Help Connecting to Dynon skyview

[Admin]

Can you provide a link to the cable you are using
Also post a screenshot of your configure page

[JDevoy]

I assume I use pins 7&8 serial port 3 from the Dynon D37 EMS harness. However I guess I need to wire them into a serial 9 port female RS232 so I can plug into the recommended USB / serial lead.

[exfirepro]

The following posts have been merged from a separate thread initially started by JDevoy titled 'Mobile dongle (as an iGRID Hotspot) instead of iPhone'.

Do you know the pin outs for the usb  to serial cable. I have the 2 TX/RX identified from the Skyview I  was wondering what pins on serial connector end I need to wire them into.

Cheers
James

Hi James,

If you're using the recommended FTDI cable, the colour codes are:

Black = Ground

Orange = Data Out (from Pilotaware)

Yellow = Data In (To PilotAware)

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the Dynon side.

Regards

Peter

[JDevoy]

Got the cable  I know the pins on the Dynon EMS that are TX which I assume as it’s TX from Dynon it’s data in on PAW and opposite for RX.  Dynon has a bunch of grounds available on the EMS37 so will use one of those.  Assuming as you know the colours you chopped the end of the serial cable and directly connected.

[PaulSS]

You only need to wire up the orange and black wires, since you're just receiving the PAW Tx into your Skyview.

UNLESS we're able to transmit GPS info from the Skyview to the PAW now. I don't think I've read a conclusive answer to that question.

[exfirepro]

Got the cable  I know the pins on the Dynon EMS that are TX which I assume as it’s TX from Dynon it’s data in on PAW and opposite for RX.  Dynon has a bunch of grounds available on the EMS37 so will use one of those.  Assuming as you know the colours you chopped the end of the serial cable and directly connected.

As Paul has stated, you should (for the moment) only be using the Orange and Black wires, but I'm confused by your statement about 'chopping the end of the serial cable - which makes me suspect you are not using the recommended FTDI cable - in which case our colour coding advice may well be inappropriate.

To clarify - the FTDI USB to RS232 Serial Cables that we recommend (e.g. Mfr. Part No. USB-RS232-WE-1800-BT 0.0 - RS Stock No. 687-7828, or the 5 metre long equivalent - which is Mfr. Part No. USB-RS232-WE-5000-BT 0.0 - sorry, I don't have the RS Stock No. to hand for the longer cable) both have a USB plug (containing the circuit board and indicator LEDs) on one end, which plugs directly into a spare USB port in the PilotAware. The other end of the cable is supplied as 'bare wire ends', so you don't need to 'chop' anything.

You are trying to send traffic data from Pilotaware to your Dynon - so you need to use the 'Data Out' wire in the FTDI - which is the Orange one - and connect this to 'Data In' (or Rx) in the Dynon - the colour of which depends on which Dynon serial port you are using, plus the Black 'Ground' wire from the FTDI to whatever colour your Dynon port uses for Ground - (Edit: from later research, Dynon also use Black for their Common Ground.) I don't recommend cutting back the unused tails in case you need to re-configure your setup later due to future developments - Just be sure to insulate any 'unused' bare ends from each other and from anything else.

You then have to set your chosen PAW USB Port to 'Flarm Out' and set a fairly high Baud rate (115,200 Baud IIRC) in both devices.
Edit: It also apparently works with both units set to 57,600 Baud - thanks Bob (my brain was struggling a bit at 2am  )

For the avoidance of doubt, the PAW USB Ports are numbered from the left - 1 then 3 on the 'top' row and 2 then 4 on the 'bottom' row when viewing the unit with the End Cover removed and the 'Ethernet' Port to the left. If you are unsure about this, please ask.

Best Regards

Peter

[BobD]

I plan on fixed installation of PAW with serial connection to Dynon SkyView. Thus displaying all traffic on the SkyView map. So theoretically do not need my iPhone, or do I?


Would that also display the wx on the Dynon or do I still need an iPhone/iPad running SkyDemon for that?

Displayed traffic on Skyview is by symbols, and not as informative as the traffic displayed from PAW on say Skydemon.

To get weather, you need Skydemon, so I would say yes, you still need your iPhone or Android device.

Regarding the cabling and setup of the connection between  PAW and Skyview, CarlP was the pioneer  of this, and his and subsequent posts can be found here.

http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,819.msg9849.html#msg9849

[exfirepro]

Thanks Bob,

I was struggling a bit when I posted the above at going on 2am - and freely admit to never having actually wired PAW up to a Dynon  - Yet!

I had, however just been reading some back-posts on the Stratux-Europe Forum from a couple of Stratux Users who (after similar struggles) had managed to connect their Stratux devices to their Dynons back in December 2020 (which uses pretty much exactly the same methodology). This was of course well after CarlP had reported achieving his installation from his PAW (Classic) on our Forum back in March 2017.

James - as per CarlP's original post linked to by Bob, you can of course use other USB serial cables such as the one recommended by CarlP. If that's what you are doing, please follow Carl's advice re pinouts or if using the FTDI, you can of course add an appropriate connector.

Please let us know how you get on.

Best Regards

Peter

[Admin]

Which serial device do you have?
This should be bare wire not a db9 connection

[exfirepro]

Lee,

Unfortunately James seems to have us chasing each other round the Forum a bit here. He also started another thread, initially to ask for advice on using a mobile dongle in place of his iPhone as his iGRID access point, but went on to ask a similar question about Dynon connectivity on that thread.

Unaware that he had asked a question here, I and others have been trying to help him over there - in my case, like yourself, based on the 'expectation' that he was using our recommended bare-wire ended FTDI lead, but from his subsequent comments, it now seems likely that he is not, but is instead using a serial cable (possibly off eBay, but not necessarily the one recommended by CarlP back in 2017) - with a db9 male connector already on the end.

James,

If you are using a lead with a DB9 male connector, it should be fairly simple to identify and connect the requisite wires from your Dynon into the corresponding pins of a female DB9 connector, but to clarify the position can you please post a photo of the cable or link to where you purchased it from.


Regards

Peter

[exfirepro]

OK James,

I have been doing a bit of reading and research on your behalf. As I now understand it, the situation is as follows...

Assuming you are NOT using the bare-ended FTDI cable and are instead using a USB to RS232 Serial Converter Cable with a male db9 connector already fitted (which I'm pretty sure you are), the PAW Tx (Out) from your USB to RS232 Serial converter cable should be on the Male Pin 3 (TxData) and Ground on Pin 5 of your Male db9 connector - see attached photo of male db9 plug.

From the Dynon Installation Manuals (obtainable online from https://dynonavionics.com/documentation-overview.php), the Dynon Serial Port wires normally come as 'twisted Tx/Rx Pairs' - yellow with orange stripe / yellow with violet stripe for Serial Port 2, green with orange stripe / green with violet stripe for Serial Port 3, and blue with orange stripe / blue with violet stripe for Serial Port 4. (Serial Ports 1 and 5 are for specific uses, so should NOT be used). Note: These twisted pairs each comprise a Transmit Data and a Receive Data wire. We aren't using the Transmit Data wire, but DO need to add a Ground Wire back to the common Dynon Ground (normally solid black wires) to complete the circuit.

This means that you need to obtain a female db9 RS232 socket, then decide which Dynon Serial Port you are going to use - (normally Port 2 or Port 3 - your choice, but take a careful note of which port you decide on - you will need this to configure the port later). Wire the Dynon Rx Data wire from your selected Serial Port - so 'yellow with violet stripe' for Dynon Serial Port 2 or 'green with violet stripe' for Dynon Serial Port 3 - to Pin 3 of your Female db9 socket and add a 'solid black' (Ground) wire from Pin 5 of the Female socket back to the Dynon common ground. - see attached photo of Male/Female db9 sockets.

Once all the connections have been made, you then need to configure your chosen Serial Port in the Serial Port Setup Menu (SETUP MENU > SYSTEM SETUP > SERIAL PORT SETUP) - refer to your Dynon Manual.

According to the Dynon Manual, SkyView serial ports have four parameters that must be defined:

• Input Device
• Input Function
• Baud Rate
• Output Device

Note that sometimes a parameter will be defined as NONE on the screen. For example, when a serial port is configured as only an input device (as in our case), the output device will be set to NONE.

You need to select your chosen Serial Port, then set the SERIAL IN DEVICE to FLARM TRAFFIC, the INPUT FUNCTION to TRAFFIC and the SERIAL IN/OUT BAUD RATE  to a minimum 0f 57600 Baud (though 115200 Baud is probably better) and the SERIAL OUT DEVICE to NONE.

You then need to connect to your PilotAware (via the PAW WiFi and 192.168.1.1 / Configure) and set your chosen PAW USB Port to 'Flarm Out' with the same Baud Rate as you have set in your Dynon.

Don't forget to 'SAVE' the new PAW Configuration

After rebooting both units and allowing a sufficient period for PilotAware to establish a GPS fix, you should start to see Traffic Data on your Dynon Screen (providing there is traffic in range / within any set altitude filters.

If in doubt, check the screenshots in the earlier thread here... http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,819 ...note that Bob has used Dynon Serial Port 2.

Hope this helps.

Again, please let us know how you get on.

Best Regards

Peter

[PaulSS]

I am in the throes of designing my panel upgrade and would like to connect a Dynon SkyView HDX to my PAW, both to receive traffic into the HDX and receive GPS into the PAW.

Traffic, all understood and well documented. GPS from HDX to PAW, not quite so well documented but there's still a lot of info around. I just wanted to clarify one point, really.

I'll use another USB to serial converter to connect to a separate serial port on the HDX for GPS. So one serial port will have traffic IN from the PAW and another serial port will have GPS position OUT to the PAW. I know on the traffic that the orange Tx wire is used (in addition to a ground) but on the GPS connection do you just have just the yellow Rx wire or do you need Rx and Tx to the GPS (in addition to ground)? I suspect it is only the Rx but I just wanted to check.

Thank you.

[BobD]

Like you, I suspect only the Rx and ground connection is used, but I don't see any  downside in connecting  both the Tx and Rx wires, as  if ever the PAW becomes capable  of using one USB for both Rx/Tx, you can " save" a USB port for another use.

I considered going firbthe Dyjon GPS input after RussP explained the procedure  in the 6th post down of this thread

http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,1765.msg23431.html#msg23431

but in the end continued to use the PAW mouse for GPS, as having both the PAW GPS and the Dynon GPS into separate devices gave me a level of redundancy  I was happier with.

[PaulSS]

Hi Bob,

I definitely read Russ's post before I posted (and sent him a PM, but no joy). I understand that I need two FTDI USB to serial connectors (one for traffic from PAW to HDX and one for GPS from HDX to PAW). But he does say he wired it in the 'exact same way' as traffic, to get GPS from HDX to PAW. That doesn't make sense to me as the orange wire transmits RS232 (from PAW to HDX) but we're receiving GPS into the PAW and, therefore, I would have thought you'd need the yellow 'receive' wire.

My reason for asking about both for GPS is sometimes these things 'handshake' to make sure components are present and, for that reason, I thought you might need Tx and Rx. As you say, there's probably no harm in connecting both......unless someone can say otherwise.

[exfirepro]

Hi again Paul / Bob,

If you are using two FTDI USB to RS232 adaptors (which unless I haven't been told of changes you still need to do - i.e. separate ones for data in and data out - as the PAW ports still can't be configured to do both at the same time), then the 'Data Out one needs to use the FTDI Orange and Black wires, and the Data In (whether Flarm or GPS) needs to use the FDTI Yellow and Black wires.

I am not aware of any specific technical problem arising from both 'Data In' and 'Data Out' wiring being connected at the same time, on the same cable, though I have never actually done this myself in any of the installations (mainly Flarm In or Data Out to various Transponders) I have done personally - mainly because of the fact that AFAIK it doesn't achieve anything worthwhile, other than potentially 'future-proofing the installation as you say Bob!

Best Regards

Peter