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Trim hat switch failure

jwilbur

Well Known Member
I had a trim hat switch failure today. Nose down stopped working in flight. All other directions continued to work. No big deal. I was able to use co-pilot switch to trim. Just wondering if others have experienced a similar switch failure.
 
I had a trim hat switch failure today. Nose down stopped working in flight. All other directions continued to work. No big deal. I was able to use co-pilot switch to trim. Just wondering if others have experienced a similar switch failure.

I have. If you call ray Allen, they will send/sell you a new switch. You will have to solder it in place. It is burned out. He now has relays that prevent this from happening in the future.
 
I had a trim hat switch failure today. Nose down stopped working in flight. All other directions continued to work. No big deal. I was able to use co-pilot switch to trim. Just wondering if others have experienced a similar switch failure.

I put a hard cover on mine when not in use because I can snag it when getting in and out. if you have a co-pilot switch then you have a backup otherwise it would be a real nuisance to have that fail while on a trip. I have the Infinity grip.
 
It's probably not the switch, I've repaired numerous RV14 wiring issues including inop trim function.
 
most installations have both the switch and relays. a failure in either can cause Inop.

Larry
 
I had a similar failure, suspected the switch, but it was actually the relay that failed. Do some testing to verify the actual failed component :cool:
 
Maybe post in a general forum for more exposure?

This is not necessarily a model-specific RV-10-specific issue. You get to put in whatever brand of hat switch you choose.

I agree with the idea of making certain the servo current, while relatively low, is handled by a relay, not the switch contacts themselves.

I've had a home-brew trim board fail full nose up trim leaving for Sun N Fun one year - the result of the 4-buttons on top style of grip and resting an iPad on top of the stick during cruise-climb. Not a fun experience to return and land the 6A with the stick trying to get into my groin the whole way. I enlisted my passenger's help with countering the trim force. It was a workout.
 
More info

In my case the hat switch feeds into the Dynon A/P head. The relays live in there. If the co-pilot side works (which it does) it has to be the switch (or wiring to the switch) that's bad. Could also be something else in the A/P head, I suppose. But let's hope not. That will be a lot more expensive.
 
I've had a home-brew trim board fail full nose up trim leaving for Sun N Fun one year - the result of the 4-buttons on top style of grip and resting an iPad on top of the stick during cruise-climb. Not a fun experience to return and land the 6A with the stick trying to get into my groin the whole way. I enlisted my passenger's help with countering the trim force. It was a workout.

All electrical stuff has failure modes, but good design will preclude a failure just because all four buttons were pushed at once. However, having heard of inadvertent trim excursions because a passenger rested something on top of the stick, I left trim control off the right stick.
 
In my case the hat switch feeds into the Dynon A/P head. The relays live in there. If the co-pilot side works (which it does) it has to be the switch (or wiring to the switch) that's bad. Could also be something else in the A/P head, I suppose. But let's hope not. That will be a lot more expensive.

Not necessarily. Flat rate repair for the Dynon AP head is very reasonable.
 
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