It was very sunny Monday, so I took a few hours off work and came home to try out the LED light bars. I modified the bread board to run off a battery and took it outside. I started with the nominal design current of 0.020 amp. It was not possible to tell whether the light bar was illuminated unless I put it in the shade, and even then it was not very bright. I tested several more times at higher and higher current, eventually getting up to 0.060 amp, or three times the design current. I considered it marginally acceptable at 0.060 amp, but I am concerned about the life. It was still not that easy to see it, unless it was in the shade.

So, time to rethink my plan. I think I will use the red round LED that came with the EIS-4000. I bought amber and green versions from a major electronics supplier too. There are a bit brighter, but I didn't want to use them as I don't like the look. But, I don't want to waste a lot of time on a science experiment, so I think I'll go with them to get flying quicker. I will almost certainly redo my instrument panel after I get flying, as I won't need the removable centre portion of the panel if the Dynon EFIS works out. I'll change over to some better looking annunciator lights at that time.

I finally finished running the wires for the rear seat headset jacks and soldered them to the jacks. Not a fun task, and not a pretty solder job. But they work.

The weekend I installed yet another B&C dimmer module for the incandescent lights (CDI, engine instruments and compass). I was quite disappointed to find that it didn't work after I finished installing it. I checked all the wiring with a multi-meter, and found no faults. I figured there had to be a problem with the dimmer module itself. Maybe a bent pin. So I removed it and gave it a careful looking over. The pins looked OK, so I started inspecting the printed circuit board. I eventually noted that it didn't seem to match the schematic in the installation instructions.

Then I finally realized what the problem was. I had used the wiring diagram from the previous two dimmer modules, as they were all the same. I had made a copy and marked it up with my system of wiring numbers. I pulled out the wiring diagram that actually came with this dimmer module, and noted it had a higher revision number and a note about a change to the schematic. I disassembled the connector and moved the pins around to match the current wiring diagram and everything worked fine. What a relief.

I still have to figure out how I am going to route the wires from my main wire bundle to the engine instruments and compass. Hopefully I can get that finished tomorrow.

I think I'm getting close to having finished all the work behind the instrument panel. I need to install the four annunciator lights and finish securing the various wire bundles. Then I think I can rivet on the upper forward skin.