WAAS upgrade started

AuntPeggy

AuntPeggy

Final Approach
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Now that the rain has abated and the mechanic can get our plane inside the hangar, he has found the antenna coax is RG-58 instead of RG-400, so the cost of the WAAS upgrade has just started escalating. To quote the mechanic, "there are some other issues behind the panel which we found." He'll get back to us with a list.

:dunno:
 
AuntPeggy said:
Now that the rain has abated and the mechanic can get our plane inside the hangar, he has found the antenna coax is RG-58 instead of RG-400, so the cost of the WAAS upgrade has just started escalating. To quote the mechanic, "there are some other issues behind the panel which we found." He'll get back to us with a list.

:dunno:
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There is a LOT of shoddy avioncs work out there. Lots. I'm not surprised at the coax. The other issues, just watch carefully & verify.
 
Here's the list from the mechanic.
Sorry for the crummy news.​

The following items are what my guys gave me as "issues" they noticed with the plane that will affect the GNS-530WAAS work, as well as a few other items that you should know about on the plane.​

  1. The GNS-530 Connector P1001 shields need repair. One of them has pulled out of the shield termination sleeve, and this is critical for the WAAS. See attached picture.
  2. The GNS-530 case was mounted with PK Screws. They should be mounted with Mil Spec hardware (Machine screws) for proper security per the 530 Install Manual.​
  3. The Avionics stack side rails are not connected to the racks. These are safety items which prevent the cases from dropping into the flight controls. See picture.​
  4. The Avionics stack side rails need to be cut inorder to install nut clips to secure the proper case mouning hardware to them.​
  5. The AMP Meter wire (large gage) is chaffing on the transponder case (see picture)​
  6. GPS Antenna coax is RG-58. Needs to be changed to RG-400 for the WAAS.​
  7. GPS Antenna current location is not good because it the coax fitting is chaffing into the right fuel tank feed line, and is too close to the Comm antenna for the WAAS specs.​
  8. Radio Circuit breakers are not labled. We need to verify which breakers are for the GNS-530 to verify proper install per the Install Manual.​
  9. General condition of the wiring behind the panel is not good. Wires are chaffing on the flight controls and are not secured into bundles.​
Note: The STEC turn coordinator airplane is showing a slight right wing down attitude when sitting in the aircraft.​

I look forward to going over these items tommorow afternoon and will be working on a solution for the GPS Antenna location with the guys tommorow.​

Take care​
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Only implied in the list: The GPS antenna on the top of the airplane must be moved. He will take a comm antenna and put it on the belly, then put the GPS antenna where the comm antenna currently is and repair the hole where the GPS antenna is.
 
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Did you ever get your WAAS upgrade done? My 430 just started rebooting itself, so I'll probably bite the bullet and get this done.
 
Looks like the only thing he won't charge for is the actual getting out of bed in the morning, the ink for his pen, his new screwdriver set, and the piece of paper he wrote on yesterday.

I think he is setting you up for a large bill. I would ask what he has in mind.
 
Yes, but he sounds like a good shop. All that stuff counts to create a conforming installation.
 
I agree, it's probably not cheap but I'd like all of it taken care of before I flew into IMC with it.

Auntie probably can't afford Internet usage which why we don't have a status report yet.

Joe
 
No, the WAAS upgrade is not finished.

We went out to visit our bird and saw what the mechanic saw and agreed it all needed to be fixed.

Distances between the antennas was off, so he is re-routing COM2 to the belly of the plane and putting the GPS antenna in its place on the roof. Losing some symetry there. While he is in there re-routing antennas, he'll put in a splitter and bring in a connection for the COMM1 antenna into the cockpit for our hand-held. Anything that was rubbing on fuel lines will be tucked safely away.

The wiring that was just shoved between the firewall and radios will be bundled. Wiring that went around stiffeners instead of through grommets in the holes in said stiffeners will be put in their place.

Some spliced wires will be replaced.

Then the mechanic found additional problems with the previous installation, the most serious being connectors that were soldered instead of crimped.

The saga continued on another thread.
http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13682

We had actually had one of those connections come loose during flight and the original shop soldered it back in. The thought of being in IMC and losing the GPS and radios is a little scary, so I'm glad they found the problem.

And, on top of all that, we are buying last-minute airline tickets to go to our son's wedding.

Bye, I'll be in Tulsa and Eureka Springs until Tuesday.
 
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Thanks for the update...

I just submitted my serial number for the 430W upgrade today.
 
WAAS upgrade completed:

(GNS-530 WAAS Upgrade 1,500.000)​

Labor: 4,768.50
Parts & Equip: 2,279.65
Shipping & Handling: 91.51
Sub Total: 7,139.66
AUA: 142.79
Invoice TOTAL: 7,282.45​
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The C-182 they upgraded the 530 on after ours, took less than 7 hours.

I'll go inspect and pick up the plane as soon as possible. Need a ride to Bridgeport.
 
Wow. Mine is scheduled to be done on Wednesday. Rumor is just over one week total time to completion.
 
AuntPeggy said:
WAAS upgrade completed:



The C-182 they upgraded the 530 on after ours, took less than 7 hours.

I'll go inspect and pick up the plane as soon as possible. Need a ride to Bridgeport.
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Is that $7282.45 before the 1500 credit? IOW did it only cost $5782 more than the $1500 upgrade was supposed to?
 
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lancefisher said:
Is that $7282.45 before the 1500 credit? IOW did it only cost $5782 more than the $1500 upgrade was supposed to?
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You got it. It only cost us about 5 times what we expected.

Then, add on the last-minute airline tickets we bought because the upgrade took 4 weeks instead of 1 week.
 
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AuntPeggy said:
The C-182 they upgraded the 530 on after ours, took less than 7 hours.
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Ouch... $7K+. That hurts.

Our C182 only cost $3100 for the WAAS upgrade (which included completely new antenna and wiring as well), but in the process of running the new antenna wire they found a bunch of corrosion on the inside of the skins where the insulation is. Turns out they used some kind of crappy acidic glue or something when putting the insulation in. It goes back in the shop right after the Fly-B-Q to get that taken care of. :( I'm sure we'll be up at $7K very quickly too.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Ouch... $7K+. That hurts.

Our C182 only cost $3100 for the WAAS upgrade (which included completely new antenna and wiring as well), but in the process of running the new antenna wire they found a bunch of corrosion on the inside of the skins where the insulation is. Turns out they used some kind of crappy acidic glue or something when putting the insulation in. It goes back in the shop right after the Fly-B-Q to get that taken care of. :( I'm sure we'll be up at $7K very quickly too.
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Have you ever fixed/figured out the source of the blue streak down the side of the plane?
 
jesse said:
Well ..of course--the question is--where..It pretty much as to be the bladder..
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Well, since the plane is gonna be down for corrosion repair as soon as I'm back from the Fly-B-Q, we're gonna peel the wings apart too and get the bladders re-done.

I'm really not looking forward to getting THAT bill. :eek:
 
Yikes, but it sounds like the avionics guy takes his job seriously. That's something to be thankful for (and willing to pay for). Good luck.
 
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