Craig Williams wrote: >>I came across an annunciator control box made by Flight Data Systems ( >>http://www.fdatasystems.com/Products/AN-21/AN-21.html ) and wanted to know >>if anyone had used this unit. I imagine the EIS systems have something >>similar but I am not installing and EIS so I thought this may be an nice >>alternative.<<
I'm having a hard time understanding why you need this. I have four warning lights in my plane...one is for oil pressure, one for "alternator isn't charging", one for "flaps are down", and one for "fuel is transferring". They are simple LEDs located in the area of interest, and the really important ones are flashing LEDs that might cost $2 each. This box appears to offer a steady light, flashing light, or tone in your headsets (I presume), but all inputs depend on something being grounded, and that's another potential can of worms. If it's tone you're after, I'll bet a simple and effective 12V tone generator for the headset circuit can be found on the web for $10 or so, if not built from scratch in an hour or two, but with a bright enough flashing LED, you wouldn't even need one (although I will confess the EIS's is nice to have). It might be time to ask yourself about the mission of the airplane, how complex it needs to be, and how much you want it to weigh. An EIS is worth it's weight in gold in an airplane, with all the appropriate sensors, programmable trip points, data stream output, and a whole lot of other benefits, but I personally wouldn't have much use for this annunciator box.... Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
