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Altitude alerts - G3X Touch, GTN, or both?

iamtheari

Well Known Member
I finally got a chance to fly with my newly wired alert audio from the G3X Touch, and when I was about to land I got two “500” alerts. One from the GTN 650 and one from the G3X Touch. I would prefer just one such alert. Does anyone have an opinion on which unit is better to get this altitude alert from?
 
In an aircraft with a G3X system, I wouldn't even bother connecting the audio output from a GTN.
 
Audio Alerts

I finally got a chance to fly with my newly wired alert audio from the G3X Touch, and when I was about to land I got two “500” alerts. One from the GTN 650 and one from the G3X Touch. I would prefer just one such alert. Does anyone have an opinion on which unit is better to get this altitude alert from?

The G3X Touch provides the same audio alerts the GTN provides and then some. You will experience duplicated callouts like this if you have both of them connected, we recommend only connecting the audio output from the G3X Touch.

Let us know if you have any other questions!

Thanks,

Justin
 
The G3X Touch provides the same audio alerts the GTN provides and then some. You will experience duplicated callouts like this if you have both of them connected, we recommend only connecting the audio output from the G3X Touch.

Let us know if you have any other questions!

Thanks,

Justin
With a few flights having set the alert input for the GTN to 0% volume, the one thing I am missing is "vertical track" when approaching my VNAV TOD. The TOD displays on the G3X Touch, but I don't see where to enable alerts for it. Is there a way?
 
The G3X Touch provides the same audio alerts the GTN provides and then some. You will experience duplicated callouts like this if you have both of them connected, we recommend only connecting the audio output from the G3X Touch.

Let us know if you have any other questions!

Thanks,

Justin

I have 2 G5's, GFC500 and 430W. What is the correct location to pull the audio alerts from? My review of the documents says it's the GFC that provides audio alerts, just wanted to confirm.
 
Odd…

I have a GTN 650xi, G3X Touch, wired into the GMA 245.

I do NOT hear competing alerts — The GTN xi issues the “Vertical Track” notification, and the G3X issues “500” and “Minimums”. Maybe it’s the way I’m using each…
 
I'm still struggling with this. I spent a few minutes in configuration mode on both the G3X Touch and the GTN Xi, and I don't see anything that lets me turn off the 500-foot alert on either of them. The one thing I can think of trying is to change the GTN Xi from Terrain Alerting to Terrain Proximity. I'll have to go flying and see if that gets rid of the 500-foot alert from the GTN.
 
Is the dual audio problem also present with a G3X/GTN375 combination? Will the G3X make the ads-b related traffic calls for example?
 
Audio alerts for altitude

I also have a G3X touch and GTNxi. I do not get competing alerts but the 500’ alert is pretty low volume even though I have the audio configured for 100%. I used to have non touch and I received an alert when approaching set altitude both above and below.

I cannot find the altitude alerts for the touch. Does the touch have the ability to alert as approaching assigned altitude when above or below the altitude. If so, how do you set the alert.
 
I also have a G3X touch and GTNxi. I do not get competing alerts but the 500’ alert is pretty low volume even though I have the audio configured for 100%. I used to have non touch and I received an alert when approaching set altitude both above and below.

I cannot find the altitude alerts for the touch. Does the touch have the ability to alert as approaching assigned altitude when above or below the altitude. If so, how do you set the alert.

That alert is in the G3X Touch configuration mode. I think the menu item is labeled Sound.
 
500 Callout Volume

I also have a G3X touch and GTNxi. I do not get competing alerts but the 500’ alert is pretty low volume even though I have the audio configured for 100%. I used to have non touch and I received an alert when approaching set altitude both above and below.

I cannot find the altitude alerts for the touch. Does the touch have the ability to alert as approaching assigned altitude when above or below the altitude. If so, how do you set the alert.

As mentioned, check the Sound configuration menu, in config mode. You can test the audio output levels there. Also, if you haven't already, update your displays to G3X Touch Software level 9.00, which can be found here.

Thanks,

Justin
 
I have a GTN 650xi, G3X Touch, wired into the GMA 245.

I do NOT hear competing alerts — The GTN xi issues the “Vertical Track” notification, and the G3X issues “500” and “Minimums”. Maybe it’s the way I’m using each…

“Vertical Track” alert 1 minute from TOD would be great on the G3X, so would showing TOD marker on the flight plan/route when on screen.
 
I'm still struggling with this. I spent a few minutes in configuration mode on both the G3X Touch and the GTN Xi, and I don't see anything that lets me turn off the 500-foot alert on either of them. The one thing I can think of trying is to change the GTN Xi from Terrain Alerting to Terrain Proximity. I'll have to go flying and see if that gets rid of the 500-foot alert from the GTN.
This appears to have been the answer. With alerts from both the G3X and GTN playing and the GTN set to Terrain Proximity instead of Terrain Alerting, I got just one "500" call but I also got my "vertical track" call.

I'd like a little more granularity on turning individual alerts on and off in both the G3X and the GTN, but pending that this is going to work fine.
 
“Vertical Track” alert 1 minute from TOD would be great on the G3X, so would showing TOD marker on the flight plan/route when on screen.

The latest firmware for the G3X Touch and GTN Xi shows TOD and BOD when in VNAV and active in the route.
 
The latest firmware for the G3X Touch and GTN Xi shows TOD and BOD when in VNAV and active in the route.

^ that is the trick… only works with GTN xi. Would be nice if it worked with the non xi navigators. Shows BOD, so why not TOD?
 
Vertical Track Audible

The latest firmware for the G3X Touch and GTN Xi shows TOD and BOD when in VNAV and active in the route.

In addition, we worked a vertical track aural alert into the latest G3X Touch software revision we are working on. When that version is released, you will have an audible callout prior to TOD, as suggested.

Thanks,

Justin
 
In addition, we worked a vertical track aural alert into the latest G3X Touch software revision we are working on. When that version is released, you will have an audible callout prior to TOD, as suggested.

Thanks,

Justin

Thanks Justin! Great work.
 
Now that the G3X Touch has an audio TOD VNAV alert available, how are people handling the GTN audio overlap? I turned the GTN alert volume to 0 for now but I haven’t flown with the new G3X alerts yet.
 
Now that the G3X Touch has an audio TOD VNAV alert available, how are people handling the GTN audio overlap? I turned the GTN alert volume to 0 for now but I haven’t flown with the new G3X alerts yet.

I wouldn't even bother to connect the audio output from the GTN, it doesn't provide any additional information if you have a G3X Touch system.
 
I did fly with the new SW and did not get an audio alert for the Take OFF Safe Altitude which I had set to be a 1000.

Did I miss any other steps in configuring this or is this another bug?
 
Same here

All other features work fine except safe altitude to return which I set at 500 ft.
 
I wouldn't even bother to connect the audio output from the GTN, it doesn't provide any additional information if you have a G3X Touch system.

I think it has finally reached that point with the latest G3X Touch software. I won’t snip the wire but if I ever rewire the panel I would probably skip that one.
 
I did fly with the new SW and did not get an audio alert for the Take OFF Safe Altitude which I had set to be a 1000.

Did I miss any other steps in configuring this or is this another bug?

Did you play the audio using the test button in configuration mode to verify it plays, volume is set loud enough, etc?
 
I did fly with the new SW and did not get an audio alert for the Take OFF Safe Altitude which I had set to be a 1000.

Did I miss any other steps in configuring this or is this another bug?

All other features work fine except safe altitude to return which I set at 500 ft.



There are two parts to this one,
  1. The Takeoff Safe Altitude, which is a numeric entry you determine for your aircraft, in the Aircraft Configuration page.
  2. The Tafeoff Altitude Alert, which is a binary option, in the Sound Configuration page.

Sounds like you may not have turned on the alert. (We are working to get the updated installation manual out in the next week where all these details will be captured.
 
There are two parts to this one,
  1. The Takeoff Safe Altitude, which is a numeric entry you determine for your aircraft, in the Aircraft Configuration page.
  2. The Tafeoff Altitude Alert, which is a binary option, in the Sound Configuration page.

Sounds like you may not have turned on the alert. (We are working to get the updated installation manual out in the next week where all these details will be captured.

I did not check the Takeoff alert in the Sound section, I will check that when the new release has been published and will report if any issues.
 
Same here.............

Originally Posted by g3xpert View Post
There are two parts to this one,
The Takeoff Safe Altitude, which is a numeric entry you determine for your aircraft, in the Aircraft Configuration page.
The Tafeoff Altitude Alert, which is a binary option, in the Sound Configuration page.

Sounds like you may not have turned on the alert. (We are working to get the updated installation manual out in the next week where all these details will be captured.

Same here, assumed the sound was part of the many other sounds volumes already configured. ;)
 
After update defaults to on

The Takeoff Altitude Alert, which is a binary option, is in the Sound Configuration page.

The sound was enabled in the Sound Configuration page. I think the issue is the level of sound is tied to a default % of sound level and during take-off it's a little more of a louder environment and difficult to hear. I increased the level and now can hear it, but my other alerts are a little loud. Probably better if this alert sound level could be adjusted on its own. On the ground in test mode can hear it fine.
 
There are two parts to this one,
  1. The Takeoff Safe Altitude, which is a numeric entry you determine for your aircraft, in the Aircraft Configuration page.
  2. The Tafeoff Altitude Alert, which is a binary option, in the Sound Configuration page.

Sounds like you may not have turned on the alert. (We are working to get the updated installation manual out in the next week where all these details will be captured.

I've tried turning on both of these and the test works perfectly but when flying the plane I get nothing. Every other alert works except this one. Anyone have any luck?
 
I've tried turning on both of these and the test works perfectly but when flying the plane I get nothing. Every other alert works except this one. Anyone have any luck?

I'm e-mailing G3Xpert now about this since I have the same thing going on. A thought occurred to me, though. How did you wire the alert audio? I wired the PFD mono to failsafe alert on my GMA 245R and I wired the MFD mono to another alert input. Then I set the alert source to the MFD mono output. Maybe the new alerts don't respect the alert source setting?
 
Takeoff Alert Absent

Good Morning,

There seems to be a handful of aircraft experiencing this problem. We will run this down and attempt to reproduce the problem on our test bench. We will keep you posed on our progress. Thank you for providing the detailed info on this one.

Thanks,

Justin
 
Good Morning,

There seems to be a handful of aircraft experiencing this problem. We will run this down and attempt to reproduce the problem on our test bench. We will keep you posed on our progress. Thank you for providing the detailed info on this one.

Thanks,

Justin

Have you had any success on this since February? I was hoping to see an update in the 9.21/9.22 software updates but nothing jumps out as having addressed the audio alert problem. I still do not get takeoff safe altitude or VNAV alerts from the G3X Touch during operation, although they test-play fine on the ground.
 
Have you had any success on this since February? I was hoping to see an update in the 9.21/9.22 software updates but nothing jumps out as having addressed the audio alert problem. I still do not get takeoff safe altitude or VNAV alerts from the G3X Touch during operation, although they test-play fine on the ground.

Version 9.22 adds independent audio volume configuration for these alerts... no reason not to try it.
 
Takeoff Alert

Have you had any success on this since February? I was hoping to see an update in the 9.21/9.22 software updates but nothing jumps out as having addressed the audio alert problem. I still do not get takeoff safe altitude or VNAV alerts from the G3X Touch during operation, although they test-play fine on the ground.

Have you updated software on your system, we made a few changes related to audio alerting. Do you have your audio output connected to your MFD or PFD?

Thanks,

Justin
 
Have you updated software on your system, we made a few changes related to audio alerting. Do you have your audio output connected to your MFD or PFD?

Thanks,

Justin

I'm running 9.14, I think. I had the last update before 9.21 was released, at any rate.

The MFD mono output goes to an alert input on the GMA 245R. The PFD mono output goes to the failsafe alert input on the GMA 245R. (I learned after wiring the panel that the failsafe is only active when the GMA has failed, so I added the MFD mono output for non-failed alert audio.) I select MFD as the alert source, on the belief that the absence of the MFD will cause the PFD to issue the alerts instead.

Other alerts like the AOA beeper come through just fine. I don't have a complete list of which alerts work and which don't. Test playing the alerts works fine. They only don't work in flight. As I mentioned above, I suspect as a possible cause that the 'takeoff safe altitude' and VNAV alerts might not be respecting the alert source setting.

I'm working on my condition inspection so I can't go flying at the moment, but if there are any tests I can do on the ground in the meantime, please let me know. I plan to update to 9.22 the next time I go to the airport.

Thanks for responding today!
 
I flew with 9.22 for the first time over the weekend. The G3X takeoff altitude and VNAV alerts are finally working.
 
Takeoff Alert

What is the actual takeoff altitude alert sound? A tone or a voice saying something?

Good Afternoon,

A voice alert is issued as you pass through the configured altitude threshold.

Thanks,

Justin
 
One annoyance is that on both the GTN and the G3X, VNAV is enabled when the unit is powered on. I only occasionally want VNAV, and at other times, it is a nuisance. How do I disable it? On one flight, both VNAV guidance and ILS glideslope were displayed at the same time...

Similarly, the 500' callout is a remnant of the stable approach battles within the FAA two decades ago. That callout also qualifies as a nuisance. How can I silence that?

And, yes, when I was at Boeing, some of my work was advancing the quiet, dark cockpit concept, and another, major part of my research was on unstable approaches.
 
One annoyance is that on both the GTN and the G3X, VNAV is enabled when the unit is powered on. I only occasionally want VNAV, and at other times, it is a nuisance. How do I disable it? On one flight, both VNAV guidance and ILS glideslope were displayed at the same time...

Similarly, the 500' callout is a remnant of the stable approach battles within the FAA two decades ago. That callout also qualifies as a nuisance. How can I silence that?

And, yes, when I was at Boeing, some of my work was advancing the quiet, dark cockpit concept, and another, major part of my research was on unstable approaches.
Do you get VNAV guidance when your active flight plan doesn’t have any altitudes entered?

I think the 500-foot callout (on approach, not the takeoff safe altitude one) is part of a package of terrain alerts and can probably only be disabled by disabling all of those.
 
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