AR3201 Harness?

[noel.wade]

Hi All,

I have an old Becker AR3201 that's working fine; but I managed to
slice a few of the wires in the harness while re-wiring my glider this
month (I decided it was time to get the rat's nest of PVC wire and old
tube-type fuses out of the cockpit). A blade-type fuse on the
battery, Anderson power-pole connectors, and a few circuit breakers
all connected with Tefzel wire make for a much cleaner setup!

Anyways - Since the model 3201 has been discontinued, I haven't been
able to find any source of pre-fab wiring harnesses (at least, not
online). I _could_ repair the harness myself with some careful
soldering, but a new harness would be a lot nicer (especially since I
have a gooseneck mic, a stick-mounted PTT switch, and the Becker audio
box mounted aft of the spar carrythrough area... so there are a lot of
wires to be hooked up properly and deliver a clean signal).

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks! Take care,

--Noel

[[email protected]]

On Mar 6, 6:00*am, "noel.wade" > wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I have an old Becker AR3201 that's working fine; but I managed to
> slice a few of the wires in the harness while re-wiring my glider this
> month (I decided it was time to get the rat's nest of PVC wire and old
> tube-type fuses out of the cockpit). *A blade-type fuse on the
> battery, Anderson power-pole connectors, and a few circuit breakers
> all connected with Tefzel wire make for a much cleaner setup!
>
> Anyways - Since the model 3201 has been discontinued, I haven't been
> able to find any source of pre-fab wiring harnesses (at least, not
> online). *I _could_ repair the harness myself with some careful
> soldering, but a new harness would be a lot nicer (especially since I
> have a gooseneck mic, a stick-mounted PTT switch, and the Becker audio
> box mounted aft of the spar carrythrough area... so there are a lot of
> wires to be hooked up properly and deliver a clean signal).
>
> Any thoughts or suggestions?
>
> Thanks! *Take care,
>
> --Noel

It's time to re-wire the harness your self. That's what I had to do
when I bought mine used. It's not that hard to do. Post if you need
a copy of the manual or wiring diagram.

Todd Smith
3S

[nimbus]

Indeed. This is an excellent opportunity to redo your wiring.

So you will learn how to place the wiring inside the cockpit, profit
for cleaning some dust under the seat plate, etc...

This is also an excellent opportunity to make special wiring. For
example, adding a specif connector for the Microphone on the
instrument panel if you intend to fly in the mountains and use a
oxygen mask with incorporated micro. This is not complex. Maximum of
10 wires to solder.

Pay attention that the micro wires must be shielded.
If you need the wiring diagram do not hesitate to contact me.

Bruno

[cemx86]

Noel,

Glad to see that you are using Tefzel. The message must be getting
through! It would seem to me that pulling out the entire harness and
rewiring it to the mic, PTT, speaker, battery, etc, would be much more
time consumming and difficult than some judicious soldering insulated
with heat shrink. But that's your call.

What I wanted to bring up is - watch out for breakers in our glider's
non-electricity generating environment. Breakers, except for the all
electronic type, drop anywhere from 0.25VDC up to 2.0VDC across them
depending on the amp rating (smaller is worse). In an airplane, with
their generator and 13.6-14.0VDC constant voltage environment, this
isn't much of an issue. But when running with the constantly falling
voltage battery bound glider situation, any voltage drop should be
avoided. This is the reason that "bigger is better" is the way to go
with wiring (which also can have voltage drops). See
http://aviation.derosaweb.net/presentations for some more thoughts.

Finally, you need to get your work inspected and signed off by an FAA
licenses tech. This is a given for standard certified aircraft. But
is also a requirement for experimental certified aircraft, unless you
built 51% of your glider, which seems kinda doubtful.

My $0.02

[[email protected]]

On Mar 6, 3:00*am, "noel.wade" > wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I have an old Becker AR3201 that's working fine; but I managed to
> slice a few of the wires in the harness while re-wiring my glider this
> month (I decided it was time to get the rat's nest of PVC wire and old
> tube-type fuses out of the cockpit). *A blade-type fuse on the
> battery, Anderson power-pole connectors, and a few circuit breakers
> all connected with Tefzel wire make for a much cleaner setup!
>
> Anyways - Since the model 3201 has been discontinued, I haven't been
> able to find any source of pre-fab wiring harnesses (at least, not
> online). *I _could_ repair the harness myself with some careful
> soldering, but a new harness would be a lot nicer (especially since I
> have a gooseneck mic, a stick-mounted PTT switch, and the Becker audio
> box mounted aft of the spar carrythrough area... so there are a lot of
> wires to be hooked up properly and deliver a clean signal).
>
> Any thoughts or suggestions?
>
> Thanks! *Take care,
>
> --Noel

Noel,

I can make you a wiring harness for the AR3201. Tefzel wire etc
$149.

Give me a call.

Richard
www.craggyaero.com

[Soarin Again[_2_]]

At 13:58 06 March 2009, cemx86 wrote:

>Finally, you need to get your work inspected and signed off by an >FAA
licenses tech. This is a given for standard certified aircraft. >But is
also a requirement for experimental certified aircraft, unless >you built
51% of your glider, which seems kinda doubtful.
>
>My $0.02

While it might be a good idea to have a mechanic look at the wiring. But
where do you get the opinion from, that an FAA licensed airframe mechanic
is required to sign off re-wiring on an Experimental glider?

[Soarin Again[_2_]]

At 13:58 06 March 2009, cemx86 wrote:

>Finally, you need to get your work inspected and signed off by an >FAA
licenses tech. This is a given for standard certified aircraft. >But is
also a requirement for experimental certified aircraft, unless >you built
51% of your glider, which seems kinda doubtful.
>
>My $0.02

While it might be a good idea to have a mechanic look at the wiring. But
where do you get the opinion from, that an FAA licensed airframe mechanic
is required to sign off re-wiring on an Experimental glider?

[Tim Mara[_2_]]

harness is very simple to make, just use good quality wire like the tefzel
and good solder technique, making a custom harness is actually better than
using a pre-assembled harness since you can make the cables more correct
length and fishing them through is far easier than fishing bundles with
connectors already in place. The wiring diagram for the Becker AR3201 as
well as many other types are all on my website page
http://www.wingsandwheels.com/useful.htm
tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at www.wingsandwheels.com


"noel.wade" > wrote in message
...
> Hi All,
>
> I have an old Becker AR3201 that's working fine; but I managed to
> slice a few of the wires in the harness while re-wiring my glider this
> month (I decided it was time to get the rat's nest of PVC wire and old
> tube-type fuses out of the cockpit). A blade-type fuse on the
> battery, Anderson power-pole connectors, and a few circuit breakers
> all connected with Tefzel wire make for a much cleaner setup!
>
> Anyways - Since the model 3201 has been discontinued, I haven't been
> able to find any source of pre-fab wiring harnesses (at least, not
> online). I _could_ repair the harness myself with some careful
> soldering, but a new harness would be a lot nicer (especially since I
> have a gooseneck mic, a stick-mounted PTT switch, and the Becker audio
> box mounted aft of the spar carrythrough area... so there are a lot of
> wires to be hooked up properly and deliver a clean signal).
>
> Any thoughts or suggestions?
>
> Thanks! Take care,
>
> --Noel
>

[noel.wade]

Thanks, All!

I have the original manual, but the wiring diagram on mine is printed
as bad (or worse) than the ones on W&W (thanks, Tim!)

Since I'm into digital/computer stuff (I love unshielded-twisted-
pair).... which of the connections in the radio harness are important
to use sheilded wire with? I'm assuming that I don't need to sheild
_every_ wire. Shielded wire seems to come in pairs or triplets, so it
would be nice to only use a few of those and then a bunch of single
(unshielded) wires bundled together with spiral-wrap or something like
that. Any tips or advice?

As far as the CBs go: The Klixon units have actually been in the
glider the whole time; they just weren't wired well (yes, a previous
owner wired both glass 1A fuses AND 1A CBs in serial, for every item
in the aircraft - oof!). I've flown for 6 hours on this original
setup with an aging/tired 7ah battery and been OK (though it was
marginal at the end). I changed the battery-box this winter and am
now running 12ah - 14ah batteries. I should be able to fly for 8 - 10
hours now, which is plenty for me! I recharge my batts every night,
and have 2 (so I can fly all weekend without a recharge if I need
to). For the curious, my ship has an SNAV (with analog vario), Tasman
Vario, B400 Vario (as a backup), ewMicroRecorder, IPAQ 4700 PDA, and
Becker AR3201.

Regarding inspection: I don't think I need an A&P to sign off my
electrical work. None of the instruments that are powered are "safety
of flight" or "required for VFR" items. Of course, I've had to take
apart the panel and _that_ has required a disconnection of the Pitot/
Static system - which I am also changing (because I discovered the
original Altimeter was never hooked up to the static lines!! I always
wondered why my GPS / PDA / SNAV all disagreed with the Altimeter by a
couple-hundred feet)... So the glider will be going for its annual as
soon as I've completed the wiring, and I'm sure it will be given a
close look by my A&P at that time. :-)

Thanks again, take care,

--Noel

[noel.wade]

P.S. On the subject of voltage drops: I'm using 16 - 18 gauge wire
throughout, except for a short run of about 2 feet (inside the panel/
pedestal) where I'm using some of the small-gauge "telephone style"
wiring that comes standard with the SNAV and Tasman. I may bite the
bullet and break out my RJ-11/RJ-45 crimper and fab up some tefzel
wires for that, too... I just don't want to have to go through the
hassle of mail-ordering more Tefzel for just these two short bits!
(Don't know of any local places that might carry Tefzel) :-P

[Darryl Ramm]

On Mar 6, 12:54*pm, "noel.wade" > wrote:
> Thanks, All!
>
> I have the original manual, but the wiring diagram on mine is printed
> as bad (or worse) than the ones on W&W (thanks, Tim!)
>
> Since I'm into digital/computer stuff (I love unshielded-twisted-
> pair).... *which of the connections in the radio harness are important
> to use sheilded wire with? *I'm assuming that I don't need to sheild
> _every_ wire. *Shielded wire seems to come in pairs or triplets, so it
> would be nice to only use a few of those and then a bunch of single
> (unshielded) wires bundled together with spiral-wrap or something like
> that. *Any tips or advice?
>
> As far as the CBs go: *The Klixon units have actually been in the
> glider the whole time; they just weren't wired well (yes, a previous
> owner wired both glass 1A fuses AND 1A CBs in serial, for every item
> in the aircraft - oof!). *I've flown for 6 hours on this original
> setup with an aging/tired 7ah battery and been OK (though it was
> marginal at the end). *I changed the battery-box this winter and am
> now running 12ah - 14ah batteries. *I should be able to fly for 8 - 10
> hours now, which is plenty for me! *I recharge my batts every night,
> and have 2 (so I can fly all weekend without a recharge if I need
> to). *For the curious, my ship has an SNAV (with analog vario), Tasman
> Vario, B400 Vario (as a backup), ewMicroRecorder, IPAQ 4700 PDA, and
> Becker AR3201.
>
> Regarding inspection: *I don't think I need an A&P to sign off my
> electrical work. *None of the instruments that are powered are "safety
> of flight" or "required for VFR" items. *Of course, I've had to take
> apart the panel and _that_ has required a disconnection of the Pitot/
> Static system - which I am also changing (because I discovered the
> original Altimeter was never hooked up to the static lines!! *I always
> wondered why my GPS / PDA / SNAV all disagreed with the Altimeter by a
> couple-hundred feet)... *So the glider will be going for its annual as
> soon as I've completed the wiring, and I'm sure it will be given a
> close look by my A&P at that time. :-)
>
> Thanks again, take care,
>
> --Noel

The wiring to worry about is the microphone wiring, and headset mic
wiring if you happen to have a headset. I'd also go to some effort to
roue the the mic wires away from any other things that could be
putting out electrical noise. The wiring diagram will show those as
shielded. Nothing else needs to be shielded.

BTW some folks seem to think the braid on some of the Becker harnesses
is a shield. It's just a nylon shroud to keep the wires bundled.

Darryl

[noel.wade]

Quick follow-up question:

The stock diagram and Becker harness uses the outer braid of the
shielded wire as a ground connection.

Could I use the inner braid as the signal wire and a _separate_ wire
as the ground wire? This would avoid requiring me to solder the ground
connection onto the outer braid and make it easier to fab up the wire
harness; but I'm dumb when it comes to electrons so I don't know if
the ground connection is needed in order for the shielding to be
effective...

Help?

Thanks!

--Noel

[brianDG303[_2_]]

On Mar 9, 3:56*pm, "noel.wade" > wrote:
> Quick follow-up question:
>
> The stock diagram and Becker harness uses the outer braid of the
> shielded wire as a ground connection.
>
> Could I use the inner braid as the signal wire and a _separate_ wire
> as the ground wire? This would avoid requiring me to solder the ground
> connection onto the outer braid and make it easier to fab up the wire
> harness; but I'm dumb when it comes to electrons so I don't know if
> the ground connection is needed in order for the shielding to be
> effective...
>
> Help?
>
> Thanks!
>
> --Noel

Noel, you have to ground ONE side and not the other for the grounding
to work. If you don't, those electrons can't go anywhere, and if you
ground both sides you get the potential of current flow through the
bonding connection you create.

[Tim Mara[_2_]]

do what the diagram and manual show.
using the shield is very simple and common.....just strip the insulation
back an inch or so, separate the shield wires to free them from the center
insulator, twist them together and slide a piece of heat shrink tube over
the shield wires and you then have another wire.
tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at www.wingsandwheels.com

"noel.wade" > wrote in message
...
> Quick follow-up question:
>
> The stock diagram and Becker harness uses the outer braid of the
> shielded wire as a ground connection.
>
> Could I use the inner braid as the signal wire and a _separate_ wire
> as the ground wire? This would avoid requiring me to solder the ground
> connection onto the outer braid and make it easier to fab up the wire
> harness; but I'm dumb when it comes to electrons so I don't know if
> the ground connection is needed in order for the shielding to be
> effective...
>
> Help?
>
> Thanks!
>
> --Noel
>