Going Stratus ESG/Stratus 3i

Huckster79

Huckster79

Pattern Altitude
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Huckster79
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I almost pulled the trigger on a tailbeacon for my old king76a, but have had a change of mind.

I’ve decided to go Appereo Strates ESG and Stratis 3i combo.

The unit has gps internally, The a&p package includes the gps antenna, mounting supplies, and the stratus 3i for $3250 before a $200 rebate for any old mode c unit...

The kicker for me was the Stratus 3i... just like our dashboard units but it uses the transponders antenna and a charger that goes to the transponder so it can all go behind panel..

That’s a heck of a value to be updating to a new 5yr warranty unit with IN and OUT... I’ll use IN more when it’s already on board, I don’t have to bring it, charge it or have a chord to the cig lighter...

I just think for a basic airplane this is a lot of bang for about 4.5 AMUs...
 
I've installed two of them so far and they work great. Toughest part to get used to is not switching from stdby to alt and back.
Easily the biggest bang for the buck in ads-b in/out transponder. You'll probably want to update your mode C encoder to an RS-232 type but that's cheap
 
aftCG said:
I've installed two of them so far and they work great. Toughest part to get used to is not switching from stdby to alt and back.
Easily the biggest bang for the buck in ads-b in/out transponder. You'll probably want to update your mode C encoder to an RS-232 type but that's cheap
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That was already figured in as my old one is shot anyway... and why go that far and leave a pretty inexpensive part as antique I figure.
 
MBDiagMan said:
I agree! You’re gonna love it!

Make sure you report back after you’ve flown with it.
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thanks, thanks for chiming in on that other thread too originally. Your post and one other friend doubting the wisdom of going tailbeacon got me reconsidering. I had looked before at these but then got in the mode “I’d I’m Gunna do it- I’ll do it barebones to be compliant”

then seeing last week in my club plane an airplane on my iPad from my stratus that was same alt 90 degrees different travel than me and converging. At two miles apart I turned 90 then spotted him at my 9 o’clock heading the opposite way of me... all was good. But it was marginal vfr and snow showers- without those extra “eyes” it potentially was too close for comfort. It was near the neighboring airport as we got home from a few hours up north... it hit me I only take the stratus with me on long flights but this happened next door to home... with that onboard it’ll be there for every last minute “for the heck of it” flight... and I do a lot of those... 170 the last 12 months :)
 
Great unit. Works really well. The big downside is no adsb-in traffic shared to panel units - only portables.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk
 
Just installed the same system in my homebuilt. Really easy install once I figured out I was given the wrong wiring harness. Figuring out I had the wrong wiring harness was not so easy... Seems to work great so far.

I was getting sick of dealing with an adsb-in box stuck on the canopy.
 
CRQFlier said:
Great unit. Works really well. The big downside is no adsb-in traffic shared to panel units - only portables.
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Yes, it wouldn’t be a good choice for a plane that has plans of putting in glass in the near future. That’s how I came by mine. A friend who I was doing a favor sharing a hangar with, put a lot more glass in his Mooney cockpit and the Appareo wouldn’t feed it. He sold it to me for $2300. It was the perfect solution for my 140 although I am now putting a 420 non WAAS in it and would like a 345, I just can’t justify such an extra expense. The 420 is for non precision GPS approaches to get in my home airport and to shoot practice approaches. The Appareo is still fine for this mission.

I fly the little Cessna with Pad IN in my lap. It still probably has more panel than you would ever need in a 140.
 
MBDiagMan said:
Yes, it wouldn’t be a good choice for a plane that has plans of putting in glass in the near future. That’s how I came by mine. A friend who I was doing a favor sharing a hangar with, put a lot more glass in his Mooney cockpit and the Appareo wouldn’t feed it. He sold it to me for $2300. It was the perfect solution for my 140 although I am now putting a 420 non WAAS in it and would like a 345, I just can’t justify such an extra expense. The 420 is for non precision GPS approaches to get in my home airport and to shoot practice approaches. The Appareo is still fine for this mission.

I fly the little Cessna with Pad IN in my lap. It still probably has more panel than you would ever need in a 140.
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yea I’m solid vfr guy... I commented on a post in the 140 FB group on a guy getting an AV30 and teased him that ya know ya really only need the oil temp n pressure guages on these old gals the rest of them intrumebts just fluff :)
 
I've had a Stratus ESG in my '58 182 for the last year and a half. Instead of the 3i I've got a regular Stratus 3 mounted in a cradle under the glove box and connected to the ESG. It's so nice to have a modern piece of tech that works well.
 
a572mike said:
I've had a Stratus ESG in my '58 182 for the last year and a half. Instead of the 3i I've got a regular Stratus 3 mounted in a cradle under the glove box and connected to the ESG. It's so nice to have a modern piece of tech that works well.
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sourdough44 said:
I have the Stratus 3i, no problems.
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great to hear! I’m geeked... it will be nice to have stuff that just works right... my transponder been janky for a bit so I’ve just avoided spots it’s required it’ll be nice to not have that hinders me.

got a case of “while we’re at it’s” and going to move the headset jacks to behind me instead of on the panel and a usb charger as well...

may that point she’ll be as decked out as i can ever imagine wanting in a Cessna 140... if I need fancier than this stuff I need a fancier plane
 
a572mike said:
I've had a Stratus ESG in my '58 182 for the last year and a half. Instead of the 3i I've got a regular Stratus 3 mounted in a cradle under the glove box and connected to the ESG. It's so nice to have a modern piece of tech that works well.
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min going 3i as it’s quite a buy right now in an a and p kit they have... and figure I’ll sell my stratus 2 and be about even up on that part and have 3i. I see you can get the other models to work but for the price of the bundle right now it just made sense.
 
Huckster79 said:
min going 3i as it’s quite a buy right now in an a and p kit they have... and figure I’ll sell my stratus 2 and be about even up on that part and have 3i. I see you can get the other models to work but for the price of the bundle right now it just made sense.
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I already had the 3, and it's performance sold me on going with the ESG. I had been thinking of going with uAvionix, but I knew that every time I looked at my 182 with nice original paint and an out of place thing on the wing or the tail cone it would have bothered me. The bundle pricing I've seen lately looks like some good deals.
 
a572mike said:
I already had the 3, and it's performance sold me on going with the ESG. I had been thinking of going with uAvionix, but I knew that every time I looked at my 182 with nice original paint and an out of place thing on the wing or the tail cone it would have bothered me. The bundle pricing I've seen lately looks like some good deals.
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I hear ya, ya I thought the tail beacon was more inconspicous that the wing one but yea I like our classic birds for being classic birds... I like my simple striping and not some spash theme like newer planes, etc... Now the splash look looks awesome on newer fancy birds, but for an old classic ya can't beat the old classic look. In all honesty that was part of my hesitancy of a new transponder is the old king 76a looks more at home in the cockpit than a new unit.. But something had to give... And I can tolerate that modern look inside better than out...
 
@Huckster79

I would recommend considering going a slightly different route. Instead of getting the 3i installed in the back of the panel, just get the Stratus connection kit. You can plug in a regular Stratus to the two ports, and your ADSB-in will come from the ship antenna. The advantage of this is that you will always be able to use the latest portable Stratus.

In my case, the Stratus 2 was the latest and greatest when my ESG was installed (by previous owner). When I bought the plane, I started out by using the Stratux (home-made) which was able to connect to the ship antenna. When they released the Stratus 3, I upgraded to that to enjoy the ability to use my non-Foreflight app as well as superior AHRS performance.

The point is that you never know what they will come up with next, and I think that having the 3i behind the panel might make it a bit of a bigger pain to upgrade.

On my Cherokee, actually have my Stratus 3 attached to the ceiling plastic with the cables running underneath the plastic before they emerge to connect to the connection kit by the co-pilot’s knee in front of the door. So, it’s clean and looks sharp.
 
The one used with the Appareo is simply mounted in place with a few plug in connections. I could probably have it out in five minutes. Besides Huckster said that he was looking forward to not having to remember to set it up and hook it up. I understand that perfectly because I was using a Stratux in the 140 before and the new arrangement is tidy and always there. A few seconds after startup it connects on its own with no wires strewn around to snag something on. It’s wonderful!

Huckster, maybe the rear headphone connections will be right for you, but I just want to give you my experience. My 140 has connections at the lower corners of the panel and also behind the outer shoulder of the occupant. I used the rear ones a few times but would lean back on the cable and then turn my head and they would be caught behind me. Was quite a distraction. Just thought I would share my experience with that.
 
MBDiagMan said:
Besides Huckster said that he was looking forward to not having to remember to set it up and hook it up.
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Well, this is exactly a benefit of what I am suggesting. He would not have to remember to set anything up. The portable Stratus can be “permanently” mounted by applying screws through the plastic cradle, in my case through the plastic overhead. The Stratus would get information from the ship antenna as well as power. In fact, it would turn on automatically as soon as the master switch is on. There is a setting that facilitates that, I think on the ESG.

PS Here is a link to a Stratus Interface Kit https://www.chiefaircraft.com/app-1...MIvMDG2_WP7wIVx7KGCh1Legu9EAQYAiABEgJMH_D_BwE
 
Sounds like the one under the right side of my panel. It is simply screwed in place with plug in connections. That’s what comes with the transmitter. How is it different from what you are proposing?
 
MBDiagMan said:
Sounds like the one under the right side of my panel. It is simply screwed in place with plug in connections. That’s what comes with the transmitter. How is it different from what you are proposing?
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I wonder if one of us misunderstood the other or both. If what you have is what I posted on the link above, then we are talking about the same thing.

If you leave your Stratus in the plane all the time, power it through the interface kit, and send ABSB through said kit, then we are using it the same way.

If the OP is ever interested in Stratus 4, 5, or 6, all that has to be done is snap the old Stratus out from the cradle, put the new one in, and reconnect the two cables (serial and antenna).
 
I have the Stratus ESG with the 3i under the panel, and it has been great up until recently. The GPS light is blinking yellow, and no longer sends any data to my app. I use Avare and Fltpln Go, and my partner uses Foreflight, so we have Apple and Android covered, and both have issues with the 3i. The Wifi connects, but will not transmit any data to the apps.
Appareo customer support is pretty responsive. After some troubleshooting they suggested sending it in for analysis/repair. Sucks to have to spend $200 repairing on a 3 year old unit just out of warranty.
 
Have you gone into the screens where you can see if the GPS is transmitting data to the ESG?

Have you checked the connections on the 3I? One of 'em is be pretty easy to disconnect given it is a simple plug-in connection, with no real capture mechanism.
 
kyleb said:
Have you gone into the screens where you can see if the GPS is transmitting data to the ESG?

Have you checked the connections on the 3I? One of 'em is be pretty easy to disconnect given it is a simple plug-in connection, with no real capture mechanism.
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I'm not sure how to check other than to use Fltpln Go to open GDL90. It's in that screen where you can choose internal GPS, or ADS-B GPS. It shows the connection as inactive. For some reason, when an Apple user connects to the 3i, it closes the GDL90 connection to Avare. I have to re-enable using FltplnGo.

In order to not hijack the thread, could you PM me with any suggestions you may have? I plan to send the unit in next week.
 
I had the same issue and almost decided to send it in, got better solution; download the free Apareo Horizon pro app - there are stratus settings to play with. In my case, a friend's using forelight made the 3i 'hate' my flyQ.. Easy fix (but I can't remember the exact sequence) even for my electronically ignorant self.
 
It’s possible that the ads-b antenna cable has gone bad or come loose. That is where the weather and traffic come from. Gps position comes from the power connector.
 
Alien Mind said:
I had the same issue and almost decided to send it in, got better solution; download the free Apareo Horizon pro app - there are stratus settings to play with. In my case, a friend's using forelight made the 3i 'hate' my flyQ.. Easy fix (but I can't remember the exact sequence) even for my electronically ignorant self.
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I had this same problem, but there is no Horizon pro available for Android. Aparreo support suggested downloading FltPln Go to switch the 3i to "open GL90", which works great. I found another option through the Avare forum, which I will try tomorrow. One of the developers on the site created an app called ADS-B Monitor, which is a selector switch between FF and GL90. I hope it fixes my 3i problem.
 
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