Cockpit display flicker drove me nuts on a 1990 Beechcraft in Tulsa last Tuesday

We had a King KX-155 and the screen was ghosting after 20 minutes of power, like a bad capacitor in an old TV. I reseated the backplane connector twice and reflowed a solder joint on the power supply board, thinking that was it. Then I noticed the dimmer knob was halfway cracked inside, so I swapped in a used one from the parts bin and it's been solid for three days now. Anyone else chase a simple knob issue for hours before realizing the obvious? It's funny how the old stuff always hides the easy fix.

2 comments

2 Comments

daniel_cooper341mo ago

Reseating connectors is always my first move too, but it's amazing how a cracked knob can mimic a dying power supply. I've had a similar ghosting issue traced to a dirty pot in the dimmer circuit, so I'd say you did the right thing swapping it out.

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rodriguez.mia1mo agoTop Commenter

Ugh, that cracked knob thing got me too once, I was ready to order a whole new PSU before I even thought to look at the actual controls. The flickering and the random shutdowns were so similar it was honestly embarrassing to figure out. Totally agree that sticking with the basics like cleaning and replacing the cheap parts first is the way to go.