J Model annunciator panel help

[MichMooney201]

All, Quick question and help for my 78J please.  As some of you are aware I have gone through a couple of major redo's in the last 5 years with the new engine, EI engine monitors and the latest being the addition of Garmin radio's and audio panel and 2 GI-275's to power the new GFC-500 auto pilot.  All is working well and is a treat to fly.  There is a hiccup that has arisen that may or may not be related with all this work.  With the EI CGR combo gauges installed, all of the lights in the annunciator panel have been voided by going onto the CGR's or eliminated from the plane like the ram air function and associated peices and parts, with the exception of the Gear Unsafe and Gear Safe lights.  Latest hiccup is the Gear Safe light does not illuminate when the gear are indeed down and locked, but it will illuminate when the annuciator panel light test button is pushed during the run-up checklist.  Per the wiring diagram, the Gear Safe light gets its power from the same wire that provides juice to the gear light located on the floor when the gear is down and locked, and that light works fine currently.  So the question is two fold.  Is anyone aware of a TSO'd switch , device or whatchamacallit that will allow me to remove my annunciator panel completely and just have two lights on the dash for gear safe/unsafe?  I had originally asked EI to move those lights to my CGR's and they politely declined due to the potential liability of the landing gear.  So maybe there is not and option out there that I have yet to find?  Second half of the question...has anyone here had this issue and if so could a potential remedy be shared that might be different from completely eliminating the nearly empty annunciator panel?  And if someone has done so in the past, perhaps a FAA field approval to put lights in the dash for gear safe/unsafe, although this last option is absolutely that...I'd rather removal of my fingernails by pliers than attempt a field approval.

[201Mooniac]

You can remove the annunciator panel if all of the required annunciations are available on other devices.  I used an Eaton type annunciator for my gear which has both the gear unsafe and gear down in a testable annunciator (it can be custom labeled)/  Others have used two discrete lights for the same purpose.  As to debugging the current issue, this should be fairly simple to debug.  If the floor light is working correctly and the wiring diagram shows the annunciator using the same wire off the gear down limit switch then it is likely in the wire going to the annunciator which should be easy to test with a multimeter.  It could be something else inside the annunciator panel itself though which is repairable.

[ArtVandelay]

You don’t need FAA approval, any AP should be able to do it with nothing but a signature, same year:



The only trick is the nav lights are tied to gear down light, so you’ll need to disconnect that connection.

[avanti]

Hello MichMooney 201, did you finally fix your "gear down" light/annunciator issue ? I got a similar problem, light on the "bottom indicator" works flawless, when the gear is extended the annuncitor panel remains dark. As soonn as I am on the ground the green ldg gear down light illuminates again. 

 

Anybody any clue

 

 

Thx in advance 

[laytonl]

I’m contemplating removing my annunciator panel and replacing the needed indicators with MS25041 lights.  Any recommendations or ‘gotacha’s’ are appreciated.  Lee

[Jetpilot86]

If it’s like my Bravo, if the NAV lights are on the GEAR DOWN is dim enough that you can’t see it during the day. 
HTH