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"Electrical kit"?

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2023 2:31 pm
by lutorm
So I'm looking at the dropbox manuals, and there is an "Electrical kit assembly instructions". However, I can't see an electrical kit quoted anywhere. I did see a quote for a "Full harness and instrument panel kit", but my impression was that this is the harness for the avionics so that's obviously going to be custom. Can someone set me straight here?

Re: "Electrical kit"?

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 1:36 pm
by ibgarrett
Anytime you start dealing with the electrical side of the kit (at least in my experience) they point you to the avionics vendor who is doing your assembly. I don't know how many kits Midwest Panels is doing, but there is a strong dotted line from Sling to Midwest - and for good reason. They do a good job on the panels and wiring.

I think the Electrical Constructions Manual is there in case you want to do your own wiring setup and/or serves as a guideline for any other vendor who wants to build the panels for you. Not that it's a bad reference. I actually forgot it was there until I read your post and am revisiting it now as I'm pretty much in that phase of my build.

Oddly enough - Midwest supplied pretty much all of the necessary components for the electrical and none of it came from Sling (minus the landing lights).

Re: "Electrical kit"?

Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2023 11:38 am
by lutorm
Yeah this is the one place where I think the communication on what the kit contains could be a lot clearer. I'm probably going to do my own wiring and while some things are completely dependent on avionics it would be nice to know for example at least roughly how much wire is needed for non avionics stuff (basic power bus, engine, lights, flap and trim servos, etc.) At least it looks like the manual specifies the gauge for most of them, but I have no idea how much wire to order, like do I need on the order of hundreds or thousands of feet... ;-)

Re: "Electrical kit"?

Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2023 2:08 pm
by ibgarrett
My bet the amount of wiring you need to order is "lots". :)

Re: "Electrical kit"?

Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2023 4:56 pm
by STGove
> So I'm looking at the dropbox manuals, and there is an "Electrical kit assembly instructions". However, I can't see an electrical kit quoted anywhere. I did see a quote for a "Full harness and instrument panel kit", but my impression was that this is the harness for the avionics so that's obviously going to be custom. Can someone set me straight here?

Could someone please post the direct link (URL) to that above?
I can't seem to find it.

Re: "Electrical kit"?

Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2023 5:29 pm
by STGove
Ah...

Please disregard last request.

I was looking on the SA site, but found them on the TAF Torrance site.

Re: "Electrical kit"?

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2023 10:56 am
by wiseguy59
I've purchased my empennage and wing wiring from Midwest Avionics and I couldn't be happier with the quality or service.
Everything is labelled very clearly and the lengths have been more than adequate.
I was going to make the wiring harnesses myself, but the time it takes to make up the harnesses adds up.
It's not extremely difficult, but it is time-consuming, and I'm not getting any younger.
This way I get it done correctly and quickly, and I move towards completion that much faster.
As I've been saying since I started the kit last April, "You can't start your second plane if you don't finish your first". :D

Re: "Electrical kit"?

Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2023 12:59 am
by lutorm
Yeah it'll take some time but we're building for recreation, right? I'd rather take the money and upgrade to a 916 instead! ;)

Re: "Electrical kit"?

Posted: Mon May 01, 2023 10:52 am
by wiseguy59
lutorm wrote: Thu Apr 06, 2023 12:59 am Yeah it'll take some time but we're building for recreation, right? I'd rather take the money and upgrade to a 916 instead! ;)
I'm looking at Edge Performance. After that Kitplanes article, I really like what they make.