Thorp Air Command - T18.net

First off, I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome at Airventure. I'm a new owner and it was comforting to see a bunch of folks all in person who love the Thorp so much.

GRT Avionics has some great discounts going on post airventure, and I'm pretty much sold on the company. I am leaning toward the Horizon 10.1

The 10" screen is overkill for the thorp panel, but it seems like you miss out on a lot of features that I really desire if you go down to the smaller Sport EX model.

Just curious if anyone has any experience with one or both of the units.

My mission is a stepped approach to eliminate my vacuum system first, then autopilot and ads-b out, then tie in to a GPS Nav unit for IFR. Possible install of a remote com radio depending on the GPS I end up with. A stand-alone GRT mini would be added for IFR redundancy also. Well down the road I'd like to roll all my engine monitoring into the unit too, but that's not a priority for me now.


Thanks in advance!

Marty

_________________
Marty G
N50LE
YouTube Channel
martygrosse@yahoo.com

Hey Marty,

I swapped my vacuum 6-pack out for a Sport EX coupled with a Garmin 175, a EchoUAT, Safefly WAAS-GPS, and an AV-30 serving as a back-up ADI. The entire system has an independent "AUX" battery bus supplied by a computer back up battery (which is in addition to the AV-30 internal battery). I am very happy with this setup, and would 100% go GRT again. The GRT manuals were great, and that part of the install went well. Garmin, while producing a very nice product, is not very DIY friendly and getting that set up was a pain. The AV-30 was 2 wires and a touch of plumbing. All told I have 2 AHRS systems, 3 batteries, 2 independent screens, and 2 source of WAAS data for IFR redundancy.

If I were to do it again there are two avenues I would consider. First would be the AV-30 coupled with a GRT mini for a minimal effort, budget friendly job. It just would have had the same outcome with smaller screens and much less capitol. Otherwise I would have considered using the IFR GPS setup GRT offers in conjunction with a NAV-Comm for about the same price as what I have now. It would have given me a new radio with more approach options and robust legality over using their in house RNAV system independently.

For actually doing approach work, I find the AV-30 slightly better for setting pitch and power settings as the Sport EX is a touch sensitive to changes. Its definitely useable, but just a personal observation. I also think the GRT internal flight plan architecture is clunky. I can't imagine trying to change a point in flight, and that's coming from someone who flew IFR behind a KLN900 for 3 years... The Garmin interface eliminates this issue for me. Overall, I'd probably do it exactly the way I did it the first time. I would recommend doing as much as you can all at once though. It was a lot of work, and it'll be a cleaner job if you can just delete everything at once and put together a new harness that encompasses everything you need on the first pass. Just my novice opinion though. There should be pictures somewhere on here of my install.

Andy
N78WG

Hi Marty,

Sorry I missed you at OSH! I came in Thursday night, so seem to have missed several folks.

Last year I redid my panel with a GRT Horizon 10.1 with touch screen and IFR approaches, Sport EX, SafeFly GPS, Trig TT22 remote transponder (controlled solely by EFIS) and GRT EIS (EIS was the only original piece moved over to new panel). I have a MGL V16 radio that has a head unit and is can be controlled through the GRT EFIS units. I also recently installed the pitch and roll GRT autopilot servos.

Overall, I am very happy with the setup. It is a little clunky putting in waypoints, particularly if you are given a bunch of waypoints rather than simply direct. But otherwise I really like the IFR setup. And now with the autopilot servos its truly amazing. Just for a test I have flown it down to minimums with only the autopilot and then had it go missed and fly the hold. It did exceptionally well.

Setup took a little bit to get all of the ports setup correctly, but just took a bit of patience (and actually reading the manuals).

More than happy to provide any info or discuss more. Just let me know!

Travis
N249R
T-18 2+2

Thank you guys so much. This is exactly the input I was looking for.

I ended up ordering my GRT package before seeing your replies, but they make me even more confident in my decision and also give me some people to reach out to if I have any questions. If you wouldn't mind sending me your email address or phone number, I may shoot you a message to connect off the forum.

I ended up purchasing a Horizon 10.1 touch screen and AOA, without the internal IFR approaches. I plan to pair it with a Garmin 175 and a TailbeaconX soon. I also ordered the autopilot servos and a garmin heated AOA pitot tube, digital magnetometer, USB extension cable, and OAT probe.

I may purchase a GRT Mini-X prior to installation too. Everything is on a 13 week backorder, so I'm just hangar flying with the paper cutout taped to my dash for now!

_________________
Marty G
N50LE
YouTube Channel
martygrosse@yahoo.com

Andy,

I would really like to hear more about this AUX battery idea. I'd like to add one of these and if you have any details about the battery used and any pointers or pics, that would be very helpful.

Thanks!

MartyG

_________________
Marty G
N50LE
YouTube Channel
martygrosse@yahoo.com

Marty,

It is really straight forward. The GRT, AV-30, and EchoUat are isolated on a dedicated bus. The bus has two switches, one for the AUX and one for the ship supplied power. The Aux is used every flight to get the GRT cooking while I'm finishing the walk around and cranking the engine. I then turn on ship power and leave both buses on until I takeoff, which recharges the Aux battery. It is simply a 12V computer backup battery, which when I did the math, provided 4+hours of power by itself for my setup. I've used it 200 hours no issues, and my buddy has an identical setup in his RV-8 (Gasp... I know I affiliated with an RV driver) which has been trouble free for several years.

-Andy
78WG