Project Log - August, 2004 
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August, 2004
August 1, 2004 - 5.3 hours
Finished enough of the AOA wiring to power it up and see if it works. I still have to hook up the annunciator, flap switch and audio. I uploaded the latest firmware into the Dynon EFIS-D10. It worked flawlessly. I played around with the checklists a little bit. I still have some configuration to do to get it perfect but I think I'll be really happy with this box. I started wiring up the GRT EIS-4000 Engine monitor. I managed to get all of the EGT / CHT's wired as well as power and the manifold pressure sensor.

August 4, 2004 - 1.2 hours
Mounted the fuel pressure and oil pressure senders. Pulled the wires through the firewall for these senders and hooked up all but the grounds. I also hooked up the P-lead wires and pulled them through the firewall.

August 7, 2004 - 2.75 hours
Hooked the P-lead up to the switch in the cockpit. Wired the tach input to this same switch. I also put the OAT sensor for the EIS into the NACA duct on the passenger side and wired it up.

August 8, 2004 - 5 hours
Finished all the wiring on the EIS engine monitor (except the annunciator output) and powered it up. It showed a few temperatures that seemed about right but without any calibrations I really couldn't test much. It does work though. I hooked the power up to the MP3/CD player and I also installed my cargo lights, which are nothing more than those cold cathode tubes that people put inside glass cased computers to fancy them up. I mounted them under the seat-back bulkhead.

August 10, 2004 - 1.9 hours
Built a bracket under the co-pilot seat for the two relays that I will use for the flaps.

August 11, 2004 - 1.8 hours
I thought that I could get the flap wiring finished up tonight but it turned out to be a bigger job than I thought.

August 12, 2004 - 2 hours
Finally finished the flap wiring, and actually moved the flaps. It's fun to see stuff move.

These are the flap relays. The third relay gives me an indication of when the flap motor is turning so that I don't forget when I raise the flaps.

This is a shot of the wiring for the flaps and the cargo lights. The blue box is the inverter for the cold cathode tubes that I am using as cargo lights.

Here is the stick grip wiring. The D-sub on the back of the bulkhead is the machined pin type so it is easy enough to move the functions around.

August 21, 2004 - 2 hours
Finished wiring the Landing / Taxi lights. I also wired up the postition lights. I rigged up a way to test the Wig Wag flashre on the L/T lights and I don't think that I am going to be happy with it. I will probably redo it.

August 23, 2004 - 1 hours
Finished the last of the Lightspeed Electronic Ignition wiring by hooking the coax up to the coils. I then started scratching my head about where to put the headset jacks.

I used right angle Fast-on connectors for the coil wiring since the coils are so close to the baffle. I intend to watch these closely and if they show any sign of wear I'll make a new mount for the coils and move them forward. I think this will work okay because the wires have good support due to the fact that they are 3" out to the side of the coils. I may even put an adel clamp on the baffle to hold it even better.

August 24, 2004 - 1 hours
I think I may use a couple of little platic boxes from Radio Shack to put my headset jacks in. This will give the cables some support and eliminate the need to have the little isolation washers. I plan to mount them to the bottom of the sub panel.

The headset jacks fit nicely in those small ABS plastic experimenter boxes that Radio Shack sells. This will keep the jacks isolated from the metal airframe as well as offer some support for the wires.

August 25, 2004 - 2.2 hours
I drilled the holes in the sub panel for my little headset jack boxes and I finished soldering the wires to the DRE intercom connector.

This was some pretty tedious soldering. It is the connector for the DRE-244e intercom that I bought from E-bay. If you buy it from DRE it comes with a pre-made harness. DRE would have made me one but I decided that the cost was more than I was willing to spend since I am perfectly capable of doing this.

August 26, 2004 - 2.1 hours
Still soldering on the intercom wiring. I managed to get the relay done that I put in for switching com 1 to com 2. (I don't have a com 2 but I think I may expand so I put the relay in just in case.) It is a passive mixing circuit that I got from Garth at DRE. I also started soldering the wires to the headset jacks. When I screwed one up I decided that I had breathed enough lead vapor.

August 27, 2004 - 2 hours
Finished soldering the headset jacks in the little boxes and put the intercom wiring harness into the panel. I started hooking up power running the wires around to where they need to be.

You can see here why I wanted all this to be in a box. It makes it look nicer and it protects this rat's nest.

Here is the finished intercom wiring harness. You can see the two boxes that the headset jacks are in, the RCA plugs for the CD/MP3 player and the 4PDT relay that has the passive mixing and com radio switching circuit soldered to it. If I ever add a com radio to this plane I simply wire the coil of that relay to the panel switch and when the relay has power it's com 2 and otherwise it's com 1.

August 28, 2004 - 3 hours
Finished mounting the headset jack boxes under the panel, connected the CD/MP3 player to the intercom and hooked up the PTT wiring to the pilot side stick grip (co-pilot grip is in the mail). I plugged my headset in and gave them to Shannon to put on, then turned on the MP3 player. When her head started bobbing I knew it was working. Once all that was working well I hooked up the audio output of the AOA to the passive mixer circuit and it worked.

The finished headset jack box. I think I'll be happy with this and if I ever want to move the jack location I can just make some extension cables and plug them in here.

Here is my Pioneer CD/MP3 player that I bought. The pre-amp outputs are hooked up to the music input of the DRE intercom. It sounds AWESOME.

There's not much to look at on the intercom but it sure works good. The blue knobs are of my own choosing. I bought this unit from Ebay and it didn't come with knobs or a wiring harness. I am still searching for knobs that I like.

August 29, 2004 - 7.2 hours
Hooked up the flap switch to the AOA and that completes the AOA wiring. I made a plate for the comm antenna mount and Daryl came by and helped me rivet it to the plane. He also brought another headset so we could test out the intercom some more (I only have one headset). That DRE-244e works as advertised. If it works that well with all the airplane noise I'll be thrilled with it. Once I got the antenna mounted I finished all the rest of the wiring to the ICOM A-200 com radio and turned it on. Nothing :-(. Look at the drawings again, and see the text "jumpers MUST be installed" DOH!! Okay install the jumpers and try again. WHOO HOOO!! I dialed in the CTAF for West Houston and actually heard somebody in the pattern. I pushed the PTT and the TX light came on. It's all very exciting.

The com antenna is mounted just below the co-pilot's seat.

Here is the doubler plate on the inside where the com antenna mounts. Yes I got a little carried away with the rivets but it's been a while I wanted to make sure I hadn't forgot how to rivet.

August 31, 2004 - 1 hours
Tonight I worked on the Electronics International Dual Fuel Level guage. I got the power and the backlight hooked up but I am still debating on where to punch a hole in the side of the airplane for the probe wires to pass through. They can't go through the other holes because the fuel probes are forward of the spar and I ain't drillin' no holes in the spar to pass wires through.

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This web site and the infomation contained within it are for entertainment purposes only. The opinions expressed on construction techniques are my opinions only and should not be confused with proper construction techniques. There is undoubtedly more than one way to build an airplane and some methods that I use may or may not work in any given circumstance. If there is any question please call the kit manufacturer. I love to help but I am not responsible for the misuse of any information contained on this web site.

 February 3, 2021
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