540 lighting
Printed From: Avidyne
Category: Avidyne General
Forum Name: IFD 5 Series & IFD 4 Series Touch Screen GPS/NAV/COM
Forum Description: Topics on Avidyne's IFD 5 Series and IFD 4 Series Touch Screen GPS/NAV/COM
URL: http://forums.avidyne.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=828
Printed Date: 03 May 2024 at 5:31am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: 540 lighting
Posted By: frankbell
Subject: 540 lighting
Date Posted: 30 Sep 2015 at 9:17am
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I don't fly at night much, but recently landed as it was getting fairly dark. The auto backlight on the display had gotten too dark (a problem I don't expect to be difficult to adjust), but on touchdown the display flashed totally bright for a second or two, then back to the too-dark setting. (The touchdown was firm, but not hard). What would cause this? |
Replies:
Posted By: DavidBunin
Date Posted: 30 Sep 2015 at 10:15am
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If you have the IFD-540 dimming set to obey the panel dimming control, and the landing made the potentiometer knob jiggle, it could cause that behavior. David |
Posted By: AviSimpson
Date Posted: 30 Sep 2015 at 11:25am
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Out of curiosity, were the runway lights set to high? What are you using to control the brightness of the IFD? The lights from the runway could of illuminated the cockpit just enough to cause the light meter to adjust the brightness. ------------- Simpson Bennett Avidyne Corporation Product Manager |
Posted By: frankbell
Date Posted: 30 Sep 2015 at 6:51pm
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It wasn't completely dark, and the runway lights weren't particularly bright. The "Display Mode" is set to Auto. And a side question... I assumed I'd be able to find a brightness setting which would apply to the auto mode at night, but I'm not finding it. How do I adjust the brightness at night when on auto? Frank |
Posted By: AviSimpson
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2015 at 9:16am
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*Edit* Auto - the LCD display backlighting will rely on the
ambient light sensor in the bezel until a low threshold is reached, at which time it uses the dimming bus. You can control the brightness manually or if you have it wired to your DimBus, you can control it off of that.
------------- Simpson Bennett Avidyne Corporation Product Manager |
Posted By: frankbell
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2015 at 9:32am
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Is there an adjustment for how much the display dims at night while in auto? Perhaps a sliding scale... meaning it's probably fine when fully dark, but too dim when it's just dusk. |
Posted By: AviSimpson
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2015 at 9:35am
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From the 540 installation manual: dimBus Transition %
The dimBus Transition % sets the threshold where the
aircraft dimming bus takes over from the photocell. Below this threshold, the
aircraft dimmer controls the IFD5XX/4XX lighting. Both the Bezel and Display fields
have a range of 0 to 100, and the factory default is 10. Note: If it is not desired to hand brightness control over
to the dimming bus from the photocell at any point, set dimBus Transition % to
0 (zero). Doing so will prevent the scenario where, in increasingly
darker environments (e.g. flying past sunset into dark night), the display
automatically dims and dims and dims and then suddenly jumps to bright. ------------- Simpson Bennett Avidyne Corporation Product Manager |
Posted By: frankbell
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2015 at 11:15am
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I just found that those settings are outlined in the installation manual. I also found an extensive thread from about last April to June, "Display Brightness issue", which makes it evident that there's been a lot of confusion about lighting settings. Can you post currently recommended settings, where one wants to have the photocell adjust brightness? If that would be the same as the default settings, then I'll have to work with it a bit, as that's not working for me. |
Posted By: oskrypuch
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2015 at 11:23am
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I posted my settings for the lighting in a "suggested settings" thread, or something like that. Should be able to find it searching on my userid. * Orest |
Posted By: oskrypuch
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2015 at 11:25am
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Saving you the trouble of the search, here you go ... http://forums.avidyne.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=529&KW=lighting&title=setups-bezel-display-lighting ... except that I have changed dimbus transition to 3% now. * Orest |
Posted By: frankbell
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2015 at 11:26am
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Right, I did find that already. Wasn't sure if the recent software release altered things. I'll try your settings. I don't currently have my manual radio light dimmer wired up to the 540, so have to depend on the auto mode (not wanting to have to go into settings to change brightness...) |
Posted By: frankbell
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2015 at 11:28am
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Thanks, Orest. I gather that those settings are working for you? But I see that you have dimBus transition set to 10. If I'm not using the dimbus, I assume I'd set that to zero? |
Posted By: AviSimpson
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2015 at 11:28am
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Thanks Orest! I think its best if you refer to Orests thread or if we can solicit other members to post their settings. The
collective group of customers now have far more time and first hand experience
flying at night than Avidyne (Jakes afraid of the dark). Please be sure to include your aircraft
type, User Option settings (Auto, User Control, Dimming Bus) and what the Mx
Mode lighting parameters you have set. ------------- Simpson Bennett Avidyne Corporation Product Manager |
Posted By: DavidBunin
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2015 at 4:06pm
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Due to the long summer days I haven't run up much Night time since my unit went in, but on those flights, I almost always just switch the IFD to manual dimming for the display portion. I'll probably know more about it by January. David Bunin |
Posted By: oskrypuch
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2015 at 5:50pm
As I note, since that pic, I have it now set to 3%. 0% should work too. * Orest |
frankbell wrote: