Sunday, January 10, 2016

Sunday, Jan 10th, 2016 - P-Mag wiring, terminated power wiring to the VPX

This week I'm trying to really hit the wiring hard.  I've got a lot of it run from where it terminates to where it's going, but it hasn't necessarily been terminated or finished up.

Over the last several weeks I've been doing a lot of the ground wiring.  Other than the one remote ground block and the stuff forward of the firewall, every electrical device in the aircraft will ground to the ground block.

I also had the thought to document which ground connects to which terminal.  I made a table in the back of my builder's log.  Not sure if it will be useful, but if I ever need to know I'll have it.  Every wire is labelled in any case, but I thought a table showing which one goes where might be helpful when this is all closed up and a lot harder to work on than it is now.

Box on the right of the picture is the Dynon transponder.  The ground block is more or less in the center with the "forest of tabs".


From Finish Kit 2

This is the other side of the same ground block on the forward side of the firewall.  24 tabs here as well.  I doubt if I use more than 10 or 12, but they're here if I need them.


From Finish Kit 2

I had to re-run some of the PMAG wiring.  When I originally started on this (only one wire to each Mag thankfully), I was using the VPX wiring guide.  When I went back through the PMag manual from EMAGair (hadn't read it in maybe 6 months and I had a couple of clarifying questions), I realized that even thought Vertical Power and a wiring load chart indicated a 20 gauge wire would be perfectly fine, EMAGair specifies an 18 gauge wire for both the power and the ground wiring.  I repurposed my original 20 gauge to use as the kill wire, so nothing was lost, I just had to run a couple of more wires.

This is the left side p-mag.  The connector on the left comes that way from the factory.  The right hand connector can be unscrewed and is labelled with the various functions.  There are 6 wires - I'm only using 4 of them.  The other two are tx/rx for connecting to a laptop to use their EICAD software for tuning the advance curves and other functions.  I'll probably go ahead and wire these later so I can have them, but for now I've left them open.


From Finish Kit 2

Different angle of the same p-mag.  You can see they have the connections well labelled.  These are captive screw connections.  Strip the wire, insert it in the slot, then tighten a screw to capture the wire between the jaws.


From Finish Kit 2

Right side mag wired up.


From Finish Kit 2

Once the mags were done I started working on getting the power wires hooked up to the VPX.

The VPX uses a special Molex power pin.  I got the wiring kit, but since I had a lot of wires that I couldn't run with pins on them, I ended up ordering the pins from Stein.  This is what one looks like.


From Finish Kit 2

They come in rolls for mass production if you get them from Mouser or someone.  Be careful - there are a lot of various flavors of these - Vertical Power/Ballard specifically mentions they must be the gold plated ones, which are not only hard to find but pretty pricey.

You just trim them off of the strip with a pair of side cutters.


From Finish Kit 2

I forgot to take a picture of the whole crimp tool.  There are two versions of the tool - a hideously expensive pro grade tool that runs around $400, and the lower volume "hobbyist" version.  I picked up the cheaper one from ACS.  Note - the tool is beautifully made, but has a rough finish - on mine the socket wouldn't quite fit in the tool so I had to file it down very slightly - just to smooth it out.  Then it worked fine.

There are slots for 18-22 and 14-16 gauge, both male and female.


From Finish Kit 2


Crimp side of the tool.  There are two parts of the crimp die - one crimps the wire to the socket, the other crimps the strain relief ears to the wire insulation.  It's a ratcheting tool, so you just go until it releases then you're done.

From Finish Kit 2

When properly inserted the socket sticks out the back side quite a ways.


From Finish Kit 2

Viola - finished power socket.  This is keyed and slides and locks into the VPX power connector cage.

From Finish Kit 2

The big black connector at the top left is J12 on the VPX.  The power sockets get inserted into and lock into this connector.  The two primary connectors on the VPX are different sizes - 10 and 12 connections respectively, so you can't cross them up.


From Finish Kit 2

The VPX itself is upside down under the rib at the top of the picture.  The two power connectors have been inserted just to see how they fit.  Still have a lot of cleanup/tie wraps obviously.

At this point I've connected more than half the wires.  Pitot, nav lights, landing light, strobe lights, Skyview, left and right p-mags (each is on a separate circuit), Icom A210 and the boost pump.


From Finish Kit 2

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Saturday, Jan 2nd, 2016 Seats, wiring

Amy at Flightline Interiors has been working on my seats for about a month.  Got them the other day.  She did great work - exactly what I wanted.  The foam is from Oregon Aero.

From Finish Kit 2
Seats without the covers.  I'm trying to decide if I'll leave the walls as is or get some of the material from Amy so I can make up some side panels.


From Finish Kit 2

I also got a carpet kit from her.  Everything fits perfectly and there are cutouts for all the vent tubes and gear weldments.  Really nicely done.  She also includes foam inserts to fill the gap between the floor pan ribs.

From Finish Kit 2

Terminating the weatherhead connector for the manifold pressure sender.  I did a lot of googling and discovered that although there is a fairly pricey crimp tool for these, it's perfectly acceptable to use a pair of needle nose pliers or similar, so that's what I did.  Worked fine.

From Finish Kit 2
Installed a terminal block on the pilot's side firewall to terminate all the wiring for the oil pressure, manifold pressure and fuel pressure senders.


From Finish Kit 2

Everything wired up and connected back to the Dynon EMS.

From Finish Kit 2

Starting to work on all the ground wiring.  I got the "forest of grounds" from B&C.  This is the smaller one - 24 pins for each side of the firewall.  Hopefully this will cover everything.

From Finish Kit 2
I also received the fuel lines I needed from Tom Swearengen at TS Flightlines.  These are really nicely done.  Tom's a great guy.   The day after I talked to him about these he went in for "minor" knee surgery.  The next thing we knew he was in the ICU - really bad reaction to something the had during the surgery.  A lot of us on VAF were praying for him.  Really glad to say he recovered fine.  He sent me a very apologetic note once he was feeling better like he'd done something wrong.  I was so glad to hear he was ok he could have taken another month as far as I was concerned.  Getting better was way more important that any fuel lines I needed.  Love doing business with folks like that.  I've definitely met some wonderful people though this process.


From Finish Kit 2
Terminated the power and sensor connectors for the fuel flow sensor.


From Finish Kit 2

Sensor installed with the new shorter lines from Tom.  Much better.

From Finish Kit 2

I decided to run another wiring passthrough through the firewall recess.  Once I get the stainless fitting for this I'll install it.  The VPX power wiring as well as the alternator field and some other connections (master/starter contactor, etc) will run through here.

From Finish Kit 2

Ran the #4 wiring for the alternator output to the ammeter shunt.  This bridges over to the ANL fuse above, then connects between the master and starter contactors.


From Finish Kit 2
I never got around to installing the diodes that protect the contactors so I went ahead and installed those while I was at it so I don't forget later.

From Finish Kit 2

Once I had the firewall passthrough I could measure and terminate the #6 wiring for the VPX power.


From Finish Kit 2

Tom was able to make up a custom fluid line for my primer line.  I'm using the Van's solenoid with the ECI Titan stainless fittings.  The connectors on the ECI lines use a union cone.  Tom created a flexible high pressure line with union cones on both ends and I installed a 1/8" NPT fitting with a union cone on the Van's solenoid.


From Finish Kit 2

I decided it was time to pick up the Odyssey battery the last time I placed an order with ACS.

From Finish Kit 2

Got the stainless fitting for the passthrough so I installed it.  The grey stuff is a fireproof caulk they provide to seal it from any fumes.  You also use it to seal the hole after running all the wires.  I'll also use it to seal around the recess when it is riveted.


From Finish Kit 2
I decided to use a terminal block on the left side sub panel to use as a ground for all the switches.  The VPX doesn't actually run any power through the switches, they just terminate to ground, so this was an easy way to do that.


From Finish Kit 2

Pretty much all the switch wiring run and terminated.  The one switch with open lugs is the primer switch - it will wire back to a fuse block and the primer solenoid. The green wrapping temporarily securing the wiring is floral velcro. I found 100' roll for $3 at Walmart. It's a lot easier to use and do/undo when doing all the wiring rather than installing and continually cutting temporary tie wraps.


From Finish Kit 2

Primer line from TS Flightines installed to the solenoid (chrome vertical cylinder on the left side of the picture).

From Finish Kit 2

Switch wiring terminates to J2 on the VPX.  The connectors are just D-Sub pins.


From Finish Kit 2

I decided it was time to finally rivet the recess into the firewall.  Most of the joints are sealed with fireproof caulk, though there are still some holes I need to seal once I'm totally done with it.  The firewall side of the ground block is  on the upper left.  The large bolt carries the load through the firewall and also serves as an attach point for the battery and dedicated engine grounds.

From Finish Kit 2