Help Vertical Power Develop New Product

[bhassel]

Another awesome product!

Bob

[HSANTIBANEZ]

I think is important that the product include a weather resistant box and the possibility to conect a ground power outlet.

Regards

[DanH]

With respect, may I play devil's advocate?

The "easy wiring" appears to eliminate only four connections, the stud-to-stud strap bolt-ups between the contactors and the ANLs. The remaining wire count is the same. The product still needs physical mounting, and still needs a hole cut in the firewall. Good firewall penetrations do not require the kit in the photo.

Solid state relays are indeed a plus. A builder can choose to install them independently.

As presented, incorporating a single rear battery returns the total component and connection count to the same as conventional wiring.

A rear battery setup plus a rewired NL starter eliminates all functions provided by this product, and weighs less.

The builder will be required to install the control wires into a plug rather than simple crimped ring terminals. Counting OEM installed connections, the total connection count is increased. Example; ring terminal at start switch->wire->crimp in plug->pin to socket->crimp in plug->internal connection to SSR. The usual method is a wire and two ring terminals, meaning two ordinary AMP terminal crimps.

The plug itself will be somewhere on the cabin side of the firewall, alongside the main bus connector. That means doing an upside down dive under the panel to service or connect/disconnect either one.

Is anything repairable in the field as an individual component, or does service require removing all connections and the box itself?

Builders who may be uncomfortable with wiring often order a Vans harness. Incorporating the product will require that they vary from the prescribed installation, which defeats the point of using the Vans harness. Builders with elaborate architecture won't mind the four extra bolted connections, and won't need to devise workarounds or request special configurations.

Devil's advocate mode off.

Suggestion: simply market individual SSR/SSB components which are swap-in replacements for old fashioned mechanical components, right down to the mounting bolt pattern. They could be sold to non-VP customers with older experimentals as replacement and upgrade parts (what, 7000 RV's alone?), STC'ed for production airplanes, and configured by EAB users in multiple ways. The marketing angle is good; it leads a larger number of customers to VP with an initial small purchase, often before any avionics purchase.

[vlittle]

Spot-on! Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

[mikehoover]

I like it! A few of us local builders have discussed this before. Looks like it is finally a reality. Before I finished the install, I had stopped by others' hangars to see how they "did it." I have had a few builders stop by my hangar to see how I "did it." I would say, "wouldn't it be neat to have just one box to mount on the firewall to take care of all of this stuff." LOL I look forward to seeing how this progresses.

[David Paule]

As far as I can tell from the draft installation manual, this relies on an airframe ground or a completely separate ground system. Certainly for the starter and probably for everything else.

Is this correct?

Dave

[gasman]

Starters are naturally grounded when bolted to the case. The battery is grounded to the airframe and to the motor in two different places. Every thing else gets grounded to the "field of grounds" if not grounded by design.

[roee]

Originally Posted by DanH

Suggestion: simply market individual SSR/SSB components which are swap-in replacements for old fashioned mechanical components, right down to the mounting bolt pattern.

Great minds think alike! This is on my to-do list, if someone else doesn't get to it first (my to-do list is long...).

[MCA]

Please keep the feedback coming. We like to hear from both sides of the aisle. As we make progress, there are several outcomes:
- make the product substantially similar to what is presented here
- modify the product a good amount
- come out with an entirely new product
- choose not to take the product to production

We’ll see where things go.

Here’s the feature feedback so far:

• Unit that does not have pass-through capability. All lugs mounted on same side of firewall.
• Unit that also has the battery input on the back side (firewall pass through)
• Ability to connect to shunt inputs on EFIS, eliminating need for external shunt.
• Backup battery charging and tie-in circuitry.
• Retrofit form factor, to directly replace mechanical starter and master solenoids.
• Integrated ground power plug.
• Remote the starter.
• LSA version (lower breaker values).
• Proximity key fob, key code lock, or similar.
• Includes reset button/light with proper labeling.
• Four mounting points go through the unit with steel sleeve for drilling.
• Trickle charger circuit for aux battery
• Smart master switch with auto-shut off

[ColoRv]

Originally Posted by MCA

• Retrofit form factor, to directly replace mechanical starter and master solenoids.
  

This sounds like something that you can market regardless of whether or not you proceed with the unit discussed here. The new unit may end up being great for projects still being built while the solenoid replacements would be usable by the flying fleet.