Garmin 430 WAAS upgrade- what is actually done to the unit?

imwithtuxedo

imwithtuxedo

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Had a 430 upgraded to WAAS last fall and now the unit is bench testing with 3 degrees of error in the OBS and its transmitting frequency is over 700 Hertz, (632 Hertz maximum)

According to Garmin a WAAS upgrade includes the following:

Brings WAAS-level GPS Capability to Older GNS™ 430/530
  • Upgrades GPS engine, microprocessor and software to meet higher WAAS-level requirements
  • WAAS receiver now updates 5 times per second versus original 1-per-second rate
  • Increased positional accuracy supports ILS-like LPV glidepath GPS approaches
  • Enables more flexible departure/arrival procedures and more “direct to” routes
  • Meets NextGen WAAS requirements for ADS-B “Out” positioning reference
Did my 430 unit have these problems prior to the WAAS upgrade and does Garmin do any testing of the units before sending them back out?
 
While I believe they do test them pretty thoroughly, we did get a 530 back from the W upgrade and it had a super flakey com-flip switch. Had very poor feel and was very intermittent on the actual performance. Sent it back to Garmin and then said it was fine, but that they changed it out for "customer satisfaction". Not really sure how it was fine when only one out of 5 presses would seem to trigger the flip. But never had a problem in multiple other units sent in for upgrade, they always come back looking brand new. For the OBS error, have you tried re-calibrating the OBS resolver to the unit from the configuration mode? If it's out of spec on transmit frequency, probably has to go back for a flat rate repair unfortunately. I'm sure that wouldn't have left from the upgrade without that being in spec.
 
I did mine. It comes back from Garmin like new in the box with a 1 year warranty.

The WAAS upgrade includes terrain & obstacle avoidance with fully refreshed data. If the data is stale after installation, call Garmin and they usually give a no-charge date using their data sets.

Here's the panel after: http://welch.com/n46pg/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/IMG_6796-1024x768.jpg
 
They will fix anything that you say is a problem with the WAAS upgrade. If you don’t list something and it isn’t obviously bad, they may not fix it.
 
Update: The bench testing equipment at the avionics shop was out of calibration. My 430 was fine.
 
My GNS-430 was upgraded to 430W about 2 years ago and was very impressed the unit. It looked indistinguishable from new. I really like the 430. Couple a FlightStream 210 with the 430W and improvement is even more dramatic. I build all my flight plans in ForeFlight and one button push to upload the to the 430W. Likewise changes in the 430W are one button accept back in ForeFlight.

The FS210 AHRS provides data for full synthetic vision in ForeFlight as well.

For the cost of installing a GTN-650, the slide-in 430W dose everything I want without the $12K new unit price. One caveat, a WAAS GPS antenna maybe needed and new antenna coax. These 2 items are needed regardless what WAAS GPS is installed.

The Avionics upgrades for my 182P are in a blog if interested: http://welch.com/n46pg/category/ads-b/
 
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