Tip Saving G3X configurations and renaming after save

[Neal]

A good tip offered to my when working with @Cactus Charlie a few months back relating to saving configuration files for your G3X. Only the configuration side of the G3X offers the option to save the configuration so if you replace your GDU as I had to do, you get to reconfigure the flying side. Not nearly as bad as if you had to redo your system from scratch.

Hold the MENU button when powering up your GDU until you see it entering the configuration mode. Go to the config files option which is around the 4th option on the top row if I remember correctly and you can then press menu to save your config file. I use a dedicated SD card but also save them to the normal SD card that stays in the GDU.

But here's the important part and something to consider prior to saving the config. It will always overwrite the config with the default name. So if you have a configuration already stored, put the card in your computer and rename it. Consider something like G3X_Config_20260101 or if you did something in this config you can put a reminder of the change in the name. Any time you save the config be sure to rename the saved config to one with a new name so you can keep a config history and never overwrite a prior config.

The config will not store your K factor for those of us with fuel flow sensors or if you have tanks with fuel sensors that calibration needs to be manually recorded and restored if the config is restored.

FYI

 

[Cactus Charlie]

If you covered this I missed it. - You can have as many config files as you like on the SD card that is inserted in the GDU 465. I have multiple files, each with a unique name that encodes the date the file was created. You can load any of these files into the GDU. I just has to have the right extension.

I have asked Garmin to change the saved config file name so it encodes the date and time just as done with log files. They did make this requested change for screen captures a while ago but, so far, have not changed config file name.

Not long ago the config file saved the airframe time, engine time, and engine cycles. If you loaded an old file all those would be reset to the values that existed when the file was saved. I reported this to Garmin and it was fixed in the next software update but not mentioned in the release notes.

 

[Neal]

...When you go to restore a config you will see a list of all configs on the SD card and you choose the config to restore.

As to Garmin, yeah, they should never overwrite a config file. I realize they may not know the date/time, but should append a suffix such as _0, _1, _2 on to the config filename to prevent overwriting. Pretty basic programming technique.

 

[Cactus Charlie]

I realize they may not know the date/time

Garmin has a process for that but it could be improved. If GPS has not acquired lock, and GPS time is not available, then it uses incremented system creation date and time for screen capture files.

System creation date/time is 20190406_170000 when expressed as MST.