AS I have mentioned before, I have had a couple of little electrical gremlins pop up on the Val - the pitch trim relay was getting intermittent, and my dimmer module had a short. Today when I got home I had three boxes waiting for me from the USPS - one with a relay, one with a new dimmer...and one with my new Quiet Technologies Headset! A trip to the airport was clearly in order....
The first order of business was to fly with the new headset. it was a short flight, but I am favorably impressed. I will have to fly with it a few more times, and do some real comparisons with my Lightspeed ANR (even though the test data from QT shows it gives superior hearing protection). I have found that when switching headsets, first impressions are always confusing, because the airplane sounds so different - the frequencies that stand out usually take some getting used to. It sure is amazing to have nothing on my head though!
I had to pull my panel in order to change out the relay and dimmer box. Since I went with the upgraded LC-40e dimmer module, that meant a new hole mounting pattern, but with eh panel removed, that was pretty easy (I have that and the relays mounted on the aft face of the the forward baggage compartment). I decided to use some foam tape between the module and the bulkhead to give it a little bit of vibration isolation.
One thing that I had forgotten, but was very happy about when changing the relay was that I had used D-Sub pins and sockets (without housings, but protected with heat shrink) to wire them in. This meant that I didn't need to do any soldering tonight - a real time saver. I had also left the relay leads at the factory length, so I didn't have to do much in the way of fitting - just crimped on new pins, mounted it up, and was ready to close.
Two hours of work, and the Valkyrie had the panel back in, the interface checklist complete, and all the gremlins chased back out of the area. With a shuttle mission coming up, I like to have the airplane ready for some relaxing flying, and nothing that needs work!
The first order of business was to fly with the new headset. it was a short flight, but I am favorably impressed. I will have to fly with it a few more times, and do some real comparisons with my Lightspeed ANR (even though the test data from QT shows it gives superior hearing protection). I have found that when switching headsets, first impressions are always confusing, because the airplane sounds so different - the frequencies that stand out usually take some getting used to. It sure is amazing to have nothing on my head though!
I had to pull my panel in order to change out the relay and dimmer box. Since I went with the upgraded LC-40e dimmer module, that meant a new hole mounting pattern, but with eh panel removed, that was pretty easy (I have that and the relays mounted on the aft face of the the forward baggage compartment). I decided to use some foam tape between the module and the bulkhead to give it a little bit of vibration isolation.
One thing that I had forgotten, but was very happy about when changing the relay was that I had used D-Sub pins and sockets (without housings, but protected with heat shrink) to wire them in. This meant that I didn't need to do any soldering tonight - a real time saver. I had also left the relay leads at the factory length, so I didn't have to do much in the way of fitting - just crimped on new pins, mounted it up, and was ready to close.
Two hours of work, and the Valkyrie had the panel back in, the interface checklist complete, and all the gremlins chased back out of the area. With a shuttle mission coming up, I like to have the airplane ready for some relaxing flying, and nothing that needs work!
