Building a Nieuport 11...

[Frank Giger]

Today was an EAA day for me.

Loads of folks like to talk about the Headquarters and Oshkosh and SportAviation and damned ol' "Mac" McMillian and how the organization is circling the toilet bowl, but it's never been that for me. I really don't care if they have Taco Tuesday on Friday and recite FAA 14 CFR Part 91 as a Gregorian Chant up there in Wisconsin or wherever, as I'm down here in Alabama.

Today I spent more than three hours with "Rusty" Hood from our EAA Chapter in his hangar/workshop while he showed both his complete mastery of aircraft systems and command of small words (so I could understand). I drove up befuddled about how to make both my fuel and electrical systems. I left with diagrams I understand, a list of things to buy, and a sense of relief.

I did mention we're in Alabama, didn't I? And it's a big ol' un-air conditioned hangar with the door open and a big fan. With a heat index of 105 degrees.

Want to know what the EAA is? That's what the EAA is.

[Frank Giger]

A couple of questions I'll throw out because the web isn't being helpful.

1) The black regulator box that hooks to the Diehl case has three wires. The "pluggie thing" that's obviously connected to the pluggie thing from the case.
2) A short black wire that has kind of a star cutout around the inside of the connector, and
3) A long black wire that has a smooth round connector.

Neither is labelled and I'm scratching my head as to which one is the hot and which is the ground.

Second question:

My VW is electrical ignition. Where do I hook up the tach at?

[Frank Giger]

For those scratching their heads and wondering what I'm writing about....

The regulator/adapter from the Diehl case is this black oval dealie:





Note there are no labels - just the adapter that hooks into the Diehl alternator, a short wire and a long wire. One has to be hot and the other ground, as clearly the power is coming into the box from the connector to it, and it is supposed to give power back to the battery.


Onto the tach. Since the only connection coming off of the alternator is the plug connection, it doesn't go there.


Here's a pic of the dual coils on the engine:





In a standard coil and distributor cap, one would just plug the tach into the hot post on the single coil (as the VDO instructions say). The next guess would be the Number One connection....but which is that?


I'm probably going to call Valley tomorrow and see if they can illuminate me on this.

[Matt Gonitzke]

Strictly a wild guess, but I'd say the short wire is the ground since there'd probably be a lot of things nearby to connect it to wherever it gets mounted in the aircraft, and the fact that the terminal end has the teeth, which would cut through paint and primer to establish a good connection to the structure when attached to a ground stud. No need for that on the hot wire that is being connected to other wiring instead of terminating at the structure.

Don't trust me though...

[Frank Giger]

That's what I suspect as well - but at 90 bucks for a replacement if I let the smoke out, I need an expert to be sure.

[jdanneel]

The short one is "probably" the ground connection
The long one is "probably" the "hot" (battery) connection
The gray connector has two wires, one is "probably" the connection after the "generator switch"
But if I see well enough there are 5 wires coming out of that regulator ....

And there are a lot of "probabilities",

Checking with the supplier wil remove the stress that comes with swithing on the MASTER for the first time, (where is that gray smoke coming from...)

have fun

johan

[planecrazzzy]

The short one is "probably" the ground connection
The long one is "probably" the "hot" (battery) connection
The gray connector has two wires, one is "probably" the connection after the "generator switch"
But if I see well enough there are 5 wires coming out of that regulator ....

And there are a lot of "probabilities",

Checking with the supplier wil remove the stress that comes with swithing on the MASTER for the first time, (where is that gray smoke coming from...)


have fun

johan

The long lead sure DOESN'T go to the Battery....

It's a Heat sink.... It goes to something that's CHARGING too much.... It's getting rid of the charge with HEAT...( See the Fins )
.
.
Maybe BOTH black wires are GROUNDS...Engine and Airframe...


Gotta Fly...
JAM

[Frank Giger]

And the answer is.....the short goes to the ground side of the battery, the long to the hot.

Planecrazzy, I didn't give you enough context - this is the voltage regulator that comes off the generator on the back of the engine. So it's got to go to the battery. That's what threw me - they can't both be grounds, or there wouldn't be a point to having an alternator.

Why for pete's sake they don't color code or label something like this is beyond me.

[jdanneel]

using one color and one size is cheaper (Made in xxxxx)

[planecrazzzy]

And the answer is.....the short goes to the ground side of the battery, the long to the hot.

Planecrazzy, I didn't give you enough context - this is the voltage regulator that comes off the generator on the back of the engine. So it's got to go to the battery. That's what threw me - they can't both be grounds, or there wouldn't be a point to having an alternator.

Why for pete's sake they don't color code or label something like this is beyond me.

Yeah the Colors would be ok if they marked it with Red Electric tape at the End by the terminal...

I figured it was getting the "Hot" from the Plug...

OK it's a regulator.... But it is still scrubbing juice with heat from those fins....

Kind of two in one...
.
Thanks for clearing that up... It was making quite a stir !
.
Gotta Fly...
JAM
.
PS I hope "YOU" mark the wires with Elec marking tape...

By the way... The way I marked a lot of wires on my first plane...
TYPE what you need on the computer... Print it... Cut it out and wrap it around the wire tightly... and Clear tape...
Seem to work on more than just wires... Especially with color ink