Instrument Panel
Construction:
I do have a background
and experience in avionics, so this part of the project
was not difficult for
us. After deciding what we wanted in
the panel, we test fit
everything before
paint. We wanted to keep the panel
simple and economical,
so we used most of Van's
analog monitoring and flight instruments, and we also
went with an electric DG
and Horizon gyro in order to simplify the overall aircraft
system complexity. We selected the reliable ICOM-A200
760-Channel Dual-flip-flop
Radio Com along with the
Garmin GTX-320A solid-state transponder.
In addition,
we used
breaker-switches, which reduced the total number of stand-alone breakers
to only four, which
provides a “cleaner” look while maintaining excellent circuit
protection and safety.
Here is a view from the
back of the panel. Some things to note here: In order
to make the panel easy
to install and remove if necessary, it makes sense to mount
as many things as
possible to the panel so that it is a self-contained unit. We plan
on using common
connectors for sensors and terminal-blocks mounted on the
sub-panel for lights and
other electrical functions. In addition, the radio trays fit
through the sub-panel
with the mounting brackets attaching to the panel side of
the sub-panel. The radio
tray sub-panel hole is a bit larger than necessary to
allow wiring to route
back to the instrument panel where everything is located.
Even the Mode-C altitude
reporting unit for the transponder is mounted to the
back of the panel,
making the panel essentially a removable module. This
will save a great deal
of time during panel installation.
After deciding exactly
where everything needs to go and once the intercom and
jacks where fitted, we
had the panel powder-coated. We also
had our switch placards
professionally done with
a lazar engraving process. Because the
picture resolution
is low, it is difficult
to see the lettering, but it‘s very sharp!
There are many things that are
common to each instrument panel. Each panel
should have a row of
switches and/or breakers or breaker switches. The white
breaker shown on the
left is the alternator feed point and the copper bus-bar
is the battery feed-in
point.
Here, we have wired in
the power and ground connections to all of the engine and
systems monitoring
instruments, which are powered by the Systems Breaker.
Next, we wire in the
Transponder to the Mode-C ALT reporting unit. In addition,
we wanted our panel to
be easily removable, so we installed 6", BNC pigtails
for both the Transponder
and the Radio trays as shown below.
The next logical step was to install
the wiring between the Radio and Intercom
and to also wire in the
power and ground connections for them. We placed strain-
relieves on every
connection. Once the Intercom was
wired, we installed a protective
shell for the connector.
There is quite a bit of vibration in an aircraft, so it is important
to strain-relieve
everything in your panel.
Staying in line with our
original goal of having everything mounted to the instrument
panel as a
self-contained unit, we attached and wired the headset and microphone
jack plates to the
bottom of each side of the panel. We
use shielded wire and separate
microphone return lines
for this installation to prevent engine noise from getting into
the Intercom circuit.
We did a 100-percent
bench test of all panel functions and avionics. Even though
it takes special
equipment to do this, it is worth doing it or having someone do it for you
before installing your
panel. In addition, all connections
going out from the panel will be
connected to terminal
strips on the sub-panel via high quality gold connectors in order
to make the panel easy
to removal and very reliable.
