Tbone

Tbone

Well Known Member
Is it possible, or even feasible, for a homebuilder with limited knowledge to build and even wire up a nice glass panel? I would love to have a nice panel but can't seem to swallow the price of avionic shop labor quotes. My money is there for the equipment but I don't want to see that "magic smoke" from behind the panel. What are other "non-technical/electrical" builders doing?
:confused:
 
RE:panel....Yes for tech challenged

Tbone said:
Is it possible, or even feasible, for a homebuilder with limited knowledge to build and even wire up a nice glass panel? I would love to have a nice panel but can't seem to swallow the price of avionic shop labor quotes. My money is there for the equipment but I don't want to see that "magic smoke" from behind the panel. What are other "non-technical/electrical" builders doing?
:confused:
Click to expand...


I did my panel.....Dynon D100/D120/HS34/Trio AP Altitude and roll/Garmin Stack. What made it easier was using Fast Stack Hub Wiring system. A bit more $$$$ but worth it for sure.

What is your mission. VFR day/VFR night/IFR....will determine choice of and type of instrument and the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ needed to do the project.

I just about forgot use Aeroelectric for your wiring.

Frank @ SGU RV7A 90 Percent done 120% to go
 
Terry,

The simple answer is yes, you can do it!

Just run one wire at a time.

The more complex panel you plan, the more complex the wiring will be.


My simple D/N VFR panel didn't take long to do with the help of the wiring harnesses from Stein.


(Panel w/o GPS)


(Panel w/ GPS)

I took a serious look at the Fast Stack Hub Wiring system Frank used but felt it was overkill for a VFR panel.
 
Sure you can

Panel001.jpg

Front looks like this.
Rigging155.jpg

Back of the Right-hand side.
Rigging157.jpg

Back of the Center.
Rigging156.jpg

Back of the Left-hand side.

Have a plan. Keep big wires (high current) away from small wires (voice, aviaonics). Just run one at a time. Wiring diagrams are on my web site. It's actually fun to do!
 
holes

the most stressful part to me was/is cutting square and true holes for efis, etc. the wiring and similar labor-intensive stuff is easy to learn and easy to fix.
 
You Can Do It!

Do your homework and have a knowledgeable avionics person on speed dial. There will be times when you are stumped.
I needed some expert help a couple times when it came to deciphering my nav/comm pinout diagram. These diagrams assume that you know something about avionics installations.
Take your time and double check connections before bench testing. Be extra careful when adding power to a new component, be sure you have correct polarity or there will be smoke (yes, I did it. Fortunately the damage was only a couple burned capacitors)
Besides the paint, this is one of the parts of your plane which is really personalized. It is a wonderful feeling when your panel is powered up for the first time and everything works!
 
If you can learn all the skills it takes to build the rest of the airplane, you can learn the skills it takes to wire a panel - at least that is how I see it. Simply another new challenge, but you just do it one wire at a time - and there are fewer and fewer wires to connect when all the modern boxes talked to each other over serial data lines.

"Build" the panel first on paper by drawing the interconnections out, then go ahead and connect the wires - it's not magic, and not hard!

Paul
 
Yikes!!

f1rocket said:
Front looks like this.
Rigging155.jpg

Back of the Right-hand side.
Rigging157.jpg

Back of the Center.
Rigging156.jpg

Back of the Left-hand side.
Click to expand...

Pictures like this scare the bejeezus out of me!!! :)
Neat job though; I hope I can aspire to that.
We don't have panel shops over here in NZ (not that I've seen that cater to home builts anyway) so I'll be doing this myself too. Bob Nucols is going to wish he never heard of NZ sooner or later!! :D
 
radios

some of the harness will be wired when you get it. but i paid pacific coast a fee to wire the stuff for me.(300 IIRC) but there is still plenty for me to do. maybe next week.:rolleyes:
 
Yes you can

Yes you can do it, lots of help here and on the web and you do not have to start from scratch. I started with the aeroelectric Z-11 then took ideas from Vern Little, Matt Burch, Randy and others all of whom have posted their schematics on line. My schematic (stiill a work in progress in some areas) is also on-line on my blog that you can download.
I bought the pre fabbed harnesses for the Dynons (from Stein) and the garmin harnesses came with the avionics from Stark and has been stated in this thread I am running one wire at a time and so far so good.
It has been a very interesting exercise to plan the architecture and I have learnt a lot in the process which is part of the fun of doing this.
 
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