December 27, 2008 - Wingtip Wiring
I installed the Whelan Nav/Strobe
lights on the wingtips. Before I did so, I walked outside my hangar
and checked out a Cessna 172 so see which color light goes on which
wingtip!
I worked on hooking up the landing
lights. The power wire comes all the way from the switch -- all I
had to do was hook it up to the light itself. I had to fashion a
short ground wire that goes to a local ground on the wing spar. The
Nav light is the same -- the power wire comes from the switch but
it grounds
locally.
Next item on the agenda was attaching a molex terminal on the three Strobe wires. The strobe wires are shielded in a grey casing. I had to cut about 1 1/2 inches of the grey covering off, crimp molex terminals on the three wires, cut the ground wires off, then insert the molex (female) pins into the plastic terminal. With my cheapo molex crimper and Bob Nuckolls instructions, the crimps came out nicely.
Just another example how much one learns building a plane. I'm comfortable with any kind of electrical connectors now: regular Amp, Molex or D-Sub pins. Wiring isn't hard, just time consuming.
