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Dynon AP74 / D10A / Aera 760 Question

Darinh

Well Known Member
I bought a F1 Rocket that is an absolute blast to fly! It’s a basic VFR setup with a new Garmin Aera 760. The pertinent system is as follows: D10A, EMS10, Garmin 760 & AP74. The question I have is this:

Can I feed GPS nav info to the AP or do I need an HS34 or other piece of equipment? Currently, I can only operate my AP on HDG. The NAV and TRK buttons won’t even light up as a nav source. I’ve been through the manual and read all I can about the AP setup and all I can figure is I need an HS34 to interface between the GPS source and my AP.

Can anyone shed some light on this? At some point I’m going to upgrade the avionics to either a G3x or HDX system but in the interim, I’d love to be able to create a flight plan and have my AP fly it.
 
I don’t have the answer you need, but my D10a will nav from my Lowrance GPS. I’m not the builder and don’t know what he did to make them talk, but I don’t have the ap74, I just control everything right off the D10a
 
You should be able to go directly from the 760 to your AP for basic tracking. You would need the HS34's arinc 429 interface if you wanted AP to fly a glideslope from an IFR navigator like a 650
 
+1

What Tooch said, the Aera 760 has 2 RS232 channels and you can set it up to drive the AP, it will give you lateral navigation, direct To etc. but no vertical nav functions. The HS34 will give you ARINC 429 capability which you will need for vertical nav from a GPS navigator.

In my setup the 760 can drive the TruTrak AP in lateral nav mode using RS232 and the HD34 drives the AP in vertical nav mode and approaches using the ARINC 429 from the GNX 375. All work fine.
Figs
 
What Tooch said, the Aera 760 has 2 RS232 channels and you can set it up to drive the AP, it will give you lateral navigation, direct To etc. but no vertical nav functions. The HS34 will give you ARINC 429 capability which you will need for vertical nav from a GPS navigator.

In my setup the 760 can drive the TruTrak AP in lateral nav mode using RS232 and the HD34 drives the AP in vertical nav mode and approaches using the ARINC 429 from the GNX 375. All work fine.
Figs

Great, thanks! I am not looking for vertical navigation so I should be able to get the 760 to communicate with the AP. I am not the builder of this bird and this function has never been functional. That being said, I just need to verify wiring and NMEA setup and baud rate. I have read that the GPS needs to be set to "NMEA out" and baud rate to 9600 for the Dynon D10A and AP74. Can anyone confirm this?

Also, I suspect the "NAV" and "TRK" buttons on my AP don't light up when pressed because they are not propertly sensing the NAV or TRK source (ie. 760 GPS)?
 
hookup

I've got the Dynon D10a, HS34, and AP74, and I'm the builder & did the wiring.

The GPS RS-232 data goes TO THE D10a, not the AP. https://www.dynonavionics.com/includes/guides/EFIS-D10A_Installation_Guide_Rev_J.pdf
See page 3-4 on connecting, page 3-5 for the protocol.

As others stated, you won't get vertical guidance. Also you won't get turn anticipation. Meaning at a waypoint with a significant change in direction, the plane will fly the original heading until the waypoint is crossed. Then it will turn to the new course, and correct to get onto the line. Not a big issue on small course changes but not desirable on the typical 90 degree turn in an instrument approach.
 
On the 760 you have a couple of choices for the NMEA output, either "Aviation In/NMEA & VHF Out" or GTX TIS-A In/NMEA & VHF Out". I use the Aviation In selection to drive the Trutrak AP and the SL30 VHF frequency selection.

There is also an earlier thread on here about wiring up the 760 DB9 connector or wiring using the Gamin hard wired cable that will give you the DB9 pinout data or the wiring color code for the Garmin cable.
Figs
 
On the 760 you have a couple of choices for the NMEA output, either "Aviation In/NMEA & VHF Out" or GTX TIS-A In/NMEA & VHF Out".

Figs, I think I got it working last night but selected on the "NMEA Out" as I have nothing talking to the 760 other than a bluetooth connection to a GDL50 for ADS-B in. I am now seeing the magenta "GPS" text on the HSI screen of the D10a. I have not been able to test it in-flight yet due to weather here and in my hangar I don't get any GPS signal so the HSI reads "Waiting for GPS Signal". Its definitely talking to the D10a because I can change the NMEA settings and the magenta GPS text goes away and then returns when I correct the NMEA settings so that is progress, I think.

The NAV light on my AP74 still won't light when pushed but I assume this is because it doesn't sense anything from the 760 because it doesn't have signal in the hangar?
 
You'd also need to specify a go-to course on the 760. Likely you can't do that until it gets a GPS lock. Once you do that the main screen of the D10a will also show a magenta pointer in the compass card area.

Then the AutoPilot should be able to engage NAV mode.
 
You won't need to actually do a test flight, you can just push it out far enough for the 760 to see the GPS satellites.
 
You won't need to actually do a test flight, you can just push it out far enough for the 760 to see the GPS satellites.

Thanks guys! This is what I figured but it literally hasn’t stopped raining since Monday so I haven’t had the chance to even push it out of the hangar. Will try that today.
 
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