[Tram]

Hey guys-

With some of the prefabbed wiring kits, are these as simple as measuring how much length one would need for headset jacks, etc and the wiring will show up ready to install, almost plug and play, I'd just have to do the routing?

Thanks

Jeff

 

[rvbuilder2002]

Hey guys-

With some of the prefabbed wiring kits, are these as simple as measuring how much length one would need for headset jacks, etc and the wiring will show up ready to install, almost plug and play, I'd just have to do the routing?

Thanks

Jeff

Jeff,
Shops will gladly do that for you but it is not very practical for installing in an RV unless it is a 2 place side by side and you are willing to have the jacks located in the panel. If the harness comes with the jacks already installed, there is no way to route the wires to remote locations like the majority of RV builders do (myself included, I hate headset cords laying acrossed my lap).

 

[vlittle]

In my opinion, the audio system in an airplane is the most complex wiring challenge that you have.

If all you have is a comm and a pair of headsets, it's no problem, but modern panels have multiple comms, efis, engine monitors, aoa, traffic monitors, gps, and a bunch of other things that beep, chime and talk.

All of these need wiring, and it's usually shielded. If you don't have an audio panel with lots of unswitched inputs, you'll also have the problem of how to wire these to your intercom.

If you are having your panel professionally wired, they will take care of all this. Even if you are just having the intercom pre-wired, make sure the avionics shop knows about all of the other audio sources that you will have.

I built a 10 channel audio mixer/amp to solve this fan-in problem (marketed by vx-aviation.com), but if you only have a few extra inputs, you can sum them wiring them together with series resistors (in the range of 150 to 510 ohms will do.) Every additional connection will reduce the audio power level, so there is a practical limit to the simple method.

Vern

 

[Rick6a]

..... some of the prefabbed wiring kits, are these as simple as measuring how much length one would need for headset jacks, etc and the wiring will show up ready to install, almost plug and play, I'd just have to do the routing?....

I had SteinAir make up the wiring harness for my PM1000 intercom installed in my RV-8. At the time I was still unsure exactly where I was going to place the headphone jacks. No matter. Stein knows RV's and they made those labeled runs generously long to accommodate any eventuality. Later, I simply snipped the soldered phone jacks off the ends of those wires so I could route the wires through small grommets. I then resoldered the jacks back onto the wires at their final location.

 

[flion]

When Aerotronics (Hi, Jason! ) did mine, they bundled all the headset and speaker outputs to a single connector and included the matching connector in my installation package. For my part, I got some shielded two- and three-conductor wire from ACS, put my jacks on the top center of the seat brace in my -6A and routed the four wires as a bundle to under the panel. Once I installed the panel and determined the connector location, it was an easy thing to cut the bundle to length, crimp/solder the pins, and put the pins into the connector according to Aerotronics' diagram. They took care of all the hard stuff, like the connection between my SL-30 and the Blue Mountain EFIS or the audio input and mute-enable switch so I could plug in my MP-3 player.

If you work with a good shop, they should be able to accommodate your requirements. You'd have to do some connection stuff anyway; I think you'd find it difficult to route long wires to the headset jack locations if the jacks were already on the wires, for example. Even Blue Mountain sent my custom-length autopilot cables with one end pinned but the pins not in the connector body so I could route them through smaller holes. They were accompanied by a nice pin diagram so I could make up the connector easily.

As a special shout-out to Aerotronics, I will say that I actually went there before they cut my panel so that I could discuss the details with them; there were a few revisions to get things to fit properly. They used clear plastic mockups to get things right and do all the harness before cutting the actual panel. Anyway, while I was there they showed me how to make every connector I'd need to make for my part of the installation. They also talked with me about the tools I'd need and where to find them. I've had no problem doing my installation and all my (few) questions have been quickly answered. If your panel building confidence is low I'd recommend this approach and, obviously, I'd recommend Aerotronics.

 

[Tram]

Thanks for the replies guys..

Thinkin' about letting SteinAir do the major work..

All we have is:

1 Com/Nav Mono Narco Radio
1 PS 1000 Intercom setup
1 Audio input (from the Garmin 396 and our mp3 players)
2 headset jacks

Verry simple..