Loosing Pilotedge Coms - Solved!

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r0bst3r
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2016 2:28 pm

Loosing Pilotedge Coms - Solved!

Post by r0bst3r »

For weeks now I have been troubleshooting an issue where I had pilotedge coms but they would stop working after approximately 2 mins, audio would just die, but the radios were still on. I could no longer hear frequency, and they couldn't hear me. I verified on the live map that i was tuning the proper frequency. I briefly tried the Baron, as my main aircraft was the Carenado Commander 500. I tried changing audio devices for Pilotedge, no luck. I started to suspect one of my plugins was causing it, I removed all those and added them back one by one, no luck. Then i wondered if my copy of Xplane was somehow hosed up, so I deleted and reinstalled that from scratch, and reconfigured that. Then I added just the pilotedge plugin back, worked fine, then slowly added the rest of my plugins back one by one. I though I had fixed the issue, and bam, it started again. During one of my radio checks the controller mentioned sometimes people have issues because their alternator is not online. I cycled mine, they were already on. Then a little later after removing my ortho scenery and still continuing down the "my pc has an issue" troubleshooting path, I decided to look at the alternator amp gauges in the overhead panel. Low and behold my battery voltage was at 18 (28v aircraft) and no amperage after idling for about 2 minutes. I increased the rpm slightly, the alternator output popped on, and my pilot edge radio chatter reappeared! :oops:

To me it seems this issue is being caused by the poor electrical system simulation in Xplane 11.05 and below, and the fact the Commander 500 that I am using doesn't have any sort of voltage light. I highly doubt the real aircraft has such a quick voltage drop as this, I know my 182 does not.

Anyway I hope this post saves someone else the same heartburn, I spent at least 15 hours troubleshooting this. I am also hoping Xplane 11.10 resolves the issue, I saw where they are advertising one of its new features as better electrical system simulation.
r0bst3r
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2016 2:28 pm

Re: Loosing Pilotedge Coms - Solved!

Post by r0bst3r »

I just tried 11.10r3, same issue. But I can't really say its because the electrical system isn't modeled properly, its just the inital idle is stupid low, like 350 rpm.
Keith Smith
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Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 8:38 pm
Location: Pompton Plains, NJ
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Re: Loosing Pilotedge Coms - Solved!

Post by Keith Smith »

This comes up on our Discord server every couple of days. Alternator output in XP11 has changed compared to version 10. The alternators don't put out a lot of current until you get to about 1000rpm. Real world SOP is to keep 1000 RPM when on the ground to avoid fouling of plugs and to ensure good charge from the alternator. A lot of Xplane users just pull all the way to idle, regardless of the resulting RPM, and that's where the trouble starts.

I'm glad you found the cause, but you don't have to suffer in silence, or reinstall X-Plane :) Feel free to post here or get some real-time help in the Discord server.
r0bst3r
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2016 2:28 pm

Re: Loosing Pilotedge Coms - Solved!

Post by r0bst3r »

To make this even more embarrassing, my real life 182A has a generator, not an alternator, and it really doesn't come online until 850 rpm or so. So you would think I would be used to this!
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