Firewall Forward Wiring

Yesterday was a cold, rainy day, so I decided to spend it sitting in comfort and fiddling with my panel.  I put a seat in and fired things up.  While I had stumbled around a bit with configuration when I first powered everything on the other day, I hadn't really gone step by step yet.  I loaded the ACM and EFIS install manuals on my ipad and spent a couple of hours going line by line through all of the settings.  The system starts by doing a scan through all of the peripherals that are on the Skyview network (all of the Dynon stuff), then you have to manually set all of the devices up to talk to the correct screen.  I was really confused about this, so Friday I had put in a call to AFS and they walked me through what all of the inputs needed to be set up for each screen to handle the combination of devices I had.  This is what makes AFS more of the Android kind of experience vs Garmin, which is for sure the iOS approach.  With Garmin, you get what you get.  With AFS, you have incredible flexibility.  I love having that ability to make it what I want it to be, but it definitely comes with more of a learning curve to get it all set up.

Once I got everything talking to each other, I went through all of the various displays to set up the flight values specific for my plane.  There will still be many hours of configuration and calibrations remaining once I get the plane put together and ready for first flight though.  At least I know that everything is working as it should!

One thing not working - the heated seats.  I flipped the switch to test it out on the pilot seat and it immediately blew a fuse.  I put an ohmmeter on the DC jacks and found that the center pin is grounding out, even though it should go to power.  All four jacks are doing that, so I obviously swapped some wires in my design.  The system uses a couple of relays, and after reading up online about them, it sounds like I'm not alone in having issues with the wiring.  I didn't really have the motivation to contort myself to trace the wires, so that'll wait for another day.

Fast forward to today.  Now that the panel wiring is largely complete (famous last words, I know), it's time to get cracking on the firewall forward wiring.  I have most of the wires laid out in the general vicinity of where they need to go, but the actual routing and attaching is quite the puzzle.  With every wire and hose that gets added, another routing obstacle is created.  Unfortunately, being the first time I've ever done this, I don't know what I don't know yet, so I'm sure I'm going to end up having to redo my routing a few times before it's all said and done.

I started with the power side of the firewall - attaching the amp shunt sensor wires and the starter switch (I had already attached the master switch wire the other day).

I also added a ground strap to the engine case (attached it to a bolt on the accessory cover - where the backup alternator will go).  Next up was routing all of the wires from the left side firewall passthrough over to the various exit points they need along the top engine mount.  For now I just want to get things set up in the general vicinity of where they need to be.  I will attach wires to end points after I have the basic idea sorted out.

I used solder sleeves to attach the pre-existing fuel and oil pressure sensor wires to the wires going to the EMS.  That was my first step at getting things organized.  Next I'll probably need to tackle the Pmag wiring.  It's not complicated wiring, but I think it's going to be a pain just because of the difficulty of access.