Magnetometer install question

[Rallylancer122]

I'm retrofitting a pair of G5s into a completed plane. Was going to put the magnetometer in either the tailcone or wingtip. Problem is the plane has an old school Whelen incandescent strobe system. The single power supply is in the tailcone with wires run through the fuselage and out to the wingtips. Seems like every place I could conveniently run the canbus wire there's already a strobe wire.

Sooo....how far away do I need to be from a strobe wire, practically speaking? The manual doesn't provide anything other than generic guidance on this. Just not sure how sensative that magnetometer is ( or I guess actually the canbus signal).

 

[500AGL]

Put it in the wingtip, and either change strobes to LED (ideally), or remove airframe grounds from the light and run them all the way back.

 

[Webb]

Garmin’s recommendations are below.

Ironically, I’ve complained about the HSI in my Bonanza being off several degrees from the compass and GPS. So after installing the GMU11 in the wingtip of my 8, I thought, hmmmm, I wonder……what about the flux detector? Everything about the system worked but the HSI was not agreeing with other reference headings.

So I pulled the wingtip and found wires draped over it. Not only that but it was not secured and messy. So I cleaned it up and secured the wires away from the flux detector. There is still some securing that was done and is not in the picture where the wires pass thru the lightening hole. Now it’s dead nuts on the compass. See the before and after photos.

The strobes are Whelen and notice the distance of the wires to the flux detector. Sorry for the long answer but I thought an example might help. Hope this helps answer your questions.

And what’s that saying about amateur vs certified ……….. BTW but is it my imagination that the leading edge and trailing structure is held on to the spar by ye ole hinge method?

 

[BH1166]

[QUOTESooo....how far away do I need to be from a strobe wire, practically speaking? The manual doesn't provide anything other than generic guidance on this. Just not sure how sensative that magnetometer is ( or I guess actually the canbus signal).[/QUOTE]

Whelen box under pilot seat basically, wires run left and right from their. The strobe pack is 5” from tunnel with wire for elevator AP servo, my EchoUAT adsb, one NAV COM antenna wire, as well as VOR, WASS and MAGNETOMETER and WIRE. No interference. YMMV, but my GRT stuff doesn’t care. To answer you …as far as easily done, maybe 2 feet. Good luck

 

[D-Dubya]

I ran my shielded strobe cable down the right side grommet holes and the magnetometer cable down the left side grommet holes in the bulkheads. No issues. They probably get within about six inches of each other at the back, as the Garmin magnetometer is mounted in the tail.

With that said, I did have issues with the tail nav light power wire. It was just a single power wire with a local ground. When I did the magnetometer test, the heading was affected by several degrees with the nav light on. So I ran a dedicated ground to the tail nav light, twisted the ground wire together with its power cable, and all was well again. To be clear, the insulated wires are twisted but not electrically connected. Com wires are often done the same way to eliminate interference.

 

[danny]

GMU mounting

I ran shielded wires under the right longeron and built a mount and riveted it to the aft side of the main baggage panel. All screws are ss and rivets are non-magnetic. Works as advertised.
danny
RV9

 

[bhester]

No problem

I ran my Magnetometer shielded wires right along my manual trim cable which also has my shielded strobe wires zipped to it in some spots. I have not had any problems with any of it. Passed all test with flying (pun intended) colors.

 

[RV6_flyer]

I have an old fashion Whelen tail strobe on the Vertical Stabilizer.

My GMU-11 was installed around 6-years ago when the G-5s were added. I ran the GMU wire in a few of the bulkhead snap bushings with the strobe wire.

You can see the strobe wire / connector with the GMU-11 wire near the front of this photo and the GMU-11 on the other side. Both are using shielded twisted wire.



The GMU-11 is aligned with the centerline of the aircraft using the elevator push pull tube as reference. (In my airplane, the elevator push pull tube is centered in the fuselage.)

 

[Rallylancer122]

Thanks everyone! Mounting yhe magnetometer itself away from the strobe wires isn't really a problem . My concern was running the canbus and strobe wires together. Sounds like a non issue.