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Rich wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 9:33 pm

Steve wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 9:23 pm Rich:

That is an interesting mounting assembly. On my airplane, the seat upholstery attaches to a velcro strip along the bottom edge of the seat, which the 4 attachment bolts penetrate. With your square tubing in that location, how do you attach the upholstery?

Steve

Ah, I forgot that detail. Because it interfered substantially with seat removal, years ago I cut the upholstery along that front lower edge of both seats. The forward part of the seat pads are no longer attached in front. The just lay over the front of the seat pans. There's plenty of velcro elsewhere to hold the pads firmly in place.

To elaborate further, the way the pads were installed on my plane, the leather went over those bolts then back behind the seat pan flange and were glued in place there, with those bolts going through them. Removing the seat required pulling the pads up and somewhat forward to get access to the bolts, but the pads would not clear the stick. So you had to fight that front flap the whole time you were removing the bolts. Reinstalling was particularly obnoxious, trying to align the invisible bolts to the invisible riv-nuts. Around my third or fourth annual I'd had enough and took a box-cutter to the leather.

I also altered the iPad RAM cradle to be more suited to the Apple Pencil:

Rich wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 8:37 pm

yl472401 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2020 2:20 am

Rich wrote: ↑Tue Nov 19, 2019 8:50 pm Cleaned up a bit more. Got the arm moved more toward the console and now have routed the power wire for the iPad within the arm cover:

N40XE RAM Ball Bracket.small.jpgN40XE iPad Mount.small.jpg

Rich
From this picture, it seems more like a plate that got secured to the seat anchor bolt instead of a ball head that acts as a bolt that replaces the original tightening bolt. Can you give a link to the exact product you use at the base of the flexible rod?
Thanks!

Here is what I came to create. Two holes to match the spacing and size of those seat bolts and concentric larger holes to allow use of a socket to install/remove it. That blue wormy thing is used to hold my (now diminutive) flight bag in a convenient location for in-flight access.

iPad Mounting Bracket.jpg

This shows the clearance between the mount and the stick, which is easily adjusted on the "fly" I ground off one of the extra mounting supports of the Ram mount to give me more leeway in adjusting the mount while maintaining clearance.

iPad Mount Clearance.jpg

Thanks for the detailed pictures. Strong work, Mate!!
Now, I have a brief idea on what I'm gonna do !

I was doing some approaches yesterday (VFR/foggles with safety pilot) and the usefulness of where the iPad now is located was readily apparent - even better than when the prior mini-on-the-stick setup. While manipulating FF to get the next chart loaded and switching the 530W for a different approach (which then auto-loaded into FF and crossfilled to the 430W) the six-pack (really an 8-pack) remained in peripheral vision the entire time. This makes it downright easy to be precise in hand-flying, especially in contrast to the old days of the charts on the lap (and various other locations) being part of the real-time task list.

I did the exact same thing as the linked post shows - its a brilliant solution. I used the RAM iPad mini mount. FYI those panel screws are about the only non metric ones on the plane. Works great, air vent keeps iPad cool. I have it upside down so the power connector is on top. I had originally knocked off the cord and broke the connector with my knee. Run the power back behind the seat to my center console mounted USB outlets. Also the DA40 panel screws align perfectly with the RAM ball mount holes!

Click the link in the quote to see the original authors photo. His post at: viewtopic.php?p=60349#p60349

carym wrote: ↑Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:02 pm The only thing worse than my flying is my picture taking. But here are a couple of pictures of the setup.
download/file.php?id=2124&t=1

Another hint: The Pro 11 is connected to a Stratus USB adapter to keep it charged in flight. In bright sunlight FF will adjust the screen brightness to the max. At this brightness setting I find the power provided by the Stratus seems to be exactly enough to offset the power used by the iPad, keeping the charge level right where it started, but not add to it. Tweaking the brightness down just a bit (~80% of the slide bar travel instead of 100%) results in the Stratus now supplies enough power add to the charge level while the unit is being used. And the decrease in brightness is minimal and doesn't compromise usefulness at all. Today I started at 71% and wound up at 75% after about 30 minutes.

On a longer flight I realized that it was the screen that burned the battery up, so I tend to turn it off for 40% of the time. It then has no trouble staying well-charged. I like to check everything on the quarter hour, so I get a position update, obsessive weather check, and so on. But I don't need THREE moving maps. I mean, not turned on ALL the time.

Colin wrote: ↑Mon Jul 20, 2020 3:10 pm On a longer flight I realized that it was the screen that burned the battery up, so I tend to turn it off for 40% of the time. It then has no trouble staying well-charged. I like to check everything on the quarter hour, so I get a position update, obsessive weather check, and so on. But I don't need THREE moving maps. I mean, not turned on ALL the time.

My GNS moving "maps" are pretty minimal. No airways, TFRs, traffic, weather, etc. Hence just turning down the brightness a wee bit is the solution for me.

Another experiment: With the replacement of the super-flimsy vent latches I thought I'd see how it might be with the iPad mounted to the vent window. Seems pretty cool. Although this picture shows it in landscape orientation, I plan to use it in portrait, as it moves more of the display inward toward the center. Not bad, the unit winds up really close to me and it can be manipulated with my right hand. Of course the whole thing is up out of the way with the canopy open, easing ingress/egress.
The power cable is a 2m Aukey angled USB-A/USBC purchased through Amazon. By routing it up around the canopy axle and through the gap in the instrument cover, it rides cleanly when raising or lowering the canopy and is just long enough.

Rich wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 9:44 pm Another experiment: With the replacement of the super-flimsy vent latches I thought I'd see how it might be with the iPad mounted to the vent window.

So much for that idea. Not a useful way to deal with the Pro 11. Between the iPad and it's cradle you're talking 2 pounds and with a bit of turbulence it would work its way down to where it started to lurk within the area reserved for stick travel. I also found it surprisingly annoying to have it block the view of the Davtron, which I have in mind to possibly replace with an AV-20s.