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GRT Expertise Needed

SVTPete83

Well Known Member
I bought a new to me RV9a this past April. I have never built one and this is my very first plane. I first flew the bird with just over 120 hours in my log book. I've now got 250 hours and am ready to tackle my IR. I have upgraded the autopilot to a trutrak vizion and the plane has a garmin 650 and gtx345. After checking it out tonight I know I have a dual GRT HS setup. I am looking to upgrade but am not sure what my best options are. I would prefer a plug and play upgrade with minimal cutting but am willing to change things up if I have to. What is the best option for an upgrade? I have heard the HX series is no longer an option if I want to keep my original screen size, or the dual screen setup. I want the ideal setup for IFR. I know the HX and HXr have geo referenced approach plates. How much more helpful are these? I would really like to have the upgraded screens, synthetic vision, and quicker CPU's as well. This is why I am reaching out to the experts. If it was your money, what would you do? I would like to stay with the GRT as I have gotten really comfortable with them. Any input is greatly appreciated!!! Thanks in advance!!


IMG_8247 by Peter Anderson, on Flickr

IMG_8260 by Peter Anderson, on Flickr
 
my choice

Since the HX screens are no longer available, I would upgrade to the ES. I have 3 HX screens in my RVs and love them.

http://grtavionics.com/home/efis-systems/horizon-ex-efis/

The geo referenced plates and maps come from Seattle Avionics and I believe they work with the screens you have, try them before upgrading. Send me a blank usb stick to try it. Good luck.
 
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Since the HX screens are no longer available, I would upgrade to the ES. I have 3 HX screens in my RVs and love them.

http://grtavionics.com/home/efis-systems/horizon-ex-efis/

The geo referenced plates and maps come from Seattle Avionics and I believe they work with the screens you have, try them before upgrading. Send me a blank usb stick to try it. Good luck.
What size screens do you have? I would second the above suggestion. There is no other path that will get you what you are asking for easier. Except for his suggestion of keeping your current screens and loading the plates on it.
 
Get your IFR ticket and then upgrade your panel if needed. With the additional knowledge and experience flying IFR your opinion of what you need may change. Especially since an upgrade to current generation screens would require a lot of panel surgery.
 
I want the ideal setup for IFR.

This is highly subjective. Answers are as different as one can imagine but basically the ideal system gives you the information needed to accomplish the flight.

I know the HX and HXr have geo referenced approach plates. How much more helpful are these?

For me, zero. I keep georeferenced plates on my knee tablet. I prefer not taking panel screen space for these because that information is glanced at once vs other stuff constantly in the scan on the panel.

If it was your money, what would you do?

Nothing. You have a very good system already. Many, like me, have been flying IFR with smaller screens at same pixel density as yours for years. As others have said, get some IFR training time, maybe all the way to the end before putting your current panel in the bin. With the smaller low res screen as PFD, I normally did not run split screen. With the larger HS that you have, I might. PFD on the left and HSI on the right perhaps. The MFD I always run split with engine on left and map on right so I can see the global picture, get traffic and weather. Your IFR GPS navigator is newer than mine which could play into the decision of what to display where. I did upgrade my PFD to an ES recently and now run split even on the small screen due to better pixel density.
I found it interesting that after the upgrade (Was more of a screen failure replacement actually), I run split screen PFD even VFR but the split is PFD on the left and 20 mile range map on the right for emergency landing purposes and close up traffic.
 
Upgrade for Upgrade's Sake?

..I've now got 250 hours and am ready to tackle my IR. I have upgraded the autopilot to a trutrak vizion and the plane has a garmin 650 and gtx345.
...I am looking to upgrade but am not sure what my best options are.

It sounds to me like you're just itching to upgrade something without a real need to do so. There's nothing wrong with the setup that you have. I fly behind a dual HX and GNS430W in my RV-8 and love it. The HX displays are actually capable of Geo-referenced approach plates with a Seattle Avionics database subscription, but like Bill, I do not find this feature all that useful. It's better to leave the plates on the iPad/Tablet. I don't have my IFR ticket (yet) but I do have ~ 100 hours of simulated and actual instrument time in my plane.

The GRT HX is capable of traffic and weather with the appropriate input sources (ADS-B, TIS, XM Weather) so if you don't have these you might consider adding one of those.

I would recommend getting your instrument ticket with what you have, then if you still feel that you need to upgrade the panel, do so at that time.

I normally fly with the PFD screen set to "split-screen" with the engine instruments at the bottom and use the other display in one of the moving map modes or HSI.

Skylor
RV-8
 
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Nice panel! Spend the time on the ground and then fly with IFR current buddies or instructors and see how well it performs.

Ground Study, practice, then fly with it until it is limiting you, not vice versa.

Charts/plates work fine on $200 tablets with paid or free apps&data.
 
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Kind of echoing others: your current set up looks fine.
You might call GRT after the first (closed for the holidays) and see if they can re-build one or both your HS units into HX inits. Last time I spoke to them, they were still doing that. What you would get:
1. More RS232 ports. Do you need more?
2. USB input for some ADSB-in boxes, like Skyradar. Traffic/wx on your 650 is not quite as nice as having it on your PFD, but not bad either.
3. Synthetic vision. IMHO marginally useful, as you have terrain on your 650 already.

My opinion. Unless you need more RS232 ports, I?d stay with what you have, which is a lot of capability. If you want synthetic vision, see if GRT can re-build one of your boxes.
BTW, for ifr I split the PFD, main screen on left 2/3, HSI on the right 1/3. Do you know how to show two VORs from your SL30? Many don?t but it will show the standby vor as a RMI pointer on the hsi page.
I?m local (LVK) and would be happy to demo two HX boxes fir you (I needed the extra RS232 ports).
 
SL-30 dual VOR

Do you know how to show two VORs from your SL30? Many don’t but it will show the standby vor as a RMI pointer on the hsi page.

Bob,
I do not know how to do that and would like to find out, I upgraded tow 8.4" HX screens to HXr screens. Some things about this upgrade I like and some I don't but that is a story for another day.
If you could give a description here of how to make the SL-30 show two VOR's that would be great. Thx.

To the OP.
I really like your setup with the two screens side by side as opposed to having one on the left and the other on the right with a radio stack in the middle. I fly single IFR all the time and would hate to have the MFD on the far right. this seems to be what is trending right but, in my not so humble opinion, that is a serious mistake...

Also, perhaps I am "old School" but I agree with the above poster when he stated that there is zero advantage in displaying approach plates on the panel screens. Get an iPad Mini or an android tablet of the same size and load FltPlan Go and you will have all the plates and charts you need and then some for all of the USA, Canada and DR plus much more all for free. The big advantage here is that you won't use up valuable EFIS screen space for charts and plates plus it is convenient to review at home or in your hotel room on the road.
 
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HS to HX

Kind of echoing others: your current set up looks fine.
You might call GRT after the first (closed for the holidays) and see if they can re-build one or both your HS units into HX inits. Last time I spoke to them, they were still doing that. What you would get:
1. More RS232 ports. Do you need more?
2. USB input for some ADSB-in boxes, like Skyradar. Traffic/wx on your 650 is not quite as nice as having it on your PFD, but not bad either.
3. Synthetic vision. IMHO marginally useful, as you have terrain on your 650 already.

My opinion. Unless you need more RS232 ports, I’d stay with what you have, which is a lot of capability. If you want synthetic vision, see if GRT can re-build one of your boxes.
BTW, for ifr I split the PFD, main screen on left 2/3, HSI on the right 1/3. Do you know how to show two VORs from your SL30? Many don’t but it will show the standby vor as a RMI pointer on the hsi page.
I’m local (LVK) and would be happy to demo two HX boxes fir you (I needed the extra RS232 ports).

Oops, when I made my previous post I had thought those were the HX displays already. Yes, I do recommend upgrading from HS to HX if GRT will still do it. The HX uses the same LCD screen as the HS but it has completely different electronics/CPU. They may be able to use your displays with the newer CPU. This is a good upgrade to make.

One advantage that I found the HX has over the HS is that the display refresh rate is considerably higher which reduces display lag.

Skylor
 
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First off, epic feedback all!! Thank you all so much for taking some time to answer my beginner pilot questions! I did talk to GRT and they said they can no longer upgrade my HS's to HX status. The faster processor, more ram, and all the other advantages would be sweet. As far as I know, I am not able to display traffic and weather on my HS's. If I am wrong on that, I might need to learn how to do it. I would really like to have adsb info as well as synthetic vision on the PFD. The Sport EX screens would fit without too much trouble. The screws just mount a touch wider and over the screen is much bigger in almost the same space. I think with the EX's it would not be quite plug and play though. Thanks for all the feedback on the geo referenced plates. Sounds like my ipad mini is the way to go for that. I am still contemplating. But the feedback is greatly appreciated!
 
I can't say that synthetic vision is all that important for IFR. The instances where I have looked at it in detail were all VFR night flights while returning home to the mountains and flying lower than the local OROCA off route obstacle clearance altitude. If I chose to fly IFR on those occations I probably would not have paid attention to the vision.

Your current screens will display ADSB data. My hand crank WS units do as does the new EX. Just have to be picky about RS232 port selection on the old units.
 
SL30: To show the from/to bearing to the standby VOR: starting from the com display, push the nav button. The display goes to nav. To the left of the standby frequency you will see an ‘S’ for standby. Push the nav button a second time. The S changes to an M, for monitor. The bearing to/from the standby vor will be shown on the right side of the SL30. Push to/from to toggle between the two. I think the HS will accept two frequencies, so the OP will have to choose between one vor from the 650 and two from the SL30. The second vor will display as a RMI needle on the HSI display.
There are some adsb-in boxes that will display on your HS, but not the Garmin ones. You need an in box that outputs to RS232 (do you have a free port?). GRT has a list of compatible boxes on their web site.
As others have said, you have more than enough to train for the ifr rating. Get it with what you have, then decide if you want upgrades.
 
First off, epic feedback all!! Thank you all so much for taking some time to answer my beginner pilot questions! I did talk to GRT and they said they can no longer upgrade my HS's to HX status. The faster processor, more ram, and all the other advantages would be sweet. As far as I know, I am not able to display traffic and weather on my HS's. If I am wrong on that, I might need to learn how to do it. I would really like to have adsb info as well as synthetic vision on the PFD. The Sport EX screens would fit without too much trouble. The screws just mount a touch wider and over the screen is much bigger in almost the same space. I think with the EX's it would not be quite plug and play though. Thanks for all the feedback on the geo referenced plates. Sounds like my ipad mini is the way to go for that. I am still contemplating. But the feedback is greatly appreciated!

Guess what, you can display traffic and weather from an adsb source on your HS. I have the even older Horizon WS model and use a Flightbox Stratux as my input source for this data. GRT has instructions for how to accomplish this.
http://grtavionics.com/media/StratuxSupplement.pdf

Works Great!
 
Guess what, you can display traffic and weather from an adsb source on your HS. I have the even older Horizon WS model and use a Flightbox Stratux as my input source for this data. GRT has instructions for how to accomplish this.
http://grtavionics.com/media/StratuxSupplement.pdf

Works Great!

Thats some good intel right there! I'll have to check and see if I have enough ports to make it happen. Thanks for all the advice!!
 
I'm reviving this old thread as I have some new Horizon EX screens getting put in this week. I am pretty stoked! I have completed all the flying requirements for my IFR ticket with the old setup, but am looking forward to the features on the new screens plus getting a duel AHRS setup. My question to the brains on the board is, can my GTX345 display traffic and weather on my new Horizon screens. I know for sure this was not possible in the past, but I did see an update from Jeff at GRT on it from January of this year and am wondering if anyone has tried it. Here is what he typed. Any help you all could give me would be greatly appreciated!



GRT_Jeff
Posts: 641
Joined: Tue Dec 11, 2012 12:11 am

Re: GTX 345 ADS-B traffic working with any EFIS?

Post by GRT_Jeff » Fri Jan 10, 2020 5:49 am
I finally have confirmed ADS-B IN traffic and weather data from a GTX 345 using its RS-422 output and an EFIS with RS-422 input. The baud rate is 115200 and the menu option in the 345 is "OPT LGCY ADSB".

It looks like you can connect this to an RS232 input using GTX345 P3252 pin 12 (RS422 B). We have heard this works.
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If Jeff says it’s doable with the 345 using a RS-422 input source then take that to the bank. He knows his stuff.

As I said in an earlier post, I port adsb-in and weather into my old Horizon WS system via a hard wire from my FlightBox to a serial port on the bottom WS. I’m sure the same approach would work even better with your newer efis system and provide even greater clarity.
 
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