Jay,

Regarding the trim switch, you could have the wire chafing where it
comes out of the yoke tube behind the panel. The wire comes out a few
inches from the end of the tube through a drilled hole. For some
reason, there is no grommet on the hole, and it is just a matter of time
before the wires chafe.

For the temperature probe installation, you might want to plug it into
your EDM and test it before you button everything back up. My OAT
harness has been intermittent ever since I installed it, and has now
gone dark. Mine is installed in my right wing, a few inches back from
the leading edge an close to the fresh air inlet. The wire is fished
through the fresh air duct and comes through a hold drilled right next
to the floor vent cup. Anyway, the harness problem appears to be a bad
crimp on the pins JPI put on. I had to get a pin extractor tool ($6.80
from mouser plus $5 shipping) to get the pins out, and now I've got to
cut the bad one off and crimp a new pin on ($.18 from mouser). I have
to find the right crimp tool first (new ones are ~$150). The
alternative is getting a new harness from JPI for $55, but that means
taking everything apart and fishing the wire through again.

For the side panels, there is a trick to getting the screws in. Use an
awl through the screw hole in the side panel to find the matching screw
hole in the aluminum, then push the side panel firmly against the
aluminum, get your screw ready, and then take the awl out and replace it
with the screw being careful to not move the side panel in the process.

I'm not sure about the avtek flasher, but the one I have uses an
additional circuit breaker for power, and then connects to the light
circuits downstream of the individual light switches, which also are
supposed to have their own circuit breakers. Mine is wired with a pair
of piper avionics master relays in place of the individual light
switches that are energized by the nose light circuit so that turning on
the nose light switch activates the two relays and in turn turns on the
wing lights. I used the L-R split switch that came with the skycraft
lights to replace my original landing light switch. The L side of the
switch is connected to the nose light circuit and relays. The R side of
the switch is connected to the recognition flasher circuit, which
connects to the wing tip lights on the lamp sides of the respective
relays. That way, there were no new switch cutouts (the split rocker is
the same form factor as the original piper rocker switches), and you
have only two switches to mess with in flight. Alternatively, I could
have used a center-off rocker and connected it so that one way turned on
the nose lamp circuit and relays for the wing lights, and the other
turned on the recognition flasher, which would have saved me one circuit
breaker and perhaps been a little more ergonomic (recognition flasher
switch does nothing if the landing light switch is already on).

I still haven't gotten around to cleaning my airplane since getting back
from OSH. I also still have to install the air gizmo for that 496 I
bought, which looks like it is going to involve removing the LORAN to
make it fit. I did finally get the fuel flow upgrade for my JPI
installed, and just need to get the OAT probe working again.


Jay Honeck wrote:

So, things are going about the way they always do when it comes to
aircraft panel work...

1. Trim switch problems
As previously posted, electric trim switch dismantled, slightly
modified, and repaired. Worked fine on the ground. Test flight today
-- nothing. Works forward, not backward, just as before. After
landing I discovered that turning the yoke hard over to the right
results in the electric aft trim working again. (Kinda hard to
duplicate in flight...)

We now have an apparent intermittent wiring/solder joint problem.
Back to the drawing board.

2. JPI Temperature Probe Installation
Installed in left under-wing inspection panel, ala Jack Allison's
installation in his Arrow. This meant ripping entire left side
interior out (easy), running wires out into wing (sorta easy),
installing probe in inspection panel (easy), and inserting wire into
wiring for JPI EDM-700 (simple). It's a clean installation, much
better than the "drill-the-hole-through-the-side-of-the-fueslage"
method that JPI (and my A&P) recommends.

It also means that you have to reinstall the left side interior when
you're done -- which is a real mother-f**ker. Getting all those
little screws to go back in their (now invisible) little holes is a
sure-fire way to make you wish you'd never started. And, of course,
our EDM-700 is on its way back to California for display repair, so
the whole installation is for naught until it is returned...

3. AvTek Pulsar Installation.
I won this landing-light-blinky-thing at the Cherokee Pilots
Association (actually I won a gift certificate) last June, and am only
now getting time to install it. Opened the box and found that it only
pulses a single landing light -- and I've got two. (Three,
actually.) Called AvTek, spoke with Mike, the owner, and he's going
to send the correct unit in the mail today.

So, we've spent two days installing and repairing three items -- NONE
of which have been successfully accomplished. It's amazing how you can
almost always, with 100% certainty, count on this kind of stuff
happening whenever you dare to venture under the panel of an
airplane...

Still, I was able to throughly clean the interior with the seats out
(first time since OSH), replace a few missing/corroded screws/
fasteners, and -- after putting everything back together -- went for a
nice, uneventful test flight.

When everything comes in, we'll tackle it again...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"