L-1011 Avionics Bending: Collins ADI Power On Test (Video)

The video above shows the Collins ADI used on the Lockheed L-1011 during my first power-on test. According to the tear-down tags that came with the unit these ADIs had not been powered ever since 1998. The power-on test is a gradual test where I power on the device and run one or two functions. I study the power consumption and look for obvious problems with the power supplies. In later avionics bending posts you will see the devices progressively integrated with the flight simulation environment.

The power-on tests are important to the project because the show me what does and what does not work. So far I have had a pretty good success rate and I would say that about 75% of the instruments that I have bought over the years out of surplus have powered up.

In the video above you see the Glideslope function active in both normal as well as Flight Director, or Gate, mode. In gate mode the pilot would receive the Localizer/Glideslope information superimposed on the ADI as a round gate. The pilot would simply fly the aircraft down the gate or the Autoland system would follow the Gate.

The ADI is powered by a 115VAC 400Hz power source and the ADI and LOC deviations are driven by a National Instrument 6024E card over a range of -3VDC to 3VDC.