Auto Pilot tips

[Dorsal]

All,
I recently solved a problem with my auto pilot that may be of use to some. The problem I had was at random intervals (5-20 min) I would get a "pitch servo lost" error which would usually clear after a about 30 seconds. I could re-engage the AP only to wait for it to happen again. As you can see from the pic the pitch servo is located very close to the transponder antenna, moving the antenna solved the problem. The antenna is now on the plate just behind the header tank and I have not "lost" the pitch servo since

Hope this is helpful to someone.

[chefwarthog]

Dorsal, this is a good one, I will put that in my notebook!!!

[PapuaPilot]

Also any slop or tightness in the control system could cause problems. Is everything smooth and properly lubricated?

[Frontier Fox]

Hey Dorsal,

I have reached the point in my build that I need to figure out where to locate the elevator AP servo. I really like where you installed yours but not sure if it will work for me. My seat pan has the little storage area under the seat bottom. My question is, does your seat pan have the storage compartment or not? I’m trying to keep as much weight forward as possible because I have extended the baggage area.

Fly safe!

[efwd]

I can tell you that that location is no good unless you notch out a segment of the under seat compartment. I considered it but placed mine behind the seat.

[efwd]

Oohh thaaaattss' what those are called. Makes sense I suppose. Thx for the vocabulary lesson.

[fastfred]

The control system looks like new and I lube it frequently. Without the auto pilot it flies beautifully hands off straight and level but when you switch on AP it begins to slowly weave back and forth. Dynon told me to turn the sensitivity back up to 40. I went to 15 and the weaving became radically uncontrollable. It had been on 20 for ever and I have many hours on it working fine and now I have to run it on 4 to make it work. What happens when I get to #0? Dynon sent me permission to send it in to be checked out but I hate to be down for a month
The odd thing is it started do it after an up date?

[Frontier Fox]

I also considered notching the bottom of the seat but just can’t commit to that. Do you have any pics of your install for the pitch servo Eddie?

[airlina]

Joe, If you put autopilot in the forum search box, there are some pictures of different autopilot installations to give you some ideas. On my Series 5 , I needed all weight aft (IO-240 up front) so my servos are both aft of the seat. There are pictures under the thread titled "autopilot for a kitfox " from 2016. Bruce N199CL

[aviator79]

My recommendation is to buy the autopilot servo mounting kit from Kitfox and follow the instructions. The kit is intended for Garmin servos, but I can vouch that it works well for Dynon servos as well. Dynon has the same bolt pattern as Garmin. It's probably an ISO or NEMA standard.