G1000 HDG / Traffic Fail

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Diamond_Dan
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G1000 HDG / Traffic Fail

Post by Diamond_Dan »

Saw some similar old posts but I am opening a new thread -

About 2/3 into a 45 minute local flight (VFR winds calm) I suddenly lost HDG/Traffic/Wind/GS. Pics below (sorry about the blurry MFD) Upon landing and pulling off onto the taxiway, I noticed everything was normal again.

I have 6 flights ~9 Hobbs hours since a GTX 345 installation and 321.23 S/W upgrade. I tried Bluetooth to the 345 to see if I could see heading/traffic that way, but it wouldn't connect (typical). I have been flying the plane just over a year and haven't seen this before.

There are other posts about HDG fails, but has anyone seen it in conjunction with a traffic fail? Could a HDG fail cause the other failures? From the other posts the recommendations are to check the magnetometer connections and re-calibrate. Can somebody PM me the procedure? Right now I am thinking a bad connection somewhere. Please share your wisdom.
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Charles K
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Re: G1000 HDG / Traffic Fail

Post by Charles K »

From my experience a heading fail causes traffic to fail. Traffic needs to know your direction of flight as one parameter. I lose my heading when taxiing close to metal hangar rows leaving my hangar. Goes away when I am not near all that metal.

I had a replacement 345 under warranty and that pretty muted fixed my BT issues.
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Tal
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Re: G1000 HDG / Traffic Fail

Post by Tal »

I had this happen after a 345 installation. Multiple attempts (grease pins, etc) failed. Finally
recalibration of the magnetometer worked. See below correspondence Lancaster Avionics.

The GDL90 is an ADS-B receiver. Your G1000 is programmed to use the GTX345 input in a manner that emulates a GDL90. The reason why the GDL90 is failed is because it has lost its Heading reference. So the GDL90 failure is a result of the primary problem.

That said, I noticed that GMU1 is NOT failed (this is the magnetometer). Now that is not to say that it is good...just saying it is most likely good but not to say it can’t be the issue. The place I would start is with a recalibration of the magnetometer. If the system sees more than a 6 degree difference between the ground track and the magnetometer calibration, it will give you exact result you are seeing.
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Rick
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Re: G1000 HDG / Traffic Fail

Post by Rick »

Dan,

When I had my heading failures a few years ago, I never saw a magnetometer failure either, but recalibration did fix the problem. I will PM you the procedure. Hopefully that will work for you, as all the other options are more time-consuming and expensive...
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Re: G1000 HDG / Traffic Fail

Post by Tal »

If I could figure out how to attach images, I could send you of both my PFD & MFD during the problem. Avionics shop found AUX page photo helpful.
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Re: G1000 HDG / Traffic Fail

Post by Diamond_Dan »

Thank you everyone for the comments and thank you Rick for the procedure. I went through it successfully just now but clouds too low to take her for a spin. One thing I noticed I forgot and turned on my ALT switch part way through the procedure. I never turned on the Avionics switch. I could see either of these causing magnetic interference. Don’t know, but I will run it again if the problem repeats.

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Re: G1000 HDG / Traffic Fail

Post by Diamond_Dan »

OK, just to satisfy my OCD tendencies I re-did the magnetometer calibration with ALT and Avionics on. 2 flights last weekend (~2.5 hours of mixed flying) and no issues. I will post here if I lose my HDG again.

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Re: G1000 HDG / Traffic Fail

Post by Diamond_Dan »

No more issues - Calibration did the trick.
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Re: G1000 HDG / Traffic Fail

Post by Sandy »

I also followed the magnetometer calibration procedure that Rick sent me. So far, no issues.

Question... I was wondering whether I should make an entry into the Airframe Logbook, if for no other reason than to document the last date on which the calibration was performed. Also, I was thinking of stapling a copy of the calibration procedure into the Logbook for future reference. Comments?

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Re: G1000 HDG / Traffic Fail

Post by smoss »

I had the same HDG failure today as Dan originally showed in his picture, with traffic failure also (understandable). This was after being parked in the rain overnight. I got an error stating AHRS1 Heading Failure, with the Heading bug x-ed out, but the HSI intact as pictured above. Multiple attempts to cycle the master, as well as the AHRS breaker yielded no joy. This had happened to me many years back, also, if I recall correctly, after being parked out in the rain, and resolved spontaneously before the next flight. I did end up doing the calibration procedure anyways then. Years have gone by with no misbehavior until now. Anyhow... I flew from wet and cool to dry and 95 F, and low and behold, 30 seconds after landing in the heat, it came back to life, all normal. It sure seems like this is a water/moisture issue. Where could water be getting that could cause such? I could only imaging somewhere near the magnetometer in the wing bottom. Might it be worth while to put some sealant under the access cover there, or would it more likely be coming from somewhere else and traveling?
Of note, while the autopilot/Flight Director was extremely limited, it would function correctly in Pitch/Roll mode. So it would not fly any GPS nav course, but at least you could set your direction manually then have it hold set altitude and wings level--incredibly helpful!
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