Tip: Done with Disconnects!

Ironflight · #1 02-26-2015, 04:19 PM

I have always been a big fan of wing root disconnects for electrical lines because, well?..I like being able to disconnect everything if I am going to disconnect something. I have never really encouraged anyone else to put disconnects at the wing root, staying out of the advice game ? but it just seems cool that if you are going to pull a wing, you can disconnect the wires right there with a dedicated D-Sub, Amp, or Canon Plug. Many have just said ?put an extra service loop of wire in there, and if you have to pull a wing, cut it and splice the wires back together later.? Well,?.that just seems so messy ? and if the disconnect doesn?t do any harm, well, why not trick it out?

Well, I am done with that. I hung the wings on the RV-8 ten years ago ? they have never had to come off. The RV-3 wings went on in 2011 ? same thing. Mikey, the RV-6?.I think the last person to see it with the wings off was Mike Seager when he built it, and that was over 25 years ago. The wings just don?t have to come off on these things. And on the side of ?disconnects don?t do any harm?, we spent the better part of a day tracing a flaky OAT signal on the RV-3 last week ? and much of that was trying to work on the disconnect through the wing root fairing. Sure enough, there was the problem, a pin/socket that had built up a little schmutz (or something). There is no room on an RV-3 to get your hand in there without pulling a wing ? and we sure weren?t going to do that! Louise finally got her smaller hands in that way, and I went under the seat pan (which is riveted in, so it was actually back under the inspection covers and then under the pan) to get it working. If I?d just had a loop of wire ? there wouldn?t have been a problem in the first place.

So yup ? I am done with wing root disconnects. Well, except for the motorglider, we might want those wings to come off. And then the Tundra we?re working on?.not sure how our partner did those when he hung the wings?.but from now on, for me it?s just a loop of wire, no extra connections to fail, and if the wings come off, out come the cutters and the splices when they go back on.

Sort of like nutplates and the rear floors on the RV-8 ? its? quicker to drill out the pop rivets if it ever needs to come out than to unscrew all the screws and mount all those nutplates?..
Paul

JonJay · #2 02-26-2015, 04:54 PM

Sometimes it just takes time and experiences. Part of the issue in a public forum is how people ask the question. "what should I use...." Then good hearted folk do their best to answer that question and next thing you know, you have a mil spec $100 cannon plug buried in there.
If you try to say "don't do it" you can be viewed as not answering the question and not helping, or worse, being critical of others decisions.
Your experience is invaluable and can not be argued. It also follows my own philosophy, and in a public forum, makes it easy for me to pile on

Another common public forum thing, we like people and ideas that are like minded....

Neal@F14 · #3 02-26-2015, 04:57 PM

The last 2 planes I wired up, did the same thing. I simply left enough slack in the wires in the wing root areas that if the wings ever have to come off, the wires can simply be cut and add on connectors to reconnect them when it's time to bolt the wings back on.

Mike S · #4 02-26-2015, 05:04 PM

Well, considering that I did the wiring in the wings way before they were mounted on the fuse, and ditto the fuse wiring before mounting the wings, I had to use a connector of some kind. I never even considered running the wing wires after mounting the wings.

I used knife splices------also heard them called "gladhands: and put shrink wrap over the splice and onto the wire insulation too. Should be water tight, and so far has not been a problem.

One thing in my favor, the 10 has a nice large gap at the wing root if I even need to work on them.

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...43&postcount=5

Kahuna · #5 02-26-2015, 05:35 PM

And for the other side of the coin, I would never build a plane without them.
1. Ive removed my wings several times over the years.
2. Makes back-probing of wiring easier for troubleshooting
3. Makes assembly at the hanger faster. I was flight ready 48 hours from arrival at the airport with parts. I could not have done that if everything wasn't ready, tested, and in order. That includes quick connections of everything, pretested at home.
4. Makes the addition of wires over time easier.

Just another mans opinion.

scard · #6 02-26-2015, 05:35 PM

Welcome to the other side Paul, and thanks much for the post. I've had that conversation so many times...

Clearly Mike is a "unique" case

.

9GT · #7 02-26-2015, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scard

Clearly Mike is a "unique" case

.

Not at all. I built my plane at home and had to trailer it to the airport. No way I could have done that with the wings on and wired up and there was no way I was going to run the wires at the airport. I used Molex connectors for all my connections in the wing root. A little dielectric on all the pins and a quick zip tie to ensure the connectors will not come apart accidentally. So far so good.

fixnflyguy · #8 02-26-2015, 05:51 PM

A my day job (airliners) wing/component disconnects are part of the big plane design, and usually the culprit of wiring/electrical problems..hate them. My RV is hard wired with a service loop in the event I need to chop them. A splice takes about a minute to make if I ever need. Mike has a point about troubleshooting, but I don't have anything that complicated on my -4 so I just used splices with a heatshrink seal over it.

scard · #9 02-26-2015, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9GT

Not at all. I built my plane at home and had to trailer it to the airport. No way I could have done that with the wings on and wired up and there was no way I was going to run the wires at the airport. I used Molex connectors for all my connections in the wing root. A little dielectric on all the pins and a quick zip tie to ensure the connectors will not come apart accidentally. So far so good.

Ok. Yep, the majority of us trailer it to the airport and run the necessary wires out to the wing tips in a couple of hours. No biggie. I'm on my second airplane (never touched the one that is at 1500hrs), Paul is on his third, Mike is on his xxxx due to his OP. It is a good conversation for those trying to figure out what to do for the first time.

boom3 · #10 02-26-2015, 06:15 PM

I've ever only built one airplane but I couldn't see the benefit of disconnects for the wings. There just aren't that many wires. All of my wires have little service loops on the ends in case I ever need to cut off the connectors and pull the wiring back into the fuselage for wing removal.