Chapter 1 - Ohm's Law

Confused? Don't be. This past weekend, I had the great experience of attending EAA's SportAir Workshop - "Electrical Systems, Wiring & Avionics". On top of that, the workshop was held at Flabob Airport (RIR), home of EAA Chapter 1!

EAA Chapter 1 at the Flabob (RIR) Airport
in Riverside, CA

A Cool Model Displayed Next to the Restaurant
Ahh, Brings Back Memories - LOL!

There were a number of workshops held at the same time during this weekend. In addition, there was a "What's Involved In Kit Building" session held Saturday evening with a pizza dinner. Quite a bit of information was given out regarding all aspects of planning, selecting, building, completion, flight testing, operating and references for your own amateur-built aircraft. One big thing I took away is that when you're interested in building your own aircraft, you should seriously consider ordering the $13 (for members) "Amateur Built Certification Kit" from EAA. The kit includes everything you need to register and certificate a new experimental amateur-built aircraft. I'll have my check in the mail very soon for this little gem. It'll save a lot of time and headache!

Our Speaker for the Kit Building Information Session
(I didn't get his name)

The Electrical Systems workshop was a lot of fun, very educational and quite informative. Our instructor was EAA's Kas Osterbuhr. He's a very knowledgeable guy with a lot of wiring experience. I've seen a number of his "Hints for the Homebuilder" videos on the EAA website. I highly recommend all of the Hombuilder videos as they are chock full of information. Check 'em out!

Our Instructor, Kas Osterbuhr

There was a huge amount of information covered. There are a lot of things to consider when designing the electrical system on your plane. You need to think of how everything will be connected and how things will work without having any problems or issues and something that will last for the life of your plane. Are you going to build for VFR day or night? IFR day or night? What kind of panel will you have and how will it all be connected? I learned you should take some butcher paper and layout your design. Take your time when laying things out. Well, that's a given in ALL aspects of your build. A good layout will help you a great deal and save you a lot of time down the road. Kas also reconstructs aviation accidents. Some of his information from accident reconstruction makes you stop and think more carefully of how NOT to put yourself in a situation that could go bad. Be smart!  Document and diagram all of your build very meticulously. It will be of great importance should you ever need to go back to something for a fix, repair or change later down the road.

I've never really learned much about electricity or its theories. Kas mentioned, and I agree that this course should be divided into two courses, a beginners and an advanced course. That said, I was able to muddle through and learned about electricity from the "physical" perspective, volts, amps, ohms, watts, capacitors, switches, diodes and what they all are and how to work with them, hence, Ohm's Law (Volts = Amps * Ohms (V=IR)).

I won't go into details here because I'm still trying to wrap my head around a lot if it. Good thing I received some valuable reference material to get me started! I plan to get a "Dummies" book to have on hand to fill in the blanks (wow are there are a lot blanks right now...).

We learned soldering, wire termination, installing various types of connectors and understanding when and where to install the right types of connectors. In addition, we received a ton (well, a bunch anyway) of reference material and all the tools you can expect to need/use when it comes time to start electrical installation. Oh Boy! Here is some of my handiwork:

First Major Project - Intercom Wiring
with a D-Sub Connector

Wire Stripping by HAND! Satisfying When Done Right :D

The Same Antenna Cable From Above Terminated with a BNC Connector

And the Final Project - A Panel With 2 Lights, One Dimmable.
The Instructors Model Shown on Bottom, Mine on Top. It Worked!

 After constructing the "Instrument Panel", you need to go through measuring various information such as dissipation with various power settings, voltage, resistance with various settings, how much current draw, etc. There is a lot of information to consider when building your own panel and plane.

Well, I can't wait to get started! Turns out that the person interested in my '72 bug declined to make the purchase. That said, it looks like my empennage purchase may be a bit delayed. No worries! All in time. I was merely looking to save a few bucks before Van's pricing goes up next year. I've heard that prices go up early in the year but not sure. If anyone can confirm that, it would be very appreciated.

Well, that's my story for now and I'm sticking with it! Take care and Thanks For Reading!