Thoughts on panel upgrade?

definitely use a label maker for a clean appearance if you're going through all the trouble already.

==============

As to label making, I have used these guys to make engraved placards for my panel work. Their stuff is 1) inexpensive, 2) very professional looking, 3) they stay stuck! I make up my simple designs/requirements in PowerPoint with notes on size, color, etc. Be sure to order a few with your tail number for the panel - you will find other uses for them.

Matthew Yoczik
Aircraft Engravers
(860) 653-2780 ph
(860) 653-7324 fax
http://www.engravers.net/placards-std.html

- John

Airlines - Replace them while you are working on the panel and use color coding. Makes it much easier to figure out what is going where, and is sexy to boot. Available at http://wingsandwheels.com.

Pitot - Red
TE - Green
Static - Blue
Capacity - Yellow

On Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 6:53:58 AM UTC-8, ND wrote:
On Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 12:28:54 AM UTC-5, Paul wrote:
On Tuesday, January 31, 2017 at 9:42:03 AM UTC-6, OHM Ω http://aviation.derosaweb.net wrote:
All of the information above, centered on which instruments to get, is great. A couple of points about the behind the scenes part of your panel.. Before doing any work you should make a schematic of what goes to where, both electrically and airlines. This may be tedious but will be important during the rebuild. Seriously consider rewiring everything behind the panel. I imagine it is a hodge-podge of wires from years to additions and subtractions. Scary? Maybe but rewiring, and making a schematic, pays dividends when you are getting everything working and later mods. Guess what I am doing this winter on my "new" ship? See http://aviation.derosaweb.net/presentations for some helpful hints. Best of luck. - John

Thank you for the link, John, it's very timely. I removed my panel yesterday, sanded and primed it today; tomorrow I'll finish paint and reinstall it. The wiring isn't too bad (not like the "rats nest" in your photo), but there are a few things I'm tending to, and I'll be doing it with a bit more of an appreciation for best-practices, thanks to your presentation.

mix up some resin with flock and plug those speaker holes + other unneccessary ones. then re-prime and paint. you'll be glad you did. definitely use a label maker for a clean appearance if you're going through all the trouble already.

Finally, send us a link to a pic when you're done. i'd love to see the transformation.

More stuff on panels

http://www.craggyaero.com/Panel%20Mf...structions.pdf
http://www.craggyaero.com/Drawings/I...0Templates.pdf

Richard
www.craggyaero.com

Slight thread jack:
There are some good tips are some really good tips on this newsgroup when it comes to panel upgrades and electrical systems.

I redid a panel upgrade last year and it went from this:
https://s27.postimg.org/ojdfgpfmb/Ni...201_190105.jpg
to this:
https://s28.postimg.org/j14qyy8rh/20...164751_640.jpg
Just need to fix the shroud which the previous owner messed up.

I used a Brother label printer for the labels, the two master battery switch setup with common bus behind the panel (master fuses at batteries), individual switches and fuses to each instrument (automotive blade fuse block behind panel) and XT60 RC connectors to the instruments so that they can be removed with ease (I couldn't source Anderson Powerpole connectors where I live and it was too expensive to ship).
Thick walled silicone hose is cheap (sourced from China via eBay), comes in various colours and works extremely well. Removing instruments is easy and it reseals perfectly every time.
I see a lot of guys using those huge (ugly) master switches but there are smaller more elegant switches available which can switch 10A to 20A DC if you're willing to browse a few spec sheets.
One can do a first class job without having to break the bank.
Thanks for all the tips guys - keep them coming.

Hi Paul,

Is that a Mini Nimbus? (Or maybe a Standard Cirrus?). Either way, I've just redone my panel on my 1978 Mini Nimbus, and decided to DIY an openvario (www.openvario.org). It runs XCSOAR and integrates nicely with my existing lxnav S7 and FLARM.

Before and after pic he

http://i.imgur.com/LIAgqt2.jpg


I also took the opportunity to clean up all the rats nest of wiring and pneumatics, and made each individual piece of equipment switchable between battery A & B in-flight (without interruption) using a MOSFET switching circuit.

All DIY, other than the pre-fabricated panel blank (not strictly necessary, but the old one was aluminium and I wanted to make it safer)... oh and I bought a FlarmView.

None of this is necessary of course, but you can achieve a lot with a limited budget and some perseverance.

On Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 12:34:18 PM UTC-6, John Wells wrote:
Hi Paul,

Is that a Mini Nimbus? (Or maybe a Standard Cirrus?). Either way, I've just redone my panel on my 1978 Mini Nimbus, and decided to DIY an openvario (www.openvario.org). It runs XCSOAR and integrates nicely with my existing lxnav S7 and FLARM.

Before and after pic he

http://i.imgur.com/LIAgqt2.jpg


I also took the opportunity to clean up all the rats nest of wiring and pneumatics, and made each individual piece of equipment switchable between battery A & B in-flight (without interruption) using a MOSFET switching circuit.

All DIY, other than the pre-fabricated panel blank (not strictly necessary, but the old one was aluminium and I wanted to make it safer)... oh and I bought a FlarmView.

None of this is necessary of course, but you can achieve a lot with a limited budget and some perseverance.

Nice panel, John! I've spoken with a few people about openvario, and gave it a lot of thought. Stefan (stefly.aero) sells a very reasonably priced openvario kit, of which I'm sure you're aware, but others might not be. He has a very nice stick controller for openvario... it'd go real well with your setup!

My glider is a Discus, BTW. I'm going to get the panel painted, put it back together, and fly the **** out of it this summer. I'm pretty new to this stuff, and I'm sure I'll be able to make a more educated decision about panel upgrades next winter. There's so much to consider, with transponders, Flarm, varios, etc. There's also this Kraco 8-track player that I'd like to install, but I'm not sure if I can get it to work with my bluetooth subwoofer! ;-)

On Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 7:10:02 PM UTC-8, Paul wrote:
On Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 12:34:18 PM UTC-6, John Wells wrote:
Hi Paul,

Is that a Mini Nimbus? (Or maybe a Standard Cirrus?). Either way, I've just redone my panel on my 1978 Mini Nimbus, and decided to DIY an openvario (www.openvario.org). It runs XCSOAR and integrates nicely with my existing lxnav S7 and FLARM.

Before and after pic he

http://i.imgur.com/LIAgqt2.jpg


I also took the opportunity to clean up all the rats nest of wiring and pneumatics, and made each individual piece of equipment switchable between battery A & B in-flight (without interruption) using a MOSFET switching circuit.

All DIY, other than the pre-fabricated panel blank (not strictly necessary, but the old one was aluminium and I wanted to make it safer)... oh and I bought a FlarmView.

None of this is necessary of course, but you can achieve a lot with a limited budget and some perseverance.

Nice panel, John! I've spoken with a few people about openvario, and gave it a lot of thought. Stefan (stefly.aero) sells a very reasonably priced openvario kit, of which I'm sure you're aware, but others might not be. He has a very nice stick controller for openvario... it'd go real well with your setup!

My glider is a Discus, BTW. I'm going to get the panel painted, put it back together, and fly the **** out of it this summer. I'm pretty new to this stuff, and I'm sure I'll be able to make a more educated decision about panel upgrades next winter. There's so much to consider, with transponders, Flarm, varios, etc. There's also this Kraco 8-track player that I'd like to install, but I'm not sure if I can get it to work with my bluetooth subwoofer! ;-)

Kraco 8-tracks are a bit of a pain, you might look into the Panasonics.
Weight and balance can be a problem, plus the tapes don't easily fit out the vent window where you will feel they need to go.
A friend had overheating problems with his Open Vario. Look into that before starting the project (next year).
Jim

On Friday, 3 February 2017 06:26:33 UTC+2, JS wrote:
A friend had overheating problems with his Open Vario. Look into that before starting the project (next year).
Jim

I built my own XCSoar glide computer (Raspberry Pi 2B) and I added a 40mm DC fan underneath the case running at reduced speed (couple of diodes in series) for ventilation.
The biggest source of heat in my case is the 7 inch, 1000 nit touch screen.
I'm sure an Open Vario case could be modified in a similar way to sort out heat issues. I didn't run into any RFI issues with the fan but YMMV.

On Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 11:34:25 PM UTC-6, Surge wrote:
On Friday, 3 February 2017 06:26:33 UTC+2, JS wrote:
A friend had overheating problems with his Open Vario. Look into that before starting the project (next year).
Jim

I built my own XCSoar glide computer (Raspberry Pi 2B) and I added a 40mm DC fan underneath the case running at reduced speed (couple of diodes in series) for ventilation.
The biggest source of heat in my case is the 7 inch, 1000 nit touch screen.
I'm sure an Open Vario case could be modified in a similar way to sort out heat issues. I didn't run into any RFI issues with the fan but YMMV.

That sounds pretty cool! Does it work well? Do you have any details/photos?

On Friday, 3 February 2017 07:57:40 UTC+2, Paul wrote:
That sounds pretty cool! Does it work well? Do you have any details/photos?

Some photos
https://s29.postimg.org/700iji3ev/pisoar1.jpg
https://s29.postimg.org/j35u72eh3/pisoar2.jpg
https://s29.postimg.org/f82g4hvbb/pisoar3.jpg
https://s29.postimg.org/wmr9qihtz/pisoar4.jpg
https://s29.postimg.org/pktc4be87/pisoar5.jpg
https://s29.postimg.org/76it0c1xj/pisoar6.jpg

I used single side, copper clad, FR4 PC board soldered together to make the case. Don't do this unless you like to itch and make all your tools blunt! In hindsight an aluminium case may cost more and be a bit more difficult to manufacture but it would be better than working with FR4 board and look more professional to boot.
I made an oversized case because I have plenty of space behind the panel and to leave space for additional circuity later.
The screen is a 1000 nit, 7" Xenarc resistive touch screen (works with gloves) with HDMI connection to the Pi. GPS source is from a FlarmMouse via an S80 vario into RS232 to USB cable (using RS232 levels - not TTL). I'm not a fan of wireless technologies such as Bluetooth since they both introduce RFI and are themselves prone to external interference so I stuck with shielded, wired connections.
The 40mm DC fan is at the bottom and a covered vent at the top rear.

The Raspberry Pi 2B runs XCSoar on framebuffer so there are no overheads from a window manager. I can still launch an LXDE window manager to use a web browser once I've quit XCSoar.

The main reasons why I built it is because XCSoar rocks, I like tinkering and I didn't want to spend $2000+ on a commercial solution that I can't customise later or find out X years down the line that the device is no longer supported (please upgrade).
The OpenVario project looks like a nice solution without requiring R&D. If I had to do it again I'd probably go that route than build my own solution.