Oldguy Posted November 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 14 hours ago, Bob Weber said: I'm trying to imagine what kind of antenna was mounted there, skywatch? Above the cabin? That's correct. It was taken out some years before I bought the plane in 2013. It will get properly patched and repaired when I get it painted in a couple of years. BTW, the antenna cable was still there when I pulled down the ceiling panels for painting... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Weber Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 Just now, Oldguy said: That's correct. It was taken out some years before I bought the plane in 2013. It will get properly patched and repaired when I get it painted in a couple of years. BTW, the antenna cable was still there when I pulled down the ceiling panels for painting... I just started another thread, put some of these on there, show the coaxes that went to that antenna. Thank you for sharing these! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Saint Posted November 25, 2019 Report Share Posted November 25, 2019 Pulling out old wires, as has been mentioned, can often create more problems than it solves. When installing a Trutrak auto pilot in place of a Century, we remove the servos and boxes, but we need to leave the electric trim. Most planes don’t have any kind of current schematic. We usually leave the connectors and harnesses running up (Pa-28/32 example) the left side of the plane and run the Trutrak harnesses down the right side under the door. For a simple job like this, it can easily add 10+ hours to a 20-hour job to remove he pilot seat and the left side panel to remove those harnesses. Is that worth $1,000 to the airplane owner? Usually not. Then, you get in that side panel and there is a huge wire bundle that everything is tied up in, going to the rear/middle seat, to the tailcone, to the overhead, to the wing. How much more time does it add to separate the unneeded wires from the needed wires. You start cutting wires and accidentally cut two wires that are both 3-conductor shielded wires, and you have no idea what they go to or which is which. Then you have to dig further to find out what they do, but you don’t have a schematic, so you have to start searching for install manuals for instruments that haven’t even been manufactured in the last 20 years. You finish, then turn on the master and the trim no longer works. Again, no schematics or records... it becomes and issue of either a job where you lose money, or you charge the customer for the time you spend and they get mad because of the over charge. In the long run, how much is it worth to the average customer to remove 2-3 lbs of unused wire? Also, when you get into a panel and find the wire from the last 6 minor upgrades over the last 40 years that has been left, what do you do? It still comes down to how much is it worth  When I am doing a major upgrade where very little in the panel stays, then it makes sense to hack out a lot of the old wiring because you know it won’t be used. If not, it is very seldom worth it. For example, you are installing a Pair of G5’s and connecting to a 430W. The GI106A is coming out. You need a total of 7 wires from the 430W that are not already there, but the GI106A connector has 25 wires going into the 430W. What do you do? You can spend 10 hours ejecting pins and fixing a few wires that break out of needed pins while working on your back under the panel or with your fingertips 18 inches behind the panel. The alternative is to bag and tag or just tie up the GI106A connector that weights 4 ounces and move on. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skates97 Posted November 25, 2019 Report Share Posted November 25, 2019 I have over the last couple annuals removed quite a few wires from behind the panel as well as old cables going to the back, it's been done piecemeal. When I pulled to Loran and ADF 3 years ago I cut off the wires going to the back and labeled them so I would know what they were. The next time I pulled the interior for something else I removed those wires. I've removed some stuff on the right side but there is still a mass of who knows what on the left side and it is going to stay there for the time being. When the AV-30 is certified and I open up that side to put them in I plan on cleaning up all the leftovers, but until then they aren't hurting anything. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carusoam Posted November 25, 2019 Report Share Posted November 25, 2019 Jesse, Thanks for sharing your insight... Best regards, -a- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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