G1000 Legacy & NXi upgrade program

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TomO
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Re: G1000 Legacy & NXi upgrade program

Post by TomO »

Again, thanks for keeping us informed.
Avionics work always seems to bring on some glitch that was unexpected taking more time, aggravation, and money.

I hope this does not stop someone else from getting the upgrade. To me, it has been worth it and is a great upgrade to the plane.
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Barry
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Re: G1000 Legacy & NXi upgrade program

Post by Barry »

Just notified that Diamond has my WAAS boxes for the upgrade. The only downside is I have to go down to Fort Worth to get it done. Not sure why the Diamond See ice center here in Denver at KAPA can’t do the work.
Barry Starkman
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chili4way
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Re: G1000 Legacy & NXi upgrade program

Post by chili4way »

Barry wrote: Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:29 pm The only downside is I have to go down to Fort Worth to get it done. Not sure why the Diamond Service center here in Denver at KAPA can’t do the work.

Barry, I suppose if you wanted to insist that Arapahoe Aero do your upgrade, you could probably arrange to have them do it. However, based on Charles K's experience (see above), it might be advantageous to have the Premier MX shop at KFTW install your upgrade. Diamond's intention is to focus the Legacy and NXI P1-P2 upgrade work at specific shops to capture the experience/learning curve.
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Charles K
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Re: G1000 Legacy & NXi upgrade program

Post by Charles K »

Status update

I have not had a chance to post about the new features of my WAAS upgrade on my KAP140 DA40 - but today marks one month after pickup and sadly I have to say that upon landing at KSTS today for lunch my GIA63W #2 completely died.

With that the following stops working in a KAP140 DA40:
1) COM 2
2) NAV 2
3) GPS 2
4) LOC/GS 2
5) GDL90 - Thus traffic and WX lost
6) KAP140 HDG and NAV/APR modes lost (it will do ROLL and all ALT modes work)

Transponder was still working and ADS-B Traffic/WX worked on iPad just fine.

It was a nice VFR day so flew it back home to KCCR. We pulled the baggage floor. GTX345R and GIA1 were warm and the GIA2 was cold. Seems no power whatsoever. Reset all breakers for GIA2. Checked all three lightning protection fuses on the rack. All good. Pulled GIA2 out - looked at connectors - nothing looked abnormal - re-seated the GIA2. Still dead so either the entire GIA2 died or the power is somehow interrupted. Back to Absolute Aero in KHWD who did the upgrade with a call to Diamond as well.

After it being down for 6 weeks for the upgrade and all the troubles, plus all the $$$ - needless to say I am not so happy right now. These were 2 year old GIA63Ws from a 2018 DA62. Hard to believe that the GIA died - thinking based upon symptoms its power - but I leave that for Absolute to diagnose.

I'll keep you all posted.
Charles
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N5WU - 2004 G1000 DA40 40.400, GTX345R ADS-B, WAAS Upgraded in 2021 via Diamond Upgrade Program
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Re: G1000 Legacy & NXi upgrade program

Post by Steve »

Hi Charles:

Sorry for your difficulties. What kind of warranty does the shop/Diamond give you on the upgrade?

Steve
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Charles K
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Re: G1000 Legacy & NXi upgrade program

Post by Charles K »

Technically the boxes come with no warranty but I don’t think Diamond will make me hold the bag on that with just 30 days of use and if it is install/wiring issues I’m sure Absolute will fix it at no charge.
Charles
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Charles K
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Re: G1000 Legacy & NXi upgrade program

Post by Charles K »

Status Update

I flew the plane over to KHWD (Absolute) on Wednesday. I also talked with Diamond that morning as well.

Everyone said that a total GIA box failure is really really rare. First step was swapping GIA1 with GIA2 to see if the problem followed the boxes. Both showed up as red X, but swapping back the GIA1 worked again.

They kept it overnight looking at connections and found a bad connection/bent pin on the MFD connector. Apparently the PFD communicates to the GIA2 via MFD. Fixing connector solved the problem. No charge.

This all made sense to me because they had spent 6 weeks plugging and unplugging items many many times in trying to get my original install to work. By the way - the connector that was not properly seated that caused all of the initial problems was the main power plug that goes onto the under the luggage area rack that sits right below the three lightning protection fuses.

Flew plane home, had one ADS-B failure message that lasted about a minute and then cleared up. Fingers crossed. These G1000 systems are so sensitive to these connection issues. Absolute has found two similar issues on a canon plug on recent DA62 Nxi Phase 2 upgrades.

All the failure modes noted above including the GDL 90 for Traffic and WX and Autopilot Nav modes are because the KAP140 interfaces to just the GIA2 - even when getting GIA1 nav info and the GDL90 interface is also via GIA2.

Diamond confirmed no warranty on the GIA63Ws that we exchange unless we bought the warranty. The exchange cost is about 2800 which is only 800 more than the warranty - so I would still not buy the 6 month warranty for $2k that was offered. The exchange as I understand it would have come with a 6 month warranty from Garmin.

I'll keep everyone posted.
Charles
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N5WU - 2004 G1000 DA40 40.400, GTX345R ADS-B, WAAS Upgraded in 2021 via Diamond Upgrade Program
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Re: G1000 Legacy & NXi upgrade program

Post by MackAttack »

Is there any recent update on timing for NXi Phase 2 software updates to add the features not yet found on Diamonds (but on most other aircraft flying the G1000 NXi)? Thanks in advance
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Re: G1000 Legacy & NXi upgrade program

Post by chili4way »

Joel, the latest information I have is the "Phase III" development and certification efforts are well underway. As previously noted in prior posts, Diamond's original intent was to complete these first for the DA62 and then the other models, with the goal of completing the first release later this year. Canadian/Ontario COVID restrictions, the vagarities of Transport Canada certification, Garmin's inscrutability on development projects, and Diamond's general reluctance to make firm schedule commitments make it impossible to know what the schedule will actually be. We do know this SW update will only be available to NXI planes with Phase II hardware.
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Re: G1000 Legacy & NXi upgrade program

Post by NickBudd »

Charles K wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 10:16 pm Status Update

I flew the plane over to KHWD (Absolute) on Wednesday. I also talked with Diamond that morning as well.

Everyone said that a total GIA box failure is really really rare. First step was swapping GIA1 with GIA2 to see if the problem followed the boxes. Both showed up as red X, but swapping back the GIA1 worked again.

They kept it overnight looking at connections and found a bad connection/bent pin on the MFD connector. Apparently the PFD communicates to the GIA2 via MFD. Fixing connector solved the problem. No charge.

This all made sense to me because they had spent 6 weeks plugging and unplugging items many many times in trying to get my original install to work. By the way - the connector that was not properly seated that caused all of the initial problems was the main power plug that goes onto the under the luggage area rack that sits right below the three lightning protection fuses.

Flew plane home, had one ADS-B failure message that lasted about a minute and then cleared up. Fingers crossed. These G1000 systems are so sensitive to these connection issues. Absolute has found two similar issues on a canon plug on recent DA62 Nxi Phase 2 upgrades.

All the failure modes noted above including the GDL 90 for Traffic and WX and Autopilot Nav modes are because the KAP140 interfaces to just the GIA2 - even when getting GIA1 nav info and the GDL90 interface is also via GIA2.

Diamond confirmed no warranty on the GIA63Ws that we exchange unless we bought the warranty. The exchange cost is about 2800 which is only 800 more than the warranty - so I would still not buy the 6 month warranty for $2k that was offered. The exchange as I understand it would have come with a 6 month warranty from Garmin.

I'll keep everyone posted.

Should we start a new thread in which TDI owners who have had the WAAS upgrade can share their questions and experiences?
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