07/2016 – 08/2016
As we started making actual use of the plane on cross country trips we learned what things worked and didn’t work regarding general panel layout, lighting, etc. Changes in various aspects of the wiring had created a disastrous mess of my wiring bundles. We also learned that the EFIS displays we wanted would be delayed longer than we had initially been told. We had to decide if we wanted to wait longer for the 8.4″ version of the HXr displays, or redesign the panel to accommodate the 10.1″ version.
In June 2016 we had flown down to Rochester to visit was some friends for a weekend. When we went to leave, I hit the starter button but there was no response. After a brief investigation I found that the gold plated terminal on the end of the starter cable had come loose from the cable causing the cable to fall out. Luckily, it didn’t end up laying on anything metal, or it would have shorted out when I hit the start button. Sadly the gold plated, screw on terminal ends were something I thought would be better the copper crimp on terminals from a corrosion resistance perspective. Unfortunately, I hadn’t given proper consideration to the vibration aspects of the environment.
The culmination of all of these things provided the motivation to completely rewire the airplane and install the 10.1″ displays. In order to fit the larger displays we would have to replace our standard backup instruments with a 4″ Mini EFIS from GRT. This turned out to be a great change, as the Mini adds a 3rd ADAHRS to the system thus allow a voting role that aids in failure recognition if one of three has an issue.
So during the hottest stretch of summer I set out to turn the rats nest of wires into a coherent, reliable electrical system.
