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Re: EFWD Build
Okay. Got a good 5 or 6 hours on making sense of the wire harnesses. It was so fun to put two harnesses in only to discover that I needed to reroute one of the harnesses. Tried to pull it out only to find that it had the second harness weaved through the wires of the first. Both had to get removed. My girlfriend came out to lend me a hand. As she went to leave a wire got hung up in the buckle of her shoe and as a result pulled two wires, that I had just installed into the connector, out of the Auto Pilot servo connector. Pins stayed in the connector so that was fun trying to get those out. Thankfully I had the tools but with no wire I had to find something to insert from the other side to push the pin out. Finally, I had a board inside the cockpit and I was laying tools down on the board. I removed the board. I then set the solder iron on the floor beneath the seat. Burned a hole in the Oratex. Nice thing is, its a five minute fix with my first patch. Once I got the harnesses reinstalled I had to call it a night.
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Re: EFWD Build
Jeez Eddie, Electrical has not been kind to you. That sounds like a frustrating day of work. If I were closer, I would come lend a hand, or at least some moral support. I am confident, however, that we're going to see pictures of everything lit up beautifully pretty soon.
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Re: EFWD Build
So Eddie, whatever you've done wrong in this or any previous lives, I'd say you've paid the price in spades in this one incident. Feel really sorry for what happened and feel your pain. Hang in there, you're almost done.
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Re: EFWD Build
Eddie I have a couple days in my build where I was breaking my more than building. These are the most frustrating days. You will get past this and soon will be enjoying the process again. I swear it gets better!
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Re: EFWD Build
Thank You Gentlemen. Learning a bit about connectors, wire, pins etc etc today.
Maybe perseverance will prevail?
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Re: EFWD Build
Perserverence always wins ... well mostly. But I think you learn more from making mistakes than when it all goes just peachy. I built a glovebox from spare al sheet. Spent a complete morning cutting, folding and riveting. Turned out rubbish, so binned it. Kicked the bench but missed, hit my shin on the crossbar, swearing $&*(#, a shot of whiskey for the pain then bed. Lesson learned: keep whiskey handy in my build shed.
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Re: EFWD Build
If you have the EarthX battery and have not put it on a charger for some time, do it. Mine sat on the shelf/firewall for about 2 years unused. Looking like it is no longer usable. I have the appropriate charger that is supposed to reset the undercharged limit switch. It isn't resetting.
Anyhow, I want to buy a DC power supply. I don't know how to use it even when it arrives. If I buy a 14v/10amp supply, can I hook it up to the battery terminals and power my equipment or are these supposed to be applied to individual components one at a time to test them? If that were the case I would not need the higher amp supply. I could get away with a 5amp supply I am guessing. I think the highest drawing device I have is the 7amp pitch trim servo. The factory has a 14v 23amp supply that they use. I can buy that one but It is not adjustable in the amperage. I think if I were to hook that up then I would have to place a 1amp CB in line if I were testing, say, my nav lights. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
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Re: EFWD Build
Eddie,
You can just hook the power supply up to the battery terminals (minus the battery is ok). You need a supply with an amp rating at least as high as the heaviest load you want to test. You can pull breakers or fuses to disconnect circuits other than what you want to test at any particular time so that you don’t exceed the amp rating of your power supply. Although it is a 7 amp fuse or breaker, the trim actuator probably actually draws less than that... the fuse should be sized to protect the wire, not to match the load exactly. A power supply with a higher amp rating is no problem... the voltage will remain correct. You will just be able to test/run more circuits at a time without overloading it. “Under-loading” it is not a problem. The power supply will probably have its own over-current protection built in (CB, fuse, etc.). I suspect that if you want to test everything individually, the 5 amp supply would probably do the job. If you want to light everything up at once you’ll need something bigger - add up the amp ratings of each individual item to determine how high the load would be.
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Re: EFWD Build
Thank you so much John. A bunch more clear now.
Would you believe I am kinda enjoying my time installing these harnesses.
Run into problem spots a little but Im succeeding in overcoming them without hiring an avionics guy. Not that Im not glad to have harnesses pre made for sure.
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Re: EFWD Build
FWIW I bought this bench power supply:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Adjustab....c100005.m1851
I got the 10A version but have never had need of anything like that current. My build is still delayed but I've been helping with a friend's RV and I've used this with great success so far and don't very often have the aircraft battery connected at all. It even keeps the Dynon Skyview happy in his machine so that I can do the backup battery test etc.
This particular power supply costs about the same for the 10A as many of the 5A units do, so it was a no-brianer :)