GD-40 Install HOBBS 2416.0 hrs

http://www.fdatasystems.com/Products/GD-40/GD-40.html

I installed my Flight Data Systems GD-40 carbon monoxide sensor a while back, but when I powered it up, it wasn't talking to the SkyView (SV) system which caused some head scratching. I kind of put this on the back burner as I worked on other, more important wiring issues. I have now finally circled back around and started messing with this again.

 

When I bought it, it was advertised as something that would indicate CO level in parts per million (PPM) on the SV (like the above picture with AFS). Well, fast forward about a year to now and it appears this is actually not the case now that I am wiring it. After doing some research on the Dynon forums, the SV does not have serial interface support for the GD-40 so it will not pass any 'intelligent data' to the SV. Not sure why? But its a moot point right now as to why.

 

Without serial interface support, you can't get PPM data from the unit. What you can do instead is, wire the device to a general contact, then add a "widget" to the SV to show a CO indication on the screen. This type of setup is somewhat of a "dumb" indicator...it just shows a CO alert, green for good, red for danger. The GD-40 also comes with its own panel mounted LED and push button. The push button, from what I can tell, is needed for doing a self test. The LED will show, green/red for different PPM thresholds. I wanted the push button and like the LED so I installed this in the panel. The issue is, do I keep the redundant "widget" on the SV or just use the panel LED?

 

Here is a pic showing my CO "widget" on the SV (see arrow) and also the LED and button that I installed in the panel. Definitely redundant...I may just remove the widget from the SV later to free up space.

 

Lastly, I also wired the GD-40 into an unswitched output on the audio panel for audio alerts. When you power up the unit, a sexy woman's voice will announce a "Carbon monoxide good"...and when doing the self test,  you will hear "danger, carbon monoxide detected" or something to that affect through your headset. So, even absent not noticing the flashing red LED light, you will get an audio warning as well. Definitely probably overkill for CO sensing...but pretty darn cool and it gives me peace of mind.