 |
Matronics Email Lists
Web Forum Interface to the Matronics Email Lists
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Bill Strahan
Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 145
|
 Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2013 12:45 pm Post subject: Ray Allen trim indicator and night flying |
 |
|
I recently had a 2 hour night flight in my Lightning, and decided about an hour and a half in that I was going to do something about those LEDs before my next night flight.
My trim indicator and my intercom are both mounted directly in front of me, and they are bright. BRIGHT!! So I have turned them around and now use them as landing lights...okay, they're not that bright, but they are bright enough that I kept holding my hand in front of them to let my eyes adjust and actually enjoy the moonlit landscape below me.
The other distraction was the reflection of the EFIS on the canopy, but I'll deal with that separately later. So on to the LEDs.
A bit of research showed me that the PS Engineering 1000 intercom had no provision for a dimmable LED. No problem that a bit of black fingernail polish can't fix. Not elegant, but done.
As to the Ray Allen indicator, I took a look at the docs here:
http://www.rayallencompany.com/RACmedia/instructionsPOSRP3.pdf
Evidently there is a wire that dims the indicator when it's connected to 12v+. Sweet! Had the panel out at that point anyway, and immediately saw that the white wire had been snipped flush with the back of the indicator. So I removed the indicator, took the back off of it and got access to that wire and spliced in a new one and reassembled. Sure enough +12v applied to that wire made the indicator very dim. Great!
Now just pick a place, pick a switch, drill a hole, wire it up...I decided to sleep on it.
Good thing. That night it occurred to me that I could just connect it to the load side of my NAV light switch. NAV lights on, indicator is dim, and if I get annoyed by it being bright, that means it's probably become night time while I've been flying and is a reminder to turn on the NAV lights. Yay! (Can I mention I would have been really pissed at myself if this had occurred to me AFTER I installed a switch?)
So, if you're still in the build phase, and using the Ray Allen indicator I highly recommend you wire in the white wire to your NAV light switch.
| | - The Matronics Lightning-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Lightning-List |
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
n5pb(at)AOL.COM
Guest
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2013 5:22 pm Post subject: Ray Allen trim indicator and night flying |
|
|
Bill
Nice email, I'll have to go and check my Flap and elevator trim indicator lights and see how they are set up. I do know when I key my mike they go dim....I haven't been doing alot of nite flying so it hasn't bothered my much...
On the canopy reflection.. Perhaps you can build a panel visor somehow that would extend the top portion of the panel shroud out about 6-8 inches.
Bear
--
| | - The Matronics Lightning-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Lightning-List |
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You cannot download files in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|
Get Email Distribution Too!
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
