Most of my work these days is spent fiddling with individual wires here or there, so not a lot to take pictures of. I do have what I think is the final shot of the area behind the panel though. I had forgotten to pull the two wires for the defrost fans that live in the canopy frame. I didn't feel like undoing a bunch of zip ties, so I just added them to the bundles and ran them to the center area of the panel. I have to provide enough play that they can move around as the canopy is opened/closed. Once I get the canopy back on, I'll put some protection over them.
I also ran the static air tube to the G5. I put a T on it to take it to the alternate static switch first. With the switch off, the static air is pulled from the ports at the rear of the plane. If I ever need to (unlikely), flipping the switch up opens the valve at the back of the switch and allows cabin air to feed the G5 instead. Once I'm flying I'll have to document what the difference is between the two so I know what to expect in terms of changes in instrument indications with the different air sources. The only time it would ever be used is if the static ports ice up or get clogged with something - again, unlikely since this plane is not one that I'll get anywhere near icing, and there is a port on each side of the plane, so clogging one doesn't necessarily mean a complete clog.
With all of that base wiring done, I decided it was finally time to flip the switch and bring the panel to life! I still have to do all of the FWF sensor wiring, but want to at least make sure the rest of the wiring is correct before I get too deep into the rest of it. When I first flipped the master switch....nothing. Turns out it's important to actually connect the master relay wire to the relay itself. Duh. I had left that off until now, not wanting to accidentally let power through when I wasn't ready. Once I remembered that and connected the relay, everything powered up right away and all of the smoke stayed in the wires!
So at least I know that all of the devices work. Now the big hurdle is configuring them to actually talk to each other and read all of the sensors. The big upside to the AFS setup vs Dynon is that it has a lot more serial port options to allow for more peripheral devices (5 per screen). The downside is that those serial ports aren't all shared between screens, whereas with Dynon (which only has something like 5 ports total) shares all of the port data with both screens. That means with Dynon, if you lose one screen, you still have control over all of your peripherals via the other screen. With AFS, if you lose one screen, you lose the peripherals that are linked to that screen and not shared with the other screen. It gets even more confusing, because that's just the serial ports. With AFS, all of the devices that use the "skyview network" are shared between screens, regardless of which screen dies. So that means you'll always have ADAHRS, com panel, autopilot panel, and engine data info on both screens, even if one screen dies (so basically, all of the "get me on the ground" info is available on both screens - plus also having the backup G5). Risk mitigation with AFS is just about ensuring you configure the serial ports on each screen so that you have necessary controls on the other screen should one die. For example, once I put in my IFR GPS and second radio, I will configure one screen to be connected to comm 1 and the Dynon GPS, and the other screen will connect to comm 2 and the IFR GPS. That way if one screen dies, I still have a comm and GPS input coming through the other screen. Likewise, if both screens were to die, then the G5 would still show all flight attitude info, and I could still use the radio control on the panel itself (vs controlling through the EFIS). The only things I could potentially lose completely would be my transponder and ADSB, if that screen they are linked to went belly up. Neither of those present a flight risk though.
All of that is a long winded way to say that my next step will be to sit in the plane for a few hours and configure each screen. I'll have to take the install manual out on my ipad and just go page by page through it. It's a lot of configuration! Everything from entering in the tail number so it can generate the right ADSB code to entering in all of the flight envelope speeds, sensor types, and hundreds of preferences. One thing I noticed is that I haven't been able to get a GPS signal in the garage. I temporarily attached the GPS pucks on the plane, but at least with the garage closed, they haven't been able to connect. I'll open the garage and see if that makes a difference. I'll probably go ahead and connect the comm antenna as well (even though all of the antennas will have to come off when I paint), just because I don't want to accidentally hit the transmit button without an antenna attached. That can blow the control module.
