Monday, August 27, 2012

Panel & electrical planning


As usual, I came home from AirVenture with brochures of all the latest electronics.  Before Little League interrupted my building process, I was working on the tank cover, which means I'm not too far from installing the skin between bulkheads F2 & F3 (the instrument panel). I had been thinking about my fuel system as well because I'm getting close to installing the side panels as well. Now is the time to start thinking about the consequences of installing these skin panels because after they are installed, access gets limited. So I started thinking about my panel. After much deliberation, I have settled on what you see in the photos that follow.

Click on image to enlarge.

 
 
The first thing I did was to modify the electrical diagram in the plans to fit my needs.  This led me to see that I needed a terminal block to distribute the power to various items in my aircraft.  I searched the web and found this one.  I think it will do the job nicely and I plan to mount it to the front side of F2 bulkhead.


Next I found some nice toggle switches that display a red LED light when in the "on" position. I found these at Waytech.com.  I then designed and created a breaker and switch panel out of 1.5"x1.5"x.0625" alum. angle. You can see it in the photo above and in the photo below where it will be installed under the F3 panel bulkhead.  It will be made removable so you can get at the wiring with out removing the instrument panel.

 
 
The photo above shows a mock up of my "wish" panel.  I better start my Christmas list soon because the only item I currently have is the comm. radio. Who knows, by the time I actually purchase any of these items, there might be better, less expensive alternatives. OK, maybe better alternatives, but never less expensive ones!
 
 
It's good to be back building again.