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Wing-to-Fuselage electrical connections

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tomcostanza

Joined: 19 Oct 2008
Posts: 49

Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 12:18 pm Post subject: Wing-to-Fuselage electrical connections

Gentlemen,

 

I'm at a point where I need to decide how to connect wires in the wing, to the corresponding wires in the fuselage.  For DC stuff, I had planned to use the wiring connectors one often sees connecting a trailer to a truck (and as seen on aeroelectric.com).  I'm now thinking that since I will need to splice these connectors into the wiring anyway (2 splices for each wire), I might as well just splice the WIRES together and eliminate the connector (1 splice per wire).  But I'm using wingtip nav antennas, and I'm wondering whether to use BNC connectors or splice the coax.  I don't know which will create more of an impedance mismatch or RF loss, but I'm thinking for a receiver, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference.  What do you think?

_________________
Clear Skies,
Tom Costanza
-- in year 17 of a 3 year project

ceengland(at)bellsouth.ne
Guest

Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:51 pm Post subject: Wing-to-Fuselage electrical connections

trigo(at)mail.telepac.pt
Guest

Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:53 pm Post subject: Wing-to-Fuselage electrical connections

Tom  

   

This is not an answer to your question, because I don’t know it. I will be another one to profit from the responses you will get, because I didn’t make those connections either.  

   

By the way, you are talking about “wingtip nav antennas”, how many did you install, and which type are they?  

   

Carlos  

   

[quote] --

rjquillin

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 123
Location: KSEE

Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:37 pm Post subject: Wing-to-Fuselage electrical connections

At 15:52 10/19/2008, you wrote:



  	  Quote: 	
		   But I'm using

  wingtip nav antennas, and I'm wondering whether to use BNC connectors or splice

  the coax.  I don't know which will create more of an impedance mismatch or RF

  loss, but I'm thinking for a receiver, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference.  What

  do you think? 	


 Only one mans' opinion Tom, but given the choice of "splicing" coax or using a pair of connectors; for me it's an absolute brainer.  Connectors, by all means.  Minimum signal loss due to impedance mismatch and contiguous shield to prevent unwanted signal ingress.  And given proper connectors much simpler and faster to reliably terminate.



 Ron Q.    [quote][b]

nuckolls.bob(at)cox.net
Guest

Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:04 pm Post subject: Wing-to-Fuselage electrical connections

At 01:19 PM 10/19/2008 -0700, you wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		  

<Tom(at)CostanzaAndAssociates.com>



Gentlemen,



I'm at a point where I need to decide how to connect wires in the wing, to 

the corresponding wires in the fuselage.  For DC stuff, I had planned to 

use the wiring connectors one often sees connecting a trailer to a truck 

(and as seen on aeroelectric.com).  I'm now thinking that since I will 

need to splice these connectors into the wiring anyway (2 splices for each 

wire), I might as well just splice the WIRES together and eliminate the 

connector (1 splice per wire).  But I'm using wingtip nav antennas, and 

I'm wondering whether to use BNC connectors or splice the coax.  I don't 

know which will create more of an impedance mismatch or RF loss, but I'm 

thinking for a receiver, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference.  What 

do you think?


	


     The airplanes I fly are on average, 15+ years old.

     I'll bet not a one of them has ever had the wings off.

     If I were building an airplane, wings would be wired as

     they are built and 10' or so pigtails left at the fuselage

     end coiled up for later routing into the fuselage and

     attachment to their respective destinations . . .but

     with a "service loop" about 4-6" in diameter (12-18"

     of slack wire) under the wing root fairing.



     Should it become necessary to EVER remove the wings,

     then cut wires and/or coaxes in the middle of their

     service loops. When replacing the wings, permanent

     splices (and mated coax cable connectors)



http://www.aeroelectric.com/Pictures/Connectors/Coax/BNC_Cable_Female_1.jpg



     or



http://www.aeroelectric.com/Pictures/Connectors/Coax/BNC_Bulkhead_Female.jpg



     and



http://www.aeroelectric.com/Pictures/Connectors/Coax/BNC_Cable_Male.jpg

     are in order for re-attaching the wings and associated

     wiring.



     For permanent splices, these critters are certainly

     an option . . .



http://aeroelectric.com/Pictures/Terminals/PIDG-Splices.jpg



     these are also favored by the grey beards for

     closing cut lines but leaving a service connection

     behind . . .



http://aeroelectric.com/Pictures/Terminals/ksplc2.jpg



     If you wanted to use one one of these style

     connectors



http://aeroelectric.com/articles/wingwire/wingwire.html



     you could also consider this technique for making

     high-quality, permanent splices of ship's wiring

     to the connector's pigtails . . .



http://aeroelectric.com/articles/Solder_Lap_Splicing/Solder_Lap_Splices.html



     Inclusion of a "service loop" of excess wire at

     time of original fabrication allows for a dozen or

     more cut-out-and-replace operations on individual

     wires over the lifetime of the airplane.



     Finally, I had a chance to fiddle with these

     connectors while wiring Ol' Blue (My hand-me-down

     '87 Jimmy) to tow a trailer. This was the first

     time I'd put my hands on this combination of

     connectors:



http://www.aeroelectric.com/Pictures/Connectors/Power/Trailer_Lights_Plug.jpg



http://www.aeroelectric.com/Pictures/Connectors/Power/Trailer_Lights_Jack.jpg



     This mated pair of connectors offers some interesting

     design features. The male pins in the jack are solid

     bifurcated brass that plug into seamless tube sockets

     in the plug housing. The spring loaded lid has a retaining

     dog that holds the plug engaged the jack. These are only

     slightly heavier than their mil-spec counterparts and

     they're a whole lot cheaper. The only disappointment was

     the wire attach methodology that runs a screw thread down

     against the wire strands.



     I installed wires by cutting 2x long, folding the strands

     back and soldering them such that they became a solid, solder

     encased "plug". run the screw down against the plug nice and

     tight and follow up with an encapsulation of E6000 not unlike

     what we did here



http://aeroelectric.com/articles/macservo/macservo.html



     to deal with those pesky little 26AWG wires on a RayAllen

     actuator.



     The wiring jack can probably be mounted to fuselage skin

     under the wing root fairing.



     Bob . . .

tomcostanza

Joined: 19 Oct 2008
Posts: 49

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 4:36 am Post subject: Re: Wing-to-Fuselage electrical connections

 	  Quote: 	
		  By the way, you are talking about “wingtip nav antennas”, how many did you install, and which type are they? 	




Carlos,

I'll be installing the Bob Archer nav antennas (one in each wingtip) for a VOR/LOC antenna, and using a diplexer to feed the glide slope.



 	  Quote: 	
		  If I were building an airplane, wings would be wired as 

they are built and 10' or so pigtails left at the fuselage 

end coiled up for later routing into the fuselage and 

attachment to their respective destinations . . .but 

with a "service loop" about 4-6" in diameter (12-18" 

of slack wire) under the wing root fairing. 	




Bob,

Thanks.  In a perfect world, I would do the same.  However, I'm trying to do as much as possible in the shop.  I feel I can do a better job when I have as much heat, light, and tools as I need.  So I'm going to wire everything I can before moving to the airport.  Hopefully, I can just bolt the wings, empenage and fairings on and be done.  I'm not even sure I'll have a hangar available.  Even if I do have a hangar, the cost is more than a BMW car payment each month, so I'd like to minimize the time I rent it.



So it's looking like I'll use BNC connectors for the coax, and splice the DC wires, with a DB-9 for the Ray Allen vermicelli.



Thanks again to all.

_________________
Clear Skies,
Tom Costanza
-- in year 17 of a 3 year project

Flagstone(at)cox.net
Guest

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:54 am Post subject: Wing-to-Fuselage electrical connections

What are the thoughts on using MOLEX connectors?

---

rv9jim(at)juno.com
Guest

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:34 am Post subject: Wing-to-Fuselage electrical connections

Good devices and easy to use.  I used them on both of my builds.

Jim

____________________________________________________________

Click to become a master chef, own a restaurant and make millions.

http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/Ioyw6i3m4pC6XacHZcPyTSRB9VrOczUjVt1LyhVGNOIafLQmBfRlfb/

nuckolls.bob(at)cox.net
Guest

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:02 pm Post subject: Wing-to-Fuselage electrical connections

At 11:52 AM 10/21/2008 -0700, you wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		  



What are the thoughts on using MOLEX connectors?


	


    Molex makes a raft of different connectors but

    I presume your talking about white nylon critters

    that look like these:



http://aeroelectric.com/articles/matenlok/matenlok.html



    Waldom/Molex and Tyco/AMP both have variations

    on this theme of power connectors. The Mate-n-Locks

    were incorporated into the single-engine airplanes

    at Cessna while I was still in their employ . . .

    about 1968. As far as I know, there were no big

    service issues that popped up resulting from

    utilization of these connectors.



    Bob . . .

marcausman

Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Posts: 70

Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:38 pm Post subject: Re: Wing-to-Fuselage electrical connections

Here's a link with pictures and part numbers for AMP CPC connectors, which work well for power (not coax) wires.



http://www.verticalpower.com/forums/showthread.php?t=634

_________________
Marc Ausman
http://www.verticalpower.com "Move up to a modern electrical system"
RV-7 IO-390 Flying

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