---------------------------------------------------------- AeroElectric-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Tue 12/02/08: 10 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 05:12 AM - Pressure switch failures (Robert L. Nuckolls, III) 2. 07:04 AM - Re: [Probable SPAM] Garmin GTX 320A circuit breaker () 3. 09:17 AM - Intercom XM Radio noise (Ron Patterson) 4. 11:27 AM - Where to find closed-end lugs for Super-CCA cable (DeWitt Whittington) 5. 12:33 PM - Re: Where to find closed-end lugs for Super-CCA cable (Richard Girard) 6. 12:46 PM - Use of Vans ES14684 60A Alternator (Jerry Jerome) 7. 01:17 PM - Help debugging an alternator noise problem (Dr. Andrew Elliott) 8. 01:26 PM - Re: Where to find closed-end lugs for Super-CCA cable (ROGER & JEAN CURTIS) 9. 07:18 PM - APRS for aircraft (Fergus Kyle) 10. 10:37 PM - breaker specs (B Tomm) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 05:12:28 AM PST US From: "Robert L. Nuckolls, III" Subject: AeroElectric-List: Pressure switch failures At 10:46 AM 12/2/2008 +0100, you wrote: >Hi Bob, > >I just read your article on the subject and maybe found reason why >my retract gear pressure switches go kaput after brief service.. >could it be due to spikes from their intermittent duty relays (sold >from Lancair parts provider) which probably don't have internal >diode (how can I check?). > >Now my question: if I want to try an external spike catching diode, >what are its requested specs? >Better, can you suggest a model? It's unlikely that your contactors came with diodes installed. I used to sell an intermittent duty contactor that did feature built in spike suppression but it was only one of dozens of similar parts by the same company that did not have diodes installed. I like the 3 amp rated devices like 1N5400 series. Exact voltage or current rating is not critical. These devices have relatively robust lead wires and housings. See: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId 62578 Can you share the part numbers and/or specifications for the pressure switches? It may be that your system would benefit from addition of solid-state buffers between the switches and contactors. Those intermittent duty contactors take 4-5 amps to close and might be tough on the switches whether or not spike suppressors are installed on the contactors. Also, if you have a failed pressure switch you could send me, it would be useful to do a tear-down inspection and see if we can learn more about the failure mode. But in any case, addition of the diodes on the contactor coils is not a bad thing to do and may well take care of most of your problems. Bob . . . ----------------------------------------) ( . . . a long habit of not thinking ) ( a thing wrong, gives it a superficial ) ( appearance of being right . . . ) ( ) ( -Thomas Paine 1776- ) ---------------------------------------- ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 07:04:02 AM PST US Subject: RE: [Probable SPAM] AeroElectric-List: Garmin GTX 320A circuit breaker From: Voltage 11-33, Amps 5. -----Original Message----- From: owner-aeroelectric-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-aeroelectric-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Gig Giacona Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 9:40 AM Subject: [Probable SPAM] AeroElectric-List: Garmin GTX 320A circuit breaker Anyone know off hand what CB size you need for a Garmin GTX 320A? -------- W.R. "Gig" Giacona 601XL Under Construction See my progress at www.peoamerica.net/N601WR Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=217149#217149 ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 09:17:13 AM PST US From: Ron Patterson Subject: AeroElectric-List: Intercom XM Radio noise Can this be managed with a filter? Can anyone tell me what is a good filter to add to cut out radio interference in my headset as I listen to music th rough my intercom? Sounds like someone running their finger up and down the ir lips as the speak.....sort of like 10 or 20 blips per second of momentar y block of the signal. Annoying. The Comm seems unaffected. - Ron ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 11:27:59 AM PST US From: DeWitt Whittington Subject: AeroElectric-List: Where to find closed-end lugs for Super-CCA cable Where is the best place to buy lugs for Eric Jones' Super-CCA electric cable in #4 size? My partners wants a "closed end" type as suggested by Bob Nuckolls on one of his weekend seminars. It appears that Eric only sells the open end type. This would be a type which uses the "solder pellet" which you drop into the lug, then insert the wire and heat. Dee DeWitt (Dee) Whittington 406 N Mulberry St Richmond, VA 23220-3320 (804) 358-4333 phone and fax SKYPE: hilltopkid dee.whittington@gmail.com ________________________________ Message 5 _____________________________________ Time: 12:33:13 PM PST US From: "Richard Girard" Subject: Re: AeroElectric-List: Where to find closed-end lugs for Super-CCA cable Try welding supply and farm supply stores. Rick On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 1:24 PM, DeWitt Whittington wrote: > Where is the best place to buy lugs for Eric Jones' *Super-CCA electric > cable in #4 size? My partners wants a "closed end" type as suggested by Bob > Nuckolls on one of his weekend seminars. It appears that Eric only sells the > open end type. This would be a type which uses the "solder pellet" which > you drop into the lug, then insert the wire and heat. > > *Dee > > DeWitt (Dee) Whittington > 406 N Mulberry St > Richmond, VA 23220-3320 > (804) 358-4333 phone and fax > SKYPE: hilltopkid > dee.whittington@gmail.com > > ________________________________ Message 6 _____________________________________ Time: 12:46:36 PM PST US From: "Jerry Jerome" Subject: AeroElectric-List: Use of Vans ES14684 60A Alternator Sorry if this question has been dealt with before, but I would like to know if use of a Vans ES 14684 60A alternator with internal regulation would be suitable in a system designed around Bob's Z-11 Generic Light Aircraft Electrical System. As this alternator is internally regulated, is the generic "Ford" regulator still needed or should it be eliminated? I am also considering purchase of the Overvoltage Module (OVM-14) from B & C but see there is a caution about using OV protection with this alternator on Vans site. The caution concerns a need to contact the manufacturer of the OV device to ensure any special wiring requirements are met. Would the Z-11 diagram show the correct wiring for use of this device with this alternator? I also have a Grand Rapids (model 4000) EIS I am planning on using so I plan on eliminating the low voltage monitor module (AEC 9005 - 101) as I believe this function is included in the EIS. Any comments? Thanks for your help. Regards, Jerry ________________________________ Message 7 _____________________________________ Time: 01:17:16 PM PST US From: "Dr. Andrew Elliott" Subject: AeroElectric-List: Help debugging an alternator noise problem I submitted this before, but am now including much more information, per Bob's request. Problem - I am getting a lot of clearly alternator (or voltage regulator noise) on the receive side of my radio. There is no noise on only battery power, or with the alternator disconnect relay unpowered. The noise is very low at idle, and increases in both volume and frequency as RPM increases, At high RPM makes it very difficult to understand transmissions. Radio is a Terra 760D fed from the main bus. I have checked to be sure that the problem persists even with no other equipment powered up (not coming somehow from lights or avionics). System - The system is pretty similar to Z-17, except that I have two batteries (PC-680) connected through a marine selector switch (A-B-Both-Off) and no master relay. There is a secondary EFIS bus which can be powered through a DC-DC regulator, but the problem does not depend on whether this bus is powered up or not. In place of the SD-8, I have an 18 amp John Deere permanent magnet alternator feeding through a 4-wire motorcycle voltage regulator (Crane Fireball, installation doc here http://tinyurl.com/17a), connected to the main bus using the B&C relay/overvoltage protection kit as shown in the diagram, which includes a big filter capacitor. Bus voltage is fine with the alternator connected (about 14V) and the charging portion is working OK. Questions: [1] Should not the big capacitor be filtering out this noise? [2] Could the capacitor be bad? Can I test it? [3] What would happen if I wired the cap backwards? (I will check ASAP.) [4] Is there other or additional filtering I could put on the feed? If so, what? [5] Are there other things I could check/test? Thanks, Andy Elliott, Mesa, AZ N601GE,601XL/TD,Corvair ________________________________ Message 8 _____________________________________ Time: 01:26:27 PM PST US From: "ROGER & JEAN CURTIS" Subject: RE: AeroElectric-List: Where to find closed-end lugs for Super-CCA cable I made my own lugs with soft copper tubing. I drilled a hole about 1" deep into an aluminum block, the same diameter as the copper tubing. Drill the hole near the edge of the block. Cut a piece of tubing about 2" long and insert it into the hole. I use an arbor press and place the block with the tubing inserted, on a flat plate and press the copper flat against the plate. When you pull the tubing out of the block, it will have a nice round barrel for the cable to be inserted. Drill a hole in the tab and round the edges of the tab for a finished look. Solder in the wire, add shrink sleeve and you are done. I found with minimal practice I was able to make very nice lugs. If you don't have an arbor press you can gently pound the tab flat with a hammer. Roger Try welding supply and farm supply stores. Rick On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 1:24 PM, DeWitt Whittington wrote: Where is the best place to buy lugs for Eric Jones' Super-CCA electric cable in #4 size? My partners wants a "closed end" type as suggested by Bob Nuckolls on one of his weekend seminars. It appears that Eric only sells the open end type. This would be a type which uses the "solder pellet" which you drop into the lug, then insert the wire and heat. Dee ________________________________ Message 9 _____________________________________ Time: 07:18:17 PM PST US From: "Fergus Kyle" Subject: AeroElectric-List: APRS for aircraft Lincoln, Sorry to be so late to reply to your question of utilizing APRS for flight positioning - my computor go doodoo. I haven't searched out all the answers you received but noted fairly early that no one mentioned that it is purely an licensed Amateur Radio function. That is, you must be licensed to utilize 144.39MHz as a Ham. Like so many other things devised and made to work by hams and then copied for profit, APRA is the brainchild of W4APR who first fixed a transmitter into the football hat worn by the Navy players as they progressed from the Navy college up to the Army college for the annual ball game. He had applied his transmitter onto Navy cars accompanying the runner previously but managed a miniature form for the runners helmet. Having given the idea broad freedom, he saw hams apply it to their cars and other vehicles, eventually to their aircraft. It is possible now to send your details directly through the email system to your computer and file same as a flight log of sorts. As someone else wrote, the end of your trail is either an airport, airfield or your crash site. PRBs will do the same thing and UPS traces your truck by means of a commercial copy, so it's not new. It was inevitable that someone would copy the idea onto a commercial frequency and sell it. Like most things, you can do it free with difficulty, or just pay every time otherwise. Ferg Europa 914 Classic ________________________________ Message 10 ____________________________________ Time: 10:37:29 PM PST US From: "B Tomm" Subject: AeroElectric-List: breaker specs Bob, et al I'm trying to educate myself about circuit breakers (Klixon in this case). I can't find any tech info online, nor any sales info from Mouser, Digi-key, Electronic etc. Can you suggest a source? I'm beginning to think Klixon is not a manufacture's name but just a product name. Still, I should be able to find performance specs online though, no? Relevance: Due to space and design goals, I am incorporating fuse blocks and some breakers (Klixon) into my panel (RV7A). However, I have just recently discovered another type of breaker that I'm sure you're aware of, namely the switch/breaker, see http://www.avionicsmall.com/index.php?main_page=product_info &cPath=189&products_id=8161 This nifty puppy will save space by incorporating a switch and circuit breaker into one unit at comparable cost to a switch and klixon breaker. However, when reading the performance specs, (click on the data sheet tab here http://www.mouser.com/Search/Refine.aspx?Keyword=655-W31-X2M1G-5 ) it looks to be very slow acting at the current flows that we are dealing with. I would think that we want an overload to be shut own within seconds not minutes. Even at a response time of 10 seconds, the amount of overload would have to be 150-250% of rated value ( I suppose dependant on ambient temperature). I don't think this is acceptable for an aircraft, do you? This is why I wonder what the Klixon's response times are. Maybe they are no better. I'm pretty sure that an ATO type fuse will be lightning fast at 150% overload, no? I look forward to you comments. 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