R

Rupester

Well Known Member
I'm finally finalizing ;) my decisions about strobes. I like the Aeroflash three-strobe, three-power supply option ... which lets me run plain wire out to the power supplies in the wingtips. But I also have a Bob Archer nav antenna out there and the GRT magnetometer. (The latter has a "18 from strobe power supply" requirement.) Have any RV-9, 9A builders put all that gear in the wingtip? I ask about Nines specifically 'cause RV-7s and RV-8s have longer chord wings with more room for "stuff". (And yes, I already searched the forums and found no joy).:confused:
 
Rupester said:
I'm finally finalizing ;) my decisions about strobes. I like the Aeroflash three-strobe, three-power supply option ... which lets me run plain wire out to the power supplies in the wingtips. But I also have a Bob Archer nav antenna out there and the GRT magnetometer. (The latter has a "18 from strobe power supply" requirement.) Have any RV-9, 9A builders put all that gear in the wingtip? I ask about Nines specifically 'cause RV-7s and RV-8s have longer chord wings with more room for "stuff". (And yes, I already searched the forums and found no joy).:confused:
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I can tell you the Aeroflash power supply in my RV-6 is about six inches from the Archer nav antenna and they get along with each other just fine.

There are other locations for the magnetometer that work well without having it in such close proximity to a power supply and lighting.
 
Mid wing for the GRT magetometer

We had issues with mine in the 8 in the right wingtip with a Whelan powerpak, HW ER tanks and MB antenna. Ray Lawrence, Kaolin Aviation, 4785529136, played with it one afternoon, moving it in mid right wing and solved the problem. Many locations for it, just gotta find the right place or it will not work correctly. I know.

Good luck!
 
I traded some emails with Bob Archer a couple months back, and realized that th more "stuff" you have out there in the tip, the more difficult it is going to be to get good reception out of his antennas. There is a reason that he fastens the wing tip light wires to the antenna itself - it is to maximize signal gathered by the antenna. Having other metal stuff behind the wing structure will degrade performance. I have strobes, Nav lights, and HID's - far less than optimal. I don't think I'd want to add the Magnetometer to the mix - but then, I've always been happy with my choice of magnetometer in the fuselage for other reasons.

Paul
 
I have one wing tip that I have enjoyed calling my own little RF shop of horrors, and one that I keep a little cleaner for the important stuff (nav antenna).
 
Rupester said:
Thanks, guys. All the input much appreciated. I'm moving the magnetometers off the wingtip.
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I also have the GRT magnetometers (2 of them). I have placed them in the tail cone. I fabricated a small shelf to replace the gusset on the second bulkhead back from the baggage bulkhead and secured them there. I have pictures but cannot get to them today. If you are interested I will see if I can get them loaded to this thread. I am not flying yet but I think this will be a good location for them.

One word of caution. I originally placed them directly behind the baggage bulkhead but discovered that the steel in the canopy frame when slid back interfered with the magnetometers. Make sure that wherever you place them there is no ferrous material near by.
 
RVbySDI said:
One word of caution. I originally placed them directly behind the baggage bulkhead but discovered that the steel in the canopy frame when slid back interfered with the magnetometers. Make sure that wherever you place them there is no ferrous material near by.
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This shouldn't be a problem (unless you intend to need an accurate heading indication while flying with the canopy open!!). Just make sure the canopy is closed when the mags are calibrated. Even though the heading may swing a little when the canopy is opened, accuracy will return with a closed canopy.
 
Sam Buchanan said:
This shouldn't be a problem (unless you intend to need an accurate heading indication while flying with the canopy open!!). Just make sure the canopy is closed when the mags are calibrated. Even though the heading may swing a little when the canopy is opened, accuracy will return with a closed canopy.
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Yes, I did note that when the frame was back in its "flying" position the magnetometers would not have been affected. However, my feeling was that prior to flying I would have the canopy open and would be configuring the EFIS's for flight. I did not want to be distracted or mismanage my pre-flight by having the compass headings off. The second bulkhead back from the baggage bulkhead does appear that it will work well. I still can get to them easily enough from either the tail intersection fairing if needed or I can take the back baggage panels out and crawl back to them from the cockpit.

As stated, I am not flying yet so I am not sure how they will work out but I do not see any problems presently.
 
Below are some pics of my installation of my remote magnetometers in the aft fuselage. Sorry it took so long to get back to posting this. I had a time locating where I had stored these pictures.


Note this picture shows the shelves attached to the baggage bulkhead gussets. This is the location I discovered had the interference from the canopy frame when it was slid back so I moved them back to the next bulkhead aft. Also note I drilled out several lightening holes. The material I used was .063 scrap. That was a little overkill for such light boxes so by drilling the holes I was able to shave off .50 lbs from each shelf. I drilled out the rivets on the gussets and then sandwiched the gusset between the longeron and the magnetometer shelf using the original rivet holes.


They work fine back here.



Hope this helps.
 
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