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Wiring Harness

joew

Well Known Member
I'm looking for insight from those who have gone before. I'm going to have Stein design, cut, dip, laser etch and make the wiring diagrams for my dual screen G3X centric panel.

I was planning on making up my own harness with materials purchased from Stein. Those who have made their own harness, what are your thoughts- is that a good idea?

I know it's time vs money. I need to cut back somewhere. It would probably take them 40 hours to make my harness, I'm guessing 200 hours for me.

What do you fine folks think?
 
I am doing the same thing with Stein. I am choosing to do this because I enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it you will be wishing that you hired Stein turnkey.
 
That's what I did. I have a legacy 2-screen G3X I purchased from Stein. As part of the package he built up a partial harness based upon my projected panel. So the harness was open ended with only the G3X's connectors on one end and labeled bare wires on the other. I also purchased his Master wiring kit plus tools and completed the connections to the various avionics myself to including adding things that weren't part of the original plan. The kit also provided most of what I needed to wire the entire airplane so it, plus the tools, were well worth the investment for me and the education as how to wire and how everything was connected was priceless.
 
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There is definitely a range here in the money vs time equation but there are more options than just "Stein will make it for me" and "I'll make it from scratch." Do investigate how much Stein can start for you and the cost, they might be able to get a good bit of the legwork completed for you and save you 100 hours for not a lot of time. In particular I would not do this without having them make you a complete wiring diagram that you can follow. Have them include wire sizes and colors on it too to make it even more dummy-proof :)

Also investigate how much other wiring shops will charge you for different services. While Stein is the Bentley, and trust me, once you see their work you'll agree. Sometimes it may be worth paying for a VW and adding in some of your own labour to add some bentley parts purchased from Stein.
 
Thanks, that's the kind of input I need. Any suggestions on wiring shops I should check out? I'm planning on having them do the wiring diagram as well as cut, paint and label the panel.

I'm planning on two screen, but may start with one to get things started. Will also add the Waas box GPS later as well.

Should I plan for the wiring for those now, or would it not be hard to do later
 
Thanks, that's the kind of input I need. Any suggestions on wiring shops I should check out? I'm planning on having them do the wiring diagram as well as cut, paint and label the panel.

I'm planning on two screen, but may start with one to get things started. Will also add the Waas box GPS later as well.

Should I plan for the wiring for those now, or would it not be hard to do later

There are plenty of shops, but talk to Stein first as they are already doing part of it and they are great. They can tell you what each incremental thing can cost. Other than them, take a look at the forum sponsors and reach out to them and see what they offer. Most shops are happy to work with you and do part or all of the wiring.

I would wire in everything now so that when you want to add them later they are just plug-n-play. Specially the screen, the connector kit is just $25~50 so there's no point in not doing that one ;) If you already know what ifr navigator you will use later you can likely buy the connectors for it now and have them pre-wired also. It's easy enough to re-pin later if you change your mind which unit, but it's a good bit of work to add one in from scratch.
 
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