Panel

Given that IFR is definitely in my plane's future, I have been told that some sort of wing leveler/autopilot is a necessity.  I was fortunate enough to get a deal on a used Navaid on Ebay.  It came out of a Glastar with 285 hours, so it should still have plenty of life left.  To test it out, I hooked it up to my car battery.  I put the unit in Wing Leveler mode, and rotated the head unit about to verify it solicited the correct servo response.  Everything checked out good!

Below is a mockup of what I would like my panel to look like.  The GNS430 may get chucked in place of something cheaper, but I still have quite a bit of time to look into it.  I think this will give me an IFR panel with some redundancy at an affordable price (in airplane world).  The LCD/DVD is obviously just a nice to have...we'll have to wait and see.

9/15/04 Update - I ending up selling the Navaid, as I decided I didn't want to rely on any spinning gyros.  I also decided that I wanted to put all new stuff in the panel (the Navaid was used).  Given the amount of my time I am going to have invested in this airplane, I do not want to end up with a failed instrument to save a buck or two.

At this point I am trying to decide between the Trio EZ Pilot 2 and the Trutrak Pictoral Pilot.  The Trio is a little cheaper, but I like the servo/installation on the Trutrak much better.

I also got smart and bought a DC power supply.  Instead of hooking up my car battery anytime I needed to test an electrical device, I can now just plug the power supply into the wall (and have up to 12 amps of DC power).  I picked this up on Ebay for around $25, and I think it should be well worth the money.

Another new update is that my first piece of actual avionics arrived today!  I ordered the EIS-4000 at Oshkosh, as they give a 5% discount at the show.  For $950 I got the monitor, 4 EGT, 4 CHT, oil pressure, oil temp, and OAT.  By default the EIS-4000 measures fuel level, RPM, and volts.  I also bought the fuel pressure option for another $35.  The OAT and 5% were part of the show special.  I've looked around quite a bit, and that is the best deal by far (and they have a great reputation).  The only knock on this kit is the limited display, but you can add a fancy 5" color display later if you want..