Hi, all, been sometime since I posted here. As is always the case, my life got in the way :).
I decided to purchase a small company and as a result, needed to spend some time doing some transition and getting it up and running. That's just about finished, so my personal time should be mine again.
Stay tuned, hang in there and as always drop me an email if you need immediate answers to questions. I'm so looking forward to this VP setup and this Legacy!
Alan
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Monday, September 24, 2007
Power up and upgrade
I've finally finished enough of my wiring to allow me to bring up the Vertical Power system. I was a couple of Beta releases old as well, so have gone thru the upgrade procedure. No issues found at the moment. Before I comment much on the User Inteface, I'll be working thru some of the configuration required. The UI learning is just like any new software on your PC, I'll be learning the flow and patterns and then will be in much better knowledge to comment on kinks, tricks, or tips. For the most part, I'm not expecting many challenges. The Gang at VP have thot thru most of this and the USB port doubles for not only the memory stick interface, but also a real keyboard interface.
More after some configuration learnings.
More after some configuration learnings.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Good Catch on 24v systems and Alternators
Good catch by Dan Ballin a fellow Legacy builder.
In talking wth B&C about voltage regulators is seems that in a 24V dual alt system where you use the SD-20 to provide backup alternator and charging for a second battery, that you should use the LS-1A regulator with it *instead* of the LR3C.
Note this only has to do with 24V systems. If you have a 14V one, then the LR3C will work just fine.
This is because the SD-20 is used in either a 14v or a 24v system and the field winding is only a 14V winding. If you use an LR3C with this alternator, it will provide 24 volts to the field and will burn it out. If you use the LS1A, it's regulated on the field output to only provide 14V (scaled to the charging requirements) and so it won't burn out the windings.
This also has direct applicability if you got the power grid fast build option that Lancair provides. I did and got 2 LR3C's. Now I'm trying to exchange one for an LS1A.
Thanks Dan for catching this and saving me some money down the road!
All others plan accordingly.
I'll also get with VP and have them revise and note their regulator drawings.
In talking wth B&C about voltage regulators is seems that in a 24V dual alt system where you use the SD-20 to provide backup alternator and charging for a second battery, that you should use the LS-1A regulator with it *instead* of the LR3C.
Note this only has to do with 24V systems. If you have a 14V one, then the LR3C will work just fine.
This is because the SD-20 is used in either a 14v or a 24v system and the field winding is only a 14V winding. If you use an LR3C with this alternator, it will provide 24 volts to the field and will burn it out. If you use the LS1A, it's regulated on the field output to only provide 14V (scaled to the charging requirements) and so it won't burn out the windings.
This also has direct applicability if you got the power grid fast build option that Lancair provides. I did and got 2 LR3C's. Now I'm trying to exchange one for an LS1A.
Thanks Dan for catching this and saving me some money down the road!
All others plan accordingly.
I'll also get with VP and have them revise and note their regulator drawings.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Suggestions for "laying in the wiring harness"
If you upgrade to the wiring harness that VP can provide you, here are a couple of observations.
A) Make sure you know how the connectors work and prove to yourself that you can unlock one and redo it without damaging it. Do this prior to "laying" in the harness
B) I'd suggest this order for doing the wiring around the VP harness
- Lay in the harness
- Group wires together that go to similar locations within the airframe
- use tape or tie wraps to loosely bundle the groups mentioned in item 2 above
- Determine penetration points where needed and basic wiring attachment points (this won't be all of them and don't do all the bundling and tie-wrapping yet)
- Determine your ground points and install the ground connection blocks
- "lay in" the ground wires parallel to the power wires from the harness and use the similar paths, penetrations, attach points, etc
C) After step (B) above you should have the basic power harness installed. Now focus on the other "signalling" functions (e.g. flaps, trim, switches, stick grips, etc)
D) Finally install and connector all the other functions (e.g. autopilot signals, serial inputs/outputs, audio, etc)
Some of these steps can be swapped depending upon how complex your equipment is, but the (B) step in the order specified is what worked the best for me.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Wires, wires, everywhere
Ok, catching up on a few pictures... Harness bascially "layed in", determining where to put tie down blocks.
Other CU in similar state
Inside the tunnel
Center console
Out the front and Avionics shelf
I'll catch up on a few more pictures later today, during which time I'll be working on grounds and basic routing for "fat wires" - which will wait for their final location until weight and balance time.
Other CU in similar state
Inside the tunnel
Center console
Out the front and Avionics shelf
I'll catch up on a few more pictures later today, during which time I'll be working on grounds and basic routing for "fat wires" - which will wait for their final location until weight and balance time.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
LPW - latest version
In case you want to look at mine, here is the link to the latest and greatest... You'll see it's version 14 :)... It did take some thinking in a couple of spots plus as I was one of the first to be putting this in a Lancair, we tweaked some things based upon the way the Lancair Flaps system works and perfected the way the canopy seal works with the VP system.
At least it will give you another example to play with... But mind you don't enter it exactly unless you know what you are doing. :)
Lastest LPW
At least it will give you another example to play with... But mind you don't enter it exactly unless you know what you are doing. :)
Lastest LPW
Impressions (part 2)
I was thinking about what I wrote yesterday and realized that maybe I should drop some info in the Blog about what to do differently while Planning your VP based airplanes.
a) Component placement - one of the first basic things that you'll need to thing thru is where will you put things. Not only the VP components, but also the individual devices that you'll control. When you build your LPW, you'll need to spec lengths of wire and it's certainly eaiser to make them longer and cut them off to what you need than it is to have one be short due to revised placement and then need to "splice" two wires together. This isn't a VP specific action btw, it would need to be done either way, but if you are going to buy a VP harness, you'll need to think thru this up front.
b) Grounds - Especially if you are building a composite airplane, you'll need to think thru grounding. The VP harness will give you want you need to provide power, trim, flaps, and some control functions, but it won't give you provisions for specific device grounds. If you design "cluster" spots for components to terminate their grounds that will help. Then you can use either ground terminal blocks, or other types of clustering to provide the individual grounds and then take that ground back to the central ground buss between the engine and batteries
c) Wire sizes obviously, but you'll need to do that no matter what
d) While in a traditional environment you need to think thru what goes on what buss. The concept of a main buss and an endurance buss is slightly different with a VP environment. Each CU actually has it's own "endurance" buss back to it's battery, so what you actually have to think thru in a VP environment is your "load shed" plan. This means that if you have some form of electrical failiure (alternator, battery, etc), that you think more about what devices you would want on in which emergency situation than you do what buss to put devices on or what contactor configuration would be needed to power a specific device. It is good practice however to take devices that are "dual in nature", like 2 EFIS displays and put one on one CU and the other on the other if going a VP Duo system.
e) Switches and overrides - *make sure* you read the installation section on these, they allow your system to become extremely flexible in a failure situation. VP has thought thru most of the scenarios and thru a combination of switch and override modes you can make your solution for any emergency or trouble simple
f) Checklists - at some point, you'll need to develop a checklist that can be used for each flight mode. This will make it easier to establish "flows" and reduce cockpit workload.
g) Power connectors - once you get your harness, make sure you learn how to add or move wires if needed. It's easier to learn this skill before you put in the harness than after when you may be constrained on space. Also there are a couple of "help me's" that the guys at VP have created to show you what the connectors should look like when you open them, what not to do and how each should work. Get *very* familiar with the documentation section of the VP site.
h) Avionics Master - let's see, what do they say on the Sopranos.... fugetaboutit, ya don't need it with VP, plus you get added benefits in that only those things that you want on during the particular "Mode" are on. Huge benefit if trying to start an engine on a 12v system with EFIS technology that might be sensative to turning off when voltage drops below a certain threshold.
i) Items you can ignore! :) - I say that tongue in cheek. To some extent you can ignore the "fancy feature devices". For example with VP you no longer need to think about what you need to buy to provide flap steps and control; trim authority, control and speed; light dimming, control and functions; annunciator panels, control, audio prompts; external triggers like canopy open, baggage open, etc; Most of these are included in the fuctions of the VP 200 systems and some are included in the 100 systems. This saves you a significant amount on items that you'd normally want to purchase separately in order to facilitate these functions.
Ok, that should get you started. There are 2 primary rules in getting starting with VP. A) RTFM - Read the darn installation manual; B) RTFMA - Read the darn installation manual again! Then if you have any question, get on VP's forums and post a question or give Marc and team a call.
VP's Forums
a) Component placement - one of the first basic things that you'll need to thing thru is where will you put things. Not only the VP components, but also the individual devices that you'll control. When you build your LPW, you'll need to spec lengths of wire and it's certainly eaiser to make them longer and cut them off to what you need than it is to have one be short due to revised placement and then need to "splice" two wires together. This isn't a VP specific action btw, it would need to be done either way, but if you are going to buy a VP harness, you'll need to think thru this up front.
b) Grounds - Especially if you are building a composite airplane, you'll need to think thru grounding. The VP harness will give you want you need to provide power, trim, flaps, and some control functions, but it won't give you provisions for specific device grounds. If you design "cluster" spots for components to terminate their grounds that will help. Then you can use either ground terminal blocks, or other types of clustering to provide the individual grounds and then take that ground back to the central ground buss between the engine and batteries
c) Wire sizes obviously, but you'll need to do that no matter what
d) While in a traditional environment you need to think thru what goes on what buss. The concept of a main buss and an endurance buss is slightly different with a VP environment. Each CU actually has it's own "endurance" buss back to it's battery, so what you actually have to think thru in a VP environment is your "load shed" plan. This means that if you have some form of electrical failiure (alternator, battery, etc), that you think more about what devices you would want on in which emergency situation than you do what buss to put devices on or what contactor configuration would be needed to power a specific device. It is good practice however to take devices that are "dual in nature", like 2 EFIS displays and put one on one CU and the other on the other if going a VP Duo system.
e) Switches and overrides - *make sure* you read the installation section on these, they allow your system to become extremely flexible in a failure situation. VP has thought thru most of the scenarios and thru a combination of switch and override modes you can make your solution for any emergency or trouble simple
f) Checklists - at some point, you'll need to develop a checklist that can be used for each flight mode. This will make it easier to establish "flows" and reduce cockpit workload.
g) Power connectors - once you get your harness, make sure you learn how to add or move wires if needed. It's easier to learn this skill before you put in the harness than after when you may be constrained on space. Also there are a couple of "help me's" that the guys at VP have created to show you what the connectors should look like when you open them, what not to do and how each should work. Get *very* familiar with the documentation section of the VP site.
h) Avionics Master - let's see, what do they say on the Sopranos.... fugetaboutit, ya don't need it with VP, plus you get added benefits in that only those things that you want on during the particular "Mode" are on. Huge benefit if trying to start an engine on a 12v system with EFIS technology that might be sensative to turning off when voltage drops below a certain threshold.
i) Items you can ignore! :) - I say that tongue in cheek. To some extent you can ignore the "fancy feature devices". For example with VP you no longer need to think about what you need to buy to provide flap steps and control; trim authority, control and speed; light dimming, control and functions; annunciator panels, control, audio prompts; external triggers like canopy open, baggage open, etc; Most of these are included in the fuctions of the VP 200 systems and some are included in the 100 systems. This saves you a significant amount on items that you'd normally want to purchase separately in order to facilitate these functions.
Ok, that should get you started. There are 2 primary rules in getting starting with VP. A) RTFM - Read the darn installation manual; B) RTFMA - Read the darn installation manual again! Then if you have any question, get on VP's forums and post a question or give Marc and team a call.
VP's Forums
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