ARinc 429 reader for troubleshooting

Thanks Mark! We have been looking for a cheaper 429 reader + software. Will look into this for our department, have you tried the transmiting function?

The unit I have is a single receiver only. They have others that include the transmit function.

Some other products of note:

www.mil-1553.com/429analyzer

www.altadt.com/product/nline-ua429-arinc-usb/

www.astronics.com/ portable-avionics-interfaces-for-usb

Although there are many more companies that have similar products.

Mark, are you using a serial to USB adapter for this RTX data bus reader? What pin config are the serial ports? 9 pin serial?

Most all of the 429 products sold today are engineering level products for development of software and equipment.

As flight-line mechanics, our uses are pretty limited. These devices will show active data which is good to verify a bus is valid, but any type of simulation (transmitting vs receiving) is pointless. You would have to simulate "all" bus labels and tweak certain ones for your testing needs. Most of us will never go to this level.

The one I use is below (cheapest I could find). Single channel - receive only.
They provide the serial adapter and software with the product.



www.rtxsystems.com/Products.html
  
  
The info below is for their TX/RX model:

www.rtxsystems.com/SPA.html?gad_source=5...4EAAYASAAEgJGXvD_BwE

The RTX Serial Port Adapter (RTX SPA429) is a family of compact ARINC 429 devices that plugs into a serial port (or a USB port with an adapter) of any computer, running any operating system, and enables the user to access up to 4 ARINC 429 channels easily and inexpensively. The standard RTX SPA429 can transmit on 2 ARINC channels and receive from 2 ARINC channels in either high speed (100 Kbps) or low speed (12.5 Kbps) data rates (or both simultaneously). The RTX SPA429 can process all 4 channels at full data rates. There are no restrictions on the number of labels that can be transmitted or received. There are no batteries to replace or charge and no power cords to hook up (the SPA gets all of its power from the RS232 port). No installation or setup is required; no device drivers are necessary. Just plug it in to a RS232 serial port (or a USB port with a standard USB/RS232 adapter) and run your (or our) application software. Its not even necessary to power down the computer to install the RTX SPA429. Any program, written in any language, for any computer running any operating system can transmit and receive ARINC 429 data as long as the program can send and receive data to/from the serial port. If you're writing your own software, a Windows API is included to make programming simple. When used with your software, or with our  VORTEX Windows GUI , the RTX SPA429 can be the heart of a powerful and sophisticated ARINC 429 system that is versatile, portable, inexpensive, and easy to use.

 

What I think would be most helpful to us is a ARINC 717 reader (DFDAU to Flight Recorder data).

It would show all active data on the aircraft.

I think it would a great tool to watch systems in action or see glitches that might aid in troubleshooting.

If you could isolate by required data only (let's say 21 Air Conditioning).

I've never seen a live 717 bus, so I don't know if something like described above would work.

Costs for 717 readers are way higher and without knowing if it would really work..... convincing the company to buy one would be tough.

Thanks for the info mark! The only 717 reader I’ve used is the HHMPI tool : FDS40-0301 from Flight data systems. You can see live data on this reader but you need to know the subframe and word values of whatever parameter you’re checking for. I’m not sure if it’s capable of showing data in engineering units. I’m sure there’s a better tool out there, but as you said it’s probably super expensive.