I am using the ACK 406 ELT and it is a pain to install because
of the amount of wiring needed to set this thing up. First off, the unit requires 3 batteries as
well as power supply from the aircraft.
It is TSO’d, (meaning approved by the Gov) but seems to be crazy
inefficient. There is a full telephone
line (wire) that is used to communicate from the panel to the unit, as well as
a GPS signal line (which makes sense) from the GPS, then also power and ground
lines which all run from behind the panel to the ELT. Battery in the speaker, battery in the panel
switch, and battery in the ELT. There
is also a test line that is supposed to run to the forward cabin, but I am
going to short it right back by the ELT.
And then I need to run the antenna cable before it is all over. Pretty disappointing, but I guess it is an
important safety feature as this one has GPS as well as the 121.5 emergency channel broadcasting.. If I ever need
it I will be glad I went through all this trouble. ;-)
This site shows the years of construction, first flights, and the continued adventures of Chad and Bekah in our RV-7
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Monday, July 30, 2012
Continued Panel and Electrical Work
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Control Cables
I chose to run both Prop and Mixture through the center pedal support which worked out great. A grommet with a large hole fit both cables and holds them secure. Also ran the Alt Engine Air cable through the bracket.
Finally I installed and cut the parking brake cable. Fits nicely and functions very smooth. I am really glad I did the parking brake. It was easy to install and will be super useful down the road. Also note my location is such that I can reach in while standing outside the plane to release the parking brake ! It always bothers me on planes where you have to jump in side or climb on the wing to release the brake.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Avionics Fired up and no smoke !
I am not out of the woods yet, but I did reach a little milestone this weekend where I fired up the avionics and kept all the smoke in the wires. Everything went well, although I used my back up circuits to power most of the avionics.. But it’s good to know that the backups work.
In my case I am choosing to back up 4 instruments in case of an electrical problem. The Skyview has its own back up battery so I am not going to back that one up. My theory on back up is only back up for a single failure.. Backing up for multiple failures is not prudent in most aviation circumstances. A multiple failure would be something like backing up the backup battery of the Skyview.
The four instruments I am backing up in the case of a total electrical failure are below. I chose these instruments because in the event of a failure, if they are the only ones available on battery power I could still get safely to a safe landing spot.
TruTrak Gemini
Audio Panel
GTN 650 Com
GTN 650 Nav
Since I have a VP-X I had to separately isolate all four
circuits so I am using a set of diodes similar to Jason’s project. You can find his build site from the home
page of my site. Anyway, these are
basically like one way electrical valves that keep electricity from back feeding the entire system when the
essentials bus is turned on. You don’t
want to back feed the whole system because it would drain the battery too fast
and also probably blow the switch because my e-bus switch is only a 30 amp
switch. Anyway, long story short when I
flip the e-bus switch it bypasses the VP-X and runs power straight from a
connection on the battery to these four devices. This would be necessary in case of a total
VP-X failure, or a master contactor failure or any wiring failure upstream of
the VP-X. So there are lots of reasons
to have this safety feature.
In this pic, you can see the diodes where you have the Gemini and audio panel on the top and the GTN Com and Nav on the bottom. I will need to label them and clean them up a bit..
Monday, July 9, 2012
Panel and Avionics
I think I am making progress, but sometimes it’s hard to
tell. Maybe over my head a bit right
now with wires, but soon they will find their correct path. One wire at a time like everyone tells me,
but if that is the case then where did all these hundreds of wires come
from.. ;-)
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Panel Progress
Continuing to make progress, I have now cut the panel for the Sky view and almost all my other components. At this point I only have two breaker switches to install and the cutout for the ELT switch left to go. I also mounted nutplates to my Com 2 (hidden) com that mounts behind (on the forward side of) the subpanel. These nutplates will allow me to remove the unit with a screwdriver from the easily accessible front of the subpanel.
Also, I cut into the subpanel for the recess on the GTN650 and reinforced it as necessary. The sides of the cutout will have additional angles that help support the mounting tray.. The top has an additional angle riveted in place and the bottom has a 90 degree bend from the subpanel itself adding strength. I found a great way to include the Sky View mounting bolts with the supporting rib that had to be relocated to make room for the Sky View. Also, the rear of this rib gets riveted into a section between the "hat" section no the forward part of the subpanel. Everything is fitting together pretty well at this point, definitely doing all I can to think ahead as I go through this process. Don't worry about all those ink lines and general look of the metal, this will be cleaned up and look beautiful when complete.
Also, I cut into the subpanel for the recess on the GTN650 and reinforced it as necessary. The sides of the cutout will have additional angles that help support the mounting tray.. The top has an additional angle riveted in place and the bottom has a 90 degree bend from the subpanel itself adding strength. I found a great way to include the Sky View mounting bolts with the supporting rib that had to be relocated to make room for the Sky View. Also, the rear of this rib gets riveted into a section between the "hat" section no the forward part of the subpanel. Everything is fitting together pretty well at this point, definitely doing all I can to think ahead as I go through this process. Don't worry about all those ink lines and general look of the metal, this will be cleaned up and look beautiful when complete.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Cutting deep into the Panel
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