Position lights on already complete aircraft

Discussion of aircraft electrical system design, construction, and problems.

Position lights on already complete aircraft

Postby goldthwaite flyer » Sat Feb 12, 2022 11:53 am

I recently purchased 550SX and would like to add position lights. I'm looking for suggestions on how to get the wires out to the wing tips. I can't reach enough of the
ribs to use a plastic cable support. I've thought about plastic conduit but not sure how much movement I would get from it with limited supports. Especially during sporty maneuvering :-) Any suggestions/experiences would be greatly appreciated.
John Smith
N550SX
2200 Jabiru
Nose dragger
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Re: Position lights on already complete aircraft

Postby John Monnett » Sat Feb 12, 2022 3:24 pm

I have always used a long string with a small nut tied on the end and a strong magnet to install new wires (in flexible poly tubing). Start at the root of the wing and push the nut/ string into the leading edge (the gap between the very leading edge and the front and the rib). On the underside of the leading edge us the magnet to "pull" the string along the leading edge. Once you have the string all the way to the tip and out the hole for the light wiring, tie it to your tubing with the wire inside and fish it to the wing tip light mounting. It helps to have another hand at the root to feed the string and tubing smoothly.
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Re: Position lights on already complete aircraft

Postby sonex1566 » Sun Feb 13, 2022 2:13 am

What a cool idea. This young dog just learnt a new trick from an old dog!
Richard
Scratch build Sonex
Std gear, dual control
Jabiru 3300, Sensenich prop
19-8776
1st Flight 25th June 2019. 170 hrs so far.....
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Re: Position lights on already complete aircraft

Postby pilotyoung » Sun Feb 13, 2022 5:22 pm

I have a related question. I am adding nav/strobe lights to my Onex. I don't have any problem running the wires. My questions concerns how and where to connect them. I have shielded wire to keep the noise down and I have been told to only ground the shield at the grounding block. My fuse block and grounding block are on the right side of the inside of the fuselage. So do I run the wires from both wing tips to the grounding block and ground the shields there. Then run just the two hot wires, one for nav and one for strobe, to the switches and then back to the fuse block? If I do that, those wires will be unshielded. Will that short length of wire pick up noise?

Thanks.
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Re: Position lights on already complete aircraft

Postby XenosN42 » Sun Feb 13, 2022 6:10 pm

pilotyoung wrote:I have a related question. I am adding nav/strobe lights to my Onex. I don't have any problem running the wires. My questions concerns how and where to connect them. I have shielded wire to keep the noise down and I have been told to only ground the shield at the grounding block. My fuse block and grounding block are on the right side of the inside of the fuselage. So do I run the wires from both wing tips to the grounding block and ground the shields there. Then run just the two hot wires, one for nav and one for strobe, to the switches and then back to the fuse block? If I do that, those wires will be unshielded. Will that short length of wire pick up noise?

Thanks.


I have LED strobe/position lights on my OneX. Have been flying for about 6 years. Didn’t use shielded wires anywhere on the light run. Never have had radio interference. Use a MGL V6 radio. (The radio and transponder runs are shielded.)
-- Michael
OneX N169XE
author of the 'Flight Data Viewer'
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Re: Position lights on already complete aircraft

Postby N190YX » Mon Feb 14, 2022 1:33 pm

One method for fishing wire through conduit is to use compressed air to blow a string through it, then fasten the wire(s) to the string and pull them through.
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Re: Position lights on already complete aircraft

Postby jrs » Mon Feb 14, 2022 3:19 pm

I have had good luck pulling line through conduit with a vacuum rather than compressor. Some kind of tuff on the line and it pulls through easily.
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