On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 14:17:02 GMT, Kyler Laird
wrote:

system and the heating element draws 7 amps. I know I can not use a
LED in series because it would blow the milli-second I turned the unit
on. I know I can't use a light or lamp in parallel because it would
not indicate if the heated pitot was on or off. So that is my dilemma.

You should be all set if you put an LED in parallel with a resistor
in series with the heater. Basically you're making a high-current
ammeter. The values of the LED and resistor depend most on what's
available at your local Radio Shack or equivalent.

Find one of those out door thermometers with a remote read out.

You'd mount that out on the pitot tube?! That seems a bit extreme.

Inserting a second wire into the assembly is extreme? In addition it
lets you know how well the system is working, particularly if it's one
of those two heater types.

The Deb has a digital read out for a number of parameters (Includes
temp in F and C, Density altitude, battery voltage, etc...). All I'd
need to do with something like that would be hook up the TC leads.

Any time I'm in rain, or visible moisture the pitot heat is on.

BTW, I've flown loose formation to Oshkosh with a Cozy a number of
times. One day there were scattered showers all along the path. I
thought I was going to wear out the vernier throttle on the Deb trying
to stay in position.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

--kyler