What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

RV-9A panel question, Fuse block

R

ron sterba

Well Known Member
I have built my panel ,that is all the cut outs are complete including the Dynon Skyview 10". Now its the fuse block I don't know much about. BandC aircraft supply has different quantity blocks with the car style fuses. These fuses have a LED light (I Am told) under them that lights up when blown. I don't exactly know what should all be fused and what value the fuses should be rated. My thoughts of fused would be the Skyview 10",radio,electric boost pump,flaps,lights, taxi ? Landing? Position, & LED strobes? 2-servos for autopilot? panel lights? Transponder? ADS-B unit? Engine probe unit from Dynon? back-up EFIS battery? Ahars unit? If you did a install with this style fuse block where would you recommend installing it? I'm think the Skyview,transponder,ADS-B unit and Engine monitor unit all on one EFIS switch but fused separately? Open to your designs! I have ten switches. Avionics master, boost pump, nav lights,strobe,taxi,landing,radio,auto pilot,panel lights,EFIS. Should there be more or less? I do have a separate ELT remote switch I'm told thats a stand alone unit anyway. Again open to your ideas and thoughts.

Thanks
Ron in Oregon RV9A N421HJ
 
Electrical system design

I would strongly recommend that you check out the Aero-Electric Connection. Bob Nuckolls has produced an excellent guide to all things electric, including example electrical systems and rationales behind their design. Just my .02, and worth all you paid for it.
 
Here is what I did on my 9A. Automotive fuses. I would do it again. Hinged panel tucks up flat under panel. One knob to unscrew to access fuses. My fuse blocks are B&C.
DSCN2780_000.jpg
 
Last edited:
the dynon supplies the ahrs, gps, EMU, and backup battery from the network. there is no supply lines to them external so the only thing on the dynon that is fused is the two supply wires to the screen. the unit pulls up to 7 amps when charging the battery. the servos pull from 1.33 to 2.8 amps depending on servo size, they should be on a fuse for each one. the transponder needs a 3A fuse, and the adsb needs a 1 to 3 amp fuse.


to size fuses the amp rating of each load needs to be found, for most devices it is listed in the paperwork.

remember, fuses protect wiring, so the wires must be sized to handle the amount of amps the breaker is rated at. bob has some very good papers on fuse and wire sizing on the aeroelectic web site.

bob burns
RV-4
N82RB
 
n82rb said:
remember, fuses protect wiring, so the wires must be sized to handle the amount of amps the breaker is rated at. bob has some very good papers on fuse and wire sizing on the aeroelectic web site
Click to expand...

This is the best piece of advice you can get about wiring. :cool:
 
Panel

I did a similar panel using fuse blocks. I highly recommend getting the standard
Vans schematic. I believe it's about 4 pages. Call and order it. It will all be very helpful in laying out your main switch buss and essential fire wall forward wiring.
The fuse blocks are great. Use one for instruments (powered by master switch)
Use the other as Radio (powered up by radio master switch). You will be powering up many items. Your main items, fuel pump, nav and strobes , alt field
Radio master. Etc will be powered off main buss. The rest you just need to decide to power off the instrument or radio fuse block. I put my blocks on a drop down hinge similar to yours in order to access during flight.
 
n82rb said:
the dynon supplies the ahrs, gps, EMU, and backup battery from the network. there is no supply lines to them external so the only thing on the dynon that is fused is the two supply wires to the screen. the unit pulls up to 7 amps when charging the battery. the servos pull from 1.33 to 2.8 amps depending on servo size, they should be on a fuse for each one. the transponder needs a 3A fuse, and the adsb needs a 1 to 3 amp fuse.


....
Click to expand...

The Skyview manual does not require each servo to have it's own fuse, and their schematic shows a single fuse/breaker for both servos.

They do recommend a pilot accessible switch/breaker, so a panel mounted pullable breaker might be the best for the autopilot circuit rather than a fuse.

Page 182 here -

http://dynonavionics.com/downloads/...em_Installation_Guide-Rev_O_Software_v6.0.pdf
 
Auto pilot servos

I have the GRT auto pilot servos powered off
one breaker switch within easy finger reach of my
Throttle. In a recent flight with a very experienced pilot,
He strongly recommended the ability to have independant switching
in order to maintain power to the roll servo and have manual
Pitch control if desired. I plan to add a second switch.
 
agirard7a said:
I have the GRT auto pilot servos powered off
one breaker switch within easy finger reach of my
Throttle. In a recent flight with a very experienced pilot,
He strongly recommended the ability to have independant switching
in order to maintain power to the roll servo and have manual
Pitch control if desired. I plan to add a second switch.
Click to expand...

Only if you regard having a single servo failure as being critical to safety of flight. Will you fall out of the sky with no servos in a failure mode?

Obviously Dynon thinks otherwise...:)

In general, RTFM is always a good idea.
 
Auto-style fuse panels ...

I have them also, generally following Nuckoll's diagram Z-11. Per Z-11, I have a main buss (i.e. fuse panel), an essential buss, and a small 6 circuit battery buss for "always hot" items. I used resettable breakers only for Alt field, FI booster pump, flaps, and the LS Plasma II. My fuse blocks are located very similar to Jim wright's ... the two primary fuse blocks hinge down for access from the co-pilot side. The battery buss is fixed to the fwd side of the subpanel.
 
I called B and C and they have the Bob NucKolls book so I will order that BOOK. I like the separate blocks for off the Master AND THE A BLOCK FOR OFF THE BATTERY FOR OTHER CIRCUITS.Gil it seems I don't have the big manual so Ill look to download a portion of it.I'll check with Dynon. I did purchase the wire kit from Vans and found the 4 pages of schematics.Nicely detailed to say the least!, Sometimes this whole thing becomes overwhelming and then with you guys, you bring a guy back down to earth! Then its no big deal! Based upon your journeys thru the panel and what I gather here will give me confidence to finish this build the RIGHT WAY! I like the reasoning on the servos,good trains of thought here. If you have seen the RV14 fuse block its located on a center island between the pilots and passengers legs. It has the auto type fuses in a straight bank of I think ten. I would think that this item would be available for all RVs except the 12. (RV 12 has its own with switches in the bank on the panel) Im thankful and leave this post open for discussion. I feel some of you have favorites still to share. I keep checking this site daily. Again thanks guys and always enjoy the pictures.

Ron in Oregon N421 HJ
 
This is what we did with the fuse block

We wanted the fuse block accessible in flight, so this is what we did.

ajm6f8.jpg
 
Last edited:
rear terminations

Jasman,
Did you have to have a special tool for the rear terminations?

Thanks
 
Hi Maxwell, I do have the crimper from Stein air for the spade clips as well as his kit of connectors. Also bought the the sub D connector kit too.Just starting to read the Dynon manual and it calls for making the sub-D for the servos which I have made one.

Ron in Oregon
 
fix critical in flight?

Ron -

My reasoning was to be able to reset (at least once) anything critical inflight, so I have Dynon on a breaker switch on the panel.

Non-critical flight items are fused behind the panel. I wish I'd seen the hinged panel sooner although I doubt I'd be able to find/reach/replace a bad fuse inflight.

A/P servos are on a pullable fuse on front of panel.

Good Luck
 
After trying and getting no response from the mihdirect.biz link, I called Cooper Bussman and asked who is their distributor for the 15710 series RTC fuse block and found Connector Concepts of Mundelein, IL have them at http://www.connectorconcepts.com/ . They also have the terminals but not the special tool to release them. I found a drawing for the tool on either this site or the aeroelectric list at matronics.com. Waytekwire.com has the tool but with a minimum order of 25.
 
fuses & stuff

Why not just get a bus panel from Composite Corp with or without the wiring harness? Simple fast and documented.
 
Mich48041 said:
The Cooper Industries website has a list of distributors.
http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/public/en/bussmann/transportation/resources/find_a_distributor.html
I am not familiar with the 15710 fuse block, but is it really necessary to remove the terminals? It would seem that terminals would not have to be removed unless defective and require replacement.
Joe Gores
Click to expand...

Joe,

Not all of the distributors carry the 15710 fuse block and fewer still carry the 12/8 combination that I wanted.
As far as not needing to remove terminals, you are a better man than I if you never need to undo/redo anything during construction or thereafter.

Eric
 
It has been my experience that fuses either blow because of a fault or they are sized incorrectly. I just don't see the need for being able to access them from the front panel.
 
rapid_ascent said:
It has been my experience that fuses either blow because of a fault or they are sized incorrectly. I just don't see the need for being able to access them from the front panel.
Click to expand...
Exactly.

Ours requires two screws be removed to access the fuses panel so yo have some time to think about it.

Everything critical has a battery backup.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top