"Finishing" the Instrument Panel Wiring

I put quotes around the "finishing" in the title because it turned out I wasn't done. I came to find out certain wires on my wiring schematic should have gone to the VPX and not the G3X and a few other hiccups. Nothing major, small stuff really. I think I only messed up one pin on the entire thing so I shouldn't complain. But it felt major at the time. When you're nearing the end, anything that you have to redo is going to be awful work.

I tried and tried to be really organized with the wires. And, I guess it turned out ok. I get complements from electrical engineers so I suppose I did a good job. But in reality you never see it. So as long as you can figure out where each wire goes when maintenance issues pop up then your in good shape.

I love my Passenger Warning label. : )

All finished and installed! Just need the center console and engine controls.

Wild Week of Wiring

My wife and I needed a vacation. A break from the normal drudgery. I hatched a plan. "Honey, lets take a week off work, you can stay home, draw, paint, read, shop, whatever you desire. Ayla will go to daycare so no kid to worry about. And I will do nothing but work on the plane all day and then finish each day by dinner time. Then when Ayla goes to bed we have the evening to ourselves, together, no working on the plane"  ....she thought for second..... "ok" was the reply. She got more excited as the week "staycation" approached. : ).

My plan went even deeper. I was telling Ed Kranz about the idea for a full week of nothing but airplane work. Our discussion went something like this"
    Ed: What's you goal for the week.
    Me: Not sure, I'm gonna work on wiring the panel and whatever else I need to do.
    Ed: Do you think you can have power on by the end of the week?
    Me: I don't know, maybe.
    Ed: You can't do it.
    Me: Care to make it interesting?
    Ed: I bet you cheese curds at Oshkosh you can't have the instrument panel powered on by the end of the week.
    Me: Cheese curds and a beer.
    Ed: Done

So I got to work. I had a very direct goal now. This really helped me focus. If it didn't have to do with wiring the panel I didn't do it. I ignored all urges to complete so many other non bet winning goals....stay focused....cheese curds and beer will be mine! Sunday night at midnight is my deadline.

Step one...start bolting things on. I installed the GAD 29 on the forward side of the subpanel or "behind" the sub panel. This is the only thing that I put back there. It was an easy item to install back there and it connects directly to the GTN-650 so it made wiring easy. This pic shows the four screws holding it on. Also pictured is the route I took for the ignition wires and the auxiliary fuse block.

I started wiring the GTN-650. Even though only a few wires are installed you can see the complexity of each wire.

Here is the hole thing (GTN-650 connector bundle) wired up and in the plane.

"Staycation" begins...Day One

Day Two

Day Three

What a mess of wires...don't worry it all made sense to me at the time.

Day Four....I had to work squished in the foot well.

Day Five

Getting closer...things still need to be cleaned up and tied down, but that'll be after the power on test.

Day Six

Day Seven...Sunday night at 8:15

Cheese Curds and Beer are mine!!!!!

In the end the bet was very helpful in keeping me on track. My efficiency increased every day. By the end of the week I could wire a connector in half the time it took before. About half way through I thought I was going to lose my mind in the Amazon jungle of wires I had coming and going everywhere. I still have some wires I need to run tp finish things and then everything will be cleaned up, tied up, and finished off. When I do this I'll snap some pics of the final product. Until then my power on test confirmed that all was well (FYI I did power pin checks before connecting the battery). The screens are coming back down to finish working and since the system all checked out ok and worked I feel confident in finishing everything up completely!

Light Power Test

The moment I've been waiting for.....power! The overhead is officially done! I mean done, finished, ready to fly! Exciting to say that a part of the airplane is complete. Here are some pics of the first power test.

I later found out that I can easily remove and install the overhead panel without any additional support, but for the picture I needed some boxes to support the panel. This shows the extra wire length that allows you to make all the connections in the overhead before installing it. ...it's a lot easier than it looks.

Powered on! The switches light up, the overhead recessed light shines, the reading lights are nice and bright, the dimmer works and it looks great. The pictures suck at showing the lights. I tried turning the lights off for a better effect but the iphone just doesn't cut it.

And here is the door light. When I turned the lights off I was pretty happy with the way this is going to work out.

Ayla thought it was a lot of fun looking at the lights and pushing buttons, plus it's just cool being in the plane with Daddy!

Door Light Power

If you've been following along with the build then you know that I have installed a light at the bottom of my door. This light will turn on when the door is opened and shine down on the wing, lighting the way into the aircraft. I had postponed figuring out a way to get power from the fuselage to the door as long as I could. Now is the time where I have to figure it out if I want to finish wiring the overhead. After some head scratching I came up with an idea. It's simple and effective and I think it will last through some wear and tear.

I drilled two really tiny holes in the fuselage. They are slightly offset and are just big enough to slide a D-Sub pin into.

I superglued the pins in place for now to be sure they don't move.

I then added big globs of RTV for extra support and protection. This completed the "female" side of the plug.

I then started making the "male" side of the plug, a jumper cable, that jumps from the fuselage to the door. It spans the hinge so it has to be able to accept constant movement, be weather tight, still allow easy installation and removal of the doors.

I bent the male pins over after crimping them on the wire.

I then added heat shrink and slid them into the holes. With a little tape to hold them in place I added some superglue to be sure they don't move since their positions are important.

I added some RTV to make it more "squishy". Then applied heat shrink over the pins and pushed the pins through puncturing the heat shrink.

With the plug in place you can install the hinge plate over the top and when its bolted down it holds the connection in place, strain relieves the pins, and creates a weather tight seal. I added heat shrink tube to the two wires and, making sure they didn't cross each other, wrapped them around a screw driver and and applied heat from the heat gun. This created the coil shape that allows the movement of the door to open and close.

Here it is installed. It doesn't make the door any more difficult to install and doesn't get pinched or bind in any way. I'll go back and push that black connector further inside the pocket of the door before I paint the doors and the finished look will be really nice. Most people won't even notice the wire.