Jump to content

Flap Control Unit trouble shooting


Roger Lee

Recommended Posts

  • 4 months later...

I've been having flap issues for several months. In the cold weather, they quit working altogether. The degree setting display would just flash, and I could hear a clicking sound from the printed circuit board on the firewall. It seemed that when you "jiggled" this board the flaps would work. I called Flight Design, and Arian confirmed that this was probably the problem. I talked to Matt the parts man the next day, and he said they had the circuit board and switches in stock, and the cost was approximately $260.00 They over-nighted it to me, and my flaps were working the next day. My plane is 4 years old with 800 hours, and I was extremely pleased with the service I received from Flight Design.

 

Bob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

Hi samifer!

 

I can help you with your problem. I'm building a flap bench tester for FDUSA the next time I am out there for a few days. The flap controllers are made by a third party, and neither FDUSA or Germany has much info on how they operate other than where things are wired to make them work.

 

You can describe the problem here if it is simple, or I can call you if you want.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Anticept

Thanx for the quick response

 

I think it is just that little sending unit that tells the control unit where the flaps are. if I wiggle the wires that go into it the symptoms change.

one thing that always stays the same is the "Err" readout on the screen other than that the flaps will just hunt and end up at either -12 or 35

 

What I really need is to find out how I can buy that little potentiometer  Im stuck in a small town in central British Columbia Canada

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a copy of the flap programming instructions. It is indeed straight forward, but you must be careful to do it correctly or you will damage your circuit board (a 1,300 dollar part!). Two of the pins, if bridged together, will fry multiple components on the board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well update on the progress

 

Note to future flap fixers : Don't heat up the potentiometer to much when soldering .... it stops working if you do!!

 

I will go on the hunt for one of them tomorrow and im hoping that the new one will just work with the old settings if I just try to get it in the same place

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When you solder, the ideal temperature will be the one where the flux (rosin) in the solder smokes between two to three seconds when tinning the tip. If it smokes less than that, your iron is too hot.

 

If you are using dipped flux, then you just need a light coating on the solder.

 

Do not touch a part for more than a few seconds, or as you have found out, it will burn the component. If you were not able to finish soldering, then wait a short time for it to cool down and try to reheat the solder. More than a couple reattempts and you should add a dab of flux to keep the joint oxide free, or if you are using rosin-core solder, remove the solder and add new.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...