S-Tec 3100

[Bruce Byerly]

We’ve done a bunch of these 3100’s lately and they are awesome! Watching in smoothly vnav step downs while turning and controlling it via a 485 remote makes me giggle!  The 3100 is what the 2100 hoped to be but never was.

[donv]

Is this the 485 remote you are talking about?

https://sarasotaavionics.com/avionics/gcu485

Where did you locate it?

[Bruce Byerly]

Is this the 485 remote you are talking about?

https://sarasotaavionics.com/avionics/gcu485

Where did you locate it?

Yes, I think they work well both in the panel high but I prefer in the short pedestal so I can play jet pilot. Picking a panel out tomorrow with customer in fact.  I was told today that Stec informed us that we have installed more 3100’s than anyone.

[donv]

Funny, I like that idea as well. Mounting the controls high was a requirement of the STC, I believe. "In the line of sight" or something like that.

[schrambow]

Thinking about upgrading to the 3100 this summer at the 150 hour inspection from the Ap106.   The AP106 is working good, just wanting to spend some money on airplanes?  Just wondering what others think and if i am nuts or should think about something else or addition?
corey

[donv]

I think it was worth the money. I went from a functioning AP106, but the reality is that the AP106 is going to get harder and harder to find parts and people who know how to work on it-- and it actually needs someone who knows what they are doing.

The S-Tec is a big improvement, at least it was for me. I think the altitude capture functionality alone is a huge improvement from a safety and ease of use perspective.

[Adam Frisch]

Someone said it's even approved for the older 680 turbines, too. That's good - now there's an alternative to the expensive and already old STEC 65. Used to be the only option.

[Thomas Rainey]

Occasionally, my S-TEC 3100 disconnects during flight with the annunciation AP FAIL. This is not a turbulence-related disconnect and the AP can always be immediately re-engaged without issue. I'd say this happens every 3-4 hours of flight time. I spoke with Wayne at Byerly Aviation and he said this is not uncommon. I'm curious to know if others are seeing this same type of behavior?

[donv]

I have not seen that. The only time I get that is if I lose GPS signal to the #1 GPS, and the 3100 is in NAV (or HDG if I wait long enough).

It turned out I had a bad #1 GPS antenna, which was causing the signal to drop out. However, the first indication of that was always an audible "Terrain not available" in my airplane, which was a clue that the GPS had lost signal.

Are there any other possible contributing factors?

[Thomas Rainey]

I’m glad to hear this isn’t normal—at least in your experience. The answer from the avionics shop that this wasn’t uncommon felt off to me. No other contributing factors that I can recall. Everything operating normally and then out of the blue AP disconnects, disconnect chime, AP fail annunciation. Re-engage 5 seconds later and back to working perfectly. I’ll pay extra attention to make sure GPS isn’t dropping out because I have been in NAV mode, I think, in most of these uncommanded disconnects.

[donv]

It happened often enough to me (because of the aforementioned bad GPS antenna, which I have now fixed) that I got used to hearing the "Terrain not available" and hitting the 1-2 transfer on the G600, which caused it to stay engaged.