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Eliminate conduit under baggage floor?

Moondog

Moondog

Well Known Member
After fabricating conduit brackets for future wiring under the baggage floor and seats, it occurred to me that brackets might work by themselves without the use of conduit.
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The brackets take a ?? ID plastic grommet which pops securely into the hole. Sturdy but extremely light. So I?m thinking--I could eliminate the conduit by using 5 brackets per side instead of 3 to support the wiring, as long as the brackets were aligned for an easy feed.

Is there a downside to eliminating the conduit?
 
Leave a pull string in place for future use. I put conduit under there in my 9A.
 
install brackets, not the conduit

longranger said:
The only downside that comes to my mind is that not having the conduit would mean you would need to pull the floors out to add additional wiring later.
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Sorry I wasn't clear. The original plan was to install brackets and conduit as others have done so as not to have to pull the floors for future wiring. The new plan is to install the brackets to hold future wiring but eliminate the conduit.

The brackets will hold the wiring. And eliminating the conduit would save weight and get rid of a lot of plastic I don't want in the airplane.

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Would like to know if the wiring would be ok threaded through the brackets without any conduit around the wires. Would either leave a string as suggested or use an electrician's wire to run future wires.
 
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The wiring will be fine - what was meant was that if you build the plane this way, and 5 years down the road something happens that requires you to add a wire in that wire run, now you will have to pull the baggage floor up to be able to do that. If you had conduit there you could simply push another wire through. Another option would be to leave a pull-string in place through the grommets (without conduit) to pull a wire through in the future if needed.
 
Forget 5 years, it could be a month after the floors are down and you realize something needs to be routed differently, to a different place, or upgraded to a different size wire. There is so little weight associated with the conduit, best to use it in places that are inaccessible. Save weight and eliminate the conduit in other places you could reach without surgery to your plane.
 
I put the conduit in under the baggage floor and seats, and down the length of the wing spars - but not the entire length of the fuselage. I only installed it where it would be a serious convenience later on.
 
airguy said:
I put the conduit in under the baggage floor and seats, and down the length of the wing spars - but not the entire length of the fuselage. I only installed it where it would be a serious convenience later on.
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I did the same, 2 runs of conduit under the seats. They are both full now:(
 
Don Jones said:
I did the same, 2 runs of conduit under the seats. They are both full now:(
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:D

I have 4 - and they are all full.

I put my battery behind the baggage compartment to keep my CG a bit aft, and the large cables just about completely fill the conduit. I've got one each dedicated to power and ground, one for electrically "noisy" wiring (strobes, transponder antenna, etc) to keep them seperated, and one for everything else.
 
airguy said:
:D

I have 4 - and they are all full.

I put my battery behind the baggage compartment to keep my CG a bit aft, and the large cables just about completely fill the conduit. I've got one each dedicated to power and ground, one for electrically "noisy" wiring (strobes, transponder antenna, etc) to keep them seperated, and one for everything else.
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Probably not a good idea to bundle the transponder cable with the strobe wiring:

From trig and Garmin install manuals concerning antenna cables:

"Route the cable away from potential interference sources such as ignition wiring, 400Hz generators, fluorescent lighting and electric motors."
 
clickbonds and snakeskin

I used clickbonds and snakeskin on my RV7 and it was a very neat tidy install, the clickbonds adhere well and keep everything neat. It still amazes me how a much wire is required to wire a plane. just a thought, same idea as yours but perhaps lighter and a bit easier to install, plus you can snug them down on final wire.
 
You don't need conduit. My 1955 Cessna 180 doesn't have any and the old wires and the holes they are in (with rubber grommets) are still airworthy.

Dave
 
Another option is to run a line through each cable run and leave it in place. coiled up at either end with enough slack to pull future wires through the areas that are inaccessible. Even if you use conduit, it would be wise to leave a line in place to pull wires through.

I ran my wires down the center tunnel on either side and below the elevator pushrod. I did a full job of wire lacing, then attached them to the sides of the tunnel with cable clamps that have a sticky backed surface to attach.
 
grommets

Being an electrician, I would use conduit. I have 3/4 inch PVC in each wing and the wire is installed with a pull string for future use.

When pulling wire through grommets, there is always the chance of the pulling head will hang up on the grommet furthest from an access hole. Using conduit, you give yourself the ability to pull the wire in quickly with a minimum of damage to the wire. Also, as you pull the wire through grommets, there is a chance of pulling the other wires (drag) in which will cause a sag or sags in the wire increasing the chance that something (aileron bellcrank, for example) to snag the wire, possibly causing control lockup.

Use the grommets away from control pushrods and bellcranks if you must use them.

Take care and fly safe.
 
truflite said:
Being an electrician, I would use conduit. I have 3/4 inch PVC in each wing and the wire is installed with a pull string for future use.

When pulling wire through grommets, there is always the chance of the pulling head will hang up on the grommet furthest from an access hole. Using conduit, you give yourself the ability to pull the wire in quickly with a minimum of damage to the wire. Also, as you pull the wire through grommets, there is a chance of pulling the other wires (drag) in which will cause a sag or sags in the wire increasing the chance that something (aileron bellcrank, for example) to snag the wire, possibly causing control lockup.

Use the grommets away from control pushrods and bellcranks if you must use them.

Take care and fly safe.
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Good advice. Sag was one of my concerns but also vibration of the grommets against the wires.

Will use the conduit and pull string. Thanks to everyone.
 
Quickie...

In order to save some bucks, I bought 1/2" ID corrugated conduit tubing instead of the regular 3/4" Van's sells.
Do you think it is wide enough, or do you think it will get all cramped inside using this diameter?
 
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