Installation Secrets
Installation Dos and Don'ts
by Butch Nimmo, Tech Rep
Number One on the S-TEC Technical Support priority list is our availability to assist S-TEC dealers with the answers to installation and maintenance questions on S-TEC autopilots. Most often we do this over the phone, but we also communicate via fax, and occasionally in person when you or one of your customers "flies in" to Mineral Wells. Just when we think we can safely say "we've seen or heard it all," a situation presents itself that has never occurred before.
From these opportunities, we have put together a collection of common Dos and Don'ts for the S-TEC installer. (Some of these may seem like "no brainers," but they are mentioned because they have come up frequently.)
DO
- Do read the entire installation bulletin that comes with the new S-TEC autopilot before attempting an installation. Each installation documentation package contains both aircraft specific installation instructions and general installation instructions. You should then take the time to verify which instructions are applicable for each step of the installation process (See "Installation Secrets" Volume 2, Issue 4 of The S-TEC Approach).
- Do use pull type circuit breakers supplied with the installation kit.
- Do choose an area that is clear of other ring terminals when installing the autopilot ground.
- Do crimp the autopilot ground wire into an appropriate size ring terminal suitable for a single wire.
- Do cap and stow all flap compensator wires when not used in a particular installation.
- Do perform a continuity check anytime a connector is removed and reinstalled to facilitate cable routing.
- Do verify A+ is only present at the connector locations called out on the external wiring diagram specific to the system being installed.
- Do be aware of which control wheel switches are required and which are optional. Give the customer the choice of installing optional switches.
DON'T
- Don't locate remotely mounted components in an area that has neither the necessary space nor strength to properly support and accommodate the size and weight of the components.
- Don't use existing circuit breakers for the autopilot or auto trim, no matter how convenient it seems at the time.
- Don't replace connectors with crimp type pins and sockets (as supplied in the Installation Kit) with connectors that have solder type contacts.
- Don't mount the altitude hold pressure sensing transducer with the hose bib vertical. The hose bib should always be mounted horizontally.
- Don't connect the altitude pressure transducer to the pitot air source.
- Don't use wire of a smaller gauge to extend or replace ground and A+ wires which are already in the S-TEC harness.
- Don't crimp the autopilot ground wire into an oversize ring terminal with a multitude of other ground wires.
- Don't crimp wires into the end of the socket designed to receive the pin from the mating connector.
Hopefully these Dos and Don'ts will provide some useful information during the installation process. Yes, all of these are the result of situations that actually occurred causing a variety of strange and unusual problems.
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