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Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Have I mentioned I'm a big fan of Barry Schiff?  I agree with this article:



His son (a current airline pilot) will be giving a seminar on this subject on May 15th and you can sign up here.

The seminar has this interesting worksheet to go with it.


1 hr. mostly contemplating my navel... 🤓

A bit of Google research turns up that you need to put 1A fuses inline with the sense wires for the Garmin shunt.  Threads on Van's Airforce show that people use 24 AWG 1A Fuse links.  Need to find those...  Here's the Garmin doc indicating the requirement.

A diagram that someone posted showing this (this shows a different current sensing location than what I'm doing).

Sunday, April 28, 2019

4 hrs. on the firewall.  Thanks Kerry for helping out!

Enlarged these 2 holes and the 3 on the other side for the Cable Safe bulkhead pass-throughs.

Picking the right size ring terminal for the shunt.

Making the copper bus bar (1/2" x 1/16") between the starter and master relays.

Used some red heat shrink and that's done.

Made another bus bar between the shunt and the ANL fuse holder.

Nothing is tied down yet, but it's starting to come together!

The line to the VPX from the shunt.

This arrived today, so I can start to tighten things down.  Strange coincidence, but this company is located in Poway, CA where that tragic shooting took place yesterday. :-(.

Saturday, April 27, 2019

2 hrs. on the firewall.

22,000uF cap installed.  The positive will connect to the left side of the ANL fuse.

Broader view.

The regulator loosely installed.

OK, I'm kind of obsessive....  I continued researching what the right material for the grounding stud should be and brass is not it.

I'm worried about corrosion and electrical failure that could result (hence why I'll be using the Deoxit on all my connections) and I came across this useful chart of material combinations that can cause galvanic corrosion.  It's pretty clear that using brass with either aluminum or steel will cause corrosion over time.

I also looked up the threaded rod I already bought for this purpose and found that it is zinc-coated steel.  Also no good.

Then, I wondered whether go 'ole AC 43.13 had an opinion on material selection for this purpose....  And sure as shit, it does! 😂

Cadmium plated steel for the bolt itself!  Guess what AN bolts are made of.....

I want AN6 thickness, but the problem is that none of them have enough thread for this purpose.  They all seem to have a maximum of about an inch of thread.  Am I overthinking this...? 🤓😁

I'll keep looking....  I'll get back to you. 😎

Friday, April 26, 2019

Digging further into the electrical contact protection subject I found the DeoxIT line of products (link is to their D-series, which seems like the right stuff for my use), which seems to be more widely available than that other stuff.

And it's conveniently available on Amazon! :-)  I'll use it on all my connections!

Larger size here.





I'm not happy with the threaded rod I have for the grounding bolt through the firewall.  Further research tells me that using a brass bolt and nuts is a better solution.  Mostly I get that from looking at the grounding block that Aircraft Spruce sells, which uses brass bolts.

So, off to Lowes tonight to pick up a long brass bolt (and nuts and washers) that I will cut down to size.

I also saw on Vansairforce.com someone mentioning that they use DE-OX on the connections to the grounding bolt to protect it from corrosion.  The documentation on that says it's used for copper (which brass of course contains) and aluminum connections, so my question is: is it equally useful to use on brass connections?

Thursday, April 25, 2019

1 hr. on the firewall.

A partial view of firewall-related parts...

Couldn't find countersunk bolts, so using a washer will do just fine with an AN3 bolt.

The ANL fuse holder and shunt are in!

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Just a few minutes tonight bringing in some new parts and checking a couple of things.

My high-temp grommets arrived from McMaster-Carr.  Checking the fit on the fuel supply hose...

...and the return line.  Perfect!

These are the parts I got.

Bought some threaded rod to use for the grounding bolt through the firewall.

Monday, April 22, 2019

1 hr. on the firewall.

The ANL fuse is going here.  The right side connects to the shunt and the left side will connect to the 22,000uF Cap and External Alternator B+.  I considered putting it further up the firewall, but it would be difficult to get to the backside further down the road if the need arose.  There's also a strengthening crossbeam on the cabin-side above this area, so it would have to go much further up to clear that.

I'm thinking the shunt (which strangely hasn't arrived from SteinAir, so is represented here by the white rectangle) will go under the ANL fuse.  The left side of the shunt will connect to the left side of the Master Relay (see on the left side of the photo) and the right side will connect to the ANL terminal just above it.

The ground of the battery will connect as shown.

Sunday, April 21, 2019

4 hrs. on the firewall.

M5 rubber mounts in (medium Loctite applied).  I'm going to put washers/nuts on the backside too.

Playing with placement of the Master.  Decided to go lower than this to keep away from the harness of the TCU.  There's a good amount of room though for the harness due to the spacing of the TCU off the firewall...

As you can see here.  I was going to mount the master sideways, but the part installation instructions specifically state to install it with the cap down.  So, down it went!

Friend Kerry helping out.  Thanks Kerry!

Bolted in!

Battery in too.

Close up of how the diode is attached in the starter solenoid.  Used this to enable connecting two spade connectors.  The other connection goes to the starter key.

Getting there!

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

2 hrs. drawing up the firewall electrical power wiring.

After consulting The Aircraft Wiring Guide I slightly modified the location of the shunt and drew up the power circuit.

From the book.  While it says the VPX measures all the currents, it doesn't measure battery charging/discharging, so I will add shunt "C" in this diagram.

Considering the diagram from SteinAir and the above, I drew up the following diagram which shows my plan for the relative placements of the parts on the firewall.

Monday, April 15, 2019

Got confirmation on how to connect up an ammeter shunt so my battery charging status can be displayed on the G3X.

From SteinAir:
You can add a shunt on the output side (the side connecting to the system, not the battery terminal) of the master relay and then connect two wires from the small terminals on the shunt to pins 36 and 37 on the GEA24 J243. Then go into the config mode and in the Engine and Airframe section, change shunt 1 to read Battery Amps. This will now display amps on the G3X.

This is the recommended shunt, which I just ordered.


Sunday, April 14, 2019

Well, I've wanted to work on the plane....  But, a work "emergency" and home tasks (have to keep the spouse happy if you want to complete an airplane... ;-)) have gotten in the way of progress.

My plan though is draw up a complete layout of the firewall (which I'll share here and on the Firewall Page) so I know where everything electrical is going to go.  I need a complete plan to make progress on anything.

On the suggestion of someone on the Sling Builder's FB group I'm going to add an External Ammeter Shunt to my circuit so I can better monitor my battery status.  It's a very easy add and I'll share those details when I'm completely certain of the implementation.

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Heads up!

I recently bought some Loctite 277 on Amazon... I'm not sure why, but the labels just struck me as a bit suspicious.  So, I contacted Henkel directly....

...and sent them pictures of all the surfaces of the bottle....

Batch code...

After a week of research on their part: COUNTERFEIT!!

Henkel:
"The label lists “Made in USA” but uses the batch code system from the China plant (MT83727399)." and then in a subsequent email: "Confirmed counterfeit. The batch code doesn’t exist in our system."

Wow. Back to Amazon it goes!

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

1 hr. mostly contemplating my navel...

My progress slows when I'm not certain about things...  When it comes to the firewall, everybody seems to do things a bit differently - which means I have a hard time deciding which way to proceed.

Many builders seem to have either factory people nearby, the ability to visit the factory or have experts on hand...  I have none of these, so I thrash a bit...

Contemplating how to connect the diode to the starter solenoid.

Contemplating how to connect the diode to the master solenoid...  Which I have yet to decide where to locate.

The manual says to mount the starter solenoid with M5 rubber mounts, but those are not to be found in my parts packages.  So, I bought these, but I'm not sure they're suited.  Too high?  Probably should be double male, not male/female.  What did other people do?

Maybe the height is OK, but I still think I need double male (which were not readily found on Amazon at least).

My ANL 50A fuse on a holder.  I just ordered a waterproof (ish) ANL holder, which I think would be better.  Should come tomorrow, so we'll see if it's suited.

Monday, April 8, 2019

Finally got around to creating a new factory photo page showing pictures they've sent me focusing on the Sling 4 firewall.  Very useful!

It's here and on the Factory Photo menu pull-down above.

Enjoy!

Also, Mike (Mojogrip) has his full video review of the TSi:



Sunday, April 7, 2019

2 hrs. on the firewall.  Thanks to Kerry for helping yet again!!!  Helps to have moral (and mental and physical) support sometimes....

Loosening that nut on the wheel of the servo enables you remove the cable so you can install the servo.  Note that the nut assembly has a small part inside, so be careful when removing it.

I had to trim 1/4" off the bushings to allow for enough threads to be available on the other side.

Starter solenoid location.

Sorry for the blurry photo...  Best place for the master?  The TCU location would be better...  Hmmm...  I'd consider putting the solenoids under the battery box, but that area I think will be busy with fuel lines and other cables.

Garage door open and fresh air in! 😁

Saturday, April 6, 2019

2 hrs. on firewall forward.

I did find the fuel pumps, TCU, Turbo Servo and ambient pressure sensor (I kept calling it a temp sensor, but it's a pressure sensor).

Found the Turbo Servo (on left) and TCU (right) in a box with all the cabling coming out, which is all attached to the engine.

And the fuel pumps were in a smaller box inside the larger box.

The ambient pressure sensor was also in the box with the TCU and servo.

The engine 😁

Starting to put on the various parts...

This unmarked bag seems to be the package containing the hardware for the turbo servo attachment (though a few part numbers are different).

Looks like the servo can't be put on now because the cable attached to it doesn't seem like it can easily detach at either end.  True?  It does seem though like the bushing is longer than it's supposed to be as the nuts wouldn't have threads showing.  Looks longer than the manual photo for sure.

The ambient pressure sensor in place.

Bottom view of that.

Starting to get there!  The brake line is temporarily in place obviously as there's no grommet for the pass-through.