Ok, I have been trying to decide how to ground the housing of the AeroLED Suntail rudder position/strobe light for awhile now. The unit has a ground wire that as part of its harness but the installation instructions say that the housing must also be grounded to avoid potential interference (radio I assume).
You will see in the pictures below the mounting ring I purchased long ago to make installing a removable position light on the rudder. The aluminum ring is pop-riveted to the fiberglass rudder cap. The light is attached with two screws to the ring. I had hoped to put a ground wire on the back side of one of the screws but there was no clearance inside. I also experimented with soldering a wire to the ring but that was also a bust.
Finally, I had a brainstorm. I got a small spring out of my scrap drawer that just fit in one of the pop-rivet recesses. I cut the spring just a little longer than the depth of a recess and soldered a ground wire to it. I then drilled a 1/16" hole at an angle from one of the recesses, passed the wire down thru it and inserted the spring in the recess. when the Suntail light is screwed on it slightly compresses the spring and ensures a solid contact.
I did a continuity check and the ground seems consistent.
