Electrical System Tips

Electrical System Tips and Info.

RV University Wiring Practices Guide
Electrical Schematics
Batteries
Starter Current Draw
Running Wire
Conduit
Wiring a Keyswitch Ignition with a Lightspeed
Wiring for Propulsion Systems
Ground Power Options
A Great New Tool - Wire Spoon
N104CD's Aux Battery System

RV University Wiring Practices Guide

John C. was nice enough to send this great powerpoint doc on wiring practices. All builders should read it!
Get the powerpoint HERE.

Electrical Schematics

Carl Froehlich's RV-8 Electrical Schematic and Info (.ppt) or PDF Version

Carl Says: "I have a pair of Odyssey PC-625's in my RV-8A. The install supports dual electronic ignitions and an all electric panel. The design is based on being able to continue IFR flight with the lost of the alternator and one battery until fuel exhaustion. <snip> Although the normal mode is to have both batteries on line, I have done some single battery op tests. One battery spins my O-360 just fine."

Here is one of my schematics
This is my wiring schematic. It may not be 100% complete in the diagram. It's based on Bob Knuckoll's Z-12 and Z-13/8 diagrams. I had intended on using a B&C 60A primary, and the SD-8 aux. alternators. In the end, I am using the 70A Plane-Poweralternator with built-in regulator and OV protection as a primary, and when the come out with their standby alternator I'll probably add that later. The cost should be much lower, and I have faith in the internally regulated systems. It's been treating me very well, and the people at Plane-Power (Steve and Linda) have been fantastic to work with.

Batteries

Per Michael Sausen #352
" But if I go with a regular or RG battery, I will probably use a Kisan ChargeX tender which is about the size of a pack of Wrigley's and also has desulfate capabilities. "

Per Bob Condrey #105
"Another option is the route I'm going - I decided to go with a pair of smaller PC-680s and use the Z-14 approach. Weight penalty of the additional battery is only ~6 pounds over the Concorde. Add in the related additional contactor(s) depending on the exact implementation and you're far lighter than the big Odyssey batteries that you're considering. Upside is that you'll get an additional layer of redundancy."

Per Ray Doerr #250
A great cheap place for Odyssey Batteries: Batteries4Everything.com

Starter Current Draw
Here's a Starter current Draw chart - Thanks David McNeill? (I think)

Running Wire - a great tip by John Cox

Buy a spool of reasonably heavy gauge Weed Wacker line from Home Depot, Lowes or your favorite garden center. The material is an expendable and can allow the Routing from point A to point B to determine more closely the Distance of wire needed. Secondly you can calculate that additional length needed, before actually cutting your Finish Install Wiring to exact length. Remember to include the Service Loop Distance as well for future R & Rs.

It would be an advantage to future builders to have those Wacker Lengths posted on an Excel Spread Sheet and then if it was ever necessary to cut and remove the run the replacement run would be much quicker. Often, when removing runs, the wire is cut in multiple locations making the replacement calculation harder.

Conduit - A commercial plug I received (Click HERE for the related .pdf)

I was surfing the net and stumbled upon your blog on piping your RV with Plenum rated duct. Please note these come in all kinds of sizes and fire ratings. Our company manufactures a Residential version of this raceway. We also makes fittings and couplings for the duct to terminate in boxes and couple together. If you ever need information or need to know where you can buy this type of product please don't hesitate to look us up.

www.kwikpath.com

Kevin Jolly, RCDD
National Sales Manager
Kwikpath Products
IPEX Inc
2441 Royal Windsor Drive
Mississauga, ON. Canada L5J4C7
Tel (800) 463-9572 Ext. 292
Fax (905) 403-9195
mailto: kevjol@ipexinc.com

Wiring a Keyswitch Ignition - Lightspeed Plasma III/II+ ignition and a Mag

Another non-RV10 builder, Dave Sundberg passed this on to me previously, and I wired mine this way and it indeed works fine. It does seem a bit like black magic, but seeing as it works fine I won't be complaining. Test it out before and after you run the engine, but it should work fine.
The configuration is a Mag on the Left side, feeding the lower plugs, and a Lightspeed Plasma III (or II+) feeding the top plugs as the Right system. Note that allthough Lightspeed calls it a keyswitch "Option", it's always on the system, just optional to connect.

The P-Lead from the Mag goes to the L-Terminal on the Switch with the shield connected to the GRN terminal on the mag and not connected to anything on the switch end.
The P-Lead from the LS (Pin 1) goes to the R-Terminal on the switch and the shield (Pin 9) goes to the GRN-Terminal in the center of the switch.
Do not connect the jumper from the R-Term to the GRN-Terminal next to it.
Do not connect the center GRN-Terminal on the switch to aircraft ground. Both ignitions are grounded out with the switch in the OFF position.

Dave had been flying and it was working for him. I am flying too and it's working great for me. I had previously spent time hooking mine up and ohming things out and was confused as heck. I also was confused in that the P-Lead on the mag is seemingly shorted to ground even with the wire disconnected, so I couldn't easily tell that it would be grounded by the switch. (Turns out this is normal) If you hook it all up, except for the mag P-Lead, you can indeed see that they ground the way their supposed to by using your ohmmeter.

Wiring for Propulsion Systems

http://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/designees_delegations/training/der_present/la_may/media/Electrical%20Wiring.pdf

Here's a link that was discussed on the RV-list. Good info, fer sure.

Ground Power Options

I recently wired in a ground charging (NOT ground starting) connector for my main and aux. batteries. Check THIS LINK for more infor on how I used a 7-wire RV trailer connector. It works great for running your EFIS and other avionics in the hanger too, while doing maintenance.

A Great Wiring Tool - Wire Spoon
Last night I got to try a new tool that I bought. A couple weeks ago I went to visit SteinAir in their new building (well, new since I'd been there). Stein showed me some cool new stuff they sell, and I grabbed up a few items just based on the recommendation of Stein himself. The one I need to rave about is the "Wire Spoon". see: http://www.steinair.com/tools.htm

I didn't know that this would be a big deal. I wired my entire plane without one. But last night I had to run a couple of wires through my existing bundles for some new lights, and I tried the spoon. 10 minutes later I was THOROUGHLY impressed and I had to call Stein and chew him out for not telling me about these things sooner. He's always looking for those useful things for the builders that he can offer. I'm just telling you today that if you're going to wire your own plane, you want one of these things. It will easily make a difference in how nicely you can feed wires into existing wrapped bundles. It's these little things that you can glean from Stein that makes him such a worthy business to support.

N104CD's Aux Battery System
I get lots of requests for info about my Aux Battery system, so I finally dove in and did a write-up. Check THIS LINK for more info on why you'd want an Aux battery, and what you can do with it in regards to electrical system design. There are also photos of great batteries for use in the RV-10.