Skymap IIIC

[rotorspin]

Any technically minded ppruners who can give me a bit of advice?

Got a IIIC installed in a heli, one day it comes up with "batteries low" and turned itself off mid flight..... luckily had my maps on my knee!!!:eek:

Took the unit out of the heli and tested power connections (power coming through the leads of the intrument panel), and tried to plug in using the supplied AC adapter.....nothing.....not a jot....

Updated the PCMCIA database card thingy, but still nothing.....:{

Is this a "dead parrot"? Anybody had a similar experience? Anybody know a good service centre?

Any help much appreciated!!! :ok:

[wrecker]

I have a SKy Map 2 A very diferent beast, but when that developed a fault I returned it to sky map at Chichester who fixed and returned it very rapidly at quite a low cost

[snchater]

The unit has a small internal battery that needs to be replaced every 3 years.
Ours lasted 6 years then failed without warning a long way from home:\

Skyforce can replace the battery but it ain't cheap (@ £130)
Alternatively thay will supply the battery and a wiring diagram(not easy)

The manner that the unit fails, i.e. no warning , is not condusive to safe flying so we intend to replace our internal battery regularly

[rotorspin]

Cheers for the replies

I inherited as part of a heli sale so hadn't done any major research into the units reliability until I arrived back on terra firma...

Not too impressed with the internal batteries failing with no prior warning. Also been told that the turn on knob sometimes loosens from its spindle so mid-flight it either falls off or you cannot turn the unit on or off on the gorund, which in turn drains the batteries.....:hmm:

If anybody wants to buy a shiny Skymap IIIC that needs fixing (has 11/06 database installed) then PM me. Its up for grabs. I say shiny, but its not brand new. And the screen is a dark shade of black even when switched on! Complete with AC adapter and PC connection cable.

I'm off to the 496 shop.