Category: Electrical

I’ve created yet another custom piece of cabin tech, this time it’s an overhead light console. The panel has a dome light, swivel adjustable map lights, and red ambient light projectors. I used RGBW LEDs to allow the lights to be set to any color and brightness, adjusted using...

I’m waiting on the circuit cards to come back from the fab, likely slightly delayed due to the holidays. In the interim, I worked on honing the process for painting and etching the fascia panel. My second iteration is looking better than the first, but I still need to...

I shared the design concept for my custom flaps controller a few weeks ago, and I got some great feedback from other pilots & builders. I’ve taken that feedback and made a revision 1 of the hardware, to include: Stand-alone operation (no additional parts needed, connects directly to the...

I prefer controls that provide visual cues of their current setting. I have a minor in Human Factors from my undergraduate days, and one of my professors was quite passionate about aircraft. As a result, I really don’t like using up/down toggles that are so commonly used on experimental...

I’ve been refining my instrument panel concept over the last week. One of my goals was to fit the Garmin G5 at top center, but its size disrupts placement of other components in the center between the two G3X screens. I’ve moved the G5 to the left edge of...

My Garmin GTN 650xi arrived this week, very fresh from the factory — all the paperwork was dated 8/25/2020! Great service from Steve and Adam at Midwest Panel Builders. They are an authorized Garmin dealer, and I highly recommend them for anything avionics related. As I discussed in a...

My current favorite layout of the instrument panel is what I call ‘Variant 1B’. I settled on using a GTN 650xi as my IFR navigator, per my recent post comparing it with the GNX 375. This panel is the result of feedback that I solicited from two Facebook groups,...

The avionics are one of the more costly parts of a kit airplane build. It is easy to spec out an equipment list that totals more than the cost of the airplane itself. One costly option I discovered is deciding to equip your plane for IFR flight. For a...

Over the weekend I started preparing the port-side outer fuselage skin for installation. There are a few steps to do before installing it: Lightly abrade the skin near rivet locations (for better paint adhesion under the countersunk rivet head) Dimple the forward rivet locations Attach NACA duct Roll edges...

I purchased a few G3X components from Sling-focused supplier Midwest Panel Builders. Garmin ran a rebate promotion through the summer that I decided to take advantage of. I purchased two screens, a 10.6” GDU 460 and a 7” GDU 470, as well as a GEA 24 engine analyzer. These...