Panel warning lights
 

I am in the process of laying out my RV-9A instrument panel and was curious about what warning lights other people have put on their panels, both the number of warning lights and the legend on each light.

Jim Streit
RV90073
wooody04@bellsouth.net

I have RV7A IO-360. Warning lights are Engine (EIS warning light from Grand Rapids), Low Volts (from voltage reg. EIS also monitors low volts so is a bit redundant), and starter engaged. I also have boost pump blue light and a fuel transfer systm (blue light) for long range flights. I have some Aircraft Spruce warning lights for sale if you want them. You can print out the label for the light on a laser printer and clear label.

I have also seen lights reminder of canopy open, pitot heat on, etc.

See here:
http://www.members.kingston.net/sjhd...f_for_sale.htm
3rd one from the bottom.

ACS page:
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...gendlights.php

Steve
RV7A

I have two "Warning" lights, and six "Hey Dummy" lights. Since I have an EFIS, almost everything in the airplane is limit-sensed and drives error messages right on the screen, so I don't really need a light to alert me to those. I do have a red "Master Caution" light driven by my EIS, in case the EFIS goes nutty. I also have a red Oil Pressure light driven directly by an oil presure switch, in case ALL the electronics going out to lunch...

In the "Hey DummY" department, I have lights to tell me that I have left the following on:

Landing Light
Taxi Light
Fuel Pump
Pitot Heat
Essential Bus Alternate Feed

I have one other light to tell me that External Power is plugged in to the ship.

Paul

Hi Paul. Thanks for the input. I have the EIS w/dual EFIS also. Just wanting to get ideas of things to warn about before I cut metal. Congrats on ST115 which seems to be running ahead of schedule. You and "the crew" make us all very proud. By the way Brent Jett is from "here", Ft Lauderdale also.

Hi Jim, here's what I did:



The lamps are (left to right): STALL, ENGINE, FLAPS, BOOST

I have a stall sensor vane driving the STALL light independent of the AoA function of the Dynon-- allowing an independent warning with avionics power off.

The ENGINE warning lamp is the logical 'OR' of low oil pressure (from sensor) and the RMI Micromonitor warning system.
It will operated independently of the RMI unit for low oil pressure.
.
The FLAPS lamp indicates whenever the flaps are running. My flap switch is an ON-OFF-(ON) type, and can be left in the UP position.
The lamp is a reminder to center the switch.

The fuel BOOST lamp is a gentle reminder to switch the fuel boost pump off.

On my list of things to do is the following:
Rewire the FLAPS indicator to be a PITOT heat indicator (once Dynon supplies a heated probe).
I will redo my flap switch to have a timer to automatically switch the motor off after about 6 seconds.... so a warning lamp won't be required.


Vern Little

Only one light needed!
 

Jim,

My -9 will have only one green light in the panel and that is to let me know when the fuel pump is on.

The Dynon D-10 EMS I have installed has all sorts of warning parameters that can be set and when something goes out of bounds (low/high oil, fuel, temp, etc.) it puts a red banner across both the EMS and the EFIS screens AND it will put a tone in your headset.

I found no need for redundancy or complexity with this set up.

Good luck with your panel, this is the fun part of building.

wiring diagrams? auto pilot active light?
 

Please forgive my asking two questions in one post.

1. Does anyone have wiring diagrams that show the connections of what Paul Dye refers to as the "hey dummy" lights that are used to show when something is on....boost pump for example?

2. Is anyone using an "auto pilot engaged" light, or is there a light on the autopilot that performs that function adequately? I plan on going with the trio.

Thanks

Tony, just wire it up at the switch (on the load side, of course). Crimp two wires into that one connector -- one going to the load (eg. boost pump) and the other going into the light.. .. then provide separate ground wire for the light..

Radomir,

Thanks for the information. It sounds simple enough. I thought that was how it went, but I wanted to be sure. My concern is that the "warning" light would light up even if the device was not working, if the device failed.

I don't know of any other way to do it that is workable.

Thanks again

Warning lights
 

There are 4 warnings on my 9a. All of these are flashing LED's and are on the top of the panel centered over the flight instruments. One is red and is wired to an oil pressure switch on the firewall. Thankfully this one has never come on in flight! There is another red one that is wired to an output from the fuel guage which is an EI and turns on the LED when either tank gets below 2 gallons. This one can be shut off with the toggle on the front of the guage. The third and fouth are amber and green and pick up their power from the dimmer when the nav lights are on. The 3rd is turned on by the message feature of my panel mount Garmin GPS and gets my attention at night before busting airspace or to notify of programmed messages such as times to switch tanks. The 4th is the arrival feature of the GPS and the thinking was that at night I could easily fly right past an airport and never see it. So far these have worked out for me.

Best,