Our club is considering installing an electric AI as a backup after a
vacuum gyro failure not involving the suction system. We have three
cherokees and are looking at three alternatives (we'd like the same one
in all the aircraft):

http://www.lifesavergyro.com/purchasing_home.html

http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&did=19&product_id=7439
(ignore the request for password)

http://www.gyrohouse.com/catalog/items/item551.html

The first is a $4000 unit, the other two are less than half that.
Anybody out there have any experience with these units, or the companies
that make them?

Jose
--
Nothing takes longer than a shortcut.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

I know nothing about gyros, but don't assumme that the more expensive
one is necessarily better. It could even be worse. You can't tell
anythng from the price. Inferior goods are often priced very high, to
convey to naive consumers the notion it is better.

Have you checked Aviation Consumer?

vince norris

www.pcflightsystems.com
Satisfied customer
Michelle

Jose wrote:

> Our club is considering installing an electric AI as a backup after a
> vacuum gyro failure not involving the suction system. We have three
> cherokees and are looking at three alternatives (we'd like the same
> one in all the aircraft):
>
> http://www.lifesavergyro.com/purchasing_home.html
>
> http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&did=19&product_id=7439
> (ignore the request for password)
>
> http://www.gyrohouse.com/catalog/items/item551.html
>
> The first is a $4000 unit, the other two are less than half that.
> Anybody out there have any experience with these units, or the
> companies that make them?
>
> Jose

On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 19:12:16 GMT, Jose >
wrote:

>Our club is considering installing an electric AI as a backup after a
>vacuum gyro failure not involving the suction system. We have three
>cherokees and are looking at three alternatives (we'd like the same one
>in all the aircraft):
>
>http://www.lifesavergyro.com/purchasing_home.html
>
>http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&did=19&product_id=7439
>(ignore the request for password)
>
>http://www.gyrohouse.com/catalog/items/item551.html
>
>The first is a $4000 unit, the other two are less than half that.
>Anybody out there have any experience with these units, or the companies
>that make them?

No experience with any of the electric gyros, but the 1st one contains
a battery backup in case the electric source dies. Since this would
be a backup to your vacuum ADI, I think that's overkill. I would not
pay $2000 extra for it.

Nathan Young wrote:

> No experience with any of the electric gyros, but the 1st one contains
> a battery backup in case the electric source dies.Â*Â*SinceÂ*thisÂ*would
> be a backup to your vacuum ADI, I think that's overkill.Â*Â*IÂ*wouldÂ*not
> pay $2000 extra for it.

The battery is an option. The price is a little below $4K w/o, and a little
above with. Why one would get this w/o the battery, though, I'm not sure.
Sure, a failure of both electric and vacuum isn't likely. But the battery
option isn't that much more money.

Look at the MTBF. I think that the Mid-Continental has one that's longer
than most at 7500 hours. However, also check the warranties. I seem to
recall that there was a unit that seemed less robust than the MC unit but
which had a longer warranty.

- Andrew

We've had the last one you linked
(http://www.gyrohouse.com/catalog/items/item551.html
) in a club 182. It's got about 850hrs on it so far with no problems at
all. Although we haven't needed to use it in a vacum failure yet it
makes me feel fantastic in the clouds to "see double".

Also I had an alternator failure when IMC once and the little red flag
that popped out on this AI was what made me first notice the failure
(this 182 has no low voltage light- just an ammeter).

We've had the last one you linked (
http://www.gyrohouse.com/catalog/items/item551.html
) in a club 182. It's got about 850hrs on it so far with no problems
at all. Although we haven't needed to use it in a vacum failure yet it
makes me feel fantastic in the clouds to "see double".

Also I had an alternator failure when IMC once and the little red flag
that popped out on this AI was what made me first notice the failure
(this 182 has no low voltage light- just an ammeter).

We've had the last one you linked
(http://www.gyrohouse.com/catalog/items/item551.html ) in a club 182.
It's got about 850hrs on it so far with no problems at all. Although we
haven't needed to use it in a vacum failure yet it makes me feel
fantastic in the clouds to "see double".

Also I had an alternator failure when IMC once and the little red flag
that popped out on this AI was what made me first notice the failure
(this 182 has no low voltage light- just an ammeter).

The other nice thing about out installation is that the second AI is in
the ol VOR 1 hole, which puts it just two holes away from the primary
AI. I think having the backup as plainly visible as possible is
important if it's backing up the vacum AI.

We've had the last one you linked
(http://www.gyrohouse.com/catalog/items/item551.html ) in a club 182.
It's got about 850hrs on it so far with no problems at all. Although we
haven't needed to use it in a vacum failure yet it makes me feel
fantastic in the clouds to "see double".

Also I had an alternator failure when IMC once and the little red flag
that popped out on this AI was what made me first notice the failure
(this 182 has no low voltage light- just an ammeter).

The other nice thing about our installation is that the second AI is in
the old VOR 1 hole, which puts it just two holes away from the primary
AI. I think having it as plainly visible as possible is important if
it's backing up the vacum AI.

There were some posts a couple of years ago about short lifespans on
the RC Allen units. The Midcontinent unit has a slower rotational
speed and longer expected life.

I haven't heard anything yet about the one from Sporty's.

I'd make the decision based on how long you expect to run the airplane.

Jose wrote:
> Our club is considering installing an electric AI as a backup after a
> vacuum gyro failure not involving the suction system. We have three
> cherokees and are looking at three alternatives (we'd like the same one
> in all the aircraft):
>
> http://www.lifesavergyro.com/purchasing_home.html
>
> http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&did=19&product_id=7439
> (ignore the request for password)
>
> http://www.gyrohouse.com/catalog/items/item551.html
>
> The first is a $4000 unit, the other two are less than half that.
> Anybody out there have any experience with these units, or the companies
> that make them?

I don't know which one to buy, but don't mount it over on the R side of the
panel or you'll be wasting your money. It needs to be within the pilot's scan.

Dave