This week I focused on getting most the antennas installed and wiring up all the connections.
I installed the Comm1 Antenna on top and made the RG-400 BNC connection. I then test fit the parachute skin and it looks like that may be a tight fit. Will have to make sure I figure out where that goes before I fully secure the antenna. Additionally, I’ll need to put in some rivnuts there since there’s no access to the bottom of the antenna. I then installed Comm2 on the belly between the ELT and center channel. The antennas come with hole templates for mounting, so it was pretty simple to drill through to size. The Transponder / ADS-B antenna was a bit more difficult to mount. They have a hole pre-drilled on the center bottom of the fuselage, but with the inside skin, it took a bit of work to create holes for access to the mounting screws. I used a 1/2 inch drill bit on the inside skin to get it big enough for a socket wrench to fit and secure the bolts. I then turned my attention to figuring out the wiring diagrams and crimping the pins for the Delphi connectors. Took a bit to get into the rhythm, but eventually figured out how to crimp without the right crimper - I had a molex crimper and apparently these type of pins require a bit more expensive tool. The Molex crimper worked, but it took about 4x the time. I finished up the canopy wiring and installed the lights. The front ones were easy since I just had to mount them with 3 screws each. The back lights took a bit more work since I had to enlarge the hole and clear some styrofoam to give it a flush fit. Since my pilot light dimmer is on the panel, I now have an extra hole in the canopy I get to work with. I figure I install some sort of power source for a GoPro camera, so I spliced the power from the rear lights and ran some wires there. I was able to order my battery! I decided to go Lithuim since the weight savings is pretty drastic. The Rotax 915 requires a battery with at least 350 cold cranking amps. The ETX900 battery fit the bill with 400 CCA’s and only 4.9 lbs! Bonus, I was able to get the 10% AirVenture discount. Good timing! Comments are closed.
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