Dynon AP74 + HS34 Knob Lights

[pmona]

My RV-6 is equipped with a Dynon D-180, HS34 and AP74. I recently noticed on a night XC the back lights in the knobs on the HS34 and AP74 do not illuminate. When first powered on they illuminate for a few seconds then go out which I have read is normal, but when it is completely dark I would expect them to illuminate.
I haven't found any documentation to indicate how I might turn those on. All other lights on the panels work as expected. I have tried adjusting the brightness via the D-180, using auto dim, but neither seem to have any effect.

I bought this plane less than a year ago and don't remember them ever illuminating. As I mentioned, I only recently noticed it on the night XC.

Is there some other setting or something I need to do in order for these to light up?

 

[Pdtofly]

My RV-6 is equipped with a Dynon D-180, HS34 and AP74. I recently noticed on a night XC the back lights in the knobs on the HS34 and AP74 do not illuminate. When first powered on they illuminate for a few seconds then go out which I have read is normal, but when it is completely dark I would expect them to illuminate.
I haven't found any documentation to indicate how I might turn those on. All other lights on the panels work as expected. I have tried adjusting the brightness via the D-180, using auto dim, but neither seem to have any effect.

I bought this plane less than a year ago and don't remember them ever illuminating. As I mentioned, I only recently noticed it on the night XC.

Is there some other setting or something I need to do in order for these to light up?

I had the same problem, where the backlighting is controlled by the D180 through the DSAB. I don’t remember the exact level, but if the screen is set to auto, the backlighting turned off. When I turned off auto dim, adjust the brightness manually, the knob backlighting will get brighter and dimmer.

Good luck.

 

[pmona]

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll look at that next time I'm there. I don't think the brightness/dimmer works too well. From what I remember it doesn't go very bright and one or two presses will turn it completely black.

 

[TheNewGuy]

I just sent mine in to Dynon. For $300 each, they’ll refresh and repair it. Also comes with a 1 year warranty

 

[pmona]

@Pdtofly thank you again,
I confirmed this morning that adjusting the brightness on the D-180 will illuminate the knobs. Unfortunately if I lower the brightness from anything other than high, the screen goes completely dark.

 

[Pdtofly]

@Pdtofly thank you again,
I confirmed this morning that adjusting the brightness on the D-180 will illuminate the knobs. Unfortunately if I lower the brightness from anything other than high, the screen goes completely dark.

Mine doesn’t do that. It take a two dim pushes before the knob lights up, and a few more pushes and it goes brighter, but the last push, the screen is to dark and unusable, and the knobs go dark again. I wished the dimmer circuit was built better than it was. Maybe an external control would be better, but that wasn’t in the design.

Where I like the Dynon products, and they have gotten better over time, they really don’t listen to the customers on how to improve it.

I suggested they put a NAV button and control in SkyView like over 8 years ago, and even told their president at Sun n Fun in 2022, they didn’t do it until the Nov 2025 update, and that was probably only because they bought Trig, and then had a NAV radio.

I sold one plane that had a dual SkyView suite, and my new plane has a D100, but I am adding a D180 for engine instruments, until I get the funds to go G3X, unless someone I know sell me his HDX cheap.