S-Tec 50 autopilot not working

drgwentzel

drgwentzel

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Sep 7, 2008
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Kobra
Flyers,

I have an S-TEC 50 autopilot with alt hold in my '71 Cardinal RG. I had my yokes removed to be leather covered and the pilot's side has a PPT switch, AP disconnect switch and an alt hold disconnect switch. After the A&P reconnected the wires the AP will turn on and it will boot up. But, when placed in the run mode, it will not activate on wing leverer, heading mode or alt hold mode. Basically, the lights are on, but no one's home.

Any thoughts? The obvious is of course a misconnected wire or a broken wire, but I am told it is wired correctly.

Gene
 
drgwentzel said:
Flyers,

I have an S-TEC 50 autopilot with alt hold in my '71 Cardinal RG. I had my yokes removed to be leather covered and the pilot's side has a PPT switch, AP disconnect switch and an alt hold disconnect switch. After the A&P reconnected the wires the AP will turn on and it will boot up. But, when placed in the run mode, it will not activate on wing leverer, heading mode or alt hold mode. Basically, the lights are on, but no one's home.

Any thoughts? The obvious is of course a misconnected wire or a broken wire, but I am told it is wired correctly.

Gene
Click to expand...

I think you are likely told incorrectly,
What changed?
The removal of the yolks.
Can that affect the auto pilot?
Yes the disconnect switches are there.
 
Check for a short in the disconnect line.
 
I just wandered out to my STEC 50 equipped plane, behaves exactly as you describe if I hold the disconnect button durring and after start up. I think either the swith has failed or there is a short.
 
Skylane81E said:
I just wandered out to my STEC 50 equipped plane, behaves exactly as you describe if I hold the disconnect button durring and after start up. I think either the swith has failed or there is a short.
Click to expand...


They're working on it now. I will let you know what's going on.

I agree with your assessment. I bet a wire is grounding against the small metal casing that contains all the switches. It's very crowded in there.

Gene
 
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