For splicing small wires together I used some solder seals. These are
simply some heat shrink with a circle of solder inside. You can also
use a simple male and female "D" sub pin and heat shrink. Both techniques
are illustrated here:
The top one is a "D" sub pin and the bottom is a solder splice. The
solder seals are available from Terminal
Town.
One hint that I can offer is that you need to get your wires all bundled
together as much as possible. A bundle of wires is much stronger than
a single wire hanging out in the air.
Here is my instrument panel wiring showing how I bundled the groups of
wires:
I like the flat lacing cord for tying the wires rather than the nylon tie
wraps that a lot of people are using.
Pre-install some adel clamps where the main wiring harness will run. As you run each wire to each component, run it through the adel clamps keeping everything neat and orderly as you go. Install a some tie-wraps loosely every 6 inches or so, to run the wires through keeping it all neat. Build your system one wire at a time, labeling each end as you go. Always keep in mind your wire routing as you build the wire runs. The worst thing you can do is to just make a big rats nest, hoping to neaten it up later. Keep it neat as you go and you will have a more harmonious outcome in the end.
Here are the engine monitor wires and ground wires running from the panel
to the firewall:
Note in the above picture that I have added the engine grounding strap between
the main bolt of the forrest of tabs ground and the engine case. This
provides a positive ground for the engine.
Another basic principle of the Aeroelectric Connection system is to keep
the fat, noisy wires out of the cockpit to help eliminate electrical noise
in the radio/intercom system. To accomplish this, the Master and Starter
solenoids are mounted on the engine side of the firewall. The alternator
"B" lead connects to the battery side of the starter solenoid. Instead
of the big 70 amp breaker on the instrument panel, I used an
ANL current
limiter (available through
B&C Electrical Products)
mounted out on the firewall. The alternator "B" lead also runs through a
donut shaped sensor which gives Amp information to the EIS engine monitor.
Here is the set-up on on the engine side of the firewall:
Several wires run out to the wingtips and some run back in the fuselage.
These wires are routed up the forward windshield posts along with the
fuel lines. The general rule is to never run electrical wires with
fuel lines. However, when it can't be avoided, there must be a physical
separation between the two. On mine, the fuel line is covered with
a corrugated plastic sheath as shown here:
The plastic sheath is a split piece of plastic conduit designed for wires.
As an added protection and to neaten things up even more, the wires were
wrapped with a spiral wrap as shown here:
Well that's about it for the electrics for now. All of the wiring under the panel has been completed. The wires that run out to the wingtips are wound up neatly and are hanging off of the wing mounts for now. They will be pulled out to the wingtips after the wings are installed for the final time.
When completed, I was able to test all of the systems. The radio and intercom was powered up and all of the headset jacks were checked for proper functioning. Mickey took a handheld radio and walked off quite a distance to test the radio. The XM satellite radio was powered up and tuned in. The GPS, transponder and EFIS all work great.
Here it is all lit up:
With the instrument panel wiring done, I can move on to the next step of closing up the boot cowl and making the engine cowl. The remainder of the wiring will be completed once the wings are mounted.
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