Friday, May 1, 2015

Laying Groundwork For Control Grip Wiring

The last grouping of wires yet to be installed in the DOG Aviation RV-12 is the wiring for the switches on the Tosten CS-8 control grips. At this point in time, there will be a few unused switches on the grips , but that will leave the ability to easily add functions down the road … but, truth be told, could easily have gotten by nicely with the Tosten CS-6 grip but they just don’t have the same “cool factor” as the CS-8 grips.

Spent quite a bit of time figuring out how best to run the wires for the switches on the stick grips, taking into consideration free movement of the stick and ease of access for the connectors. Once a good location for the connectors was determined, took the time to make up a wiring chart. Another concern is free space in the wire grommets because they are almost maxed out ... so a test was made by bundling the proper number of 22 gauge wires together to see if there was still enough room to feed the additional wires through the wire grommets. Fortunately, there is barely enough room so it will not be necessary to add additional grommets on the seat ribs. The majority of builders will not find this to be an issue … however, the DOG Aviation RV-12 utilized shielded cables for the strobe and wig-wag lighting which takes up much more room in the wiring grommets.  Free space in the center tunnel grommets is almost non existent, so may need to split the wires between the two grommets in the center tunnel.

For builders interested in the connectors being used, they are a 12 circuit Molex connector. They are the exact same connector as used on the auto pilot servo motor except the DOG Aviation purchasing department ordered them without the unnecessary ears which are for chassis mount applications … also chose to purchase gold plated connector pins for the connectors. All the parts were ordered from Mouser and consist of:

Molex 12 circuit plug PN# 03-06-2122.
Molex 12 circuit receptacle PN# 03-06-1122.
Molex 18-24 gauge gold .062" male pins PN# 02-06-6103.
Molex 18-24 gauge gold .062" female pins PN# 02-06-5103.
Photo of the .062" Molex connector parts, test wire bundles and the 22 gauge wire being used to wire the control stick switches.