Dual STI build log

[Shadowrider]

Fun to be back building! The rudder servo kit is well put together with good instructions. Wiring was a pain, but I got wiring done today. Kind of tricky getting wire laced up the side of the fuselage. There was a rudder cable clamp missing so kitfox is sending me the missing part. Should be up test flying soon. The can-bus is still communication correctly and it recognized the YD! I spliced into the can bus after the pitch servo and before my remote mount radio.

[Jez]

Nice, thanks for the update

[Shadowrider]

Yam Damp installed and test flown! Its sweet! It holds the ball centered quite well. I flew 45min doing climbs, descents, and turns with the feet on the floor. I spent 45 min tuning it and have it pretty good. There are some advanced tuning in the G3x that you can adjust. I turned up the ball centering gain, which kept the ball centered great. I programed a couple way-points into the G3x and it navigated and turned to each way-point with the feet on the floor. There is an expert setting that will remove lateral acceleration that I think I will play with a bit more. When in turbulence sometimes you hit a bump and the ball goes a half of ball out before coming back centered. I think if I increase the "Accel Filter Constant" this will improve this. I want to do a cross country do some more tuning on it. Once I get the settings tuned in I was thinking I should post all my autopilot settings. Originally in the wiring diagram it states the autopilot disconnect wire is optional for the yaw damp. I was thinking the G3X logic would disconnect the YD when you push the autopilot disconnect switch so I didn't wire this up. Well.....when you disconnect the autopilot using the disconnect button, the YD stays on. With the autopilot on it was hard to overcome the YD and on the ground and that is not good. I decided to go back and run a wire from the disconnect switch to the servo so that you could quickly disconnect the YD without having to press the YD button on the autopilot. So anyone who is going to install this I would say the disconnect wire is not optional.

[Jason Murphy]

Looks like this is something that came along just in time. After wrapping up my wings I will be working on installing the avionics.

[Billiken]

I’m interested in the system as well. Do you happen to know if there is a way to set it up so that it would disconnect if a certain amount of foot pressure is applied to a rudder pedal? It could obviously happen that I could forget to disconnect it before landing. I would probably use the same quick disconnect button for the auto pilot and yaw damper. It all sounds very useful. Thanks for the write up.

[Geek]

Great Gouge Dustin!!! Especially how you worked getting the YD to keep up with the ball. Certainly your set-up on the G3x will help all of us get a leg up on this. I talked to Brandon about how he liked his and his analogy was "It's like heated seats, once you have them you'll never be without." He also said he was 'still tuning in' his set up a bit so it's like the rest of the G3x set up; a process.

Thanks for the update.

Gary

[Shadowrider]

For sure the yaw damp is sweet! If you have the autopilot installed or are installing it you defiantly want the YD. I was a little hesitant because I thought you would be able to feel the yd when not on, but there is no noticeable difference or drag on the pedals. I was also a little hesitant because the one I test flew the ball was slightly out. Jason said they hadn't tuned it so I was confident that I could tune that out. The problem is there is some advance settings and garmin doesn't give you much info on them so its more trial and error. The main gain also effects each other settings so as you turn one gain up I found that you have turn turn other gains down. Without the YD the autopilot was nice but you still had to fly the plane, using rudder. Now I would say that its a true full autopilot! I agree with Brandon, once you have it, you will never want to go back. Just a note garmin has a note that the YD cannot replace a properly trimmed airplane. So, you still need a trim tab to try and have the plane fly as straight as you can. I setup mine to fly straight at cruise power mid weight.

[bbs428]

Cool stuff Dustin. Some great info!
A retrofit for me will be a pita as well - but from your positive report, it will be worth it.

I'll definitely be adding the YD to my wish list!

[Shadowrider]

I think I have the YD dialed in sweet! Does a great job, and dampens the tail wag in turbulence as good if not better than you can dampen it. You can fly around with the autopilot off and use the YD only. Works great! I have been eyeing a spot at the dunes for awhile. Conditions where perfect and no one was at the dunes so it was a go!

[Kitfox Pilot]

That sure looks like a fun place to fly!