Europa #435 G-RODO Build Journal - 2021 01

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day	notes	hours
2	Try without much success to photograph the inner face of the sub-panel as a check on which items are now connected. List all the wires still dangling out of the main panel aperture: 110 starter switch supply 111 starter switch load 115 LED 12V +ve starter engaged 119 LED 12V -ve alternator fail 120 LED 12V +ve alternator fail 128 LED 12V +ve crowbar warning 216 USB double power outlet supply 311 Tachometer red 313 Hourmeter tab 3 325-328 (cable 324) UMA pressure gauge DE-09 343 Tachometer white & 270 & wire 805 344 Tachometer black & 270 & wire 312 901 Mag A 904 Mag B blue CSC-1 prop controller green/yellow CSC-1 prop controller red (806) CSC-1 prop controller white (801) CSC-1 prop controller black (802) CSC-1 prop controller The last 5, and cable 324, need to be moved over to the radio panel aperture. All the rest are for items on the main panel. The numbered extensions on the red, white & black wires from the MPS-1 manifold pressure sensor may not be necessary.	3431.0
3	Check and list all the wires emerging from the radio panel aperture. 203, 209, 333, 435 & 704 are all going to the common earth point. 509 goes to fuse C2. All the others (213, 301, 302, 303, 310, 320, 321, 322, 323, 329, 332, 334, 348, 401, {407, 408 - cable 403}, {409, 410 - cable 404}, {411, 412 - cable 405}, {413, 414 - cable 406}, 416, 418, 421, 422, 436, 501, 502, 503, 505, 506, 507, 511, 515, 517, 518, 519, 520, 521, 522, 523, 603, 611, 612, 613, 701, 702, 803 & 807) are going to items on the radio panel.	3431.2
4	Extract wire 509 from the transponder bundle, cutting off the cable ties on the wire bundle by the fuseblocks for access, and cut it off to length for the fuseblock. Alas! I had not followed my normal habit of double-checking which fuse it should go to and for some unknown reason had cut it for C5; it should go to C2. Extend it again with a butt splice, label, terminate and fit to fuse C2. Re-fit a few cable ties on the big wire bundle adjacent to the fuseblocks.	3431.8
5	Cut, label, terminate & fit to common earth point wires 333, 203 & 209. Now can't find wires 435 & 704 despite seeing and listing them a couple of days ago! Move cable 324, MPS-1 red, black & white wires and propeller wires blue & green/yellow across from the main panel aperture to the radio panel aperture. Check and export from the wiring database all the wires for the common earth point that have not yet been made up. Print the list.	3432.6
6	At last find wires 435 & 704 - they have the tiny number-only labels so are easily missed. Cut 10AWG stock to length for wire 206. Terminate with yellow female blade, label and fit to common earth point. Add tape flag at free end. Cut 18AWG stock to length for wire 212. The wire list shows a butt splice at the USB end but it should be a male blade. Make up wire, labelling both ends and fit between the earth point and the USB outlet. I now have very little 18AWG left and there are at least 3 lengths needed, so will need to order more. Terminate and label the remaining piece of 18AWG as wire 217 with tape flag at free end and fit to earth point. Order 5m of 18AWG from Parts For Aircraft .	3433.6
7	Cut to length from 22AWG stock, terminate with red female blade, label, attach tape flag to free end and fit to earth point wires 312, 319, 330, 331, 423, 424, 425, 431 (last of 100m drum stock), 512 & 514. Likewise from 20AWG stock wire 516.	3435.4
8	Do some online research into D-sub connectors with crimp inserts. Cinch is the make used by Trig . Make up and fit wire 524 to earth point. Decide to delete wire 525 and common the wires at the transformer flying leads.	3435.8
9	Look through stock for a small project box to contain the NTE-4 transformer, but can't find anything really suitable so order some of different sizes on eBay. 18AWG wire delivered from Parts For Aircraft . With 22AWG stock except where noted, measure to approximate length, make up and fit to earth point wires 402 (18AWG), 604, 605, 606, 703, 804 (20AWG), 808 (18AWG), 907 and 908 (20AWG). Move the main instrument panel up onto the temporary wiring shelf and dress all wires and pitot-static lines clear of it. In turn, draw through to earth point to check final length, cut, label terminate and fit to earth point wires 314, 116 and 129 from main panel. Consider how I might fit a temporary security support between the top edge of the panel and the front edge of the F14 Instrument Module. A length of heavy nylon leader through one of the fixing holes on the panel would be fine, but how to attach it to the IM?	3437.1
11	Drill a 3mm hole near the top edge of the F14 Instrument Module main panel aperture. Thread a length of 1.5mm nylon leader through that hole and the central upper on on the panel, and tie to support the panel against sliding off the temporary support shelf. Check the length required for wire 313, cut, label, terminate with 4.8mm red female blade and fit to tab 3 of the hourmeter.	3438.1
12	Check length, cut, label, terminate & connect wire 115 to the red lead of the starter engaged LED. Connect the already-terminated wires from the E-3, TP-3 & BAT-1 instruments to the CHT, Oil & Battery warning LEDs. Check length, cut, label, terminate & connect wires 119 & 120 to the black and red leads respectively of the alternator fail LED. Check length, cut, label, terminate & connect wire 128 to the red lead of the crowbar warning LED. Check length, cut, label, terminate & connect wires 110 & 111 to the starter switch.	3439.3
13	Small project boxes delivered. Try out the NTE-4 transformer in them. It appears the dimensions quoted by the eBay seller were outside, not inside - the smallest one is not even deep enough to contain the transformer. Might just about get away with the middle one, but the largest of the three (about 22mm x 36mm x 52mm outside) seems most comfortable, allowing for the necessary crimp terminations. Return to the D-sub connector question. RS have a minimum order of 50 for the Cinch inserts, and I can't get into my RS account for some reason, despite going through the lost password procedure. Mouser also stock the the Cinch types and can supply in smaller quantities, although they do have a hefty Fedex delivery charge. Although I had initially thought I might replace all the solder-bucket types with crimp types, the connector supplied with the ATR833 comm radio is a bit unusual. It has a PCB between the solder-bucket contacts, which commons the supply and earth contacts; it might be best to stick with that as commoning even with short wires might not be so good for RF performance. Check the radio panel units for the gender of all the D-sub connectors and find that I have incorrectly recorded the CSC-1 as needing a socket whereas it actually needs a plug - will need to change the drawings and wire database entries. Now needing mixture of pin and socket inserts makes the RS minimum of 50 very unattractive. Check length, cut and label wire 907. Crimp it with the end of the offcut in a 3mm red ring terminal. Cut offcut to make a short link. Check length and cut cable 901. Strip off about 60mm of the outer insulation. Shorten the braid to about 20mm and fold it back over the jacket. As I hadn't printed cable labels, label it as wire 903. Shrink a solder sleeve with pigtail onto the folded-back braid. Cut the pigtail to about the length of the inner. Crimp the pigtail and the short link from wire 907 in a 3mm red ring terminal.	3440.0
14	Finally manage to identify all the Cinch part numbers I need for the D-sub connectors I want to order, and place an order with Mouser . Pleased to find that the order value is enough to get free delivery. Crimp a short length of wire to a 3mm red ring terminal for a link. Crimp the other end of the link, together with wire 902 (inner of cable 901) in another 3mm ring. Fit the 4 ring terminals on cable 901 to the outboard mag switch (A) with the screen and earth wire on the lower terminals and the inner on the upper terminals. Cut cable 904 to length and label. Cut wire 908 to length and label. Crimp it with a short link wire in a 3mm red ring. Strip about 60mm of outer jacket of cable 904. Cut screen to about 20mm and fold back over outer jacket. Shrink onto the screen a 1/8" solder sleeve with pigtail. Cut the pigtail (to match the length of the inner) and crimp it with the short link from wire 908 in a 3mm ring. Strip the inner (wire 905) and crimp it in a 3mm ring with a short link to another 3mm ring.	3441.0
15	Connect the 4 ring terminals on cable 904, wire 908 and attached links to mag switch B (inboard), with screen and earth at the bottom and inner at the top.	3441.3
16	Collect into a single box the avionics connectors from various boxes ( Trig , Garrecht , Funkwerk , Smart Avionics ) in office and take to garage. Thought the GPS harness was in one of the boxes in the trailer, but, after unsuccessful search there, find it in box 26 in garage, along with the missing NTE-4 transformer! Notice in passing that the green wire on the OAT sensor has pulled out of the crimp connector to wire 333, with most strands broken off. I probably caught it on one of the many climbs in and out of the cockpit. Will have to work out a repair, and better protection for the future. May need a replacement sensor as the remaining wire is quite short. Connect the 3 antennae to the TRX-2000 and fit cable ties to keep things tidy. Try winding the free end of wire 217 through a toroid; quite easy to get 4 turns through and less than half the centre hole filled. Fit the RJ45 cable to port 1 of TRX-2000 and draw through to radio panel aperture. Cut off the outer jacket near the earth point. Cut off the stripped ends of the un-needed wires (yellow, orange, brown, white, violet & green) on the Garmin GPS cable, fold back and insulate with heatshrink sleeves. Shrink a larger sleeve over that whole bunch, leaving black, red and blue wires free. Connect 2 short lengths of 22AWG to blue wire with butt splice and label as wires 513 & 532. Leave the GPS cable back in the avionics connector box for now, as it is likely to get in the way of other wiring. Wind wires 216 & 217 through a toroid, 4 times each in opposite directions, as close to the USB double outlet as possible. Need to leave room for labels as it's vital to get the polarity correct! Label, terminate and fit to USB outlet. Think about drawing the Dynon D2 GPS antenna cable through the panel and find that I do not appear to have made any provision for that! There are some holes, but the instruments fit too close to the panel for a cable to pass. Will have to drill a hole in the piece of aluminium that supports the Airbox Aware, but care will be needed to keep swarf away from all the instruments and electrics. Check length to earth point, cut, label and terminate TRX-2000 orange (528) and orange-white (537) in a single red female blade. Likewise brown (527) and brown-white (536) for fuse C5. Cut short the green, green-white and blue inners, fold back and insulate each with heatshrink, then shrink that bundle in a larger sleeve, leaving blue-white free. Fit 527/536 to fuse C5 and 528/537 to the earth point.	3445.0
18	Re-sequence and re-print wirebook pages of the MGL instruments to better reflect the physical layout. Check the resistor in the E-3 box - it is 220 and looks like a 1W size. The UMA tacho manual specifies 270 , 0.5W. I wonder if 220 would be OK. Fit the DE-09P connectors to the RTC-2 and FF-1 instruments. Check length, cut 22AWG stock, label, terminate and fit wires 354 and 353 to the clock warning LED and draw the free ends round to the radio panel aperture.	3445.5
19	Check the magneto circuits with an audible continuity tester. Both switches are working correctly. Remove the temporary earthing wires from the ignition modules and the engine earth point. Fit the Rotax connector on wire 902 to ignition module A and that on wire 905 to ignition module B. Looks as though a bit of support for those wires would be a good idea. Check length, cut from 22AWG stock, label, terminate and fit wires 352 and 351 to the fuel warning LED, drawing the free ends out through the radio panel aperture. After reassurance on the Matronics Europa e-mail list that the resistor value across the tacho output is not critical, insulate the leads of the 220 resistor with heatshrink sleeves and shrink a larger sleeve over the resistor body. Cut wire 312 to length, label and terminate with red female blade. Crimp a male blade on the red tacho lead and connect to wire 312. Crimp one lead of the resistor in a red female blade with wire 343 and the other lead in another female blade with wire 344. Crimp the black tacho lead in a male blade with wire 312. Label the last length of 22AWG stock as wire 805. Crimp it with the white tacho lead in a male blade. Draw the free end of wire 805 out through the radio panel aperture Connect wire 343 to tacho white and wire 344 to tacho black. Fit some cable ties to tidy things up.	3448.1
20	D-sub connector parts delivered from Mouser . The 25 socket inserts ordered turn out to be 23 sockets and 2 pins, but as I'd allowed some spare that is not a problem. Store them in the avionics connectors box. Check the fit of the hood supplied with the CSC-1 15-way connector on the new crimp-insert body, and file down some internal flanges to fit better. Check stock of D-sub hoods and find a couple of plastic 9-way ones that look suitable, but no 15-way. Again, some relief of flanges on the hoods is needed to fit the crimp-insert bodies. Fit extension nuts to the GPS connector from FF-1. The snap-closure hood will mate with that OK once a couple of washers are added to the jackscrews to stop them bottoming against the opposing screws. The other screw-closure hood is fine for the fuel pressure gauge connector. Find some tube connectors and adaptors in another box and add them to the pitot-static parts in box 26. Order a 15-way hood from CPC.	3449.5
21	Find I had a 15-way D-sub connector hood after all - there was a bag labelled "autopilot connector" stored in the port headrest and of course as well as a 15-way solder-bucket socket, it had a hood. Check fit on the new crimp-type connector and relieve a couple of places for a better fit. With a square awl, pierce the bottom edges of the long sides of the small project box for the NTE-4 transformer, and make slots to take a cable-tie for securing it to the comm radio. Drill one end 7mm and open up to about 7.2mm with the taper reamer for a grommet. Fit grommet. Crimp an offcut of 22AWG to the NTE-4 black lead with a butt splice as wire 419.	3450.2
22	Label wire 419. Hot-glue the NTE-4 transformer to the inside of the project box. Start to sort out the pitot-static parts and fittings. Find the 5mm bore silicon tubing for use on most of the instruments. Check that the rubber tubing supplied with the Trig transponder will reach from the radio panel to the main panel. Cut the end of the loop of TU21RM tubing. Identify one leg as pitot and fit tape flags to both ends. Fit a female connector to the wing root end of that tube, and a male to the wing root end of the other tube, using Eliza Tinsley 3mm hose clips to secure. It's easiest to slide the tubing onto the fittings if it is warmed very slightly with the heat gun. Connect the fittings together to keep out dust & dirt. Cut the TU21RM pitot tube at a suitable point in the F14 Instrument Module for TEEing off to the ASI. Cut a length of the 5mm silicon tubing for the ASI pitot port. Fit it, with a 5mm Eliza Tinsley hose clip, to the large side leg of a 4-6-4 TEE. Fit the offcut of TU21RM to one small leg of the TEE with a 3mm ET clip.	3451.9
23	Try the made-up TEE against the shortened TU21RM pitot tube at the back of the F14 Instrument Module and decide to shorten it further for a better run to the ASI. Connect the partly made-up TEE to that tube with a 3mm Eliza Tinsley hose clip. Connect the silicon tube to the ASI pitot port with a 5mm ET clip. Draw the free end of the TU21RM tube across to the radio panel aperture. Cut to a suitable length for the SmartASS and insert into the pitot port. Cut the static tubing to a suitable length for TEEing off to ASI. Collect all required parts into cockpit. Make up an unequal TEE as done before for pitot, with ET clips. Add a 6mm equal TEE on the free end of the silicon tube and a further short length of silicon tube to reach the ASI. Fit the NPT TEEs to the altimeter and VSI with a smear of Loctite 577 on the threads, taking care not to let any get into the instruments. Cut a length of silicon tubing to reach from the TEE by the ASI to the upper port on the altimeter TEE and fit it with ET clips. Fit the remaining leg of the unequal TEE to the short piece of static tubing at the back of the IM with ET clip. Draw the free end of the TU21RM tube across to the radio panel aperture. Cut to a suitable length for the SmartASS and insert into the static port. Join the altimeter TEE lower port to the VSI TEE upper port with a short length of silicon tubing, secured with ET clips. Cut a short length of silicon tubing and to it fit, with an ET clip, the 6mm-to-5mm adaptor provided with the Trig transponder. Fit the Trig black rubber tubing to the 5mm end with a Trig spring clip. Fit the other end of the short silicon tubing to the lower port of the VSI TEE with an ET clip. Draw the free end of the black rubber tube across to the radio panel aperture and cap the end. Will need to amend the pitot-static system drawing to reflect how things have actually been connected.	3454.6
25	The (now-redundant) 15-way D-sub hood arrives from CPC. Start to amend the pitot-static system drawing and the parts list in the systems database. Find a universal bush 15.9mm x 3.2mm x 11.1mm ID (part UNB006 from Vital Parts ) which will (just) allow the Dynon GPS jack to pass through. Centre-pop a location for it near the USB double socket, on the aluminium plate that is part of the Airbox Aware mounting arrangement. With the vacuum cleaner hose running continuously beside the area of operations, drill 3mm, 6mm, 10mm then open to 16mm with a step drill. Deburr and vacuum up some swarf that escaped. Draw the Dynon GPS antenna cable through from the back face of the panel, then through the bush. Fit the bush in the hole.	3455.6
26	Complete the amendments to the pitot/static drawing. Complete the amendments to the pitot/static parts in the systems database. Add a link to the pitot/static documentation on the index page of the website and upload changed files. Print edited pages and insert in systems manual. Drill a 4mm hole at the top edge of the radio panel aperture for anchoring a support line for the radio panel while doing the wiring. Fit cable ties to some wire bundles and to pitot/static lines in main panel aperture. Remove the panel securing screws that were parked in the anti-vibration mounts. Remove the panel support line. Lift panel up into place and fit screws (2.5mm hex key).	3456.3
27	Position the radio panel on the temporary support shelf. Restrain it with a length of 250lb 1.5mm nylon leader attached to the hole in the top edge of the panel aperture. Dress the wires to the side of the panel into the starboard footwell. Cut wire 206 to length, label, terminate with yellow female blade and fit to earth tag of panel power outlet. Order some 2mm acrylic and polycarbonate sheet to try out the idea of having a translucent cover on the fuseblock area, so that I can see any warning LED for a blown fuse.	3457.0
28	Cut wire 213 to length, label, terminate with yellow female blade and fit to panel power outlet supply tag.	3457.2
29	Separate out from the big bundle of wires all the 600 group for the trim system. Cut, label, terminate and fit wire 604 to trim switch earth tag, and wire 603 to trim switch supply tag. In the trim cable, there are 2 white inners used for the motor supply. I had marked one with a yellow heatshrink sleeve, and similarly marked the corresponding one on the Matronics governor, for the correct up/down orientation. To preserve that identification, strip the outer jacket of the trim cable all the way back to a suitable cut point. Separate the marked white wire out from the bundle, cut it to length and mark it with yellow insulating tape under clear heatshrink (can't find the coloured heatshrink I used before). To that wire crimp a red male blade. Cut the other white inner to match and terminate it with a male blade. Likewise cut and crimp male blades to the blue/white and orange/white inners. Cut and terminate the green/white inner with a female blade. Crimp female blades to the white wires from the governor. One of the black wires from the governor has already been connected with a butt splice to the the black/white of the trim switch. On the other black wire from the governor (in the red, white, white bundle) crimp a butt splice. Cut wire 606 to length, label and crimp in the other end of the butt splice. Insulate a diode with small heatshrink sleeve on its leads and slightly larger over the body. Connect its cathode to the appropriate white lead of the trim switch with a butt splice. Connect its anode together with the blue lead of the governor in a male blade.	3459.5
30	Notice that the trim indicator has a white lead that is not shown on any of my diagrams. Check Ray Allen documentation and find it is for dimming the display during night flying; if not needed, can be ignored. Cut off the stripped end of the white lead, fold over and insulate it with a heatshrink sleeve. Cut wire 605, label, terminate with butt splice and connect to the trim indicator black/white lead. Cut wire 612, label, terminate with red female blade and connect to Matronics governor blue lead. Insulate the remaining diode with small heatshrink on the leads and larger over the body. Connect cathode to remaining white wire from trim switch with butt splice. Crimp anode of diode with green lead from governor in a male blade. Cut wire 611, label, terminate with female blade and connect to governor green lead. Terminate trim indicator green/white lead with a female blade. Terminate trim indicator blue/white and orange/white leads with male blades. Crimp governor yellow lead with trim switch red/white lead in a female blade. Cut wire 613 to length, label, terminate with male blade and connect to governor yellow and trim switch red/white. Connect servo cable wires to matching colour leads on the governor and indicator. Check trim and stall warner fuseholders - no fuses installed, so get out a couple of slow-blow 1A fuses and fit them. Also fit 3 off 1A fast-blow fuses for the ammeter shunt and the starter engaged warning. Connect a 12V bench power supply to the battery leads and check trim operation. After separating the connectors that were coiled up in the P1 stick base and shorting to each other, everything works OK and in the correct sense, including the stick-top switch. The trim isolator switch also works as expected, including its LED, which by serendipity matches the colour of the trim indicator LEDs quite nicely. Turning on the battery master switch causes several fuseblock LEDs to light. Check how visible they are under the sample fuse diagrams printed on OHP film with greyscale background. Both the white lettering and the black lettering need a paper backing to be legible, but the paper diffuses the LED light too much to be useful. White lettering looks slightly better than black, but maybe the black would be OK without the greyscale. Will have to try tracing paper or drafting film underneath the OHP film. Insert 1A fuses in positions B2, B3 & B4. This allows E-3 and BAT-1 screens to light up, but TP-3 does not. BAT-1 shows 12V, 0.2A, discharging, which seems pretty realistic! After shutting down and closing up it occurs to me that TP-3 is earthed to the engine block, and without the starter cable connected to the battery negative lead, the circuit is not complete! However E-3 is earthed in the same way, so how come it is lighting up? Its warning LED is also on. The starter warning LED is also lit which is very strange. Will have to connect the engine and battery earths together and see if any of these anomalies disappear. Also inserting fuses for some of the other items that are fully wired might help. Order some A3 drafting film online - A4 sheets seem to be out of stock everywhere.	3462.1
31	Connect the bench PSU with the firewall and engine earths commoned. Now the TP-3 screen comes up OK. Fit some fuses: 1A in positions A9, A10, B8, C5, C6; 3A in C2; 5A in A1, A2, B9; and 20A in A7. Now the starter engaged warning has gone out, the tacho needle has gone to 0 (instead of off-scale) and the fan runs when switched on. The 1A PSU is running out of grunt for all this and the voltage is sagging so swap to the 15V 10A one which makes things much happier. Only thing now not in order is that the hourmeter is not showing any display - I know it only runs when the tacho gets to a certain value, but I thought it should display when powered up.

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