quite a few over at the Cessna 150/2 group are singing the praises of the AC30. I've extracted some comments that seem relevant - keeping it to the last six months as the units get into the field and used.

Though they have been a bit twitchy to get set up correctly. uAvionix sent this process to some members and it seems to make a difference:

Startup:
-Battery master applied while stationary on a level surface in front of the hangar.
-The AV-30's are left running for three minutes completely stationary. Nothing else in the aircraft is powered other than the electric turn coordinator and intercom system.
-Shut down master
-Apply battery master and let the aircraft sit stationary for 5 minutes until engine start.
-Engine Start

Shutdown:
-Aircraft is positioned in the middle of the taxiway on a straight and level surface
-All electrical equipment shut down in the aircraft other than the two AV-30's and the electric turn coordinator.
-Alternator Off
-Mixture pull, propeller comes to a full resting stop.
-Mags Off
-Wait 30 seconds, Battery master shut down.

We are currently doing some flight tests and hope to have a solution for you, this current solution would be temporary.
Because your units have gotten a bad calibration, we might look at bringing in your unit and sending some other ones. Let us know if you see a difference in applying these steps a few times.

Though a few reported multiple calibration attempts before they would work correctly.

There have been problems with precession on the DG heading - which uAvionix say has been solved with a firmware upgrade and at least one member there sent theirs back for a screen that went dim.

Clean power with no ripples or spikes seems to be important.

It MUST be installed level and square to the aircraft axes to deliver good heading information.

In the overall scheme of things though - folks seem happy. They have been the early adopters and survived the experience.

Here a selection of comments:

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DonB
Make sure you system is wired in accordance with the Notes in the wiring instruction. Pay close attention to the shields and keeping all the unshielded wire connections inside the D-Subs. You might not think it makes a difference but it really does.


Mike Brennan
Well I will say that aside from this problem (DG drifting) which I am hopeful and mildly confident will get fixed, I am super happy with the two units I purchased and had installed. All the other features work great and the the removal of the vacuum system not only saved some weight but odds were I would experience a failure of the system in the not to distant future. They look good, are easy to read and are interchangeable if necessary. Pricewise I think they are a winner. Just a few growing pains for being an early adopter!

A key feature of the AV-30 is the internal DG, which would allow you to replace both the attitude indicator and directional gyro in a vacuum airplane. Overall it worked well, remaining accurate for 20-30 minutes at a time. uAvionix says a software update readied since my unit was built improves that performance. And while this unit didn’t prove as steady as a system with a magnetometer, which constantly corrects itself, it’s worlds ahead of your typical vacuum gyro. Remember how bad those could be? One possibly important distinction here: The AV-30 does not have a dedicated rate-of-turn indicator, which would be an issue for Experimentals whose operating limitations say they can fly IFR as long as they’re equipped in accordance with FAR 91.205; that FAR explicitly requires a rate-of-turn indicator. In this case, you’d need to keep your old turn coordinator alive to be strictly legal, while the other instrument-hole EFISes we’re familiar with do include the rate-of-turn feature.

[lakespookie]

I Personally am not a huge fan of the AV-30 offerings, especially in the experimental market were we can get the discount pricing on the G5 from garmin,

Here is a list of reasons i dont like the AV-30
1. Menu system and button context does not make logical sense, and is counter intuitive,
2. No magnetometer so the HSI offering is essentially a DG and does not auto correct.
3. Points 1 and 2 really show on the HSI when the default button press brings up changing the DG setting as opposed to the bug, sure you can probably train yourself around this but it just does not flow as i would expect most glass to work.
4. the DG drifts pretty significantly in my experience.
5. the button responsivness was not the best.

Do they work yes but in my experience the Garmin offering is just a little better in every aspect some examples that stand out; Display clarity, button response, menu workflow, battery backup duration,

The biggest negative of the garmin is probably the square display form factor and that it juts past the panel when installed, and that you need to add additional sensors to unlock some of the features, the Magnomoter is cheap enough the Air temp probe is a little pricey, that being said you can also interface the G5 with a GFC-%07 which is my favorite AP.

The question is what is your mission and your needs and your budget.

Personally I think the quality of the garmin avionics is worth dealing with the peacemealing they like to do for profitability, in terms of this particular combination from person experience having flown behind both i would take the g5 any day over the AV-30. install based on the documentation i have read should be close.

[MichaelFarley56]

Personally, I would also agree that the G5 is a better primary artificial horizon replacement as compared to the AV-30 although I have heard uAvionix has released a firmware update that supposedly fixes a lot of the AV-30’s “drifting DG” issues.

Not sure about others but I’m leaning towards the AV-20s simply based on it fitting in a 2.25” instrument spot, it has a built in AHRS for an artificial horizon (which is a primary reason id like to add it…just in case) along with all of the other built in functions, and the fact it’s under $900.

I have flown behind Garmin G5’s and other Garmin EFIS systems and agree…they’re high quality products!

[lakespookie]

For the smaller form factor you kind of are limited on the options.