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I'm sold on the new Whelen Orion wingtip strobes. Saw them at Oshkosh and talked with the company. Self contained. No power supply needed. Just 4 wires. Ground, strobe sync, hot for nav, and hot for strobe. Spec. is to use 20 gauge wire for each of these 4 wires.
I have wing tips off and looking where I can add two 20 gauge wires (strobe sync and hot for strobe). Keep in mind there is a hot for the nav light already in place. And the ground wire simply grounds to a ring connector and screw to the wing tip rib.
My general observation is that all existing wiring in the wing is aft of the spar. Makes sense, as the fuel tanks are fwd. of the spar.
Wires obviously must pass from one rib to the next, using an existing hole in each rib, with a rubber grommet to cushion each hole from the sharp aluminum edge.
Both wings each already has a small bundle of wires going from rib to rib, aft of spar, and above the aileron cables and bell cranks.
Right wing is fine. I can simply fish two additional wires along with the wires that are already there. I'd say in each bay there ought be a minimum of 2 zip ties. I don't want the new wires to sag. Especially from the wing root out to the point of the aileron bell cranks. There seems to be enough inspection plates to get my hand in to run the wire and put on the zip ties. But it won't be fun.
The left wing is BUSY. There is really no room to fish two additional wires along with the existing wires. The existing wire bundle is fatter due to stall warning and pitot heat wires. The 5/16" holes with grommets in each rib are already filled to capacity, especially at the root.
One option appears to be to run wires parallel with the static and pitot lines, forward of the spar. There are 3 holes in each rib, 2 of which are used. One hole for pitot, one for static, and one hole unused. And exactly the same is the case on the right wing, except since there are no pitot static lines in the right wing, all THREE of these holes in each rib are available.
Any IA's out there? Tell me if running wires forward of the spar is prohibited. That would place these new wires between the spar and the aft side of each fuel tank.
My gut common sense says NO WIRES FWD OF THE SPAR.
No matter what, this is no easy deal fishing wires from one bay to the next and securing them.
Any thoughts??? There has to be an EASIER WAY??
And to make things worse, the existing grommets in each wing rib are all dry and begging to be replaced. I can see them with my light, but actually getting my hand in there to replace each grommet might seem like good cause for a lot of swearing.
Something is telling me that fishing a very small plastic conduit from the tip to the root would be the thing to do. There are PLENTY of non round cut out spaces between the top wing skin and each rib. And then pull wires through the conduit. The conduit would alleviate the need for rubber grommets. I'm talking of conduit of maybe 1/4" ID. That opaque semi flexible plastic tubing kind.
I have wing tips off and looking where I can add two 20 gauge wires (strobe sync and hot for strobe). Keep in mind there is a hot for the nav light already in place. And the ground wire simply grounds to a ring connector and screw to the wing tip rib.
My general observation is that all existing wiring in the wing is aft of the spar. Makes sense, as the fuel tanks are fwd. of the spar.
Wires obviously must pass from one rib to the next, using an existing hole in each rib, with a rubber grommet to cushion each hole from the sharp aluminum edge.
Both wings each already has a small bundle of wires going from rib to rib, aft of spar, and above the aileron cables and bell cranks.
Right wing is fine. I can simply fish two additional wires along with the wires that are already there. I'd say in each bay there ought be a minimum of 2 zip ties. I don't want the new wires to sag. Especially from the wing root out to the point of the aileron bell cranks. There seems to be enough inspection plates to get my hand in to run the wire and put on the zip ties. But it won't be fun.
The left wing is BUSY. There is really no room to fish two additional wires along with the existing wires. The existing wire bundle is fatter due to stall warning and pitot heat wires. The 5/16" holes with grommets in each rib are already filled to capacity, especially at the root.
One option appears to be to run wires parallel with the static and pitot lines, forward of the spar. There are 3 holes in each rib, 2 of which are used. One hole for pitot, one for static, and one hole unused. And exactly the same is the case on the right wing, except since there are no pitot static lines in the right wing, all THREE of these holes in each rib are available.
Any IA's out there? Tell me if running wires forward of the spar is prohibited. That would place these new wires between the spar and the aft side of each fuel tank.
My gut common sense says NO WIRES FWD OF THE SPAR.
No matter what, this is no easy deal fishing wires from one bay to the next and securing them.
Any thoughts??? There has to be an EASIER WAY??
And to make things worse, the existing grommets in each wing rib are all dry and begging to be replaced. I can see them with my light, but actually getting my hand in there to replace each grommet might seem like good cause for a lot of swearing.
Something is telling me that fishing a very small plastic conduit from the tip to the root would be the thing to do. There are PLENTY of non round cut out spaces between the top wing skin and each rib. And then pull wires through the conduit. The conduit would alleviate the need for rubber grommets. I'm talking of conduit of maybe 1/4" ID. That opaque semi flexible plastic tubing kind.
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