Some changes have been made to the DG-1000 electric varios to address intermittent problems with the rear-seat electric vario, with the front seat vario audio being very quiet and with poor total energy compensation on all varios.
The front-seat electric vario is now a Borgelt B400, the current replacement of the B40 that was previously installed. The plan is to reinstall a B40 in its place once it has been repaired. BASA selected the B400 for its simplicity and similarity to the B40. This B400 will likely be installed in one of the single seat ships in future. See the notes below on operating the B400.
The B40 that used to be in the front instrument panel was moved to the rear panel (to replace the faulty unit) as it has an on/off switch to enable pilots to be able to turn it off if the rear seat is unoccupied or used by a passenger.
To solve the quiet front-seat vario audio a small speaker was installed on the forward inspection bulkhead in the nose of the glider behind the rudder pedals. This does not obstruct the pedals. You’ll see it down there on your regular pre-flight check for rudder pedal obstructions. This speaker worked so well that a similar speaker was installed inside the rear instrument panel console, it is not as loud as the front because it is in a enclosed space but it is louder and sounds better than before.
To attempt to improve T.E. compensation several things were done, including installing a new metal T.E. probe and replacing the front O-ring in the probe mount. Please treat the T.E. probe very gently. The probe should be left in the mount all the time and only removed for glider disassembly. If the probe is removed for glider disassembly some wing tape should be placed over the probe mount hole to keep dust out.
Notes on the B400
There is no on/off switch for the B400 vario. The vario will power on when the main avionics master switch is turned on. Be careful to always leave the glider with both avionics master switches in their center off positions.
The B400 volume is adjusted by the momentary action toggle switch in the top right screw hole. The toggle switch operates at a 45 degree angle. Push up and to the left to increase volume, down and to the right to decrease volume. There is a label next to the switch to remind you of this. Please don’t force the switch straight up or down, it is designed to move diagonally.
Press and hold down the small white averager button on the lower left side of the meter to shows a moving average on the vario readout, as with the B40, the audio continues to indicate current lift/sink.
The unit can be toggled between having the audio indicate up/down or up only. Quickly pressing the averager button toggles between these modes, up/down is shown by the red (down) and green (up) LEDs lighting on the instrument face, up only is shown by the green (up) LED lighting only. The vario does not remember which mode it was in between power cycles, it
defaults to up only when turned on. Most pilots seem to prefer up only so they will never have to worry about this. There is a temporary label next to the vario to remind you how to change modes.
For full information see the PDF copy of the manual for the B400 vario. The backup alkaline battery pack and battery pack select switch referenced in the manual was not installed, so the vario only operates from the main avionics power supply. During installation the varios audio was set to “B40 classic” mode to resemble that from the B40, instead of the default “competition” mode.
– Darryl Ramm
