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Dave's RV-7A Builder's Log
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Date:  12-17-2016
Number of Hours:  4.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Autopilot wiring & wire bundle organization

The autopilot is wired…finally. Today I headed out to the hangar with the temperatures dropping into the low teens, so I wasn’t sure how long I would stay. Turns out the heat held the temps in the hangar up in the mid-50s, so it really wasn’t too bad. I started by running a 20 AWG wire from the autopilot switch to the autopilot terminal block. Of course this necessitated cutting a bunch of zip ties and installing new ones, but it was relatively simple since that particular wire was fully accessible through the PFD cutout. The ground wire was another matter. This had to be fed into the main bundle running along the subpanel and bending around the right side fuselage, and then down the firewall to the ground terminal block. This required blankets and cushions to make a platform so I could lie on my back and work the wire through the bundle…including about five Adel clamps. It took awhile, but wasn’t as difficult as I had feared it might be.

Since I was already in position…I decided to finish up the ground block wiring. There were three wires still to be terminated—flaps, autopilot, and a bonus mystery wire that I had not marked. The mystery wire caused me a little concern since I wasn’t entirely sure that it was actually a ground wire, but since there is nothing else it could be…and since it was hanging next to the ground block, I decided that for some reason I had just failed to put a terminal on it. That done, I tidied up the bundle with a bunch of zip ties and climbed out.

I finished up by working on the bundles on the right side, to include the GDL 39 ADS-B BNC connector, the essential bus power wire, and a bunch of zip tying on the wires leading to the circuit breakers.
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Right side view of GDL 39, GDU 465, aux bus & autopilot bundles

Right side view of GDL 39, GDU 465, aux bus & autopilot bundles

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View of ground bus

View of ground bus

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Starting to look finished

Starting to look finished

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