Well, here it goes.  After literally years of wondering, pondering, scheming and hypothesizing as to what I should do for a nose landing light I decided to go with a light that is simple, lightweight, with low power draw … albeit bright.  Notice I didn’t say cheap! 

I finally decided that I didn’t want to mess around with any contraption, mechanical or electro-mechanical device that would move a light from point A into position B so that it could be used to illuminate the runway.  One concern I had with the plans type landing light set-up is that it doesn’t easily allow for incorporating & using wig wag technology… not without some drag penalty.  Over the years I’ve spoke with a number of builders & EZ drivers on this subject, and there is an overwhelming consensus that our Long-EZs are simply difficult to see in the skies, and that we simply need to be as visible as we can possibly get to enhance safety of flight.

Another concern I had was having a single-use light.  I’ve heard many builders, and read many others, discussing having a movable light so that it can be dual-use, serving as both a landing light, then a taxi light.  I really didn’t want to mess around with having to adjust my light to use it as either a landing or taxi light, although I wholeheartedly agree that having the capability for both landing and taxi lights is a valid requirement.

My epiphany finally came from Squadron III’s newsletter, sent out by David Orr (AKA “Beagle”).  Beagle has a beautiful Berkut and guess what he has on the front of it? Two, small, round beautiful lights!  There was my answer!  No drop down lights, no mechanical levers to push or pull, no extra switch to flip . . . the answer was so obvious! Just use two small bright lights, and point one at the appropriate angle for landing, and set the other at the right angle for taxiing . . . or close enough to it.  I’m not overly concerned about the taxi lighting because I have two taxi/wigwag lights designed into the wings.  But by having two small ~2″ lights in the nose it meets all my design criteria: Simple, no moving parts, lightweight, low current draw, minimal drag, and incorporates full-time wig wag capability.

I looked around for a while for an appropriate light to use.  Beagle and I spoke and he gave me some pointers, managing heat being one critical aspect of using nose-mounted landing lights.  I finally decided to stay with my current exterior lighting brand choice by sticking with AeroLEDs.  I ended up buying one of their Sunray Plus LED landing lights.  I figure I’ll test it out & if I like it I’ll simply buy another one to use in tandem.

Before I get into the specific subsystem wiring pages that I’ve completed over the past several days, I wanted to explain my requirement for creating subsystem diagrams for my Wire Book.  Actually, in the spirit of efficiency, and because I think he explains it much more eloquently than I can, I blatantly stole an entry off of Nick Ugolini’s blog that helps expound upon the reasoning of why subsystem diagrams are invaluable tools to have in one’s toolkit when dealing with repairing, upgrading, troubleshooting and diagnosing electrical systems.  Here’s Nick’s sage advice:

The wiring diagrams are absolutely CRITICAL to long term maintenance of the plane and they need to be as complete and clear as possible.   After flying these planes for years, I find most of the maintenance issues in the future will mainly be wiring problems.  Fixing a screw, bushing or engine component is quick and easy.  Finding out why a light or radio stops working is really tough and almost impossible without a well-documented wiring schematic.    The type of connectors, switches, plugs, type of crimper used, wire, etc should be of the highest quality possible, because it will bite you in the butt if you don’t pay really close attending to this critical aspect of the plane.    Of all the work I am doing on the plane, I approach this area with the greatest concern and closest attention to detail possible.    This is why it takes so much time and effort.  I spent 3 hrs yesterday working on just 4 pages of wiring and I am still not done.    I will probably have 30 or 40 drawings.   

Some people approach the electrical draw from the aspect that you should put everything in an area on one page.  An example is the power system should show all components and where they all go (charging, starting, lights, lines to the radios, etc).  This is great for wiring the plane, but doesn’t help as much when you are trouble shooting a sub area of the larger system.  Let’s say you are only working on the alternator part of this system.  

I like drawing the areas out in sub systems.   The alternator system is drawn separately from the starting system or the ignition system.   In the future when you are trouble shooting  problems with the charging system, it is MUCH easier to look at just the system of interest and visually see what is going on.  You don’t have to separate it from a larger drawing with lots of other stuff on it.  It makes wiring the plane more of a pain but is much easier to trace wires.   

Anyone can wire a plane… it is not rocket science and is fairly easy to do.  Run a wire from A to B and you are done. Easy.  I have seen so many planes (certified and experimental) where if you ask the owner for a wiring diagram, you’ll get a blank stare.  I have seen very few wiring diagrams and they were by obsessive compulsive engineer types who really knew the value of having one.   Most builders just wing it.
-Nick Ugolini 

So, with much agreement and in the spirit of Nick’s words, I’m pushing on in my attempt to complete these subsystem wiring diagram pages for my Wire Book.  Since my last post on electrical diagrams I’ve completed the Fuel System, Alarm & Warning Systems, Starting System, and Long Wire Runs wiring diagrams.

Here is the fuel subsystem wiring diagram.

And here is the alarm & warning subsystems diagram.

I apologize if the pages look a little slanted, because they are.  I’m using a Brother printer that is supposed to print 11×17 inch pages, and technically it does do that.  However, it just doesn’t print  the pages straight… or it does rarely let’s say.  It sucks, but it was the only one I could grab in my limited time in the States before heading to the Middle East.

BTW, the long wiring runs is nothing more than a pictorial list of all the wiring runs between the nose/instrument panel area and the hell hole/firewall area so I can account for the amount of long wire purchases I may need to make if I don’t already have enough wire on hand.

Below is the updated list that I shared last week (again, green denotes completed or mature, yellow is currently being worked):

Z.  Z-13/8 Electrical System
–    Switch Configuration
1.  Panel Components
2.  Radio & audio system
3.  Main Bus
4.  Batt Bus
5.  E-Bus
6.  Nose Gear
7.  Pitch & Roll Trim Systems
8.  Lights: LDG, TAXI, NAV, STROBE
9.  Engine Info Management
10. Fuel System
11. Cockpit Lighting
12. Landing Brake
13. Throttle Switches
14. Control Stick Wiring
15. Integrated Back-up Battery System
16. Alarm & Warning Systems
17. Charging System
18. Heater System
19. Electronic Ignition
20. P-Mag Ignition
21. Component Interconnects
22. Starting System
23. Panel, Battery & Avionics Grounds
24. Cockpit, Firewall & Engine Grounds
25. Heated Pitot Tube Wiring
26. Trio Autopilot
30. Long Wire Runs

My buddy Marco finally received the Motion Systems Actuator that I ordered from them at the beginning of May.  All reports from Marco are the fit & finish are excellent.  We’ll most likely have to play around with various spring tensions to lock in the operating parameters for our respective Long-EZs, but of course fine-tuning is expected on any pitch trim system install.

Here are some excellent shots of my completed Vance Atkinson EZ Electric Trim System. Of course the credit goes to both Vance who designed & perfected the system, and Marco who built it to perfection using the plans Vance & other builders supplied us.

Although I have yet to actually test this system yet, I am incredibly pleased & excited to be using this pitch trim system in my bird.  My initial thought is that it was definitely the right choice.

A reoccurring question that I’ve had in my mind for quite some time was simply how to go about labeling all the wires in the Long-EZ to make maintenance, modifications and troubleshooting a heck of a lot easier.  Well, recently–most likely due to my recent task of building all the subsystem wiring book diagrams–that internal “reoccurring” question turned more into a “nagging” question.

So the other day I spent a couple of hours perusing my notes, past emails, various builders’ forums and the Internet to find an answer to my now persistent wire-labeling question.  After a fair amount of research, and doing a short cost-benefit analysis of the amount of time required to label my wires in one of the few old school methods versus acquiring the capability to do it quickly, I realized that having high quality labeled wires wasn’t going to be necessarily cheap.  However, along with high quality labels the one thing I could definitely attain was speed . . . and once you add the ability to produce things a heck of a lot more quickly, with high quality, that simply equates to efficiency in my book. And I am willing to pay for efficiency.

I found a few builders using the K-Sun Bee3-EZ+ label maker (Really?! How can you pass on something that is clearly made for an “EZ”?  It even lists it right in the model number! And it’s EZ to use to boot!).  Now, I already have a P-Touch label maker that I’ve used for countless years, so why in the world do I need another label maker?!  Well, dear friends, this one PRINTS ON SHRINK TUBE!  Ok, this may not be news to you, but it definitely was to me.  Between the 1/8″ & 3/16″ sized shrink tubes, they cover wire gages from 12-22 AWG.  Perfect for covering the vast majority of wires in an airplane build.  Moreover, these shrink tubes come in 5 different color combos.

Thus, after reading online reviews, comparing prices, etc., I went back to my old standby eBay and was able to pick up a new K-Sun Bee3-EZ+ shrink tube label maker for over half the cost less of a new one at a regular online vendor:

I mentioned in my previous post that I created a new mini-buss to facilitate power handling and circuit protection for my Integrated Back-up Battery System (IBBS) that’s depicted on WireBook Drawing #15: IBBS.  Here’s a closeup shot of the new mini-bus, that I’m sure by now that you’re aware that I have affectionately dubbed it the “Extended Buss,” or X-Bus for short.  And if you’re wondering what all the hoopla is about, all I can say is, “Hey, com’n … this is the first electrical buss I’ve ever created!” 

You may also remember that I mentioned I was able to grab one of these babies–the same make & style as my other 3 busses from B&C–off of eBay for around $10.  Here is the actual 4-gang ATC fuse holder that I bought off of eBay.

Behold, the new X-Bus!

Over the past week I’ve continued on in my quest to complete all my wiring diagram pages for my wiring book before I leave the Middle East here within about 6 weeks!  Once I return to the states, pull my Long-EZ build out of stasis, and start sniffing epoxy fumes again I won’t have the forced luxury of time (unless I take time off from actual building) to get down into the weeds of each subsystem–electrical & otherwise–that I’ve been able to do while separated from my actual project.

Over the past week I’ve completed the Integrated Back-up Battery System (IBBS), the Charging System, and the Landing/Taxi/Nav/Strobe/Wigwag Lights System electrical diagrams.  Also, within hours of posting last week’s MAP & Vacuum system diagram, I found during a relook at the installation instructions that my GRT MAP Sensor was mounted on the wrong side of the firewall: the hot side.  Unlike the Electroair MAP sensor, which is fine on the hot side of the firewall (and that’s exactly where the builder is told to install it), the GRT MAP sensor must be on the cold side of the firewall.  Although I had ordered the majority of the connectors, I found during my redesign that I would still use all that I ordered, so for the project manager in me it felt good to know I hadn’t wasted any (more!) money on the stuff I did order.  Like last week, in the pic below I show the 3 newly completed wiring diagrams and my updated hack Manifold Pressure system PowerPoint diagram.

Below is a shot of my Integrated Back-up Battery System (IBBS) wiring diagram page. Note that TCW’s new 3AH IBBS is the backbone of my back-up battery system.  Also, a long time issue that I had was exactly how to wire up my panel components to have them on back-up power during engine starting (thus not having to power them down during start), but also provide current protection and the ability to switch them between IBBS power and E-bus power at will.  I guess this is the power behind subsystem diagrams, because after drawing it all out, reviewing the install manual & my past communications with Bob at TCW, I was able to see that I needed to create another mini-buss to solve my issue.  The new mini-buss is a 4-gang ATC fuse holder ($10 off eBay with shipping!) and is exactly the same make as my other buses.  I call the new mini-buss my Extended Buss, or X-Bus for short.  The X-Bus works perfectly in allowing me to fulfill all my design criteria for my IBBS:

Here’s a shot of my Landing/Taxi/Nav/Strobe/Wigwag Lights System wiring schematic:

Below is the updated list that I shared last week (again, green denotes completed or mature, yellow is currently being worked):

Z.  Z-13/8 Electrical System
–    Switch Configuration
1.  Panel Components
2.  Radio & audio system
3.  Main Bus
4.  Batt Bus
5.  E-Bus
6.  Nose Gear
7.  Pitch & Roll Trim Systems
8.  Lights: LDG, TAXI, NAV, STROBE
9.  Engine Info Management
10. Fuel System
11. Cockpit Lighting
12. Landing Brake
13. Throttle Switches
14. Control Stick Wiring
15. Integrated Back-up Battery System
16. Alarm & Warning Systems
17. Charging System
18. Heater System
19. Electronic Ignition
20. P-Mag Ignition
21. Component Interconnects
22. Starting System

And finally, here’s another shot of my upgraded Manifold Pressure system design:

In the past week I’ve completed a few more wiring diagram pages for my wiring book: the Electroair electronic ignition, the P-MAG ignition and the Engine Info System (GRT EIS4000).  In addition, I took quite a few hours to sit down to figure out what components I needed for my Manifold Pressure & Vacuum system design.  In the pic below I show the 3 newly completed wiring diagrams and my hack PowerPoint diagram that I made to keep track of all the bits n pieces required to build the Manifold Pressure system.

Here is a shot of my Engine Info Management wiring diagram page:

Along with knocking out some wiring diagrams, I also added a couple more diagrams to the list of subsystem diagram pages for the Wiring Book.  I broke out the Starting system to its own page, and to keep track of all the wiring and to have a holistic, systemic, wire-focused (vs component-focused) view of my system, I added a Components Interconnect page.  Below is the updated list that I shared last week (again, green denotes completed or mature, yellow is currently being worked):

Z.  Z-13/8 Electrical System
–    Switch Configuration
1.  Panel Components
2.  Radio & audio system
3.  Main Bus
4.  Batt Bus
5.  E-Bus
6.  Nose Gear
7.  Pitch & Roll Trim Systems
8.  Lights: LDG, TAXI, NAV, STROBE
9.  Engine Info Management
10. Fuel System
11. Cockpit Lighting
12. Landing Brake
13. Throttle Switches
14. Control Stick Wiring
15. Integrated Back-up Battery System
16. Alarm & Warning Systems
17. Charging System
18. Heater System
19. Electronic Ignition
20. P-Mag Ignition
21. Component Interconnects
22. Starting System

Here is a shot of my professional quality PowerPoint (ha!) showing my Manifold Pressure system design:

In creating my Electroair Electronic Ignition wiring diagram and digging down into the weeds of it all, I kept coming across an issue that on the surface might not seem that difficult to fix.  And honestly, perhaps it’s not for some folks.

So let me give a little background.  For my ignition system I had planned to install an Electroair electronic ignition system in lieu of one Slick magneto on one side, but still go with a Slick magneto on the other side.  I had talked at length with Kevin at Sky Dynamics and few other engine gurus on simply replacing the Slick mag with a P-MAG when that dreaded “500” hour mag overhaul came due.  They understood the economy of using what was available and cheaper in the near term, but going with a much better solution in the long run.  In short, the feedback was that it wasn’t a bad plan.

This ignition configuration then became my plan for quite a while.  However, in my recent focus on this system, I’ve run across a couple of things threw a wrench into my planning process.  The final result though, is a more optimized install and system anyway, IMO.

First, after talking to a couple builders and reading a few accounts of swapping a magneto out for a P-MAG, or any other electronic ignition, probably made my statement, “Oh, I’ll just swap out the mag for a P-MAG” maybe just a bit too simplistic.  Can it be done?  Certainly. And of course it’s not an insurmountable job.  The problem though really comes down to space & access.  There is simply not a whole lot of room between the engine accessory case & the firewall in an EZ.  Again, it doesn’t place the swap-out in the realm of the impossible, I’ve just heard (most recently from my buddy Dave Berenholtz) that it’s a real PITA!  And I don’t know about you, but I try to avoid PITA situations as often as possible!

Second,  I had planned on using the Slick mag side of my ignition to start the engine, then flip the Electroair EI ON once the engine was going.   The issue here becomes a little multi-faceted.  Slick mags of course come in two flavors: Impulse & Non-impulse. Impulse mags are used to start the engine, while non-impulse mags are used as just a redundant ignition system to get juice to the spark plugs.  In an attempt to make my future P-MAG install as painless and pre-readied as possible, I would need to use a non-impulse mag in order to NOT have to pull the impulse mag innards and also still be able to reuse the non-impulse drive gear (‘cuz it costs a bit).  Well, in order to use a non-impulse mag, I would need to use the Electroair EI side to start the engine.  No problem, the Electroair EI works great and can be used as the engine starting ignition if that’s how I wanted to configure my ignition system.

While researching the feasibility of using the Electroair as the starting ignition, and how to do it, I ran across a potential issue.  Apparently, some Electroair users have had starting issues when the bus voltage is too low, caused by anything from a battery issue to cold weather.  Moreover, these issues were popping up (NOT in overwhelming numbers mind you) in RVs and Glastars, not just canards.  In my mind, with such a long power run between the battery in the nose and starter/EI at the tail end that we have in canards, this configuration could very well exacerbate any propensity for this type of scenario to occur.

The solution?  Throw a small 1.3AH battery in the circuit and call it a day.  Simple enough eh?  But how exactly does this work?  And now I’m throwing more weight and complexity at the issue.  I contacted Electroair to see if this was in fact a good idea to have a power boost for engine starting to avoid such potential nasties as kickbacks & simple non-starts. They said it was & gave me a generic solution for running a battery in parallel with my starting circuit.  Since my back-up battery system is TCW, I contacted Bob there and asked him about it.  Of course Bob isn’t an Electroair guru, so he also gave me a generic solution.  The bottom line is as I tried to work this solution, I kept going back to my original specific design goal for all of this: to use the cheaper Slick Mag solution as long as I could, then swap it out for a P-MAG after it essentially died on the vine.  Now, quite often I’m just not that bright, and it sometimes takes a while for a solution to sink in.  But hey, if my ultimate goal is to have a P-MAG installed anyway, and by having it installed it eliminates all my current design & planning woes…. WOAH, WAIT A MINUTE!!!  HA!

If you’re a Cohen brothers fan, and you’ve seen the movie, The Hudsucker Proxy, then you’ll understand that maybe this blog post should have been titled, “The Future is Now!” 

Thus, I stopped all the madness, all the silliness, all the hand-wringing, and started listening to ECi, Kevin at Sky Dynamics, Nick Ugolini, Dave Berenholtz, et al by simply deciding to go with the P-MAG solution from the git-go and dump any ideas of saving money with the Slick Mag solution.