Finally On The Downhill Side of Avionics and Electrical
I haven't posted lately because I didn't have any dramatic changes to show. I have been hard at work for months getting through all the fuselage electrical stuff, avionics install and engine sensors. For me, it has been the slowest, hardest and most time-consuming part of the build, by far. This is for several reasons. First, Van's gives very little guidance on avionics because every plane is different. You're pretty much on your own to figure things out. Secondly is my own lack of knowledge on the subject. Everything is new and there's much problem solving. You have to figure out where to mount all the avionics components and fabricate trays for them. Always keeping maintainability in mind. In the end, you want it all to work correctly, reliably, be airworthy and safe, and finally, to keep troubleshooting to a minimum. The last several points remain to be seen. But I'm making progress and I'm hoping to wrap up this part of the build soon. It's finally cooling off in TX which makes going out to the hanger more bearable. Attached are various photos of some progress to date. There's a lot more that's been done that isn't shown. Finally, we ordered our interior which will be delivered in a few months. I needed the integral seat heater hardware to install in the plane prior.
Starting hooking up all the engine sensors in August. These are EGT (Exhaust Gas Temp) leads.
The mini-Molex connectors and pins are tiny and tough to see. Magnifying glasses really help in that regard.
I went with the OLC-2 splice connector from Electronics International for most of my firewall forward connections. It's what they provided with their "Red Cube" fuel flow sensor. A buddy who used them has had no failures. It allows me to disconnect sensors if required. I offset the connectors and covered them in heat shrink. Time will tell if it was the smart choice.
Three offset OLC-2 connectors under heat shrink to seal out fluids.
I finally found a tail stand setup that is safe and secure. Much easier working inside a level fuselage.
Wish I'd bought this Adel clamp tool took years ago. Makes life soooo much easier.
Finished engine after connecting everything and tidying up all the wiring. The blue zip ties are heat resistant. I used Teflon tape under zip ties on the motor mount tubes.
This is one of two harnesses that go to each control sticks, The Molex connector made it impossible to get through the wiring holes, I finally de-pinned them, fished the wires through and re-pinned the connector. Very difficult to see the tiny pins to bend the two locking tabs out so they would re-insert correctly and lock,
The two tools needed to successfully de-pin and re-pin the mini-Molex connectors.
Coax cables are used for both VHF radio antennas, GPS and the ELT. After watching some helpful YouTube videos and getting the correct crimper dies the BNC connectors went on easily
In an oversight I failed to rivet in the center wiring channel ages ago. With the wiring harness in place riveting became nearly impossible. So, I modified it with nutplates and now its removable if needed.
I got the headset jacks installed on both sides of the cockpit. The black one is a LEMO jack for certain ANR headsets the lets you dispense with batteries.
Main power bus wired an installed in the bottom of a radio tray that goes in the right glovebox area.
Fitting my very big and inflexible self under the panel where I can use both hands is a real challenge. It takes a lot of pillows and planning ahead on the tools needed. And then keeping tools where I can get to them. And having extra fasteners because some get dropped and there's no easy way to retrieve them. Because once I'm in position getting back up is equally hard. Inevitably there's a tool I need that I didn't bring.
The is the seat design and colors we chose in leather from Classic Aero Designs. Red is my wife's favorite color so this will hopefully compliment the exterior colors which will also feature red. My bride wanted seat heaters as well.
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This post is from Scott's RV-14 Build
