Recently, I remember reading in one of the postings about white lines appearing on a Garmin 430 screen and, as I recall, a comment was made that the screen failed shortly thereafter. Am I remembering correctly? (I can't locate this posting.) The reason I ask is that, yesterday, on my 430 I noticed a dimmer section (partially white looking) across the screen horizontally about mid screen. It was quite noticeable in bright sunlight, but wasn't so noticeable after dark, when the screen dimmed down. Can anyone predict how long it might take for the entire screen to fail or be unusable? My 430 has been in use for a little over two years and about 350 flight hours. I've got a reservation for the WAAS upgrade and am hoping it lasts until Garmin can do that upgrade.
Gary,
I have noted the exact same problem with my 430. The "faded" area was horizontal in the middle. I also noted that the case around the 430 was quite warm to the touch. I directed my overhead vents onto the panel and the faded area disappeared. I am now looking at panel cooling fans at the next annual. Since I now keep the vent directed at the panel it has never happened since.
Thanks for your reply. I already have a cooling fan that cools three avionics boxes in my stack, including the 430 and I always run it. It was very hot the day I had the problem. Flew today and didn't have the faded area, but it's a little cooler today. Maybe it is heat related. I'll try aiming the vent at the stack if it happens again.
Hi,
It's been a few years, but I'm curious about the outcome, because I have recently seen this with my plane and another plane owned by the flight school. My unit got the WAAS upgrade in January (but the box is about 1.5 years old). I don't know th age of the unit in the other plane. Any info would be appreciated.
I have seen this before as well. The normal cause of this is lack of cooling. The unit itself has a small fan. This should be checked to make sure its working. If this fan stops working your screen will soon have problems. The cooling port on the back of the unit is to provide additional cooling. This in my book is a must. In comparison to the cost of a 430 or 530 a fan is nothing. Try this pull all the breakers in your plane (On the ground engine off) and put only the breakers needed to turn the 430 on then listen for a small fan in the unit. If this isnt running and you have no other sorce of cooling get the unit repaired asap. continuing to operate the unit without proper cooling can cause considerable damage over time.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the tip. I got an external fan for the 430 installed when I got the WAAS upgrade, but I didn't actually make sure they did it right. I already question their work since I did the VHF interference test yesterday, and it FAILED! I'm so peo'd about this. I'm taking it to another shop in a month for some other work, so I'll get them to look at the fans (and screen). Thanks!
