Panel

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Includes: Highlander, Escapade, Summit and SuperSTOL.
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gme9261236
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Panel

Post by gme9261236 »

Panel all installed and ready for wiring. This is the basic install of the panel, we have yet to add the labels for the switches and breakers and n number but we are going to have a sign shop make small vinyl transfer letters to make it as proffesional as possible and avoid the sticker look. Far left green and blue lights are for floats gear positions with the PSI guage above that. Getting closer, should be airborn in a month or so.
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scubarider2
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Post by scubarider2 »

Wow.....looks FANTASTIC!   :shock:   The panel looks good too.    :P  :P   (love the pics in the background)  :lol:
Dennis
Live as though you were going to die tomorrow, learn as though you were going to live forever...
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KevinC
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Panel etc.

Post by KevinC »

Yeah, how can you possibly concentrate on airplane building with that kind of wallpaper!?!

K
gme9261236
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Post by gme9261236 »

Everyone has their own motivation. You cant see in the photo but the engine is mounted, the windshield is done, the turtle deck is fitted and the cowlings are also fitted. Thanks to scubas post we have gone with the new and improved bungees on the gear and thanks to someone else we are going to put the shim in the tailwheel (old post from months ago)

left to do are
wire the panel
paint the turtledeck and cowlings
connect the fuel lines
and a few little minor deals before the inspection
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stede52
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Post by stede52 »

Very nice panel and the wallpaper ain't bad either :lol: .  I was really close to buying an enigma, looked like a great setup for the price and it would have made for a much lighter panel then I have right now.  Let us know how you like the enigma.


Steve
gme9261236
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Update on panel progress

Post by gme9261236 »

Once all of the wiring is done and complete I will really be able to clean it all up and give everything a home and eliminate the birds nest appearance.

Alot cheaper than the 500 dollar pre-fab option
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Back of power panel
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beginning of the wiring mess
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more wiring mess
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Last edited by gme9261236 on Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
gme9261236
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Post by gme9261236 »

Little did I know that I had to make all the wire harnesses for the intercom, radio, transonder and altitude encoding for the efis to the transponder. Apparently some intercoms come prewired but not this one. Some were molex which was not too bad but others were solder and took up quite a bit of time. Should be done with the wiring of the panel in another 8 hours or so and then button up the rest of the plane. The wiring diagrams were a bit over my head as well but thanks to the friendly techs at gulf coast avionics I was pushed in the right direction. for what its worth, the guys at gulf coast are very willing to help and were able to talk me through many of my wiring questions. When it starts talking about hooking up the intercom and the hi and the lo stereo and mono and tip and ring I got a little lost.
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Wes
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Panel Wiring

Post by Wes »

Nice 'crafty' looking job on the wiring.
Couple of thoughts:
- can't tell if you have insulating washers on the phone/mic jacks, but that is essential for noise free com. Audio grounds should all go back to a common point. Also mic audio wire should be shielded, again can't tell from the pic.
- if that is a remote compass flux gate on top of the Icom com, you may have trouble correcting it for all the steel tube in the area. Best mounting is out in the wing tip on our Highlanders, out where there is no steel.
- I see a blue female 15 pin D sub on the back of the Enigma. Is that the one you need the mate for? I can drop a male connector in the post, solder type if you dont mind soldering the 10 wires (9 grey code plus ground).
- nice wire twisting! That's the simplest and most effective way dressing and keeping wire pairs from interference problems.
I have an uncle just up the road from you in Milton, NH. Ed Thompson, WWII hump pilot, came down to FL to do Sun_N_Fun with us.

Keep up the good work.

Wes
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gme9261236
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Re: Panel Wiring

Post by gme9261236 »

Wes wrote:Nice 'crafty' looking job on the wiring.
Couple of thoughts:
- can't tell if you have insulating washers on the phone/mic jacks, but that is essential for noise free com. Audio grounds should all go back to a common point. Also mic audio wire should be shielded, again can't tell from the pic.
- if that is a remote compass flux gate on top of the Icom com, you may have trouble correcting it for all the steel tube in the area. Best mounting is out in the wing tip on our Highlanders, out where there is no steel.
- I see a blue female 15 pin D sub on the back of the Enigma. Is that the one you need the mate for? I can drop a male connector in the post, solder type if you dont mind soldering the 10 wires (9 grey code plus ground).
- nice wire twisting! That's the simplest and most effective way dressing and keeping wire pairs from interference problems.
I have an uncle just up the road from you in Milton, NH. Ed Thompson, WWII hump pilot, came down to FL to do Sun_N_Fun with us.

Keep up the good work.

Wes
Wes thanks for the helpful hints. Here are the answers.
-not sure what an insulating washer is but unless they came with the intercom jacks then I would say no and will need to get my hands on some.

-That is the remote compass for the enigma ontop of the radio and comparing the heading to a handheld whisky compass it is off by about ten degrees which I am not sure if it will be able to be calibrated in which case it will look like the wingtip is the answer. To be honest I am too lazy for the time being to undertake the mission of moving it to the wingtip. I am going to see if there is a chance it will work as is and then move it if need be, (I know, backwards logic, but I am stubborn.)

-That is the dsub I am looking for, I actually found the perfect cable made for IBM monitors online that comes pre wired with a 6 foot lead all wired up with two ends. I plan on hacking off one end and putting the molex pins on it to plug into the txpndr which should save me a little bit of trouble.

-Thanks on the wire twisting, I used to install car electronics and did it there for a "proffessional" look and I wanted to carry it over. It is still a bit of a birds nest but once it is done I will really be able to neaten it up.

misc-
I just used basic 22 awg wiring to the mic jacks because I did not know any better, they are shielded but not like an rca cable. The instructions on the intercom were awful and consisted soley of a wiring diagram and no notes or tips. As for the grounds, the intercom, transponder and radio are all connected to a ground strip which gets its ground directly from the battery negative side.


Thanks for your help it is very much appreciated.
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stede52
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Post by stede52 »

Wes,
I don't have alot of wiring experience and I was wonder what is correct when bundling wiring together.  I see lots of panels with all the wires bundled together behind the panel.  Should certain type of wires be wrapped together and others be wrapped separately  ie power, grounds, signal wires? I know strobe leads shouldn't be wrapped with other wires but does it right or wrong and does it make a difference to wrap together power, ground which are being routed to the various buses.   any help will do.

Steve
gme9261236
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Post by gme9261236 »

Steve,
I was thinking the same thing because thinking back to my auto electronics days we would always run power wires on the opposite side of the vehicle than the RCA cables to eliminate the possibility of noise. Your logic would make sense to me that you would want signal carrying wires as separated as possible but I was not sure exactly how much they could really be separated because of the tight quarters so I am going to risk it.

I plan on leaving the windshield and cowl off and pushing the plane outside and starting it up and seeing if there is any noise that can not be dealt with before we put the cowlings and windshield back on. I am expecting a little noise and I am ok with that, its not a cadillac so as long as it is not constant whine or overly fatiquing I think we will just run it.
b1x4nqb
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My Panel Layout

Post by b1x4nqb »

Here is a mock-up of my proposed panel.   I have worked on this thing with paper cutouts for months.  Yesterday I found some free software and it made it so much easier to work with it.  I was even able to import my own stuff that it didn't contain.  For free there are limits but for nothing I got a lot.  It's called xpanel 5000, available to download for free over the web.  I had to take a digital picture to post it because one of the two restrictions is you can't save anything without paying.  You also can't print out full size images but you can print 8.5x11's
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gme9261236
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Post by gme9261236 »

Here is the update:
Panel is wired and done with the exception of connecting the PTTs when we put the sticks back in. My fix for the mode c 15 pin dsub connector was an IBM computer part I found online for 7 dollars that I just cut one end off of and then soldered molex pins to it. Not sure why gray code required 4 grounds but they are all connected. There is now life in the panel and it all fires up and the intercom works through both sides. Once we put the turtle deck back on after paint we will connect the antennas and test the comm.

Question: How do I know if the transponder even works? When I turn it on the orange light momentarily goes on and then goes back off. It has been a while since I flew a GA plane that had one and I seem to remember it flashing when it was being "interogated" or something along those lines. I know I can go to an avionics shop but my plan was since we are 3 miles from a class D I was going to just take off (when the plane actually flies would help) and just ask them if they are picking up the txpnder and mode C. I know it is cheap but it is easier than going to an avionics shop for the big dollars. It is just a little nerveracking completely shooting from the hip and making my own cable connections for the grey code and not knowing if it even works. I would hate to pull it all apart again if it doesnt work to fix it. Who really needs to be within 30 miles of bravo anyways.
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