Failure of electric rudder pedal adjustment

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slowbird
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Failure of electric rudder pedal adjustment

Post by slowbird »

Has anyone ever experienced a failure of the electric rudder pedal adjustment? And not because the circuit breaker has popped. :D

My P1 pedals have suddenly stopped working. Luckily they have stopped at the correct position for flying, only discovered when adjusting to put the gust lock on. Circuit breaker reset and still nothing. Maintenance check due next month so it will get looked at - just wondered if anyone else has experienced this on what should be a fairly reliable bit of machinery.
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robert63
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Re: Failure of electric rudder pedal adjustment

Post by robert63 »

Besides of the circuit breaker there is another safety fuse, not accessible by the pilot.
I had this before, but my pedals were in the most backward position. Was not comfortable.
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slowbird
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Re: Failure of electric rudder pedal adjustment

Post by slowbird »

Ah ha. That sounds quite likely, as literally was working one minute and not the next. What might have tripped a safety fuse is another question...!

Thanks
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robert63
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Re: Failure of electric rudder pedal adjustment

Post by robert63 »

To me it happened when I just brought the pedals backwards. Right then the aircraft startet to roll and I stepped on the brakes, not releasing the button quick enough. I just don‘t understand why the fuse melted and the circuit breaker didn’t pop. And I also don’t understand why this fuse isn’t accessible without taking the aircraft apart.
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smoss
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Re: Failure of electric rudder pedal adjustment

Post by smoss »

I assume the 42 pedals have the same mechanism as the 40... Along the lines of failure, does anyone lubricate the worm bolt that moves the whole thing back and forth? The AMM specifically states to NOT lubricate the sled, but states nothing about the worm drive. Needless to say, there have been more that a few mechanics that really wanted to lubricate multiple items on the list below.

Section 12-20, DA40 AMM
Table 1 - Items which MUST NOT be Lubricated
Rudder pedal sled. DO NOT LUBRICATE
Flap rod-end bearings. DO NOT LUBRICATE
Aileron rod-end bearings. DO NOT LUBRICATE
Elevator rod-end bearings. DO NOT LUBRICATE
Throttle control cable, propeller control cable
and mixture control cable (Lycoming version
only). (See Note 7).
DO NOT LUBRICATE
Elastomeric spring. (See Note 8). DO NOT LUBRICATE
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Rich
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Re: Failure of electric rudder pedal adjustment

Post by Rich »

Fuses generally blow before circuit breakers. The latter almost always have a time-current curve, allowing a certain period of over-current. There are such things as slow-blow fuses for some applications.

It is dumb to have that fuse physically located like that. I think I know why it is, but sloppy design.
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Re: Failure of electric rudder pedal adjustment

Post by Oxymoron »

Why does anybody ever buy this option? Adds expense, adds weight, adds maintenance, adds complexity. Plus you have to put the electric master on to move the pedals when you need to apply parking brake while standing outside the cockpit. I have never seen the slightest advantage to it.
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Re: Failure of electric rudder pedal adjustment

Post by mhoran »

Our copilot rudder adjustment just stopped working and I'm hoping it's this fuse. Does anyone know where it's located? I tried finding it this evening but only found the two G1000 slow blow fuses and the AUX port fuse.

I really hope it's the fuse and not something else. Has anyone had the motor fail? I *think* I might have heard it make some noise when I tested this evening, but I'm hoping I didn't and that it's simply the fuse.
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Tom-B
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Re: Failure of electric rudder pedal adjustment

Post by Tom-B »

I have the manual pedals on my DA40. Recently, when retracting the pilot's pedals to engage the gust lock the lock release cable snapped as I got the pedals to the fully retracted position. Thankfully, I was at my home field and had finished flying for the day. But what was also nice was that with a little awkward reaching I found I could manually release the lock and push the pedals back.

Regardless, I now always engage the gust lock on the co-pilot's pedals and leave the pilots pedals positioned just as I like them. Using the co-pilot's pedals for the gust lock I will never have to worry whether a similar cable malfunction will crimp my flying position.
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Re: Failure of electric rudder pedal adjustment

Post by mhoran »

I've been dreading the death of the electronic pedals since we got the plane, so I guess I feel slightly better knowing that the manual pedals aren't fail safe. But I can only imagine the failure of the electronic pedals are certainly more expensive to repair...

We're in the habit of locking up the co-pilot pedals as well. Unfortunately the co-pilot side died, so now we're locking up the pilot side. The pilot side motor doesn't sound very energetic, so I hope I don't get stranded somewhere with two sets of dead pedals.
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