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UAvionix MUX installations?

SCR

Member
[SOLVED]

I have a uAvionix echo UAT connected to
a Garmin 430W gps
Garmin 327 xpndr,
and Grt HXr efis.

Both GRT and uAvionix have told me I can have the 327 provide the squawk code and the GRT provide the baro data over serial by using a serial port mux they provided. I’m further told that in this configuration, the 430 continues to provide location information via serial 2, while traffic and weather are sent to the HXr over aerial output 1 on the uAvionix.
Danged if I can make it work!
Despite applying the recommended settings and checking my wiring I’m not seeing the baro data or squawk code recognized by the echo, nor is ANY serial data showing up at the EFIS (no traffic, nor wx, despite getting both over wifi). The echo is visible to ATC and a performance report shows only one warning (NACv is too good!?) beside the errors caused by missing baro and mode 3a.

I’ve seen some discussion of the echo, and a friend’s RV is using one successfully, but so far I’ve not found a description of my specific configuration.

Has anybody got this same configuation working?
If so, a screen shot or list of your settings and a wiring connection list for me to compare against, or really any insight, even if just knowing it CAN work would be MOST welcome!

Thanks!

[EDIT: SOLVED
1) Update each of the THREE discrete pieces of software in the Echo
2) Put your phone in AIRPLANE mode before connecting to the Echo WIFI to configure it
3) Send altitude data from the EFIS at 9600 baud
4) Set the Echo to send traffic on COM2 in the config software as instructed (despite not having anything physically connected to COM2 TX)]
 
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Post your current set up. I have the same set up using the sport display and it works well. took A LOT of trouble shooting and emails with vendors.
 
I?ve got the 327, Dynon D100 & MUX. It works fine. The inputs are 9600baud & EchoUAT is set to much higher baud for receiving. I can?t remember what it was, but it?s in the instruction. I don?t have the altitude dropping out any more. Bob
 
Call Uavionix support they will send you a special wiring harness that will allow you to connect all the equipment you have. I have the same setup. The harness comes with wiring instruction and configuration information. They will send it free.

alan
 
More detailed setup info (not fully working yet)

I do have the MUX from uAvionix -- they've been great about that, and already sent me a new one in case that was the problem with my setup, but issues persist. No baro or squawk code input. No wx/traffic output serial stream.

The details of my wiring and configuration settings are here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T4tT6DpEOotRu6uR5IUQn-O_2XWyivlV

For anybody who has it working, what differences in settings or pin assignments do you see? I've checked continuity on all the pin connections once already, but I'm getting ready to do that again for the third time making sure (again) that I've read all the pin numbers in the connectors correctly.

Thanks again!

Scott.
 
Mux Config

I have a GRT Hx, Garmin 327, and a GRT Safe Fly GPS and here is how I have the Mux wired and configured; i have had this working good for over a year.

MUX PIN From

1. Transponder Control RX Garmin 327 configured for Normal Mode
2. N/C 3. Altitude Encoder RX GRT Hx Fuel/Air Z format @9600 baud
4. N/C
5. Ground
6. N/C To
7. Com2 Traffic & WX TX GDL90 GRT Hx ADSB @115200
8. N/C
9. Power

The GRT Safe Fly GPS is connected directly to Pin 6 of the ECHO and configured NMEA @ 115200

The Mux connector converts all the bad rates to 115200 to the ECHO

Configure the ECHO as per instructions with these added:

1. GPS= External Com2
2. Com 2 Rate= 115200
3. Com2 Protocol= NMEA

This set-up works for me with good Perf. Reports. Cheers Barry
 
Com1 Traffic & WX

Because of the 9600 rate on Com2 for the ADSB+ GPS signal, you are going to need to use Com1 TX Pin 6 for the GDL90 (ADSB info) out to the EFIS @ 115200 rate and have Pin 7 N/C and configure the ECHO as per the manual. PM me if ya got any questions. Cheers Barry
 
Different flavors of ?mux??

Thanks barry,

It sounds like you?ve got a slightly different configuration of mux. In mine, pin 7 goes straight through to the com2 tx on the echo (sounds like yours goes through to com2 rx). Mine has no wire in the #5 hole in the molex to the echo. Otherwise the function sounds the same.

When you say the 327 is configured as "normal mode", what does that mean? Mine is set for "REMOTE", my recollection is that my only other choices on the 327 config were OFF and Icarus?

I'll try Z format from the GRT and see if that helps.

My biggest worry is not getting the output from the echo on the echo's com1 TX (necessary as you point out because my com 2 had to be slow for the 430w).

Just curious... Is there anything printed on your muxto identity it? Did it come with six wires in the molex?

J2's drawing appears to show yet another confusion with TWO molex plugs attached. Not sure how that one is intended to work... I guess all muxes sent created equal...?
 
Hi SCR
Sorry for the confusion with the 327 config; it should be Remote.
The mux harness I got (over a year ago) was to adapt the NavWorx EXP and it had a d-Sub 9 pin connector. Pin 6 from the ECHO was not wired into the d-Sub, so you could wire the GPS data direct into Com2 RX of the ECHO.
The only pinout for the Mux I have is Appendix C-12 on page 49 of the ECHO install manual. They must have a different mux now.
Make sure you have the correct SW for the 430W to send ADSB+ GPS data. I have worked with Kurt at uAvionix ([email protected]). I will try to find how they have the mux wired now. Hang in there, once you get it working you'll like it. Cheers Barry
 
Baud Rate

Looking thru my notes, I think I have another piece of the puzzle. I think the Mux harness converts all incoming baud rates to 115200 and sends that to the ECHO; so the ECHO can be configured at 115200 for both COM1 and COM2
 
327 Pinout

Hey J3
Looking at your pinout from the 327; pin 19 is a SP IN. I think you will have to splice into the the wire going to it and it should be the Encoder data that will feed the 327 and the ECHO. Cheers Barry
 
Hey J3
Looking at your pinout from the 327; pin 19 is a SP IN. I think you will have to splice into the the wire going to it and it should be the Encoder data that will feed the 327 and the ECHO. Cheers Barry

Correct on the existing wire at pin 19. I did the two-conductor 22AWG twisted pair w/ shield connections to the Garmin GTX 327 transponder yesterday and job went smoothly. The D-Sub connector on back of the transponder tray unscrews and then you can pull the harness free to work on it. In my case I have a SL40 comm radio mounted right above the transponder in the center stack. What was really cool - I pulled both radios out of their trays and was able to reach the transponder D-Sub connector through the large lightening holes in the upper tray. I spliced into the encoder wire already present at pin 19 and added a new pin 20. Then I grounded the two-conductor shield at the transponder. The other end of the shield will float. Wires are run back to the baggage compartment where the echo UAT is mounted. So, remaining work is the terminate the power, ground, WAAS GPS, and the two transponder wires into a new 9-pin D-Sub which mates to the MUX. This is like doing a sleight-of-hand coin trick...
 
Hi SCR
Sorry for the confusion with the 327 config; it should be Remote.
The mux harness I got (over a year ago) was to adapt the NavWorx EXP and it had a d-Sub 9 pin connector. Pin 6 from the ECHO was not wired into the d-Sub, so you could wire the GPS data direct into Com2 RX of the ECHO.
The only pinout for the Mux I have is Appendix C-12 on page 49 of the ECHO install manual. They must have a different mux now.
Make sure you have the correct SW for the 430W to send ADSB+ GPS data. I have worked with Kurt at uAvionix ([email protected]). I will try to find how they have the mux wired now. Hang in there, once you get it working you'll like it. Cheers Barry

I flew yesterday to test the MUX. I now have Pressure Altitude displayed on echo Monitor but no GPS Altitude. Before the MUX, I had the opposite - GPS Altitude but no Pressure Altitude. Looks like I traded problems. PAPR request failed to generate a report. I have SKYFYX – EXT connected to Pin 7 on the MUX 9-Pin connector, COM2 rate – 115200, and COM2 Input Protocol – NMEA.

Should I have the GPS connected directly to Pin 6 of the echo and bypass the MUX for GPS in?
 
I hope this is my last post in this thread accept perhaps to help others as needed.

Today I followed barryrv10?s suggestion to divorce the WAAS GPS data link from the MUX cable and hard wire it to the echoUAT. Worked a charm ? now reporting GPS and Pressure Altitude on the echo Monitor. I did a flight and passed PAPR 100%. So, I now have a hybrid wiring scheme where the MUX cable brings the transponder pressure altitude into the echoUAT and the SKYFYX ? EXT GPS that was connected to Pin 7 on the MUX 9-Pin connector is now wired directly to Pin 6 of the Molex echo connector and bypasses the MUX entirely.

I emailed KURT at uAvionix this morning to get his take on this before moving wires around and he wasn?t sure if it would work. Kurt said hundreds of installations with my same equipment list are working well in the field with transponder ?sniffing?. I emailed him back after passing PAPR and told him perhaps uAvionix should include this wiring option with the installation instructions in the MUX cable kit.

I?m super happy to have this ADS-B finally functioning correctly and passing PAPR. I?ve been dick?n with this since November. I was beginning to think I wasn?t going to meet the 2020 mandate.
 
Progress, but still no MUX

I discovered that there are three distinct pieces of software in the echo that needed updating. Turns out I had only updated one of them previously.
That got me traffic and wx on the Hxr!
The other learning is that when the echo software on my phone says ?device updated?, it may well be lying. Turning on airplane mode to disable cellular data may help reduce this problem.
Now if I reconfigure to use transponder monitor, and set com1 to gdl 90 tx/wx, I do in fact get everything working ? at least when the transponder is replying.
Configured as noted in my prior attachments, though, still no baro or squak code coming over serial through the mux. :(
I checked the inputs to the mux and saw valid altitude data (ALT 00153) on the serial port from the Hxr. I saw data (not recognizable text, but repeating patterns of symbols) on the serial port from the GTX327 as well.
Out of the mux, while not connected to the echo I saw only a series of about 10 uAW sequences at startup, then nothing. :(
Anybody able to give me sny guidance on the GTX327 Remote data format so I can conclusively establish its output is correct? Baud/parity? Expected data structure?
It sure seems like the mux just isn?t outputting the combined data stream, but I?ve tried two others at this point. Am I that unlucky?
I?d consider building my own mux if I had the gtx327 data format and knew what the echo needed to see out the other side!
 
Solved. Everything finally working.

Barry, thanks for posting all your settings again in detail. One minor detail jumped out at me and proved to be the final piece of the puzzle: Baro data from the HXR at 9600 baud!
My final issue turned out to be that I was providing the altitude data from the HXR to the MUX at too high a baud rate. By moving the altitude output to a different serial port that I could slow down to 9600 baud, the mux started working!
The mux talks to the Echo at 115200, but it apparently does NOT want to hear from the EFIS at that high a rate!
In my case, I had wired up the input from the Echo to the EFIS as IN on serial 3 of the EFIS, while using the OUT on serial 3 of the EFIS to send baro data to the Echo. This made for a pretty picture when I drew it up and was easy to remember. The problem is that the IN and OUT sides of a given serial port run at the same baud. So when I set the IN to be ADSB at 115200 (necessary for Tfc/Wx), it resulted in the baro data being delivered too fast.
Moving the baro output to previously unused serial 4 on the EFIS and setting to 9600 baud did the trick.
Thanks all!
 
MUX, GTX 327, GRT EFIS, SAfe-Fly Wiring Help

We wired up the MUX, EchoUAT, Safe-Fly GPS, and GRT EFIS SportEX and we are currently getting 100% Mode 3A failure and 100% Baro Alt failure on the ADS-B Performance Report . Any ideas on why this couple be happening? I attached our wiring diagram
 

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Is the MUX really needed? or optional?

Hi Guys,
I just installed the echoUAT with a Garmin GPS 175 as position source and a GTX327 transponder into my -6A. I am not using the MUX wiring.
My test flight the other day resulted in a perfect FAA performance report, so I'm wondering... what is the benefit of installing the MUX cable? As far as I can tell, I'm reporting out just fine, so not sure if there are any benefits for me to install this mysterious MUX cable? Would anyone be able to shed some light on whether I should leave this well enough alone (my current thinking of course) or if I should tinker with adding the MUX cable?
Thanks in advance!
Steve
 
my opinion

In my opinion, the only reason to install the MUX is so when you are flying in an non radar environment, where adsb is not required, your correct altitude will be sent out via adsb. When I flew to Alaska with two other RVs two years ago, when we were out of radar contact and my altitude went to 0 they could not "see" me on their EFIS unless they changed the altitude filtering to allow all altitudes. I have not installed the MUX in my RVs yet.
 
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We wired up the MUX, EchoUAT, Safe-Fly GPS, and GRT EFIS SportEX and we are currently getting 100% Mode 3A failure and 100% Baro Alt failure on the ADS-B Performance Report . Any ideas on why this couple be happening? I attached our wiring diagram


Sounds like a settings issue, make sure the data type/rate is set correctly. The Mux instructions included setting. However, the GPS data rate may not be the right one for your setup. Send a quick e-mail to uAvionix support with a screenshot of the setup page from the app and your equipment list, they should be able to help.

I have mine wired to the Dynon for Alt, and the GTX330 for xponder code, position is the SKYFYX-EXT GPS. All are wired in via the Mux.

At one point I screwed up the GPS baud rate setting and was generating no report at all. Support fixed me up.
 
In my opinion, the only reason to install the MUX is so when you are flying in an non radar environment, where adsb is not required, your correct altitude will be sent out via adsb. When I flew to Alaska with two other RVs two years ago, when we were our of radar contact and my altitude went to 0 they could not "see" me on their EFIS unless they changed the altitude filtering to allow all altitudes. I have not installed the MUX in my RVs yet.

Thank you Tom!
Steve
 
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