I started off today by cutting 2 small pieces of wood and attaching them to the existing panel mockup base with wood screws. The lower 3/4″ plywood plate, mounted vertically just below the left-side row of circuit breakers, does double duty in holding up the second horizontal plate, and at 4.5″ in depth mimics the top of the lower LHS side hole in the instrument panel bulkhead, the highest point for running wires from under the left armrest to behind the panel. In other words, all the wires going to/from the intercom to behind the panel must be run below this plate.
I mounted the second, thinner plate on top of the arm intercom-positioning jut-out at the base of the panel just forward of the row of circuit breakers. This plate mimics the left armrest console aft of the panel and forward of the control stick. Since I plan on mounting my master switch and both “mag” switches here, I went ahead and mounted my master switch in its approximate position. In this setup I’m bastardizing the master switch to serve as a power ON/OFF between battery power and main buss feed.
Over 12 hours later here is the panel –with about as many of the wiring cross connections completed as possible– ready to be fired up for the first time.
After I double checked all the connections, I set the battery in place and attached the leads. My battery was at 13.8 volts, which gave me a good bit of time to test out the panel.
I took this shot a fair while later after I applied power to the panel. I had left the GNS480 off for quite a while since it’s a bit of a power hog as I initially worked on configuring the GRT boxes.
Currently, I have 3 main issues I need to address, one major, 2 minor:
- My HXr won’t recognize the AHRS unit. I’ve double checked all the connections, power, RS232 etc. I’m stumped so tomorrow I’ll contact GRT.
- Three of my powered GNS480 external annunciator lights (Korry) lit up even before the unit was powered on. Clearly I’ll need to figure this out.
- The OAT probe is inop on my nifty little MGL clock…. and has never worked. I’ll contact MGL tomorrow as well.
Barring the usual snags, I’m super happy with the panel. Tomorrow I’ll probably get back into the shop for at least a bit, but I do want to get the AHRS issue resolved.