Some basic electrical wiring questions

[sglynn]

Please could you guys tell me what you've done for these basic electrical wiring questions? Your comments are appreciated.

1) What bolt, nut, washers size/material do you use for local grounding of things like lights wire sizes 14, 16, 18?
2) How do you secure wiring to the frame so it doesn't wiggle? Can I drill 5/32 holes near lightening holes in Rib Webs and us various wire holders? Or is drilling in rib webs a no-no?
3) At what point during the build did you do wiring? For example I'm finishing the leading edge and it seems like I should be doing the landing light wires now rather than waiting till later.
4) What do you use to splice wires? Do you use just a normal butt-butt squeeze connector?
5) Where do you buy your electrical wire, fittings, connectors, etc?

thanks

 

[Jeff R]

The lazy answer is to refer you to Bob Nuckols book (www.aeroelectric.com).

Good places to get electrical parts is B&C Specialities, Steinair and ACS. A local boat shop might have things that you need, too, such as West Marine. Also, check out Digikey for switches and connectors.

You can put off wiring until fairly late. If you add the plastic conduit in your wings, you can easily push through wire after you mate the wings to the fuselage. Running wires for a wing-mounted servo now might be a good idea, and that is what I did.

A lot of people don't do local grounds - they bring the returns back to the central ground. I think local grounding of non-pulsed things such as nav and landing lamps is fine, but not things like strobes or magnometers. If you do local grounding, just make sure the electrical path back to the central ground is well bonded.

 

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

The lazy answer is to refer you to Bob Nuckols book (www.aeroelectric.com).

I'm not sure the answer to any of those questions is in Bob's book..except maybe #5. Maybe scattered around his Web site? I do think the best place to get the answers from Bob directly is on the AeroElectric Matronics list. In fact, just a week or so ago, I think I saw something on there from Bob about soldered splices. I was surprised because I was led to believe they're not so great. But Bob liked 'em. Go figure.

 

[jsharkey]

FAA On-line Publications

AC43.13-1B

ACCEPTABLE METHODS,
TECHNIQUES, AND
PRACTICES  AIRCRAFT
INSPECTION AND REPAIR

Section 11 Clamping
Section 15 Grounding and Bonding Table 11-14,15 and 16

Great source of condensed wisdom generated over the years. Lays out reliable and safe methods. The materials needed - nut, washers and clamps etc - cost pennies.

Jim Sharkey

 

[erich weaver]

1) as previously answered, avoid local grounding in general - use a common grounding point at the firewall - see the ground tab products at

http://www.bandc.biz/cgi-bin/ez-catalog/cat_display.cgi?26X358218

Local ground will be ok for landing/nav lights and will avoid a relatively long wiring run

2) Cable ties and cable tie mounts. Peel off the sticky pad that comes on the cable tie mounts and discard - use shoe goo/"E-6000" adhesive instead. Avoid drilling extra holes - shouldnt need to do that

3) Wire when you feel ready, but suggest you read up on subject matter - the Aero-Electric Connection" is a good place to start.

4) Butt joint squeeze connector is fine, but kind of ugly. Bob Nuckolls has a step-by-step how to guide for making nice soldered splices - see "soldered lap splices" article at

http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles.html

5) see previous post - B & C Specialty and Stein are common suppliers for our RV world

erich