Jan 17, 2024     Yaw Dampener - (3 hours)       Category: Avionics

So while I am waiting on the FAA, I decided to add in the yaw dampener to my autopilot. I bought the kit sans servo to get things set up and tied into my aircraft wiring. Built up the mounting plate by installing the plate nuts and built up the cable that will run from my pitch servo to the yaw servo. Will actually do the wiring install after my inspection and buy the servo then.

  Jul 29, 2023     Garmin G3X, Compass Rose and Stuff - (7 hours)       Category: Avionics

Have been working on getting my PFD dialed in. Lots of reading and programming so far. Got my engine instruments all dialed in and displaying (the FADEC on the 912is provides quite the selection of stuff to monitor) Did an engine turn to check my pitch and it still needs to come down some I think but at the same time, got the vibration testing done for the AHARS. The pic of the plane is where I did the compass alignment for the Magnetometer and it was a really nice day to do it. Tomorrow I will change the pitch and if it looks good, I'll probably run through a couple prop balance runs to see how it looks. Also attached my horiz stab brace covers so I am literally getting closer I think.

  Mar 03, 2023     No Smoke and Troubleshooting - (35 hours)       Category: Avionics

Reached the point to put power to the avionics. Everything powered up correctly but I had an issue with the communication bus with the Garmin G3x. Doing the system checks, sometimes the individual LRUs would start to log on correctly but then they would not. Only thing that would show as online was the primary flight display. Pretty much for the last week I have been troubleshooting the system and narrowed it down to the CANBUS high channel was sometimes shorting to ground. Normally this wouldn't be too big a deal to find. Just split the bus in to two sections and see which one was grounding. Split that section into two and so forth till you narrow it down. But in my case, the short was there, then it wasn't, then it was. Literally took every connector apart and checked the wiring for the short. About the time I would think I had it, the short would show up again. Took the bus apart three times and I guess the old adage of "Third time is a charm" was right on. On the third disassembly, I found one hair wire that had slipped outside the pin as I slid it on. That one hair was moving around and mostly shorting against the connector frame. Clipped the hair and the Garmin system logged on all its LRUs Finished tying up all the wiring that I had taken apart in my trouble shooting, I installed the external alternator and the associated wiring to get the main electrical bus hooked up. I also installed the pitot system and AOA tubing that will run from the wing root to the panel.

  Jan 15, 2023     Wiring - (35 hours)       Category: Avionics

Have been pretty much focused on wiring in the panel/Garmin boxes and preparing for wiring in the firewall forward engine bay requirements this whole time. Still need to wire in the VPX power out connectors which is on the list for this coming week. Ran into one hiccup wiring in the Lane A/B LED lights. Left my soldering iron heat turned up a bit too hot when connecting the Lane A LED. It opened up the connection inside the LED itself so now that LED is inop. Heather is taking care of my mistake as we speak. Rookie mistake on my part. The LEDs themselves looked like they were ones that had the current resistor integrated so I asked Brandon if the factory was installing the resistors called out in the instructions. He said they weren't so obviously the current resistors are already there. The LED polarization also isn't marked directly or in any of the other ways LEDs are done (i.e. long/short leads). So the other question for Brandon was which lead was hot. For others reading this, the gold lead is hot and the silver lead is ground. Just for fun I hooked a 9V battery up to see how bright those lights were and they were definitely bright. So I went ahead and put the resistors into the circuit. It did dim them down somewhat but certainly will still be able to see them in direct sunlight.

  Dec 31, 2022     Wiring - (18 hours)       Category: Avionics

Finally got to start wiring on the Garmin system. One of the things I learned about wiring D Sub connectors back in my working days (daze?) was to put a black mark on both sides of the connector to ID pin 1. No matter how the connector is oriented or if it's the male or female side, it's easier to place pins with that visual reference. I wired in the mount and power supply for the iPad display. I also got the autopilot wired in as well. Since I have a G5 in the mix as a back up attitude indicator, it has its own GPS antenna to connect. I saw an install (maybe at the Kitfox factory during the fly in) where this antenna was mounted on a bracket attached to the panel support rod. Thought that was a pretty clean way so I bent up my version of the bracket and match drilled it to the support rod so that I can rivet it on when I'm ready.

  Dec 19, 2022     Panel and stuff - (14 hours)       Category: Avionics

Got my panel back from Stein who did an excellent job on the engraving so I figured I should start populating the panel and installing it. I also used the trusty label maker and made labels for all the switches and such that I could put on the back so I am sure what is going where. I also put connector designator labels on the boxes so I would be sure of which connector I was really running a wire to when I get into full on wiring. Since I am using the VPX to control the electronics, I was able to easily wire in the switches on the right side of the panel along with the ELT as well. Installed the GPS unit on its plate behind the seat, installed the control sticks and the ran the wiring to the respective boxes for the switches on the stick.

  May 03, 2022     GTX-45R Mount - (6 hours)       Category: Avionics

My GTX-45R transponder is on back order until mid July or so. My plan is to mount the unit just behind the baggage sack on a plate I fabricated back there. I have been slowly getting things together to start skinning the fuselage and that got me to thinking what a pain that was going to be to install the transponder with the skin on. I asked Stein (who I bought all my avionics from) if I could possibly get the accessories kit for the transponder now so I could get it all ready to go. Stein could not have been easier to work with and sent my kit that day. I fabricated the brackets to hold the mount and made sure that the unit points directly towards the cockpit. The Bluetooth antenna is located on the front of the transponder and communicates the ADSB In information to my IPad that way.

  Mar 21, 2022     GPS Antenna Mount - (8 hours)       Category: Avionics

Been a bit busy with those household things that have to be done after being closed up all Winter but did manage to at least get some work done mounting my GPS antenna for the GPS 20. The mount was a bit more fun to build since where I was putting it had no right angles that I could reference (hence the ruler clamped down the center of the opening). Got the basic shape dialed in with paper and then moved on to cardboard to get the sides right. Finally cut it out and bent it up in a pan brake. I made this mount out of .032 6061-T6 since the antenna isn't exactly a heavyweight and the loads were distributed on three of the four sides (OK fine..... it was easier to make and fit using the thinner material) I decided however to add a doubler for the actual antenna mount out of .063. I patterned it after the doubler that Garmin spec'd for externally skin mounting the antenna to aircraft. Got the doubler riveted in and mounted the antenna. The antenna will be covered by the baggage sack but should not have any impact on the ability to receive L Band GPS signals.

  Mar 14, 2022     Headset Wiring - (4 hours)       Category: Avionics

Installed the cables for the pilot and copilot headsets, tie wrapped them to the fuselage down to the wiring channel. Ran them through the wiring channel to the front of the fuselage so once I install the avionics, they will be ready to connect. The baggage sack will get the holes cut in it to clear the jacks. Then the jacks are installed into the upper plate which will cover the holes in the sack and hold the jacks securely. The empty hole on the plate is for my 3.5mm recording jack that I can connect a GoPro to and record intercom and radio. I put a jack on each side since I think the GoPro mount can move around some.

  Mar 05, 2022     Comms and Roll Servo - (10 hours)       Category: Avionics

Took another good look at the mounts I had made for my headset connections and realized that they weren't going to work with the baggage bag and they were about a half inch away from the flaperon control rod that runs through that section. So I came up with a different bracket. This bracket fits much lower in the same area by the rear windows but is cut to allow the baggage bag attachment and clear the connectors. So the bag will fit over the plate that gets Hysol'd on to the frame and I'll just cut the holes in the bag for the connectors. On top of the bag after it's installed, I have a second plate that is drilled to mount the connectors themselves; normal headset and mic jacks, a LEMO connector and a 3.5mm jack that I can connect GoPros to and record the intercom and radio. This plate will also hold the bag in place and keep it from fraying. I also managed to get the roll servo wired up as well. Tomorrow it will probably be the GPS 20 that gets some wiring done to it.

  Mar 01, 2022     Mounts and Wiring - (6 hours)       Category: Avionics

Installed the GPS-20 mount behind the pilot's seat and also did a final fitting on the headset mounts. All that's left there is to drill the holes for the jacks and the USB power I am going to put on the pilot's side. One of my issues in setting up the wiring is figuring out how long the various wire runs should be without having a lot of the stuff actually mounted (like the panel and the left/right avionics trays). I saw this idea on You Tube (where else) and thought it might have some merit so I gave it a go. Ran paracord from the various places that I know things are going to be mounted and how the wires will be routed forward to the panel/trays. You run a main line from the farthest aft item to the front and then tie on offshoots from that main to the other items moving forward. For example I ran the cord from the trim power/transponder all the way up to the panel area just like I expect to run the actual wire. Then I moved forward and tied a piece of cord from that main cord over to the GPS-20. Did the same for the control stick wiring, head sets, etc. Once you have all that done, you remove the cord and what you have is a "tree" that lets you figure how long the wire needs to be to get from the panel/avionics trays to the various items and hopefully not have a lot of extra wire you just cut off or worse, wire not quite long enough. I did all that and it seems to be a pretty easy method of getting the wire lengths dialed in.

  Feb 27, 2022     Avionic Mounts and Installation - (10 hours)       Category: Avionics

I have been fabricating various mounting brackets for the avionics and getting a better handle on how I will be running the wiring up to the front of the fuselage. Completed the mount for the GPS-20 unit behind the pilot seat and built up the two plates where I will mount the headset sockets for both the pilot and copilot. Still have to drill the holes for the connections but at least have the brackets built. I also ran some aluminum channels that will go under the seat and support the wiring going forward. I had fully installed the center console and the seat to make sure the wiring channels would work out when my daughter (Navy pilot) and wife (pilot under training) decided I needed to install pilots as well. Think they are having as much fun as I am. Almost.

  Feb 16, 2022     IFF Location - (3 hours)       Category: Avionics

Mounted the Safety Trim Boost unit on the rack. The other unit that I want to mount on this rack is the IFF. The piece of plywood is cut out to the same footprint as the GTX-45R that I am installing. The antenna for the IFF is farther forward, just behind the passenger seat so it is not close to the autopilot servos. I am looking into other's experiences as to possible interference with the autopilot from the IFF unit itself before I actually mount it.

  Feb 12, 2022     Trim Servo Install, Rear Mounting Plate and Access - (9 hours)       Category: Avionics

Started some work on the tail access covers by making the small brackets and riveting them in place on the covers. Shot them with a coat of 2K primer and will start fitting them to the fuselage here soon. My mounts for the trim servos all cured so I installed the servos themselves and connected them up to the flight controls. Also started wiring them in slowly. Since the pitch servo is farthest back I started there. I am using the Garmin G3X which has the auto trim function but with the electrical current needed to run the trim motor, needed to install a TCW Trim Boost into the system. Decided to build a rear mounting tray for some of the electronics like the Trim Boost and the transponder (the antenna is farther forward on the starboard side away from the roll servo so shouldn't have any interference). Got the tray bent up so the next steps will be to install it on to the fuselage and start mounting components.

  Feb 06, 2022     Auto Pilot Servos - (5 hours)       Category: Avionics

I fit and installed the autopilot control servo brackets. Installed the servo on each bracket and located them so that the connection rod for the servo to the controls was at a right angle to its connection at the control link. Pushes and pulls nice and straight on. John McBean had posted on the Kitfox Forum about how the servo arm pass through hole in the bracket for the pitch servo was a bit tight due to the powder coating and could possibly bind up the servo arm. I made sure to open that hole up a bit and verified that the servo arm was free and clear. Hysol'd and riveted the roll bracket (yeah I know it doesn't call for Hysol but just seemed like the thing to do and didn't hurt anything). Hysol'd and used the hose clamps to install the pitch bracket. Just for a bit of extra I safety wired the hose clamps to preclude them loosening up later on from vibration.