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OP-56 Wiring Clarification

rapid_ascent

Well Known Member
I'm looking at OP-56 and trying to understand the wiring connections. I've reviewed the Aeroleds Suntail installation instructions and I'm trying to match up what Van's is showing. It looks like there is a chassis ground difference, but I could add that if I decide I want to.

More specifically what I'm trying to understand is the black wire connection. Page 2 shows it looping around and then connecting to aft most bulkhead. The right most side where it loops around is where my question is. Aeroleds suggest using 3 wire shielded wire with the shield being used for the ground connection. So at the light end a wire has to be connected from the shield to the light wiring. Is this drawing saying a second wire is connected to the shield and then tied to the frame?
 
Aeroled lights

The Aeroled Suntail installation instructions (i.e. the same for the wing tip lights) quote that you should install a ground wire from the retention hardware to provide a ground to structure. This is to provide protection for direct lightning strikes.

The black wire from the actual light is your lights ground wire and should be connected to the shielding on the Aeroled 3 core shielded wire and preferably connected to your ground block on the firewall and not grounded to your wings. This does the following:-

1. Reduces RF interference because the ground current is not running through your fuselage and wing structure.

2. By running the ground through the shielding it neutralises the current field of the power running through the wires in the core and reducing RF interference.

The green wire is your synchronisation wire and should be connected to the green wires from the other lights (i.e. but not grounded) so that your strobes all flash at the same time.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,
 
Gordon, Thanks for your comments.

I still don't understand what Van's is trying to show in their OP-56 drawing, but I'm just going to follow the AeroLEDs instructions. They seem clear enough.
 
Aeroled wiring

Hi Ray

I just thought that I would send you a photo of how I finished my Aeroled wiring up to a bus bar near my Vertical Power Sport digital circuit breaker box. The photo is not ideal as it has been taken off a Powerpoint document.

https://flic.kr/p/2mQpBar

You will notice that I have a joined all three Nav wires to the one link and all three strobe wires to another link. From there I have joined them with single wires each to their respective output from the VPX.

You will also see that the Sync wires are joined together in a separate connector above the bus bar with heat shrink over them.

The reference and arrows at Ground is where I linked separate wires to each shield on the Aeroled cables and connected these to the ground block on the fiirewall. Plus I covered the joins with heatshrink.

I hope this may help you.

Cheers,

2mQpBar
 
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