Beginning Avionics - RV-7A

Beginning Avionics - RV-7A | EP4.2

Рет қаралды 1,244

Күн бұрын

Let's not get too excited here. Very beginning avionics. In that we don't do too much more than get them mounted. And even that was a bit of a misstep initially.
Wrapping my head around the whole avionics package has been a huge planning exercise. Wiring diagrams, BOMs, and plans that are seemingly riddled with catch-22 scenarios of chicken-egg BS.
I'm still struggling to conceptualize it all, but we're getting closer.
At this point in time, the first wire and component (switches, etc.) order has been placed. The harness board is made. The wiring diagram nearly done. This episode is a glance at what it took to get there...
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I'm Ryan, an aviation enthusiast who has decided to build his own aircraft and publish the entire process online for others to watch along. If you have ever want to build an airplane, this is a great glimpse at what it takes.
The airplane is a two-person experimental kit built aluminum plane capable of over 200 miles per hour, and a range of over 700 miles. The kit is manufactured by Van's Aircraft, one of the most prolific kit providers on the planet, now embroiled in a Chapter 11 reorganization process in order to prevent bankruptcy ;-). The airplane is aerobatic, functional, and fun. The build is challenging, time consuming, fun and rewarding.
Check out my instagram @ryanflyspdx
Also check out my website, ryanflys.com, I'll be updating this more regularly. You'll catch daily updates, quick access to videos, and more information about the project.
Please note, this channel is for entertainment only and should not be used as build advice/consultation. I am an amateur builder sharing my experience.

Пікірлер: 43

@PTAGuys 11 күн бұрын

Oooh a show-and-tell! I love it! Chomp Chomp must be a steam-gauge guy, doesn't look too impressed by the glass.

@RyanFlysPDX 11 күн бұрын

On the contrary: he’s very fond of the flight planning and autopilot features, as it will allow him to sleep much more often! Laziest dog ever.

@ronbrock2871 13 күн бұрын

Nice looking panel…

@RyanFlysPDX 13 күн бұрын

Thank you!!

@RyanE67 7 күн бұрын

I was about ready to consider Deutsch connectors until I got to the part where you started fighting with it!

@RyanFlysPDX 7 күн бұрын

Don’t let my first go (and ensuing ineptness) deter you. I think they’re great. I think I could have got away with the DTM on most, but they didn’t seem that much smaller. Pitot heat will be upgraded to the DTP.

@jeff11030 12 күн бұрын

Enjoying watching your progress. Does Van’s or the plans give you much guidance on wire runs, bus bars, fuse/switch locations and the like, or because every panel is slightly different they leave everything up to you to figure out? I mean, even if you copy another panel’s layout, what’s behind the panel is the hard part. Your good planning will result in an excellent panel. Did you ever say if you have a tip-up or slider? Thanks for taking the extra time to show us how you are building your plane. Watching you is the closest I will ever get to a project of my own.

@RyanFlysPDX 12 күн бұрын

Thank you, first off! Vans provides a very rough power distribution diagram. We’re talking photo copy of a sketch from 1990 on a piece of notebook style. Garmin provide a lot of documentation for avionics but it’s still a lot of noodling. There’s so many possible combinations of equipment it’s inevitable you’ll have to put stuff together on your own. Garmin’s notes don’t touch power systems. A great book recommended at every turn is The Aeroelectric Connection by Bob Knuckols. Wonderful for piecing together your power system and bus layout. I’m still working on this portion of the plan. The book is showing some wear after only a couple weeks! I’m building a slider. It was one of the main criteria for my plane. I really wanted the slider. I’ll likely regret that when fighting the mechanics of it. I hope you get your hands a project sometime! Even if just contributing or tinkering at an EAA meeting, they’re incredible!

@rsavela2 12 күн бұрын

This looks so, so, so much easier than retrofitting all this stuff into an existing panel. Can't wait to get to this part.

@RyanFlysPDX 12 күн бұрын

It’s a hoot! And yes, I’d hate to have to do this under an assembled panel!

@tn1509 13 күн бұрын

Awesome buddy ! Just to have an idea : how many individual wires do you need to handle ? Regarding the IFR instrument : place it where it needs to be, no matter if it's the longest box. Your objective is to optimize the ergonomy for the pilot. Any other consideration is necessarily secondary

@RyanFlysPDX 13 күн бұрын

Soooo my wiring diagram and documentation is borderline neurotic-but I’m having fun and I think this will be a benefit to anyone, including myself, who needs to trouble shoot a problem in the future. That’s said, at this point each wire run has a number. (So a three strand shielded counts as “one run.”) I’m up to about 120 runs and still have a ways to go. Multiply that out with some stands at, two, three, or even six, and I’d say we’ll have a few hundred wires with probably 1/2 mile-ish or more of total length? It’ll be fun to tally when it’s all done. Much like the ribbon party, this bit of unnecessary planning has already allowed me to encounter and solve many issues. I agree on the box. Version two will have it where it needs to be. Then I’ll sit in the beast with panel in place and check that things are where I want them.

@markwright185 11 күн бұрын

K1S positioner is what I use for the deutsch pins (the small ones)

@RyanFlysPDX 11 күн бұрын

I’ll check. These are #16, for the DT. The smaller ones for the DTM might use a different positioner. However, thinking about it, the K1S is the only positioner I have loose in a drawer, and forgot to test. It would figure that it was the necessary one!!

@BenInTheAir 13 күн бұрын

I love the bezel free look. I’d bet you have enough support for punching in numbers and spinning the dials by bracing on the top and bottom of the panel?

@RyanFlysPDX 13 күн бұрын

That’s what I’m thinking. And planting a finger in the space between instruments. I’ll have someone shake the panel around and yell squak codes at me and we’ll see if it works!

@JoeyWebber955 12 күн бұрын

I spent 4 years in the emergency vehicle field and we used Deutsch connectors for almost everything . The little block off plugs just push in through the rubber plug . I spent 3 days putting barrel connectors on all the harnesses for a tilt cab on an older fire truck so we could remove the cab . Some people look at that and ask how do I do that ,,,,, one wire at a time .

@RyanFlysPDX 12 күн бұрын

Knew I was missing something there… Thanks! I do love the connectors and can’t wait to pin out the rest of them!

@DazzInHKG 12 күн бұрын

" and it's as easy as that! " 🤪 Looks like a very nice panel in the making, I'd love to hear the thought/decision making process behind the avionics choices Ryan, the number of avionics options available to the home builder is mind blowing, how did you narrow it down?

@RyanFlysPDX 12 күн бұрын

I can chat about it, perhaps, but in short: I knew I wanted IFR. VFR is limiting. If I don’t get my IFR rating before this flies, it’ll be soon after, and therefore my plane needs to keep up. Once that’s established, I felt the pull toward Garmin. It’s the only outfit that’s going to get you all the boxes under one roof. That’s not important to many, but it was to me. As I begin to wire all these components together, I’m happy I did. One place for questions, one giant manual for nearly everything. And it’s still a lot to handle. Had to have autopilot. That’s was a given for cross country. Same with two full radios. Then it was smaller decisions. Two big screens? Which IFR navigator. The folks at Garmin, Levi at Midwest avionics, and the AEA class really all contributed to the education and product knowledge it took to finalize the setup. And budget!!

@DazzInHKG 11 күн бұрын

@@RyanFlysPDX Thanks very much Ryan, I guess defining the mission is the fundamental first step. However if you're wiring it yourself I suppose there's nothing stopping you from prewiring for goodies to be added in the future, as the mission and budget evolve.

@EJWash57 13 күн бұрын

I've never given instrument bezels any thought - until now. I agree with you on flush-mounting being a cleaner look. As long as there isn't any manufacturer "must be mounted" in a specific way, personal preference rules here, IMHO. Press on.

@RyanFlysPDX 13 күн бұрын

Can’t unsee it now!! No issues with performance, cooling, etc. It is a little more work. But hey, when the tasks are endless, what’s another one?!?

@EJWash57 12 күн бұрын

@@RyanFlysPDX I have a bunch of photos of instrument panels to get ideas of what I want in my project. And yes, now I can't not see/notice the avionics bezels. I can't say that it bothers me though. I took a demo flight in Van's N144VA (RV-14 tailwheel, Advanced avionics) and the avionics bezels just didn't stand out at me. Guess I'm not used to having choices in such matters. Panel color has an obvious bezel depth effect.

@emanuelparedes9187 12 күн бұрын

I think the ribbon idea is not a bad one, but yarn perhaps would have been less hectic than ribbons that tend to curl up?

@RyanFlysPDX 11 күн бұрын

A family member suggested yarn. I was worried it would have the tendency to knot too easily. Indeed the curling was problematic, but after a few ties it started to behave.

@bertschb 13 күн бұрын

"So what are the next steps here? As usual, I really don't know." That's funny! I'm building a -14 and say that to myself at least once a week. I didn't expect to see you working on avionics so soon but I'm looking forward to following your progress.

@RyanFlysPDX 13 күн бұрын

I spend hours a week just staring and trying to plan and then spot the holes in the plan. As you’ve probably come to know, I’m not quite as good at the hole spotting as I want to be… With the engine still a ways off and no real option to mount the flying surfaces, avionics was the next steps before finishing the interior and moving on to the canopy. Not sure it makes the most sense, but it made some sense.

@cbkillion 13 күн бұрын

Looking good! In my head I have almost the exact same avionics layout.

@RyanFlysPDX 13 күн бұрын

The 375 is going to land on top of the 245. This will put radio/audio next to flight/navigation. A major flow improvement I believe. New parts next week. (Along with $1,400 of wire and switches 🫢)

@quintinbrand1885 13 күн бұрын

Watching and noting your excitement, my hopes went up that you'd do the vroem vroem sounds after all 😆. I totally get you on wanting to go flush. If you do find you need more support, rme audio came to my mind. If you look around on their website you will find taller models with some side "bars". That could work well on the holes to the side of your radios etc too perhaps. I super like your connectors and choices there. Thanks for sharing!

@RyanFlysPDX 13 күн бұрын

Ah, yes. Almost like elongated switch guards is what you’re talking about, yeah? That could be a unique look! Still no airplane noises. Just doesn’t feel “right” yet. 😉

@quintinbrand1885 13 күн бұрын

@@RyanFlysPDX yeah that's what I meant. Not saying you should, but just to give you ideas. It does away with the flushness of course somewhat... I can imagine you can design something quite easy and have it 3D printed in nylon online. Couple of bucks and perfectly fit to your application and imagination 💪👍

@RyanFlysPDX 13 күн бұрын

It’s definitely an option, and doesn’t involve bezels. I’ve become polarized. I’m fully against bezels now!

@quintinbrand1885 13 күн бұрын

Cool, curious what you come up with in the end. The equipment is beautiful to start with and with the devotion you're at it, it must turn out superrrr. Cheers!

@jetmech88 11 күн бұрын

Looks like my previous comment got removed for posting a link to DMC website. Not sure if you saw it. They have a crimp tool cross reference. If you’re using mil spec pins that are color banded, you can enter your colors and it will tell you which positioner you need for your crimp tool.

@RyanFlysPDX 11 күн бұрын

I had no idea. I’ll look into this right away!! Thank you!

@1shARyn3 13 күн бұрын

Don't bow to the temptation to shorten/eliminate (or forget to add) service loops to your avionics suite (your maintainer/AMT) will thank you handily for copious amounts of extra wire

@RyanFlysPDX 13 күн бұрын

This! This is why the ribbon exercise was good for me. I was trying to hit a balance of service loops versus space. It’s not wire or money I was being cognizant of, but the limited space between panel and sub panel. But what I found was more wire = more space, I was better able to route wire out of the way. In the end, after adding 6” or so to each wire, I added another 6” to my master layout board for service loops. I hope I thank myself the first time I need to remove a unit!

@jeffreyhughes7107 13 күн бұрын

What sacrificial material did you for your mock up panel? What was the music with the dobro? when I shazammed it, it came up that Chinese guy that has jacked all the copyright free music. I don’t like him. Apologies if you said the material in the video, I might missed it.

@RyanFlysPDX 13 күн бұрын

Music in the episode was: Juneberry Junction by Chris Haugen Wishful Thinking by Dan Lebowitz The mockup panel is ABS. I have a version two on the way, and will likely wind up cutting up the first to fill holes and make changes to number two, winding up with frankenpanel.