"MSU Multi Function button" - how does it work?

[martinlest2 58]

The pdf says that pressing this 'hidden' button when the INS unit is on and the Mode Index reads zero will enable 'Immediate Alignment Mode'. But what does that mean in practice? My PI number still slowly (oh, so, SO slowly) descends from 9 to reach a green 'Ready' light at '5': the 'Immediate Alignment' is clearly not working.

 

Is it my fault? I have the a/c with APU running & APU generators on, parking brakes set, INS on in standby and the MI figure shows '0'. I have tried switching to 'Align' mode, and I have tried pressing the Immediate Alignment 'screw' before and after I load a flight paln via the ADEU. But nothing works. I really would prefer not to sit for 15 minutes or whatever it is while the INS gets ready, so help appreciated!

 

BTW, there is sometimes the added frustration that the PI number never goes below '6', no matter how long I wait. I saw from the one thread I could find on this subject - lucky to find it, when searching for the term 'countdown' gave no results (see thread title!)...

 

http://www.avsim.com/topic/241865-ins-contdown-problem/

 

I found that doing as suggested, re-entering the initial position co-ordinates seems to fix the problem. There is also the suggestion of deleting a file called B732ins.Isd - but I have no such file. Should I try deleting the file B732ADV.Isd before each flight, as also suggested to avoid this problem (what's the downside of that? What information is stored in those two files?).

 

One other quickie... why does the orange BAT light sometimes come on during alignment? The a/c is powered up OK (electrically, that is) - does this indicate a fault with the way I have set things up?

 

I always start a flight with the default Cessna 172, by the way....

 

The day I can actually fly from one airport to another in this plane, with the INS and so forth, including LNAV, working fine, is the day I open a bottle of champagne. The past few days, I have just been sitting at the gate trying to sort out issues like this one..

 

Thanks!

 

Martin

[pschlute 37]

If memory serves me right there is no immediate align function with the CIVA INS but a fast align. Pressing the screw will speed up the alignment so it takes a minute or two instead of fifteen.

 

Procedure is:

 

Have the aircraft either ground or apu powered, engines off, parking brake on.

 

MSU switch turn to STBY

 

Check the INS unit for fault codes and clear them if needed. If you start a flight at a different location from where you finished your last flight there will always be an error code.

 

Enter your current co-ordinates in the INS POS.

 

Turn the MSU switch to ALIGN and press the "screw".

 

THE PI should countdown to "0". Then turn the MSU to NAV

 

You can enter flightplan waypoint coordinates during the alignment process or wait until it has finished alignment.

 

The BAT light will always come on and go off during the alignment procedure as part of the self-test the INS performs.

 

I would not remove any files.

[martinlest2 58]

Thanks again for the help. But I am afraid I can't get this to work - the PI does countdown, but it takes forever. How long are we talking about for a 'fast countdown'?

I might try and be patient and wait, but (and this is the deal breaker) in flight, having waited so long on the ground for alignment to finish, whenever I try to fly the flight plan, even though I have GPS mode set, the aircraft turns off course with a mind of its own as soon as I engage LNAV.. Maybe I have been flying the modern autopilots too long to be able to get my head around this!

I have spent too many hours to no avail on trying to get this to work (but with so much frustration) so I am going to move on now - I'll fly the plane with no INS. I am getting bored and annoyed with the repeated failures. No doubt something I am doing, but even following your simple step-by-step above didn't work for me: I have written this reply while alignment is going on on my FS PC (over 15 minutes so far; clearly fast alignment isn't working in my setup: if this is 'fast' I dread to think what 'slow' is like!) and the INS is still at 6-5..

M.

[pschlute 37]

Fast align takes two minutes.

 

Ensure you have updated tin mouse completely.

 

Ensure you are running civa 1.51

 

Press the top right screw to fast align after you have turned the msu knob

 

Post in the civa forum if you still cannot get it to work. I use the ins in Concorde vc10 b727 b747-200 as well as the tin mouse with no issues

[martinlest2 58]

Hi again. I had updated the a/c via 1.30, 1.31, 1.32 and then 1.40. My Civa is v.1.51, yes.

 

I may try again in a day or two and if it still doesn't work... - but, where is the civa forum?

[pschlute 37]

Hi again. I had updated the a/c via 1.30, 1.31, 1.32 and then 1.40. My Civa is v.1.51, yes.

 

I may try again in a day or two and if it still doesn't work... - but, where is the civa forum?

Just google it. Civa ins

[martinlest2 58]

I think I have this sorted - there were some odd entries in the panel.cfg that were preventing the fast align from working (reference to a gauge msu3, that shouldn't have been there). Now I have removed them, fast align has started working and I get the 'Ready light' within half a minute - at least mostly I do. There've been a few times it hasn't worked (and no CDU error code), but the basic problem seems to have been sorted. Marco on the Civa forum was very helpful...