wiring knowledge required
 

I am building a 7a and am wondering with the EFIS systems today, how much individual wiring expertise is required or is alot of that experience negated with the wiring harnesses that come with the systems, such as the Skyview or G3x. (Incidentally I am hard pressed to choose between the two) Im thinking about the VPX electronic breaker system and understand that it is suppossed to simplify some of the wiring. thanx

Need good eyes!
 

Take your time and triple check your pins and you will have no problems.

I went with the VP system not only to simplify things , but to give me flexibility too.

You can change C/B values, you don't need flap relays, you don't have to worry about trim wiring, it's a cleaner install....on and on....

As long as you trust the technology you will love the system.

Plus, Marc will give you great customer support!

I'm just getting started with the wiring on my -9A. A big box of goodies is now waiting for me to install them on the aircraft. I'm doing Skyview and VP-X. Simple VFR panel. Minimal systems and switches.

I have spent countless hours reading the Dynon and Vertical Power installation manuals and I think I have a good idea now of how everything connects. The VP-X installation guide is an excellent tutorial, along with the online configurator. I made a separate wiring run spreadsheet and broke up the sections by component and detailed every single wire from source to destination. Well over 200 individual wires to worry about, and I haven't even thought about the COMM system yet. :)

Just take it system by system and don't over think it. Most of the wires only have a single destination (engine sensor, flap motor, light, etc.)
I was prepared to have to buy a bunch of bare wire, but the VP-X harness kit provides plenty, and along with the EMS and Skyview harnesses, there is only a minor bit of extra wire that I have had to buy (coax and shielded strobe wire).

The decision making is the slow part. Once you have all of the equipment and supplies in hand it is just a matter of running one wire at a time.

Have fun with it!

As an electrician, I'm a pretty good plumber. ;)

I wired my whole plane. But I have a very simple panel: Dynon D180, Avmap, A/P, Icom200 and a bunch of switches. If I was building a more complex system with multiple boxes talking to each other or IFR type stuff I would let Stein build the harnesses for me.

gabbiesrv7a, I was the same as you. I was pretty intimidated by the whole idea. I was able to makeover my panel into glass. I just took it one wire at a time and it all came out ok. Its just one wire at a time and you'll get it. Since it was a big task for a novice like me, I chose to purchase a wiring harness whenever and wherever one was available.

With very few exceptions, all the wires you will install will have just two ends - how much more simple does it get? Whether you go with fuses, breakers, or VP-X, you'll pull a lot of wires through-out the airframe, the main differences is in how you hook them up. Just like any of the many building techniques you have to learn to make one of these airplanes fly, wiring is a skill that you can learn. Don't be intimidated by it. I usually send people to the Bingellis books to see just how simple an aircraft wiring scheme can be - complexity is simply adding more of the same.

I have seen and worked on aircraft systems from a dual-magneto Cub up to and including the Space Shuttle. They are all variations on the theme. You won't get away from running and hooking up wires by going with the VP - you'll just be hooking them up differently (an advantage is that Marc has fine instructions that you can follow without having to figure them out).

Don't be intimidated - just learn it like you had to learn plumbing or riveting.

Paul

Vans wire diagram
 

I had vans send me the standard wire diagram in larrge plan form.
I am doing a simple VFR panel and found the diagram
Very helpful. Stein at Steinair sells some useful tools, wiring equipment and advice.
I chose to do a sub fuse box to power up the various instruments. This cuts down on the smaller amp breakers mounted on the panel.
Highly recommend the vans plans to start the ball rolling.

I just finished installing the wiring / avionics in my plane ( Dual G3X's, GX Autopilot, Audio Panel, Radio, and a VP-X). I am not an electrical wizard by any means, but this was one of the most enjoyable parts of the build to me.

I used SteinAir for all my stuff and they had Fast Stack build the harnesses for all my equipment. Hooking it all up almost felt like cheating. Other than power and grounds, most of the the wiring is done for you (you still have trim wires, audio wires, etc, but not too many)

After putting it all together, I am really glad I went with the VP-X. It has been one of th few things in my entire build that just worked - without any tweaking. Hook up flap motor, enable flaps in the VP-X software, and they appear on the G3X screen and work great.

If you can tackle the rest of the build (espically FWF), wiring up the avionics isn't that big of a deal.

Jason

thanx to all 4 your comments!

We have quite a few customers who build their own panels and wire their own airplanes with good success...only a few with problems. :)

Often times we'll just wire up the core radio stack, then provide the customner a big huge drawing which shows all of their wire interconnects and what wires go where. I tell them to take a highligher or crayon or something and just take it one wire at a time and cross it off each time you finish the particular wire. It's certainly not too difficult, just tedious and sometimes confusing figuring out what verbiage means between particular components and how to interface it together (which is where the big drawing comes into play).

Cheers,
Stein