A 15 year old A320 RMP was recently acquired. The condition was unknown as avionics are usually only purchased ‘as removed’ (AR) – it can sometimes be a real gamble purchasing parts as you may have a broken LCD display, unusable buttons or knobs, or the whole unit may not even power on.

Airbus RMP – not looking too hot here

After giving it a good cleaning, applying 28 VDC and attaching Cockpit Concept ARINC 429 board I was pleasantly surprised to learn the unit was still fully functioning after 15 years!

However there were more than a few blown bulbs which required replacement and the unit definitely required touch up paint. The RMP was disassembled, metal components spray painted with Airbus grey and matte clear. Backlight and annunciator bulbs were extremely difficult to remove as they were soldered onto the electronic board in an extremely tight limited space. After several hours removing and replacing bulbs the RMP was back in action.

Circuitry at the back of the RMP panel

Replacing burnt bulbs was difficult and requires fine soldering work

Light Test – all systems go!

Fully functioning and now worthy of going back in the Sim