Category: Electrical

As I was laying out the wiring to the pitch servo, I realized there is a slight issue. Can you spot the problem in the next picture? As you can see in that picture, there’s not much room between the autopilot connector and the neighboring rib, meaning the wires...

It’s a minor detail that you don’t usually see, but I like the finished look of neatly-bundled wire harnesses. While zip ties are convenient, they can damage the wire over time – under vibration, the edge of the zip tie chafes the Tefzel jacket, and eventually can cause intermittent...

In my last post I detailed my first attempt to build up the d-sub connector for the Garmin autopilot; I was using their G3X video series on YouTube for instruction. Surprisingly, the official G3X install manual recommends a process for wiring the connectors that’s quite different, but it’s much...

I finished adding all the needed wires to the main electrical harness. Now, I can begin adding terminals to the wire ends, and for some of the connectors, putting the terminals into the connectors. I have to leave some connectors off until the harness is installed in the fuselage...

One of my first new year’s resolutions is to complete the fuselage wiring so that I can start tacking on the fuselage skins. So, I spent most of New Year’s Day working on wiring and a few other small tasks. First, I finished off the install of the roll...

My special-order fuel selector valve from Andair arrived yesterday. I’m pretty impressed with the build quality, it certainly seems worth the price. I opted for a remote install version due to the solid fuel lines I’m running. The remote version comes with an extension bar and a u-joint. Now...

I received my Garmin GSA 28 servos on Saturday, so I’ll focus on some tasks this week related to the servos: making the pushrods, pinning and building the electrical connectors, and then installation of the servos. In reading about these servos, I learned a few things that I’m really...

On Sunday I continued running wires for the fuselage electronics, in particular the autopilot servos and the magnetometer. I also gave some thought about how to secure the wires and created some small brackets so that I could use cushioned clamps inside the center tunnel. The brackets are made...

I began laying out the wires in the center console for the headsets. I’m using lacing cord, spaced every 12 inches, to tie together the wires into a bundle. I’ll do this for other groups of wires too. This is the first time I’ve used lacing cord, and it...

With all the updates I posted yesterday, I forgot to mention that I also bought a pair of Tosten “Military Style” grips. They arrived in the mail yesterday, and they look and feel amazing! Very high quality finish, and the switches have a satisfying feel to them. I ordered...