Wendell Folks RV-8 Project - Page 38.

January 3, 2007:  In the last report, the Dynon unit was left to charge its battery.  That never happened.  The next day when the battery was checked it had only put a few tenths of a volt into the battery pack.   I told Wendell to call the guys at Dynon to request a replacement battery.   They told him to disconnect the battery from the unit, then plug it back in, then try the charging circuit again.  It worked!  This time the unit came up to 16.1 volts DC as it should be (same as my D10-A).  With that voltage now stable, we checked out the remote magnetic sensor and it did NOT work.  More about that later....

Wendell has added electrical insulation behind the switch/breaker panel and installed the fuel gauges.  We spent a lot of time planning the next steps for the days ahead.  It all comes down to wiring, wiring, wiring.  I find myself teaching him a lot about the process.  The little RED light-emitting diode (L.E.D.) that is to the right side of the master switch now works when the master switch is turned on.

January 6, 2007:  Saturday afternoon and much work was done to get things going the right way at last.  I have been working on Wendell's behalf to find out why the Dynon remote magnetic sensor was not functioning.   I also read up on the Garmin GTX-330 radar transponder since it has more features than my GTX-327.  I found out the installation manual he had was revision A and there were some features missing in the rev A book.  A short phone conversation with Garmin tech support yesterday and a ZIP file later brought the REV J installation manual via email.   When we get to that part of the project, the connections for display of traffic information service will be ready to link to the GPS 396.

The Dynon unit came to us with version 2.12 software installed.  I had updated that to 2.17 a few months ago, but without the remote magnetic sensor connected during the upgrade.  That was a mistake I only discovered yesterday.   Fortunately, I had backed up a copy of the 2.12 software on my computer hard drive.   I put that version of software back in the D10A today and re-established communications between the main unit and the remote magnetic sensor with no errors.   After that was done, the software was upgraded to version 2.19 with full GPS interconnect capability and winds aloft calculation, etc.  I had upgraded my D10A with that same software and it works just fine.  Until yesterday, I was unaware that the remote magnetic sensor also received software during an upgrade of the software for the main unit.

On this past Thursday evening, I gave Wendell a small project to do behind the instrument panel to mount the Trio altitude control module before connecting that system.   Here is a photo of the bracket with the unit mounted on it.  Today we added the aluminum plate and the barrier strip you see near the bottom of this photo in preparation for wiring up the engine monitor.  We also re-arranged the wires from the engine monitor to the EGT and CHT probes to be sure we would have the proper length of wire to allow the instrument panel to be removed far enough to disconnect all the wiring harnesses from the back of the panel when the forward top skin is fully installed.   Although the baggage compartment will have an access door to get behind the instrument panel, not everything can be reached from back there.  That is why the panel can be removed from inside the cabin and all the various electrical and air line connections can be disconnected when necessary for maintenance.

The connections to the barrier strip above are the 4.8 volts and regulated 12 volts from the engine monitor.  Those voltages are required to operate several sensors for the engine monitor.  Here is the view from the other side of the panel.   The elevator trim knob and cable are now installed to be sure that all the cables behind the panel will not interfere with that linkage.  All the yellow, red, and white wires running from the engine monitor to the various EGT and CHT probes have been routed and are ready to connect to the probe wires from the engine.

Work on the wiring near the engine is not pictured today.  I showed Wendell how to install clamps for the thermocouple wires and the #8 wire that will run from the alternator output to the main power bus on the switch/breaker panel.  There will be lots to wire in the coming sessions.  The engine monitor with all its sensors will be the first unit to come online.  After that is done, the Trio units will get some attention.  The headphone and microphone wiring will be equipped with quick disconnect wiring plugs behind the instrument panel.  Then fuel gauges, lights, etc.

ALL of this wiring has to be completed before we can rivet on the forward top skin.  And by the way, all that stuff you see there, the instrument panel and the Trio altitude control module will have to be removed to allow riveting of the forward top skin.  The master switch and the alternator field switch/breaker will also need to be removed to provide clearance for riveting the outer frame of the instrument panel to forward top skin.  This whole process will also provide a chance to route the wiring to allow that kind of maintenance to be easier over the life of the airplane.

January 8, 2007:  The focus this evening was on the Grand Rapids Technology engine monitor connections to the various temperature probes and sensors.  Here are the first temporary connections to the left side of the engine.  The probes on the right side were also connected just to test each one.  I used a hair dryer to heat up each EGT probe while Wendell watched the digital readout page of the engine monitor.  The process was repeated for the cylinder head probes.  All of them worked just fine.  I scrolled through each page on the EIS-4000 engine monitor showing how values that were 99 or 0.0 now have real numbers displayed.  I also identified which of the AUX inputs would be designated for manifold pressure, fuel pressure, etc.

January 9, 2007:  The three-hour session tonight was a continuation of wiring of the oil temp probe, carb temp probe, fuel flow sensor, manifold pressure sensor, and tach sensor.  At the end of the session on the 8th, the 2-ampere circuit breaker popped when the power wire to the engine monitor was accidentally shorted to ground.  After the breaker element cooled, I had pushed it back in, but the power did not come back on to the unit.  Wendell replaced the damaged circuit breaker during his day session when he works on things that do not need my supervision or training.  After all the new connections were made, I showed Wendell how the edit mode works to calibrate sensor ranges and change the AUX labels to "Man" for manifold pressure, etc.  There are still a few edits to be completed and some unused pages that need to be suppressed to keep them from appearing during normal flight operations.

January 10, 2007:  Tonight's session completed the connections to the engine monitor, including the red warning light on the instrument panel.  The final edits to labels, page suppression and some additional tests were conducted.  The current probe was connected and it functions perfectly.   All the decimal points to the auxilliary inputs were set up correctly.  The engine monitor setup is complete.  The final calibration of the fuel flow sensor will be done during phase one flight testing.  Since there are no visual equipment changes to show, there are no photos from this work session.

January 11, 2007:   Tonight was a "milestone" for Wendell with regard to the plumbing and wiring.  I made sure the access holes and bushings were installed in the proper locations for the wires exiting the fuselage going to the wings.  The path for the pitot tube and lift reserve indicator (LRI) plumbing was also reviewed.  The RV-8 has rear passenger footwells are installed just aft of the aileron pushrods.  Any wires exiting to the wing root area must go around those footwells inside the fuselage.

Wendell should be completing the installation of the wires for the fuel tank float sensors that must interface with the instrument panel wiring connector on Friday, January 12th.  The goal is to have everything ready for another big wiring session on Saturday afternoon (13th).  That session will be all about making connections to the DBM-25 connectors that will allow easy removal of the instrument panel when needed.

The one empty bushing near the aileron push-rod hole  will get the strobe light shielded high-voltage cable when that wiring is completed.  The other wires are for the left landing light, left taxi light, wing tip marker light, serial data wire to the Dynon remote compass, and the servo control and power cable for the Trio wing leveler.

Here is a view of the right side of the fuselage showing where the outline of the footwell is located inside the cabin.  The two empty bushings under the wires will get the 1/4" plastic tubing for the lift reserve indicator.  The round hole near the left side of the photo is for the rear passenger fresh air scat tube leading to the air vent in front of the rear seat.  The right side strobe wire exit is the other empty bushing near the aileron push-rod hole.  The  strobe light power supply is inside just aft of the footwell.  The large rectangular opening is for the wing spar to be inserted and bolted to the fuselage when the time comes.