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Pics of my wiring job so far.

Paul 5r4

Paul 5r4

Well Known Member
Here are several pics of the panel wire job so far. The last picture is of my very best friend, helper and girlfriend Helen. Without her encouragement, none of this would have come to pass.

In this first picture you can see I'm going with the Fuse block. I like simple and it just can't get much more simple than that. The "shelf" in the forward area is just left over aluminum with a couple small angles riveted in for strength. I did the same type of thing just under the panel just forward of the switchs to support the wires. I wanted a nice neat look and I believe this is achieving that.
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The second picture is from the front looking down. You can see the little black zip ties I've used to secure the wires. At first I had run the zip tie through a hole over the wires then back through a second hole. I didn't like the way that looked so I started over and ran the tie down through the hole then around the wire then back through the same hole... result was exactly what I wanted.
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In this picture you can see clearly the way it looks from looking up under the panel. To protect the wires note I've also lined the edges of everything with plastic tubing.
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Another shot more center.
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And the right side.
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And last but really first.... Let me introduce Helen. :)
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This wiring and Panel stuff is the part I've most often dreamed about. Maybe we all "couldn't wait" to get to that point. It's nice to finally arrived. Still have one more big "I can't hardly wait" time... Yep... when she's all done and full throttle has been applied to that first flight. Back to work!
 
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Looks great so far. I wish the guy who bult my -8 had done as good of job as you are doing. Troubleshooting and upgrading is very difficult when the original wiring is not neat and tidy and logical.

Keep up the good work.
 
Thanks

Thanks! I did think about that too. No matter what happens under there and who ever may own this in the future, it should be easy breezy to trace and fix.
 
The only downside that comes to mind with the fuse panel installation is the location. There won't be any in-flight access and even on the ground it won't be fun getting back there to change a fuse.
 
Changing fuses

I liked 'lectric Bob's thoughts that nothing in that fuse block should be critical to flight safety, therefore no problem waiting for landing to troubleshoot/change a fuse. Regarding the trouble in getting to the fuse block on the ground... I think I'll have easy enough access with the canopy opened up. With that said, you can see on the next to last picture I do have 5 fuses mounted on the front of the panel. The fuse in the fuse block will be for example a 7amp or so and this will feed two fuses in the set on the panel say 2 or 3 amps each. These should blow before the higher amp fuse up stream.
 
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Neat. Thanks for ideas Paul. Now we know that Helen is an electrical engineer. What could you do without her?:) Put wires like I did (by Stein):D?

One question - I see on your pictures there is no support bracket for COMM radio tray at the back where it penetrates subpanel. Do you think it is not necessary? Or you have one somewhere not pictured?
 
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Looks beautiful except for one thing.....

I would not coil up any wires into a round coil of wire. This creates an antenna for noise and can cause you some pain later on!
 
SL 40 support and coiled wires

Hey and thanks for the input. The radio is a very tight fit in the sub panel. It is held in place with 4 screw in the front as you can see in one of the pics. Seems that the tight fit way at the back of the radio would be sufficient... Don't you think or am I wrong? Do I really need something back there?

Coiled wires... The wires which are coiled are the serial in and out for both the SL40 and the GTX 327 with nothing attached. There will be no current of anykind running via these wires. Can they cause me problems just coiled and stowed this way? Thanks in advance for your input!!!
 
Looking great Paul! I think the key to great wiring is having a good spots to fasten it to. There are definately not enough good spots with just the factory ribs and subpanel.
 
Where do each of the wires off the fuse block go. I ask because they appear to be large wires. Are you using one of the Z drawings from Nuckolls? I'd like to follow along.
 
WingsOnWheels said:
The only downside that comes to mind with the fuse panel installation is the location. There won't be any in-flight access and even on the ground it won't be fun getting back there to change a fuse.
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Noticed that too. I'd say to lay flat under the panel (with a pillow maybe) and see how well you can get your hand up in there, as well as see the fuse block.

Mine was fairly accessible, but now seems to have a gazillion wires in front of it. Once you rivet that top skin on, the perspective all changes! :D

L.Adamson --- RV6A
 
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