Wiring

Over the last week I’ve been chipping away at the panel wiring in the evenings. It’s hard to measure progress sometimes because I’ve been spending a lot of time on very small tasks, and/or doing something one way only to do it again a different way.

The main accomplishment, however, has been installing the wiring channel that connects the center tunnel to the sub panel. This is a lightweight frame that allows the wiring and pitot static lines to neatly fit inside, keeping all the wiring out of sight and out of the way of the occupants. This was not as easy to install as I hoped. The problem is access to the rivets that attach the frame to the sub panel. On one side there is an existing frame, and on the other side are the many bundles of wiring. I ended up drilling out the rivets and removing the frame that was blocking my access. Then I set pop rivets in place, then reinstalled the frame I had removed.

Once I had that channel in place, I installed the cover and checked for clearance on all sides. I found the connector for the standby battery was just touching the connector for the CO detector. The standby battery is installed on a panel above the fuel pump, just forward of this wiring channel. The CO detector is installed on the backside of the cover that sits on the wiring channel.

To solve the issue I relocated the CO detector mount, moving it sideways and up. This required drilling out some rivets and making some new holes, but it was no big deal. It’s now in a position where the two connectors and their wiring runs are not contacting each other.

With all that work done, the whole area is looking much cleaner and tidier.

Over the course of the last week, I’ve spent time installing the wiring frame between the sub panel and firewall, and the slowly working to zip tie and secure the various wiring bundles onto the frame. Lots of time spent on my back with my head under the panel making slow but steady progress.

There has been plenty of trial and error as I’ve tried to secure the bundles, and simultaneously untangle things. Most the the antenna cables ended up unplugged, re-routed, and then plugged back in again. I experimented with gluing zip tie holders onto the sub panel, but ended up removing most of those, as I found it better to use clamps and/or to secure the zip tie around or through a piece of aluminum. The zip ties are good for keeping the bundles together.

It’s finally starting to look a bit more tidy now.

Tonight I installed an adel clamp to hold the wiring bundles on the right side of the sub panel. I also worked on safety wiring the various connectors on that same side of the panel. The safety wiring is going to be a challenge for some of the connectors behind the MFD, but I’ll figure something out I’m sure.

Tonight I made and installed a ground point for the instrument panel ground leads, and wired up the FlyLED “The Works” controller board.

The ground point is on the sub structure between the firewall and the instrument panel. Since the rib in that area is thin, I installed a plate on each side of the rib, secured with rivets in each corner. Before installing I removed the primer from both sides of the rib. Tomorrow I should be getting a bolt in the mail which will fit nicely here, securing the ground wires. This was the first time I needed to go on my back, up under the panel. It sucked. I removed the passenger side stick and used a cushion, but it was still very cramped and uncomfortable.

With that job done, I wired up the FlyLED controller board. I’ll need to mount this behind the panel somewhere, so I’ll be doing more crawling under the panel to install I’m sure.

Tonight I installed most of the panel components in an effort to test-fit everything. I wanted to ensure I identified any interference issues, and verified I had enough length on the various cable runs.

I started by installing a bulkhead attach for the Nav antenna in the right wing. To make this as strong as possible I installed a bulkhead fitting under the passenger seat, where there will be no sheer loading on the fitting or the rib. The fitting from the wing will be too wide to pass through the outer rib without taking the snap bushing out, so I cut a slot in the snap bushing to allow it to be removed, the cable and fitting installed, and then the snap bushing can be opened up to go over the cable, and be reinserted in the hole.

Next I started installing components. I started with the switch panel, which required some adjusting around other panel screws, but eventually fit perfectly into position. I installed the flap switch handle and plugged in the connector from the ignition switches.

Then I installed three PFD, no problems. Then the G5, which again went in without difficulty. Everything looks good on the pilot side. I took the opportunity to power up the G5, since it has a standalone battery. It was cool to see the airplane “come alive” for a couple of minutes.

Switching to the passenger side I installed the MFD, and noticed a problem. The d-sub connector on the back of the MFD is very close to the connector on the back of the engine monitoring box. There clearance will be ok if I can find a way to route the MFD connector cable around the outboard side of the various equipment boxes. There’s just not enough length on the connector to do that right now. It’s possible once the wiring harness is in its final location that I can do just that.