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-7 Fuel Sensor Wire Route?

mfleming

mfleming

Well Known Member
Patron
OK, I give up.

After scouring the plans and Vansairforce, I can't find out where the fuel sender wires exit the fuselage :confused:

My wiring harness is completed and installed in the fuselage and I blindly ran the fuel sensor wires to the wire exit just aft of the center section.


This must be a basic question...anyone want to chime in and make my day??
 
Wire does not touch fuel line, pretty much goes directly from the fuselage to the sender, stabilized by adell clamp to one of the sender mounting screws.
Inside the cabin, I run the wire forward & up the vertical bulkhead to the subpanel, eventually to the EMS harness.

This & a lot of other minor build items are beyond Van's documents...
 
Depends

I think this also depends on where the fuel sender is on your tank. For a tank with a flop tube, the sender wire would be routed behind the center section and through a hole drilled in the spar behind the fuel sender in the tank's rear baffle.

I suspect that this is left-to-the-builder's-discretion and isn't well documented.
 
CoolDadTed said:
I think this also depends on where the fuel sender is on your tank. For a tank with a flop tube, the sender wire would be routed behind the center section and through a hole drilled in the spar behind the fuel sender in the tank's rear baffle.

I suspect that this is left-to-the-builder's-discretion and isn't well documented.
Click to expand...

My installation is the standard fuel pick-up and float.

We are allowed to drill a hole in the spar between the fuselage and wing? That would make it easy.
 
mfleming said:
My installation is the standard fuel pick-up and float.

We are allowed to drill a hole in the spar between the fuselage and wing? That would make it easy.
Click to expand...

I would NOT do that (without checking with Vans). For the flop-tube sender location, there's already a hole in the spar that can be enlarged for a grommet (same as we did for the stall warning wire). I checked with Vans on this.
 
I found the smallest rubber grommet I could and drilled a hole in the side of the fuselage near where the vent line leaves the fuse and ran the wire up along the vent line inside, to the panel.
 
I ran the wire from the sender over the spar to a hole in the fuse side skin aft of the spar. No hole in the spar necessary. I just secured the wire laying on top of the spar wirh a little bit of RTV. That way the wire is basically sandwiched between the spar and the wing root fairing. works like a charme.
 
John Tierney said:
I found the smallest rubber grommet I could and drilled a hole in the side of the fuselage near where the vent line leaves the fuse and ran the wire up along the vent line inside, to the panel.
Click to expand...

Well, I just talked to Vans tech support and they confirmed the wire routing is not documented. They said just drill a hole by the fuel line and run it out there.

After some pointed questioning about drilling a hole in the spar web, they said a small hole in the center wouldn't do any harm. We discussed that there were three nut plates about 2" outboard of the proposed hole for Z brackets and they're not even in the center of the web (well, one is).

Still not sure how I'll run the wire but at least I know all the options now :rolleyes:
EDIT: I'll kick the can down the road and either drill a hole in the spar or go over the spar and RTV the wire down between the spar and wing root faring.
 
Last edited:
Michael, one thing to keep in mind is that the sender wire is a sensoring wire with minimal load. It's not a power wire powering something in your electrical system. That makes your routing requirements easier.
 
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