---------------------------------------------------------- AeroElectric-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Tue 01/22/08: 7 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 08:32 AM - Re: Infinity Stick connector? (rampil) 2. 09:31 AM - Re: Blue Mountain EFIS (rampil) 3. 10:28 AM - LED Lighting (dj45) 4. 11:32 AM - Re: Re: Infinity Stick connector? (Peter Laurence) 5. 12:09 PM - Re: LED Lighting (B Tomm) 6. 01:33 PM - Re: Re: Infinity Stick connector? (Ernest Christley) 7. 05:44 PM - MagnaFlite MZ-6222 starter (jayb) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 08:32:03 AM PST US Subject: AeroElectric-List: Re: Infinity Stick connector? From: "rampil" Take a look at the wire gauge in the Infifity. How high do you think the current can be? Almost any airworthy connector can take it. I completely agree with you about the Molex connectors. They don't seem to wipe well and the crimps from Radio Shack don't hold the wire reliably despite using my ProCrimp tool on them. At the very least solder them after crimping. Personally, I removed all of the Molex (0.6 and 0.9 sizes) before 200hr on my airframe. Cheers, -------- Ira N224XS Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=159761#159761 ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 09:31:03 AM PST US Subject: AeroElectric-List: Re: Blue Mountain EFIS From: "rampil" Hi All, This thread about BMA has made for interesting reading over the past few days. I've enjoyed it and feel modestly motivated to weigh in. I am a BMA customer, in fact, one of the first E/1 black plastic boxes came to me. Why did I choose it? Features for price, an analysis that, in my eyes is as true today as it was 6 years ago. I upgraded to the gold box when it was available, and just recently replaced it with a Gen4 E/2. Yes, I paid the freight and kept going with BMA. The original up to the Gen3 models got a bad rep for what I consider a poor reason. The original schema was completely flexible in its input configuration. That meant for people like me with a rotax, could use the probes that came with the engine, any probes would work. They just needed to be calibrated, a concept it turns out in practice was foreign to many builders, "system integrators (I think panel builders is a far more accurate description BTW)", and especially non-building owners of experimental aircraft. It turns out, most of the general aviation never calibrates anything except the mandated encoder. This is really sloppy practice for non-mated sensor / indicators, especially when they are non mil or medical grade. My little experience informs me that you cant expect better than 10%, maybe 20% accuracy in an automotive sensor unless you calibrate it to the indicator. How many people calibrate their oil temp and pressure probes on their RV? Not many. Does the 10% really matter, not really in most applications. But the BMA required calibration. The BMA also had its ADCs outside the engine compartment and the repeated warnings about low resistance gounds to the battery and engine block were apparently inadequate for many people. Digital avionics and low level voltage signals just require more care in grounding and layout than older analog systems, especially in composite airframes (like mine). I will certainly grant you that the manuals are a bit sparse, but then I always found that the telephone worked for me. For what Greg has told me, most problematic installations eventually work once external wiring errors are caught and corrected. The BMA guys sought to simplify installation wiring by mandating a fixed set of sensors, none of which are unipolar and return back through the engine block. Wiring is now much simpler as I can attest in my own install last month. Calibration is no longer needed. I think that BMA will be out with a skin for the Rotax engines soon so I can integrate the VDO sensors built in to the engine. The stuff works and I believe it provides the most advanced EFIS functions for the price. It is also among the simplest to use in flight. So there have been some problems with the company. I see these kinds of issues in IT all the time. Greg chose the brand-new at the time SISC CPU chip for Gen 1-2. Many thought SISC would win out the future of computing over CISC chips like the Pentium. It was faster and cheaper right up until SISC guys went out of business. No more parts. No evolution of SISC. Technology moves fast, airplane building slow. I bought early, so do most. Some get more burned than others. Anyone want a Mode S transponder? ANyone want a 430, I heard the WAAS upgrade will be simple and very cheap! Most of Gen3 features worked out the door, but some did not. Some worked for some owners and not for others. More strenuous beta testing might help. Again not very different for many vendors from airframe kits to headsets. Ever hear of ADs? I don't work for Greg, et al, I'm just a customer who has appreciated life on the bleeding edge with my experimental aircraft. You might even find me at the BMA booth at SnF talking about my experience in using the EFIS for nearly 4 years. I am always delighted to talk to fellow listers ;-) Cheers -------- Ira N224XS Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=159780#159780 ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 10:28:15 AM PST US Subject: AeroElectric-List: LED Lighting From: "dj45" Has anyone thought much of making LED landing/taxi lights? Just something that might be fun to mess around with. -------- Do not archive Dan Stanton N9801S 99.9% Done & Flying Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=159795#159795 ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 11:32:26 AM PST US From: " Peter Laurence" Subject: Re: AeroElectric-List: Re: Infinity Stick connector? If one wants quality connectors, take a look a Deutsch. They're distributed by Ladd Industries. LADD Industries- Deutsch IPD Electrical Connectors Used them on a Velocity. Four years and five hindred hours later not a peep from the connectors. These are high end products and are not cheap.. However, neither is building an airplane. Peter ----- Original Message ----- From: "rampil" Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 11:28 AM Subject: AeroElectric-List: Re: Infinity Stick connector? > > Take a look at the wire gauge in the Infifity. How high do you think the > current can be? > Almost any airworthy connector can take it. > > I completely agree with you about the Molex connectors. > They don't seem to wipe well and the crimps from Radio Shack don't > hold the wire reliably despite using my ProCrimp tool on them. > > At the very least solder them after crimping. > > Personally, I removed all of the Molex (0.6 and 0.9 sizes) before 200hr > on my airframe. > > Cheers, > > -------- > Ira N224XS > > > Read this topic online here: > > http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=159761#159761 > > > ________________________________ Message 5 _____________________________________ Time: 12:09:42 PM PST US From: "B Tomm" Subject: RE: AeroElectric-List: LED Lighting Yes, it's happening. Here's one that's been discussed lately on Vansairforce. See http://www.aeroleds.com/product.html Bevan RV7A wiring -----Original Message----- From: owner-aeroelectric-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-aeroelectric-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of dj45 Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 10:24 AM Subject: AeroElectric-List: LED Lighting Has anyone thought much of making LED landing/taxi lights? Just something that might be fun to mess around with. -------- Do not archive Dan Stanton N9801S 99.9% Done & Flying Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=159795#159795 ________________________________ Message 6 _____________________________________ Time: 01:33:23 PM PST US From: Ernest Christley Subject: Re: AeroElectric-List: Re: Infinity Stick connector? Peter Laurence wrote: > > > If one wants quality connectors, take a look a Deutsch. They're > distributed by Ladd Industries. LADD Industries- Deutsch IPD > Electrical Connectors > Used them on a Velocity. Four years and five hindred hours later not a > peep from the connectors. These are high end products and are not cheap.. > However, neither is building an airplane. > ; however, neither is building an *expensive* airplane. There, I fixed that for you. Truth be told, I'll end up spending much less over 6 years of building than most guys spend on golfing, or what my brother spends on smoking. Building airplanes gets expensive in the same way they get heavy. Adding one more support. Beefing up a connector just a bit. Using a material that is just a bit stronger. High end connectors might be needed, if you're planning a trip into space or you expect the connector to hold the wing on. Probably not even then. Makes more economic sense to use decent hardware, then support and protect it properly. The need for high-end parts evaporates. I talk to a lot of fellows that are immediately resistant to the idea of building an airplane, because they assume that it is prohibitively expensive. We do our community a disservice if we perpetuate the myth. Building an airplane is only expensive if we choose for it to be so. ________________________________ Message 7 _____________________________________ Time: 05:44:18 PM PST US Subject: AeroElectric-List: MagnaFlite MZ-6222 starter From: "jayb" A (yellow tagged) MZ-6222 lightweight MagnaFlite starter came with my rebuilt O-540 engine. Does anyone know of a source to estimate real world current draw at starter engagement so as to properly size the wire? I'm pretty sure #2 would be safe, but can it be quantified a bit better than "hundreds of amps"? The unit looks like it's in pretty good shape (teeth are not worn at least). Is there any way to test the state of internal electrical stuff besides disassembly? Thanks in advance for replies. Regards, Jay RV-10 Builder Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=159889#159889 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message aeroelectric-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/AeroElectric-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/aeroelectric-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/aeroelectric-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.