APU monitoring during start-up

[Kav_simr 0]

Hello everybody,

A few days ago, I installed P3DV4 and QOTSII and I'm practicing the cold'n'dark start-up procedure according to Tutorial No 1.

I press the overhead battery switch, turn the standby power selector to auto and turn the APU switch to ON. Then I try to monitor the APU start-up on the STAT page, but there's no indication of APU temperature etc.

The lower EICAS display the FMCs is completely dark and it starts showing APU data only when the APU has already stabilised and I switched to APU GEN or ground power has been connected.

Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong?

 

[Captain Kevin 586]

In the FMC, look at the display options, page 7. This is in the intro manual. Not sure if this is what you're asking about regarding the APU status display.

[Kav_simr 0]

Nah, I check that option already.

My problem is that I can't monitor APU start-up because there's no indication of APU parameters on any screen when it's starting.

[Kav_simr 0]

Ok problem solved, I just switched Inbd CRT to EICAS and pressed STAT, now I can monitor APU temperature etc. on a PFD, cool! :) 

But thank you for your suggestion, Cpt Kevin!

[Captain Kevin 586]

Not sure what you're looking at, but this is what I'm seeing. It's there on my end.

[Kav_simr 0]

In my case, when running solely on battery power, only 3 displays (2 on the left and 1 in the middle) are on, the lower one is blank.

However, when I turn the ALTN EFIS switch to F/O, 4 displays (including the lower display). Strange.

[Captain Kevin 586]

I see what happened now. When you're running strictly on battery power, in order to save your limited battery power, only essential items are powered, which is why you only get the Captain's PFD and ND along with the upper EICAS. The lower EICAS isn't essential, and the status page normally shows up on the lower EICAS. Switching the ND display to display the lower EICAS was how you got the status page to show up since the inboard screen on the Captain's side is one of the items powered by the battery when you're running just on battery power. In my case, I had powered up the battery, flipped the standby power to auto, then connected the ground power, which then provided the power to everything else. That's why I was able to pull the status page on the lower EICAS. You'll notice in my screenshots that the First Officer's displays are also powered since I had the ground power connected.

[Kav_simr 0]

Ok, I thought you could be running on ground power. So it's a feature, not a bug! :)

Thank you very much! I kept experimenting and it's 2:30 AM. I'll lose my job because of my hobby...

[Captain Kevin 586]

Yeah, the plane's doing exactly what it's supposed to do. If you're running on just battery power, you'd only be able to run it for 30 minutes before the battery went dead, so you don't want to be powering more equipment than is necessary, otherwise your battery would just die faster. If you're parked at the gate, in order to save fuel, you'd connect the ground power anyway. Not really too sure at what point you'd start the APU in a real-world situation, as I remember being on a flight where they had started it just prior to boarding.

[Qavion2 39]

On 09/06/2017 at 9:54 AM, Kav_simr said:

only 3 displays (2 on the left and 1 in the middle) are on, the lower one is blank.

However, when I turn the ALTN EFIS switch to F/O, 4 displays (including the lower display). Strange.

Very strange. I would submit a ticket for that one. Even on aircraft with the Altn EFIS function, the Lower EICAS display should not show if there is no power on the main busses.

I think the Captain would be very jealous if the F/O got more displays than he/she did :D

 

Only the F/O's PFD, ND and EFIS CP are available. I'm not sure about the F/O's Radio Magnetic Indicator (RMI) (where this option is available).

Perhaps relay R8290 is not modelled

 

Cheers