Wiring a Sailplane

[Travis Beach]

Well got everything plumbed the other day adn need
to wire the entire electrical system...not a whole
lot to do really

New 12v 9.0 amp battery
5 and 3 amp Klixon Breakers for the Tasman and the
Microair 760
Aux. Power source Car Cig type plug-in
Bus Bar
Master Switch
PTT Switch
Microphone and speaker
In-line fuses

Anyone out there got any sage advice? Drawings of simple
wiring diagrams they can email me or links to sites?

Wiring, Seals, W&B, Annual and FLY...

Thanks...

Beach

[Henryk Birecki]

One thing to keep in mind is not to skimp on wire size. Use 14 gage or
lower for battery to panel wiring. I'd fuse each instrument separately
if feasible, not necessarily on panel. Keep speaker far away form
compass.

Cheers,
Henryk Birecki

Travis Beach > wrote:

>Well got everything plumbed the other day adn need
>to wire the entire electrical system...not a whole
>lot to do really
>
>New 12v 9.0 amp battery
>5 and 3 amp Klixon Breakers for the Tasman and the
>Microair 760
>Aux. Power source Car Cig type plug-in
>Bus Bar
>Master Switch
>PTT Switch
>Microphone and speaker
>In-line fuses
>
>Anyone out there got any sage advice? Drawings of simple
>wiring diagrams they can email me or links to sites?
>
>Wiring, Seals, W&B, Annual and FLY...
>
>Thanks...
>
>Beach
>
>

[rlovinggood]

Beach,

I was having a bit of electrical problems with my ship. Why? Because
I wired it.

Last winter, I took it to an avionics shop. They did a great and
professional job. They ripped out all that I had done and did it the
right way. They removed my fuses and installed circuit breakers. I
don't know the type or voltage drop across them. Although I had a
fuse at the battery, they installed one right at the battery connector
on the "ship" side of the connector rather than on the battery side.
Tefzel (sp?) wiring all around, including the radio speaker which had
been just regular old lamp cord. For removing the panel easily, he
installed a "cannon plug" where, with one quick twist, the plug is
loosened and all electrical connections (ok, I think I still need to
go to the back side of the Cambridge 302 and disconnect the
thermocouple and the gps antenna cable) are apart. Very nice!

The glider is Experimental, but I don't think the avionics shop did
anything different because of that.

Since then, I haven't had complaints that my radio sounded bad. I
guess enough volts are making their way between battery and panel to
keep everything happy.

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA

[ContestID67]

On Dec 11, 2:33 pm, Henryk Birecki > wrote:
> One thing to keep in mind is not to skimp on wire size. Use 14 gage or
> lower for battery to panel wiring. I'd fuse each instrument separately
> if feasible, not necessarily on panel. Keep speaker far away form
> compass.
>

Gauges of wires can always be confusing because as the gauge number
goes down, the physical size of the wire (and its current carrying
capability) increases. Thus gauge #1 is much, much larger in diameter
than gauge #26. Normal household power wiring is 12-14 gauge.
Speaker wired tends to be in the 18-20 gauge range.

So when Henryk says "Use 14 gauge or lower for battery to panel
wiring." he is saying to use a lower gage number. Generally I would
have said "Use 14 gauge or higher for battery to panel wiring.".

My guidelines for wiring.

12 to 14 gauge - Main power lead from battery to distribution block
16 to 18 gauge - Power lead from distribution block to individual
devices
18 to 20 gauge - Speaker wiring
20 to 26 gauge - Control wires such as push-to-talk, air brake
switch, etc

Good luck, John

[Cats]

On Dec 11, 5:34 am, Travis Beach >
wrote:
> Well got everything plumbed the other day adn need
> to wire the entire electrical system...not a whole
> lot to do really
>
> New 12v 9.0 amp battery
> 5 and 3 amp Klixon Breakers for the Tasman and the
> Microair 760
> Aux. Power source Car Cig type plug-in
> Bus Bar
> Master Switch
> PTT Switch
> Microphone and speaker
> In-line fuses
>
> Anyone out there got any sage advice? Drawings of simple
> wiring diagrams they can email me or links to sites?
>
> Wiring, Seals, W&B, Annual and FLY...
>
> Thanks...
>
> Beach

A further thought. Do it so the panel is easy to remove - you can get
Winter 'fast' connectors for the pneumatics, think about how the
electrics are connected as well to make it easy to do.

[Marc Ramsey]

Cats wrote:
> A further thought. Do it so the panel is easy to remove - you can get
> Winter 'fast' connectors for the pneumatics, think about how the
> electrics are connected as well to make it easy to do.

In my experience (and of others I know), these Winter pneumatic
connectors have a tendency to leak after a few years. I use standard
inline connectors along with short pieces of tubing which get replaced
every time I remove an instrument or the entire panel. Nearly as easy,
and no problem with leaks...

Marc

[bumper]

"Marc Ramsey" > wrote in message news:fjpa09
>
> In my experience (and of others I know), these Winter pneumatic connectors
> have a tendency to leak after a few years. I use standard inline
> connectors along with short pieces of tubing which get replaced every time
> I remove an instrument or the entire panel. Nearly as easy, and no
> problem with leaks...
>
> Marc
>

I use a short length of silicone rubber tubing (available at McMaster-Carr)
to connect to the instruments. Silicone rubber retains its elasticity,
resists ozone and weathering, so doesn't leak. It's also easy to get on and
off.

bumper
zz
Minden

[Marc Ramsey]

bumper wrote:
> "Marc Ramsey" > wrote in message news:fjpa09
>> In my experience (and of others I know), these Winter pneumatic connectors
>> have a tendency to leak after a few years. I use standard inline
>> connectors along with short pieces of tubing which get replaced every time
>> I remove an instrument or the entire panel. Nearly as easy, and no
>> problem with leaks...
>
> I use a short length of silicone rubber tubing (available at McMaster-Carr)
> to connect to the instruments. Silicone rubber retains its elasticity,
> resists ozone and weathering, so doesn't leak. It's also easy to get on and
> off.

I used to use silicon rubber for the short pieces, but elasticity also
allows for increased possibility of kinks and other restrictions in
flow. I feel more comfortable these days using fresh pieces of Tygon
tubing...

Marc

[Bob Kuykendall]

This is fun! Can we do this every year, right before the "silicone in
wax inhibits repair bonding" thread?

Thanks, Bob K.

[Tim Taylor]

On Dec 12, 1:08 pm, Bob Kuykendall > wrote:
> This is fun! Can we do this every year, right before the "silicone in
> wax inhibits repair bonding" thread?
>
> Thanks, Bob K.

But it is only nine days to till the winter solstice, and we haven't
bashed the PW-5's yet (then again the Diana might be the new PW-5).

[Bob Kuykendall]

> But it is only nine days to till the winter solstice, and we haven't
> bashed the PW-5's yet (then again the Diana might be the new PW-5).

You're right, I'd forgotten that one. Commence RAS always/never
polarization on my mark! Don't forget to confuse anecdote and data!

;)

Thanks again, Bob K.

[Tim Ward[_1_]]

"Bob Kuykendall" > wrote in message
...
>
> > But it is only nine days to till the winter solstice, and we haven't
> > bashed the PW-5's yet (then again the Diana might be the new PW-5).
>
> You're right, I'd forgotten that one. Commence RAS always/never
> polarization on my mark! Don't forget to confuse anecdote and data!
>
> ;)
>
> Thanks again, Bob K.

Did I miss the 2-33 roast?

Tim Ward

[Jim Vincent]

Travis,

Emailing you some diagrams in Vision and PDF.

Jim

"Travis Beach" > wrote in message
...
> Well got everything plumbed the other day adn need
> to wire the entire electrical system...not a whole
> lot to do really
>
> New 12v 9.0 amp battery
> 5 and 3 amp Klixon Breakers for the Tasman and the
> Microair 760
> Aux. Power source Car Cig type plug-in
> Bus Bar
> Master Switch
> PTT Switch
> Microphone and speaker
> In-line fuses
>
> Anyone out there got any sage advice? Drawings of simple
> wiring diagrams they can email me or links to sites?
>
> Wiring, Seals, W&B, Annual and FLY...
>
> Thanks...
>
> Beach
>
>
>