Electronics to be considered for wing building

[ijustwannafly]

So as i embark on the journey of wing construction some questions come to mind.

What electronics and other peripherals need to be considered at this time.

Pitot system of course is one. That i have gotten already. I wound up with a nice Cessna heated pitot and have the mast for it and the entire safe air installation kit.

Electronics and lights i assume are next.
When i say electronics I'm more referring to antennas
What antennas are typically found on the wings of an rv7?

I was looking at some of the hidden antennas like the Archer series. I assume anyone going with these are putting one in each wingtip for dual comms?

If you don't use this style is anyone doing belly mount antennas on the bottom of the wing skin?

Also, I'm starting to want to pick some lighting. Nav/strobe/landing

All of this stems from the fact i will need to run wiring ahead of time for these items and not because I'm trying to install the final product at this time. I just want to make sure i don't get the wings buttoned up and realize i needed to run some wire that i didn't.

So what say you? Any recommendations or thoughts much appreciated.
Got my spars up on the stands and ready to start getting after it

 

[wirejock]

Stuff

Not an issue.
Install snap bushings and pull strings, conduit or both and pull wiring later. Electronics change. You're choices will likely change as well.
If you plan AOA, consider the tube choice and mount.

 

[terrye]

wing electronics

I spent a lot of time considering wiring runs in the wing. Here's a list off the top of my head:
Nav lights - Whelen traditional bulbs
Strobes -Whelen traditional flash tubes
Pitot - Cessna, same as yours, heated. Used 1/4" aluminum tube for ram pressure
Autopilot roll servo - right wing only
Landing lights - traditional bulb type
Magnetometers - one in each wingtip
Antenna - one Archer VOR antenna in each wing tip (two com bent whip antenna on the fuselage belly)
The main thing I tried to do was keep the antenna and magnetometer wiring separated from the strobe flash tube wiring. I pre-drilled lots of holes in the ribs to do this. The main resistive wiring and flash tube wiring I ran along the back of the wing spar.
I'm working on the fuselage and although I could have prewired the wings, I haven't yet. I've left the bottom skins off until much later in the build. The skins only take four or five hours to rivet and by leaving them open I can still add holes/wiring runs if I have to. In fact I did just that. Added holes for and AOA just in case. I'm still going to use the Cessna pitot head, but if I later change to a Garmin with AOA the holes are there.

 

[BobTurner]

One Archer for nav. Few people use them for com - in the wingtip it is hard to get enough vertical polarization for good range (I say that and I have one, but it's in a -10 (thicker wingtips) and on #2 com).

 

[Wunderon]

I pulled conduit and a string so can decide later. If you might want AOA, I would recommend at least drilling for bushings for the AOA line in the left or some other plan to route the line, such as getting by the bellcrank if your pitot is outboard.

 

[David Paule]

I installed a stall warning sensor in one wng, a single-point aoa system. Two or three wires.

Dave

 

[bruceh]

My wings are wired for lights (landing/nav/strobe), APRS antenna, and Autopilot servo. All of these can be done later. I had looped up all of the wing wiring in the fuselage and then pulled it through the wings after they were installed. Very easy with conduit.

Left side has Nav/Strobe shielded wire. Landing light power (local ground). APRS power (local ground).

Everything comes straight out of the conduit into the wing tip.

Right side has Nav/Strobe & Landing light wires. Dynon Autopilot servo wires go only half way to the wing tip. Not in conduit, but use the holes for snap bushings at the forward edge of the wing ribs.

Autopilot servo wires get a 9 pin D-sub connector to hook up with. An adel clamp holds the bundle up and out of the way.

 

[grayforge]

I placed my OAT probe in the 1st wing inspection panel. Don't want it anywhere near temp influencing fuselage airstream.

 

[rapid_ascent]

I think it's more important to plan your wire runs. I created a spreadsheet with each of the ribs and the holes that are in that rib. Some wiring for the autopilot servo only run part way to the wingtip. Other wires like nav lights run all the way through the wing to the wingtip. I ran my conduit and used it for the full length runs. I also separated out my coax for the wingtip archer nav antenna. If you PM me with your email address I'll send you a copy. I keep adding more detail into it as I add more wires.

I'm in the final stages of my wing build and I'll probably add the autopilot servo before I move on to the fuse. I'm finishing up the lights now and then it's on to the next kit.