Tip: ELT wiring

I know this is a small thing, but I hope the details of today's screwup will save somebody else from the same fate. I was routing the wire from my ELT to the panel remote today and had to chop the end off the wire both to shorten it and also to route it through some small conduit. No big deal, since the little telephone-style connecters are a breeze to crimp on. Now I know that the way the ends get attached is the reverse of how phones work; ie., put one connector on, follow wire to the other end, and install the second connector upside down from the first. Since I never altered the end at the ELT and since the ELT was waaaaay down at the other end of the plane, I figured I'd just attach the panel end based on the color coded diagram shown in the Ameri-King installation manual. Chop, strip, crimp, plug it in, turn ELT to arm, and...., what the ?!! No worky. Eventually I dove into the baggage area and looked at the factory crimped end and realized it was exactly reversed (color-wise) from what was illustrated in the manual. Not a big deal to fix, but hopefully everything still works. I'll power it up tomorrow and make sure it still transmits.

Incidently, I found a plastic crimp/strip tool today for these and it only cost 5 bucks and worked flawlessly. That's gotta be some kind of record for the cheapest tool ever used on an airplane!

Steve Zicree
RV4 with a working ELT (maybe)

ELT location

Hi Steve,

Since I already had ten pound of wiring in a 5 pound conduit I copied brother Dan on this one so I wouldn't have to run the plug forward. I mounted the ELT tester on the baggage bulkhead. It is easily visible and reachable for testing and most importantly, it took about 30 minutes to mount!!!!

Darwin N. Barrie
Chandler AZ

be careful...

be careful where you mount the ELT panel. Some DARs want it where you can see it without turning around.. ie, on the front panel.

ClayR_9A said:

be careful where you mount the ELT panel. Some DARs want it where you can see it without turning around.. ie, on the front panel.

Click to expand...

If this becomes an issue for someone, you can point them at the (certified) Grob installation. Right on the baggage bulkhead, just aft and to the right of the pilot.

IMO, the best place in the RV's for the ELT remote is in the canopy deck rail if you don't have space in the panel.

It's easy, out of the way, and still visible by both parties...clean easy solution that I plagarized from some ingenious gray beard builder years ago!

Cheers,
Stein.