Avionics upgrade

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Chip&Al
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Avionics upgrade

Post by Chip&Al »

Hey y’all, I’m brand new to the forum and Diamonds, but just bought an 02 DA40. It still has the six pack, 430s, and vm1000.

I’d like to upgrade the panel with dual ifd440s and the Lynx NGT9000. Would love to get y’all’s input!
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Lance Murray
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Re: Avionics upgrade

Post by Lance Murray »

I have a 2002 also. This is the best DA40 year I believe. The G-1000 is great and all but the useful load and CG of the steam gage airplanes are superior.

I have a Aspen EFD1000 Pro Max, GTX345 transponder, GNS530W GNS430W, KAP140, Avidyne TAS600 TCAS. Extended 4-way baggage, Larger rudder modification, Enhanced gross weight mod.

Love the airplane for what it is. If I want more then I would get a new airplane. I honestly don't use it enough anymore to justify anything though.
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Rich
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Re: Avionics upgrade

Post by Rich »

Chip, this looks like a reasonable upgrade. The 430 is more-or-less end of life, anyway, so eventually you would need to replace them. You don't say if the 430's are WAAS, but at this point converting them probably wouldn't be worthwhile.

You will probably need to replace the GPS antennae as I did when converting to WAAS. But you should know that the coax Diamond installed originally did not need to be replaced, as they used the required RG40 coax in the original GNS boxes. A significant amount of installation labor avoided.

There are other worthwhile non-avionics mods (my list lurks below, Lance lists many) to also consider, but that's for another time.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Chip&Al
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Re: Avionics upgrade

Post by Chip&Al »

Lance Murray wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 6:11 pm I have a 2002 also. This is the best DA40 year I believe. The G-1000 is great and all but the useful load and CG of the steam gage airplanes are superior.

I have a Aspen EFD1000 Pro Max, GTX345 transponder, GNS530W GNS430W, KAP140, Avidyne TAS600 TCAS. Extended 4-way baggage, Larger rudder modification, Enhanced gross weight mod.

Love the airplane for what it is. If I want more then I would get a new airplane. I honestly don't use it enough anymore to justify anything though.
Lance, it sounds like you’ve done a lot of the non-avionics mods that I’d like to accomplish! Do you think the larger rudder mod is worth it/have you seen a noticeable crosswind performance increase?
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Re: Avionics upgrade

Post by Chip&Al »

Rich wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 6:38 pm Chip, this looks like a reasonable upgrade. The 430 is more-or-less end of life, anyway, so eventually you would need to replace them. You don't say if the 430's are WAAS, but at this point converting them probably wouldn't be worthwhile.

You will probably need to replace the GPS antennae as I did when converting to WAAS. But you should know that the coax Diamond installed originally did not need to be replaced, as they used the required RG40 coax in the original GNS boxes. A significant amount of installation labor avoided.

There are other worthwhile non-avionics mods (my list lurks below, Lance lists many) to also consider, but that's for another time.
Rich, good to know that Diamond installed the correct coax cable...that’ll save a significant amount of labor! I’m definitely going to look into some non-avionicss upgrades in the next couple of years for sure. Hopefully tarting with the gross weight increase...Any advice on where to start there?
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Rich
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Re: Avionics upgrade

Post by Rich »

Chip&Al wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:21 am
Rich wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 6:38 pm Chip, this looks like a reasonable upgrade. The 430 is more-or-less end of life, anyway, so eventually you would need to replace them. You don't say if the 430's are WAAS, but at this point converting them probably wouldn't be worthwhile.

You will probably need to replace the GPS antennae as I did when converting to WAAS. But you should know that the coax Diamond installed originally did not need to be replaced, as they used the required RG40 coax in the original GNS boxes. A significant amount of installation labor avoided.

There are other worthwhile non-avionics mods (my list lurks below, Lance lists many) to also consider, but that's for another time.
Rich, good to know that Diamond installed the correct coax cable...that’ll save a significant amount of labor! I’m definitely going to look into some non-avionics upgrades in the next couple of years for sure. Hopefully starting with the gross weight increase...Any advice on where to start there?
Powerflow (PF) by all means. It appears you still have the MT prop, so it's the cost of the kit plus installation and patching the lower cowl. I was able to sell the original system parts, which offset some of the cost. If you check their site the cost varies with how much lead time you give them.

The nose fairing fin is inexpensive and definitely worth it. Check out the threads on that.

I use the extended baggage fairly often. But other than flying the plane back to the factory (which I was doing for other reasons, also) the cost was pretty modest in 2004. I'm informed it's pretty expensive now. Your call.

Lighting, especially landing/Taxi, assuming you have the original Halogens. I have the XeVision, but these days you have an LED option.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Re: Avionics upgrade

Post by Tom-B »

Chip, as a fellow 2002 owner - I agree with everyone’s suggestions. I think the two best upgrades for me have been the PowerFlow (For the enhanced performance and lower CHTs) and the FlightStream 210. Using the 210, I love being able to change my flight plans on the go using my iPad and avoid all of the Garmin 530/430 scrolling. On the rare occasions the 210 does not pair - I pull out my backup Stratus II to keep traffic on my iPad.

I had a shop price out installing two Garmin 275s ... their estimate was around $20K. While the capability of the 275 is impressive I am still able to fly LPV minimums with the original equipment. So maybe I will wait until I have a failed HSI before I consider an upgrade like this (Aspen or 275)
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Rich
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Re: Avionics upgrade

Post by Rich »

In the case of the FS210, I love it also. Mine has never failed connect up. Maybe its location makes a difference. It doesn’t work with the IFD units but you should not need it. They can hook up with ForeFlight natively. Though I don’t know about other EFBs.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Chip&Al
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Re: Avionics upgrade

Post by Chip&Al »

Tom-B wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 10:06 pm Chip, as a fellow 2002 owner - I agree with everyone’s suggestions. I think the two best upgrades for me have been the PowerFlow (For the enhanced performance and lower CHTs) and the FlightStream 210. Using the 210, I love being able to change my flight plans on the go using my iPad and avoid all of the Garmin 530/430 scrolling. On the rare occasions the 210 does not pair - I pull out my backup Stratus II to keep traffic on my iPad.

I had a shop price out installing two Garmin 275s ... their estimate was around $20K. While the capability of the 275 is impressive I am still able to fly LPV minimums with the original equipment. So maybe I will wait until I have a failed HSI before I consider an upgrade like this (Aspen or 275)
Tom, good to know. My plane has the power flow, so it looks like it’s ticked one of the major performance mods off the list.

Aspen has a solid promo going on right now with their Legacy Evolution 2000 systems for ~8 AMUs, plus install. Those should play really well with IFD440s as well. And Rich is right, Avidyne’s streaming capabilities are native to the equipment, which is pretty cool! Plus, it’s time for the original non-WAAS 430s to go.

I’m having a few shops quote everything out. I’ll keep ya’ll updated how it turns out.
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Re: Avionics upgrade

Post by Thomas »

Chip,
have you thought about a GTN650xi, there is an offer from Garmin now, 2k USD cashback for the 430, free FS510 and a free annual subscription for the database
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