Knowing how tight things will be when I install my panel in the aircraft, I wanted to prewire as much as possible. The center support that stabilizes the panel and holds the fuse busses / relays is the hub from which most of the wiring will emanate. In order to be able to wire to that without the obstacle of the panel, I rigged a horizontal support out of Z angle that goes across the cockpit in the same location as the panel bottom. With that in place, I can secure the center channel support to the Z angle and to the angled console that houses my fuel selector and radio. Once I figured out that approach, I reasoned that it would be best to temporarily reattach the center channel support to the bottom of the panel and flip the entire assembly upside down. This give me full access to the row of switches across the bottom of the panel as well as the fuse busses. My plan, which I made great progress on today, is to pre-wire anything that connects to the panel switches. At that point I am free to disconnect them from the panel, reinstall the center channel support and start wiring to it. Once that wiring is complete, I should be able to add the panel and push on all the pre-wired connectors into the back of the panel. This also has the benefit of allowing me to make basic harnesses to route the wires together while they are on my workbench. I should mention that the very first thing I did was to remove the MGL USB CAN Exender from the topside of the center channel support and replaced it with the relay buffer for my flaps and trim motors. The CAN Extender can be placed behind the seat area, putting it close to the autopilot servos where it belongs. Most of my progress on the harness came from wiring all but one of the posts on the master switch and both posts on the endurance buss switch.
The best way to pre-wire the panel
The bottom of the center channel support / fuse & relay support
Wiring of Master switch and Endurance Buss switches almost complete
