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Dave's RV-7A Builder's Log
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Date: 12-3-2016
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Number of Hours: 3.50
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Autopilot wiring
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My last log entry contained the phrase “that shouldn’t take long”…spoiler alert…I was wrong. The comment was in reference to finishing up the autopilot wiring, which at the time seemed fairly straightforward. I had already installed the power & ground terminal block, and that turned out to be the first challenge—the location in the center of the subpanel caused interference with the back of the autopilot controller. The solution was to move the terminal block to the left, so a couple of new holes later, I was back where I had started. The initial wiring of the connector went pretty quickly, and I snapped the first picture shortly before heading to lunch…thinking I was close to finishing.
When I got back to the hangar I finished up the leads for power and ground, and attached everything to make sure it all fit. No problem there. Then I noticed the one wire that I had forgotten, lost in the wire jungle that currently exists behind the panel. The CWS (control wheel steering) function on an autopilot allows the pilot to interrupt the autopilot and manually fly the aircraft without turning the autopilot completely off. This is typically accomplished with a push button on the control stick. It’s a handy feature and one that I use routinely when flying. The unfortunate fact in this case was that my CWS wire (the one I’d forgotten) was now too short to reach the connector. Splice the wire, open the connector, add another pin, close the connector and then back to the plans to figure out where the two leads for the RS-232 (serial communication with the G3X) attached in the PFD connector.
It was about this time that I realized I might have an additional opportunity to run wires based on a quick read of the Trutrak install manual and schematic where it referenced ARINC communication with particular GPS units…mine included. Time for some focused study.
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Trutrak Vizion connector...round 1
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Autopilot power & ground bus in its new location
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