GTX330 – any useful firmware upgrades?
Mine was installed in 2005 and not touched since – except a replacement after a very short time due to the LCD display being barely readable in sunlight.
I have heard that Garmin put in an update to enable the selective disabling of data appearing at the various serial inputs getting transmitted on the 1090ES channel, in compliance with that dodgy Eurocontrol ruling in 2008.
But my KLN94-GTX330 auto ground speed switching connection never worked anyway, so it is now done with an air pressure switch.
Is there any new functionality and, if so, can the firmware be updated by the owner?
How does your air pressure switch work? Does it tap into the pitot tubing or is it an independent unit? We have the same problem with the GTX330 in our Piper Dakota – the shop never managed to get the unit to understand ground speed from the Garmin 430.
How does your air pressure switch work?
The pressure switch is described here
It taps into the pitot and static tubing and switches on the differential pressure.
the shop never managed to get the unit to understand ground speed from the Garmin 430.
I wonder what “shop” that was, because that should work. The KLN94-GTX330 connection doesn’t seem to work, despite being shown in the GTX330 IM.
There is non-obvious config in the GTX330 for the type of data it should be looking for. I recall it picking up the GPS altitude from the KLN94 but not the GS. However I would hope that ARINC429 (maybe not RS232?) from the GNS430 “should just work”.
From the GTX330 IM:
See Note 4.
Thanks Peter, very informative.
Version 6.0 permits the EHS outputs to be configured as disabled.
Software version 4.06 provides the following enhancements to version 4.04:
• Automatic TIS moding for dual operation (added in version 4.05)
• Accepts data output from a Honeywell KLN 89 (added in version 4.05)
• For the GTX 330 only, the VFR Key can be configured as disabled (added in
version 4.06)
Accepts data output from a Honeywell KLN 89 (added in version 4.05)
Now… why do I find that slightly amusing
Let me expand on my last post above
In the software/IT business, if you find a major bug, the standard face saving procedure is to roll out a fix for something else (something innocuous which nobody is using anyway) and under the guise of that you fix the major bug. For example, Nokia used a “picture gallery fix” to fix a major HSPA bug which occasionally totally crashed the phone – you had to remove the battery, or use an obscure key combination to do a hardware reset.
The KLN94-GTX330 interconnect, in the FAA approved GTX330 IM, never worked, so Garmin have to be very careful (because the IM forms a part of their certification)… so they roll out a fix for a KLN89-GTX330 interconnect which even fewer people will be using after all these years but which has the same data stream
GTX330 from 2005 – any point in upgrading or changing?
I have the above, along with the old KLN94/KMD550 etc.
It seems to work just fine.
Is there anything worth doing to it? It still has the original 2005 firmware.
My plans to do the GTN650+750 are for a year’s time, or maybe further because it will be a big job and apart from LPV I don’t see what it will give me.
Just wondering… I have a few more weeks in the hangar.
Maybe upgrade it to GTX330ES for ADS-B out?