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EZ Pilot Autopilot
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Robin Marks

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 24
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:50 pm Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot



Dear List,

I am unimpressed with my Navaid Autopilot and I am thinking

of swapping it out with an EZ Pilot ( www.trioavionics.com

<http://www.trioavionics.com/> ). It is that it is a direct replacement

interfacing with the Navaid servo. Probably telling the list what it

already knows. I will be hooking this up to a Garmin 250XL GPS/Com and a

Garmin 296 GPS. I would like to get feedback from the list to make sure

the EZ Pilot is a good unit worth installing.

Robin

RV-6A 240 hours

_________________
RV-4 Sold
RV-6A 0-360 - C/S Flying

sportav8r(at)aol.com
Guest

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 6:28 pm Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot



Robin- I'm quite happy with mine in the RV, both the EZ pilot and the altitude hold. You are correct about direct interface with Navaid roll servo.

shempdowling2(at)earthlin
Guest

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 7:33 pm Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot



Are you sure you have the NavAid set up correctly? I have no qualms about

mine. I flick the switch to tk and it follows my gps course very closely,

including turns.

Shemp/Jeff Dowling

RV-6A, N915JD

235 hours

Chicago/Louisville

---

sbuc(at)hiwaay.net
Guest

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:09 pm Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

Robin Marks wrote:

[quote]

martin(at)gbonline.com
Guest

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:14 pm Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot



Robin,

Consider a TRUTRAK. It will interface with the Navaid servo. You can order

it without the servo at a lower price. It is far superior to the TRIO imho.

Dick Martin

N233M RV8

Trutrak test pilot

---

Robin Marks

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 24
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:21 pm Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

I actually did do my first search in the archives BEFORE requesting info

from the list. I guess my search skills match my autopilot skills. 



Robin

_________________
RV-4 Sold
RV-6A 0-360 - C/S Flying

Steve Glasgow

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 674

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:29 am Post subject: Re: EZ Pilot Autopilot

Robin,



I just installed my EZ pilot and love it.  I had the Navaid and there is no comparison.

_________________
Steve Glasgow-Cappy
Cappy's Toy
RV-8 N123SG

luckymacy(at)comcast.net
Guest

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:00 am Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

Why do you make the claim it is "far superior"?



Where's the proof?  Give me the side by side comparison?



Otherwise I could think you just got a freebie from them and are so excited you'd make an usubstantiated claim and we'd never be inclined to believe you again..hypothetically speaking of course.  



-------------- Original message -------------- 

From: "dick martin" <martin(at)gbonline.com> 



[quote] 

 

 Robin, 

 Consider a TRUTRAK. It will interface with the Navaid servo. You can order 

 it without the servo at a lower price. It is far superior to the TRIO imho. 

 Dick Martin 

 N233M RV8 

 Trutrak test pilot 

 ---

sbuc(at)hiwaay.net
Guest

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:13 am Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

dick martin wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		   

 

 Robin,

 Consider a TRUTRAK.  It will interface with the Navaid servo.  You can order 

 it without the servo at a lower price.  It is far superior to the TRIO imho.

 Dick Martin

 N233M  RV8

 Trutrak test pilot


	




Dick,



No doubt anyone with field experience with the new digital autopilots 

will agree that TruTrak makes very nice equipment. Matter of fact, I fly 

their AlTrak and it is superb in regard to doing what it is advertised 

to do.



I am, however, intrigued by your opinion concerning the DigiTrak being 

"far superior" to the EZ-Pilot. Since the EZ-Pilot offers much more in 

the way of display information presented to the pilot than the DigiTrak, 

there must be something in the way the DigiTrak performs in-flight that 

compels you to make this assertion. I am very interested in hearing your 

comments in this regard.



Since the EZ-Pilot in my RV-6 performs precisely as advertised, the 

DigiTrak must be capable of some extraordinary performance. For the sake 

of all us who are attempting to keep up with the advances in digital 

autopilots, please provide your input as to how you have found the 

DigiTrak to be far superior to the EZ-Pilot (and I suppose all other 

systems since the digital units will out-perform analog systems) in 

side-by-side comparisons.



Thank you in advance for your reply,



Sam Buchanan

Ollie Washburn

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 56
Location: Central Florida

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:32 am Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

I swapped my nav-aid head for the EZ-pilot and it has worked

perfectially. Before I was never sure which way the plane would go when I

turned the autopilot on. They are great people to work with and at S & F

they came out to my plane to try and help me figure out why it would not

couple with GPS, end result I needed one more wire coming from GPS.



Ollie   Central Fl.



[quote] [Original Message]

 From: <sportav8r(at)aol.com>

 To: <rv-list(at)matronics.com>

 Date: 1/11/2006 9:19:50 PM

 Subject: Re: EZ Pilot Autopilot



 



 Robin-

  

 I'm ve 

  

 --

_________________
Ollie RV6-A & Rans S7S
Central FL

cweyant(at)chuckdirect.co
Guest

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:39 pm Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

Me too, I love my NavAid !



---

tomvelvick

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 18
Location: Peoria, AZ

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:53 pm Post subject: Re: EZ Pilot Autopilot

Hi Robin,

My EZ Pilot handles turbulence a lot better than the Navaid.  I had to hand fly the RV in more than real light turbulence.  The Navaid would get behind and cause some wild wing drops.  The EZ Pilot does a way better job in turbulence and I let it fly the plane most of the time.  I also find myself using the gps data on it instead of the gps so I turned the data windows off on the gps to give myself more room on the gps screen for the moving map. (Garmin GPS III Pilot).  Got a Garmin 296 for Xmas so may change that when I get it mounted.  The EZ pilot uses the NMEA data from the GPS instead of a plus/minus 50 millivolt analog signal that the Navaid uses so it knows a lot more about where you are and turns the correct way to intercept the course.  The adjustments are all done in software on the unit, no little screws to turn like on the navaid.  The EZ pilot almost always tracks within 0.00 to 0.02 miles of the course.  This is way better than I could get with the Navaid.  I also like the course offset feature so I can fly 1/4 mile for example to the right of the course centerline.  I dont have the latest software updates so probably missing out on some of the new features but I think it is definately worth upgrading from the Navaid.  Mine also included a patch cable to go between the EZ pilot head and the old cable to the Navaid Head.  Just had to add a couple of wires to it, I believe so it was a real easy swap.



Regards,

Tom Velvick

N53KT RV-4

N7053L RV-4

RV-6a canopy and wiring



 	  Robin Marks wrote: 	
		  

Dear List,

I am unimpressed with my Navaid Autopilot and I am thinking

of swapping it out with an EZ Pilot ( www.trioavionics.com

<http://www.trioavionics.com/> ). It is that it is a direct replacement

interfacing with the Navaid servo. Probably telling the list what it

already knows. I will be hooking this up to a Garmin 250XL GPS/Com and a

Garmin 296 GPS. I would like to get feedback from the list to make sure

the EZ Pilot is a good unit worth installing.

Robin

RV-6A 240 hours

Charles Heathco

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 201

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:39 pm Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

I have both the EZ pilot and the EZ-1 alt hold installed. Ez pilot is hooked to 296.  I had some problems getting them going, but support was very good, and they work as advertised. The wiring for the Alt hold definatly requires some skill, but the EZ pilot has a mounting kit and wiring kit availible, Charlie Heathco (RV6a)

sportav8r(at)aol.com
Guest

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 5:15 am Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

Glad you ended up happy with yours, Charlie.  I am with mine, too.  C'mon, the Alt Hold wiring wasn't all that bad.  It was the mounting bracket that took some puzzling out and some crawling around on the old belly 

 

As I told Sid, the A/H was difficult to calibrate, since the vibe level in my stick from the engine made it impossible to feel the servo pulses I was supposed to tune out, so I ended up at factory defaults and it seems happy.

 

-Stormy

 

--

SSampson.SLN21(at)london.
Guest

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 10:19 am Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

I have followed this thread with interest.



The one thought I have is of the three units discussed (Tru track / Ezi / 

Navaid) the true track servos look to be of a much better quality. I have 

only handled the Navaid servo, which from pictures looks as though it is 

common to the Ezi. It always appeared not too robust.



Anyone care to comment?



Thanks, Steve.



PS Do these companies make these servos themselves?.

sbuc(at)hiwaay.net
Guest

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 11:33 am Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

Steve Sampson wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		   

 

 I have followed this thread with interest.

 

 The one thought I have is of the three units discussed (Tru track / Ezi / 

 Navaid) the true track servos look to be of a much better quality. I have 

 only handled the Navaid servo, which from pictures looks as though it is 

 common to the Ezi. It always appeared not too robust.

 

 Anyone care to comment?

 

 Thanks, Steve.

 

 PS Do these companies make these servos themselves?. 


	


The TruTrak servo is indeed a nice looking and hefty unit. It uses a 

stepping motor instead of a linear motor and clutch. However, I have 

heard that a new version of this servo is in the works that has a clutch.



The Navaid servo is much lighter than the TruTrak and based on analog 

technology that has been around for many years. In spite of its dated 

appearance and light weight, the servo has an excellent field history in 

service with both Navaid control heads and more recently with the 

EZ-Pilot heads. This servo incorporates a clutch that releases the gear 

train when power is removed from the servo.



Trio is shipping their new servo with their altitude hold devices and it 

is a dandy both mechanically and electronically. This state-of-the-art 

servo is the only one that includes an accelerometer *in the servo* that 

is an integral part of the fail-safe system. The servo and control head 

constantly poll each other, and if an argument can't be settled, the 

system releases the servo. If the servo independently sees a high G load 

from its built-in accelerometer, it will deactivate. As far as I know, 

this is the only system that provides the servo with enough brains to 

independently disconnect in an emergency without being commanded by the 

control head. I suspect this new servo will eventually find its way into 

the entire Trio product line.



Hope this info helps with understanding the various options. With the 

exception of the Navaid servo used on the EZ-Pilot and the Navaid 

version of the DigiTrak, as far as I know the other servos are produced 

by the respective companies. I am not an employee of any autopilot 

company, just a very interested bystander and customer of both Trio and 

TruTrak.



Sam Buchanan

sbuc(at)hiwaay.net
Guest

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 2:03 pm Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

Sam Buchanan wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		   

<snip>
	


 	  Quote: 	
		   Trio is shipping their new servo with their altitude hold devices and it 

 is a dandy both mechanically and electronically. This state-of-the-art 

 servo is the only one that includes an accelerometer *in the servo* that 

 is an integral part of the fail-safe system. The servo and control head 

 constantly poll each other, and if an argument can't be settled, the 

 system releases the servo. If the servo independently sees a high G load 

 from its built-in accelerometer, it will deactivate. As far as I know, 

 this is the only system that provides the servo with enough brains to 

 independently disconnect in an emergency without being commanded by the 

 control head. I suspect this new servo will eventually find its way into 

 the entire Trio product line.

<snip>
	




I just received word from Trio that they have been shipping their new 

Gold Standard servo (the one discussed above) with the EZ-Pilot since 

about 45 days ago.



I looked inside one of these servos at OSH and the engineering and 

materials look first class; should be a worthy component for their 

excellent autopilots.



Sam Buchanan

don.wentz(at)intel.com
Guest

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 3:10 pm Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

With all this talk about selling of Navaids to buy other autopilots, any

of you selling the Navaids cheap?



Mine works great (compared to what I had before - nothing  and I have

a friend with an RV-4 without even a T&B that would advance light years

with a 'crappy old Navaid' wing leveler.



Contact me offline pls.

Dw

RV-6 920hrs

Do not archive

Vanremog(at)AOL.COM
Guest

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 9:12 pm Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

In a message dated 1/13/2006 3:11:10 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  

don.wentz(at)intel.com writes:



With all  this talk about selling of Navaids to buy other autopilots, any

of you  selling the Navaids cheap?



Mine works great (compared to what I had  before - nothing  and I have

a friend with an RV-4 without even a  T&B that would advance light years

with a 'crappy old Navaid' wing  leveler.



====================================

 

I'm down with the Duck Dude on this one.  My old vintage '97 Navaid  has 

worked fine since day one and, aside from the fact that it doesn't have an  

altitude hold option (the Pig Dude never come thru on this one), I  am generally 

happy with it.  



GV (RV-6A  N1GV O-360-A1A, C/S, Flying 771hrs, Silicon Valley, CA)

chaztuna(at)adelphia.net
Guest

Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 8:01 am Post subject: EZ Pilot Autopilot

Sam,

  You you explain to me what a "stepper" motor is and how it differs?

Charlie Kuss

snipped

 	  Quote: 	
		  The TruTrak servo is indeed a nice looking and hefty unit. It uses a

stepping motor instead of a linear motor and clutch. However, I have

heard that a new version of this servo is in the works that has a clutch.



The Navaid servo is much lighter than the TruTrak and based on analog

technology that has been around for many years. In spite of its dated

appearance and light weight, the servo has an excellent field history in

service with both Navaid control heads and more recently with the

EZ-Pilot heads. This servo incorporates a clutch that releases the gear

train when power is removed from the servo.

snipped

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