Panel and other Wiring

[Sebastian]

It's been sometime since I posted anything but I feel I'm on a roll again and wanted to post some pics of my panel and wiring. I have front and back of my panel, wiring for the lighting in the wings ran into the cockpit, and wiring for the autopilot servos. If you notice the white plugs on the back of the panel, those are multi pin Molex connectors I added so it will be easier to remove the panel when needed. FYI I got these connectors from a company called Waytek they sell some of their stuff with minimum quantiles. Example I bought a bag of 100 pins for $5.60 male and same price for 100 female and the plugs are also a good buy. I bought all the pins for what one plug in ACS would have cost and still have to buy the pins.

[rodsmith]

Very nice. I have also been using "snake skin" to keep wire bundles together.

[Sebastian]

That stuff is great! And cheap!!

[Bdflies]

C J is doing some awesome work on his Bearhawk! Not only is he doing some very neat, organized wiring, but he has a label maker to label each end of the smaller wiring. It’ll be very easy to sort out and/or expand the avionics.

Bill

[svyolo]

Electrical connections like that are one of the things that make modern cars reliable. I am not using Molex, but I am using Delphi (GM) connectors for everything, including my electrical system. Very similar. Any wire bigger than 10 AWG is a crimped/soldered ring. Anything smaller is Delphi.

Take one apart 20 years later and they look like new. And I have.

[Sebastian]

Thumbs up on the Delphi that's good stuff. I have also used some all weather connectors in the wings.

[Bcone1381]

School me on the tools that are needed when you choose a connector system. For example, I checked out the Waytek website and found the Molex connectors. Molex are a common connector and very inexpensive. Then I found the ratchet crimper plus extraction tool is $185. Is that tooling cost whats expected when a connector decision is made?

[svyolo]

The type of crimper I use go for 40-80 dollars I think. I already owned it. Waytek is a good supplier. I have used them for about 15 years.

[Sebastian]

The crimper I used I bought on EBay for about $30 and it came with a wire stripper. The crimper has 4 sets of jaws you can change out but it is not exactly the perfect one for these pins and I have to trim some on the pin for it to work the best. The stripper was crap! BDFlies (Bill) showed me a set of crimper he recently purchased that are much higher quality than mine and more versatile. He got them on Amazon. They are Knipex 97 33 02 Crimping Pliers MultiCrimp with 5 interchangeable dies. These things will even go small enough to crimp the pins on your avionics plugs. A bit pricy but looks like they will last you a lifetime.

I looked a Waytek's tools also and thought the were to proud of them for a tool that you can really only use on one type of connector.

[N3UW]

Nice job. I too like to install connectors when their may be a component that may be installed as a unit or removed as a unit. One note. Th adhesive cable tie point you have on the ceiling may fail over time. I have never seen those to hold up for very long. They only way I have personally been successful is to put a bolt or rivet through them or to remove the double stick tape and install with proseal.