November 5, 2006
Dome Lights
I have decided to install a couple of lights in the headliner of the cabin. One will be back over the baggage compartment. A dual map reading light will be installed just over the front seat area.
During construction of the fuselage, I welded in some tabs to mount some aluminum mounting brackets. If you have an already primed fuselage, you can do the same thing with some adel clamps.
Here is the baggage compartment dome light mounting bracket installed:
Here is my Grandson Cole helping out by installing the dome light:
Here is the finished product:
The one for the pilots map lights is installed the same way.
Before covering the fuselage, you will need to do a little pre-planning. For instance, wires must be run to the dome lights, the tail light, antennas, etc. In my Bearhawk, I will have an electric trim which is installed in the empennage and also a tail light with strobe in the rudder. I also have 2 antennas that will mount to the top of the fuselage.
Here is my wiring run:
Note that the wires are supported using adel clamps and that they are tie
wrapped every 6" or so using some flat, waxed nylon lacing cord. This keeps
the bundles secure and safe from chafing.
Here is the run back to the tail:
The pair of red wires that you you see in the above picture are routed to
the aft side of the aft cargo door flange. I will install a momentary
switch so when the aft cargo door is opened the cargo area dome light
will turn on and when it's closed the light will turn off. This circuit
will be wired to an always hot power circuit.
For now the antenna wires are just ran to the mounts with some extra left
over. They will be trimmed to final length and have the BNC ends installed
later.
Also, don't forget to run your tube for the pitot static source if you plan to mount it on the fuselage sides aft of the cargo door.
For now, all of the wires were run to the instrument panel area, labeled with some making tape telling me what they are for, and an extra 4 feet or so was left on. They were then just coiled up neatly and tie wrapped to a tube out of the way.
That's it for now. Come back later for
updates. Last updated November 19, 2006.
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