Of clocks and learning curves...

what's wrong with a $20 Timex?

Well, as my airplane is back in the shop, with the interior torn out once
again, just so they can run a damned wire back to the battery, I have to ask
myself the very same question.

The worst part is knowing that the odds of them breaking SOMETHING else
while they are working on the plane are at least 50/50...probably higher.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
Well, as my airplane is back in the shop, with the interior torn out once
again, just so they can run a damned wire back to the battery, I have to ask
myself the very same question.
The worst part is knowing that the odds of them breaking SOMETHING else
while they are working on the plane are at least 50/50...probably higher.

Plus, the fact that this VERY simple instalation gave your A&P trouble
worries me (and should worry you). He should have known how this
electrical system works without even looking at the wiring diagram. It's
not exactly a "state secret" that clock power, and radio memory keep
alives, generally have to have a wire run to the battery. You'd better
keep an eye on this guy.

--- Jay


--
__!__
Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
http://www2.ari.net/jmasino ! ! !
http://www.oceancityairport.com
http://www.oc-adolfos.com

"Jay Honeck" writes:

what's wrong with a $20 Timex?

Well, as my airplane is back in the shop, with the interior torn out once
again, just so they can run a damned wire back to the battery, I have to ask
myself the very same question.

Let's hear it for wind-up clocks, even if I did just pay the equivalent
cost of a new digital clock to get mine repaired.

--
Matt Emerson (1963 Mooney M20D)

Plus, the fact that this VERY simple instalation gave your A&P trouble
worries me (and should worry you). He should have known how this
electrical system works without even looking at the wiring diagram. It's
not exactly a "state secret" that clock power, and radio memory keep
alives, generally have to have a wire run to the battery. You'd better
keep an eye on this guy.

Absolutely.

This A&P is a 60 year old, retired grocery store manager, working as an
"apprentice" with my favorite A&P, a "master mechanic" with 30+ years
experience. He just got his A&P license this past winter, but has been
working around airplanes for many years. (He owned and operated an FBO
before going into business with his best friend, the master mechanic, and is
a CFI who owned a Bonanza for many years.)

He's a helluva nice guy, very careful and thorough about most things -- but
he obviously didn't know what the heck he was doing with this clock.

The upside: He's fixing it on his nickel. The downside: Every time you
take something apart, you risk breaking something else.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Why didn't you just get the clock with the battery pack attached?

Mike
MU-2


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:Gnrsc.108280$536.19076605@attbi_s03...
Plus, the fact that this VERY simple instalation gave your A&P trouble
worries me (and should worry you). He should have known how this
electrical system works without even looking at the wiring diagram.
It's
not exactly a "state secret" that clock power, and radio memory keep
alives, generally have to have a wire run to the battery. You'd better
keep an eye on this guy.

Absolutely.

This A&P is a 60 year old, retired grocery store manager, working as an
"apprentice" with my favorite A&P, a "master mechanic" with 30+ years
experience. He just got his A&P license this past winter, but has been
working around airplanes for many years. (He owned and operated an FBO
before going into business with his best friend, the master mechanic, and
is
a CFI who owned a Bonanza for many years.)

He's a helluva nice guy, very careful and thorough about most things --
but
he obviously didn't know what the heck he was doing with this clock.

The upside: He's fixing it on his nickel. The downside: Every time you
take something apart, you risk breaking something else.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Why didn't you just get the clock with the battery pack attached?

That's what Davtron asked me.

Of course, the guy at Sun N Fun never asked what kind of plane I had, or
showed me any options. ( A clock is a clock, right?) I just picked the
one that looked exactly like the one I had in my Warrior -- it never dawned
on me to get anything else.

I guess I figured hooking up a clock would be no big deal. For a brief
moment I forgot I was in "aviation-land" -- where logic is perennially stood
on its head, and NOTHING is easy...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

That's why manufactures make instructions


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:lEurc.36031$gr.3583857@attbi_s52...
So I picked up this nifty Davtron digital electric clock/timer at Sun N
Fun.
It's exactly the same model I had in my Warrior (Model 800), and I found a
good price for it. (Roughly 4 times what it's really worth -- a bargain
in
aviation!) Our wind-up clock had become sporadic in cold weather, and I
kept forgetting to wind it anyway...

My A&P took one look at the box and said "This will be a snap to install!"
This should have set off warning alarms right away, but it didn't. We
decided to do it at the annual, when everything was already ripped apart
anyway.

So, after most of the annual was complete, Darryl (the junior A&P in our
2-man shop) dug into it. As expected, it turned out to be a real
son-of-a-bitch getting at the backside of the panel. I ended up standing
on
my head under the panel, holding the clock in place with the very tips of
my
fingers, while Darryl carefully dropped the tiny little retaining screws
onto my belly, over and over again. It was fun! Really!

Eventually, through sheer persistence, he got the damned screws threaded
in.
Then the real fun began -- wiring! The directions clearly called for the
dimmer control wire to be connected to one of the panel lights, and the
hot
lead to go directly to the battery. Unfortunately the battery was in the
way back of the plane -- not exactly handy -- so Darryl decided to wire it
into the hot side of the master switch.

This made sense to me -- which, again, should have set off warning bells
in
my head, but didn't -- as the master switch was a heckuva lot closer than
the battery.

So I picked the plane up today, after reassembling the last little bits
and
pieces. Everything looked great, the engine fired up easily, I taxied
about
40 yards -- and the clock blinked out and died....

Immediately spinning the plane around, I shut the engine and master
down --
and the clock came back to life! So, I turned the master switch back on,
and *poof* -- 15 seconds later, the clock went blank.

What the hell!?

Darryl was completely stumped, and a huddle of wise old airport bums
immediately assembled. It was obvious that hooking up to the "hot" side
of
the master switch was NOT giving us continuous power -- but why?

No one knew, and I had to get back to the hotel. I took the plane back to
my hangar, and left the wise men standing there scratching their heads.

As soon as I got back to the inn, I called Davtron. Describing the
symptoms
to them, they immediately knew the problem. Apparently the Piper master
switch -- on the hot side only -- "powers down" after 15 seconds! Some
solenoid somewhere gets thrown, grounding the circuit and killing power to
the hot side of the master switch.

They said I had two choices: 1) Run the power directly to the battery,
clear in the back of the plane, or 2) send the clock into Davtron, for
free
installation of a battery back up. This battery allows the clock to be
connected to the avionics master, rather than a "hot" wire.

I immediately called Darryl, and gave him the options. He has agreed to
fix the problem on Monday, whatever it takes, free of charge. Rather
than
take the thing out, send it to California, and reinstall it -- he's opted
to
run the wire to the battery...

Live and learn -- who'd ever think that installing a gol-danged CLOCK
would
be so hard?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

His Nickle? he already got your money for doing it wrong.


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:Gnrsc.108280$536.19076605@attbi_s03...
Plus, the fact that this VERY simple instalation gave your A&P trouble
worries me (and should worry you). He should have known how this
electrical system works without even looking at the wiring diagram.
It's
not exactly a "state secret" that clock power, and radio memory keep
alives, generally have to have a wire run to the battery. You'd better
keep an eye on this guy.

Absolutely.

This A&P is a 60 year old, retired grocery store manager, working as an
"apprentice" with my favorite A&P, a "master mechanic" with 30+ years
experience. He just got his A&P license this past winter, but has been
working around airplanes for many years. (He owned and operated an FBO
before going into business with his best friend, the master mechanic, and
is
a CFI who owned a Bonanza for many years.)

He's a helluva nice guy, very careful and thorough about most things --
but
he obviously didn't know what the heck he was doing with this clock.

The upside: He's fixing it on his nickel. The downside: Every time you
take something apart, you risk breaking something else.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

You'd better
keep an eye on this guy.


Yeah, I said the same thing back during the panel light problems....

MC writes:

Jay wrote, "Apparently the Piper master switch -- on the hot side only --
"powers down" after 15 seconds! Some solenoid somewhere gets thrown,
grounding the circuit and killing power to the hot side of the master
switch."

What?! I'd love to see a diagram of that circuit.

Me to.
That sounds like a bizzare system !
Whattheysaid...

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