ELT test wire fabrication...

I'm currently working on my ACK ELT installation and looking at page 53-04. Step 2 calls for the fabrication of a test wire and mentions the use of a supplied female molex pin.

OK - supplied where? It's not a part of the ELT sub-kit and not in the finish kit so far as I can see. Should I have this pin somewhere? If so, where's it hiding?

Is it possible to use a female D-sub pin instead? I have lots of those around if they'll fit on the male pin in the connector.

Also, how is the other end of the test wire meant to be terminated? It appears, from the ELT instructions, to simply be insulated and secured for possible future use. Is that correct?

The connector that is supplied with the ELT is the connector that has the test wire coming out of it. You have to find your own resistor and LED to make the tester. Also workable is a panel LED (resistor usually built in) from someone who hasn't put it in their panel yet.

Yes it doesn't get used unless it is being tested, so cover it your favorite way (doubled back and shrink wrapped is one way). I thought I'd be smart and simply let a multimeter see the pulses, saving the hassle of creating the LED tester. No dice, that signal is super quick and small. The LED blip is barely visible and super fast. Can't see it except in a dim area.

Maybe an oscilloscope next time...... gotta find another way to make it harder.

I also couldn?t find that female pin. I sent pictures to stein air to see if they could match it and put one in an order but will need to call the mothership for a replacement. A little annoying but they must have been left out of a bunch of ELT kits. Post with what you find, it may save me the call or wait for a new pin if I can just order online somewhere.

-Jason

mountainride said:

I also couldn?t find that female pin. I sent pictures to stein air to see if they could match it and put one in an order but will need to call the mothership for a replacement. A little annoying but they must have been left out of a bunch of ELT kits. Post with what you find, it may save me the call or wait for a new pin if I can just order online somewhere.

Click to expand...

Will do.

That pin has definitely been left out of my ELT kit, along with the specified heat shrink. I'll be speaking with Van's on Monday since they took last Friday off following the holiday.

For those who have yet to deal with this particular sub-kit, you're going to need to source two Duracell batteries (a 28L and a CR2), as they're not included with either the ELT or the Van's package. Forewarned...puts you ahead of me!

Saw this thread and started scratching my head. I just completed a retrofit of the E-04 into my almost 22-year old RV-6. Everything worked and tested as expected. Digging out the ACK E04M Rev 03-24-2019 Rev 1.9 manual I was able to find what this thread is about. I am NOT using a GPS input for my position. The LED and 300 ohm resistor is the GPS Data Verification Test Tool.

Following are two pages from the ACK manual.





Hope this helps others that find this thread and wonder what the discussion is about.

FYI - The guys at ACK were very friendly and super helpful as we completed our installations on our two RV-14s. Give them a call, and I am confident they will get you through any installation questions/issues.