Lindy
10/12/2009
Forgot my camera again, but decided to try a couple shots with my iPhone tonight. With the right light, it actually took a couple of good pics! Anyway, before working on anything picture-worthy, I struggled to run the strobe wires thru the wings. The right side was actually easy to run from the tip to the fuselage by simply pushing it thru the conduit tube. Getting it to make the bend from the top of the wing to the lower fuselage entry was a bit of a task. The left side sucked. The thick wire for the magnetometer is run in that wing, and it made getting the wire thru the fuselage entry nearly impossible because the pitot tube also enters there. Because of the amount of wires there, I couldn't run it from the tip-in like the right side. There was simply no way to get the shielded bundle thru that hole with no access from outside the fuselage. So, I had to run it from the fuselage out to the tip. Since I had access to the hole from inside the fuselage, I was able to push it thru, and snake it from the bottom hole out the top of the wing joint area, and then from there, I tied that to some 16awg wire that I was able to slide in from the tip to pull it thru. All was going quite well pulling it thru when I hit a snag somehow in the middle of the conduit. There was really nothing I could do at this point, so I pulled harder until it came out. I don't know how it happened, but the strobe leads somehow managed to snag two of the 20awg wires that I had just installed this weekend, and pulled them out to the tip. One of them was still inside the fuselage on the other end, so I was able to pull that one back, but the other was inside the tubing. The only option was to pull it completely out, and start over with it. Soldering wires together has really become my method of choice for pulling wires thru when it's tight. It took a bit of doing, but I got it back in to the fuselage. All wiring, except that for an autopilot servo someday, is now run in the wings.
Okay, that went on too terribly long...back to the right AeroLED install. I drilled the holes in the brackets, and checked the fit, but forgot to take a pic of how the brackets look, or how they attach to the light. I'll get one tomorrow, or when I do the left side, but here is a shot from the inside...
Above, you can sorta see the light in the hole with the wires sticking out the back of it. Here's a shot from the front...
Not bad for iPhone pics, huh!? After those pics were taken, I drilled the holes for nut plates, and installed those. I hope to get the wires hooked up, and install the light on this side the next time I work. Then repeat all this for the left side, and fire 'em up!
4.0 hours