What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

RV-14 Wing Kit Wiring Harness

Scott Hersha

Well Known Member
Just curious what other builders are doing with the kit supplied wiring harnesses for the RV14. Someone at Vans told me he thought the wing tip light harness is for Aero Led NAV/strobe/landing lights. Some of the wires seem pretty large (gage) for LED lights, and for the landing light, there appears to be 3 conductors? The autopilot harness is for Dynon servos, I think. Couldn't get a definite answer on that and when I talked to Stein about it, they had no idea what any of the harnesses they built are for. They built them to a spec from Vans. Stein doesn't even stock the Molex connectors/pins/sockets that are on the ends of the harnesses. I plan -right now anyway - to use the Molex connectors, because they fit the brackets built into the wings, but the actual harnesses will be different. I found the connectors/pins at Mouser and will buy some spare parts to rebuild harnesses for my needs - Aveo tip lights, Whelen Parmetheus landing lights, Garmin servos, Garmin heated pitot, Garmin temp probe. It would have been nice if the plans gave some info on what these harnesses are designed for. In the future maybe they will be offered as an option. Maybe Stein will take them back as a trade-in on other products. Such is the way when you're a beta-builder....
 
Check out the poll Jetguy has started on Van's customer service. Your problem fits in with what a lot of us 14 builders are experiencing in this new way of building.
 
Surely you have heard the phrase "Don't paint yourself into a corner".

It is not uncommon to design something reliant on a vender supplied component, only to have the vendor go out of business a short time later... redesign for new vendor... new vendor goes out of business.... etc.

A few of the wires may be slightly bigger than they need to be, but that provides flexibility in what components get used in the system. The weight and cost penalties are very small.
It also gives some margin of flexibility for builders that might choose to do something different.




As for getting a def. answer from Van's regarding wire choices made for the harness... I don't see how it matters.
If someone is choosing to deviate from what is supplied, they are accepting the responsibility for the design of that system. So knowing the reason the original designer chose a particular wire size is no longer relevant.

To put it more bluntly... Van's is in the business of designing and selling kit airplanes, not consulting to help people design and build an airplane. It would require a much higher kit price if every kit purchase also included design consultation services to the kit builder.
 
How it matters, is I plan on using Dynon components. I think the harness is designed for Dynon but it's way too early to purchase all the wing components from Dynon in order to see if I have the correct harness. Also Van's could have a different plan for installing the Dynon components like the RV-12 has and I don't want to deviate from that plan if it exist. And yes, I asked Van's directly with no responce.
 
Someone at Vans told me he thought the wing tip light harness is for Aero Led NAV/strobe/landing lights. Some of the wires seem pretty large (gage) for LED lights, and for the landing light, there appears to be 3 conductors?

AeroLeds recommends and sells 20awg, 3 conductor shielded for their lights. At least that's what's called for with their Pulsar NS90, Suntail and Sunray Plus.

http://www.aeroleds.com/products/accessories.aspx

http://www.aeroleds.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=f_JilnWfXRo%3d&tabid=6270&mid=13206
 
Last edited:
For an AEROLED landing light, there are 5 wires.
Power-constant
Power-wigwag
Ground
Master output (for a 2-light system - one light is designated master and the other slave and they stay synched for wigwagging)
Slave input (for a 2 light system)

For an AEROLED nav-strobe-tip-combo light, there are 4 wires
NAV power input
Ground
Strobe power input
Synch (a single wire connects both tip lights and synchs the strobe.

The RV-12 has these components, but only one landing light is in the design.
Bill
 
The design of all the wiring harness in the RV-14 is being done to have flexability to work with numerous vendors equipment.
Support of EFIS/Avionics systems from multiple vendors (some that may not have even been anounced yet;)), and a variety of different lighting choices is being accomidated in the design.

A complete wiring diagram of the kit designed systems for the airplane will be made availble in the future (release date still to be determined because of some details still not frozen regarding systems design)
 
The design of all the wiring harness in the RV-14 is being done to have flexability to work with numerous vendors equipment.

From what I've seen of the harness and connectors, Vans has wisely designed for maximum flexibility in electrical system design for this airplane, which is a great thing considering the plethora of options available now or coming soon.

--
Stephen
 
Getting ahead of myself is something I'm good at. I had a conversation with Stein a couple days ago and he told me just what rvbuilder2002 said. Design flexibility is the goal with the supplied harnesses. They will work with various auto-pilots and lighting choices. I'm pretty sure I can run the wires through the grommets with the bottom skin on, so there's no reason to do anything just yet. When I need advice on wiring, I have Muthaworx ("Mutha" himself) right around the corner. Bucking rivets on the bottom skin with all those obstacles in the way would be more difficult. Balloons have stayed inflated for 24 hours now on my fuel tanks, so hopefully - no leaks - build on. Gasoline molecules are smaller than air molecules though, so I won't get the final sigh of relief until it is fueled for the first time.
 
Fuselage wiring

https://www.vansaircraft.com/pdf/letters/AvionicsUpdateFinal.pdf
The current avionics update from Vans now states
"Van’s Aircraft will offer an optional "standard" basic fuselage harness with pre-populated connectors that will connect to the tailcone and fuselage wiring with extended, labeled wires at the instrument panel."
Does anyone know when this basic harness kit will be available?


https://www.vansaircraft.com/images/whats_new/RV-14_Avionics_Update.pdf
Also this old post by Vans states
"A wiring diagram in .dwg format (much like the current RV-12 document) will be released with the upcoming fuselage kit for the RV-14."

What happened to the wiring diagram to be provided in the fuselage kit? Our kit didn't come with the much needed wiring diagram. Does anyone else have a wiring diagram for the fuselage wiring please?
 
Last edited:
I am not aware of anyone getting any additional wiring diagrams. My best guess is that Van's is running way behind on all their new designing and has to cut back on what they planned on supplying to get caught up. They might not even be planning on supplying a wiring diagram any more. Give them a shout and let the rest of us know what you find out.
 
The RV-12 wiring harness was originally intended to be used with the Dynon autopilot. When the Garmin option became available, a few extra wires had to be run to support the Garmin servos. I would hope that those "extra" wires are already in the RV-14 wiring.

None of the servo wiring for the RV-12 includes twisted-shielded pairs (as recommended by Garmin) but the Garmin autopilot and GMC 305 worked just fine without the twisted shielded pairs.

I am now in the process of installing a complete Garmin system in my -7A. In order to support the Garmin servos, I ran 1 twisted-shielded pair to the Pitch Servo for the CAN bus and another t-s pair to the Roll servo for the CAN bus. In addition, I also ran a second t-s pair to the Roll servo for RS-232 that goes to the GMC 307.

I was able to use the existing wires from my Trutrak servos for power, ground and disconnect.

To summarize. If you plan to do a roll your own Avionics and you want to be sure that you can support Garmin Servos, make sure you have (or add) 1 twisted-shielded pair going to the Pitch servo and 2 twisted-shielded pairs going to the Roll servo.

On the other hand, if Vans offers a pre-wired avionics package similar to the -12 package. I would feel confident that everything would work fine with the wiring harness Vans provides.
 
I'm pretty sure the landing light wires are included and same for taxi light. I also think the autopilot servo wires are there depending on what brand you are using.
Not sure on pitot heat and trim
 
The only thing you have to provision for is pitot heat. Of course other options may require more wires but the wires for lighting and AP servos are there.

In my first airplane I ran the wires I knew I would need and then added a couple of runs of 16awg wire that I could use in the future. No real weight gain and the wires are there if you need them.

I have since used one of the extra wires in both wings in a new lighting system. It was handy as I had already connected them at the root ends in molex connectors.

I did the same in my 14 wings and have no idea what they might be used for in the future. Nice to have them there.
 
Last edited:
Wings

There are several things to consider. Are you going to have the ADAHRS out there, a magnetometer, pitot heat, AP or aileron trim? You will also have OAT out there on the wing next to the first access panel. I have two, one on each wing and two magnetometers which are mounted on a shelf to the rear of the tailcone like Tim did. The second one is for my backup, it's a GRT Mini.

I left the wiring for the Nav/Strobe and Landing/Taxi lights and pulled everything else out because I wasn't 100% sure of what the other wiring was for. I ended up putting the ADAHRS behind the panel on the back of my Garmin Touch, wired the aileron trim and AP in the right wing. I pulled the wire for the stall warning horn (using AOA on Heated Pitot), all of the wiring for the ADAHRS in the left wing and AP on the right side out. Originally I had wiring in the wing for Pitot heat if I decided to add a heated Pitot one day, but then I just put the heated one in.

So those other two molex, one in each wing, you wouldn't need unless you connect your new wires to those locations. I just ran the wires directly to the panel. I also added plastic tubing running from one end to the other for future wiring needs, although I may pull that out before I put the side fairings on the wings.
 
As mentioned in THIS SERVICE LETTER, the fuselage basic harness is in BETA test now, but should be released soon.
Release of the WH-00125 harness will be the final development step for the RV-14 electrical system so publishing the full harness diagram will happen at that time.
 
Garmin GSA Roll Servo wiring

Please let me know if you all think the following is correct? Or should I switch the CAN bus and RS-232 pins over? read on
I picked the CAN bus ports to use the supplied shielded pair cable. Whilst the RS-232 ports will use the twisted pair unshielded.
The Vans kit supplied 1 set of shielded twisted pair and 1 set of unshielded twisted pair cables, but reading the forums unshielded should be fine for the GSA 28 servo's.

I plan to cut the standard Molex plugs off the standard harness and crimp on the Garmin pins as per the picture below. I show in red the planned pin numbers for the GSA 28 servo's 15 pin D connector. The remaining RV-14 supplied wires are not going to be used as I am not fitting Roll trim.

RV-14GMA28RollServoWingWiringV1.jpg


Pin, GSA28Feature and WireUsed
Pin 1 CAN_H Wht/Blu Twisted pair
Pin 2 CAN_L Wht/Grn Twisted pair
Pin 7 RS-232 Blu Twisted pair shielded
Pin 8 RS-232 Grn Twisted pair shielded
Pin 9 GOUND BLK
Pin 10 Power RED
Pin 15 AP_Diconnect YEL
 
Last edited:
Not being happy with much of the harnesses provided , I finally ripped out 90% of the original and am replacing all with the proper conductors for the items I'm installing.
 
wing harness and aileron trim

Referring to the wiring diagram in Rocky's post above, I'm also planning to remove this harness from the wing and replace it with the standard Dynon servo harness, but I have a question about the ES-00045 plug near the bottom. I'm assuming this is for future aileron trim installation. The 2 white wires running back to it from ES-00013 are jumpered out from 2 white wires running into ES-00013. Does anyone know how this aileron trim system would be set up? Will it use the existing servo for trim? If I want to retain future aileron trim capability, should some of the harness remain?
 
Referring to the wiring diagram in Rocky's post above, I'm also planning to remove this harness from the wing and replace it with the standard Dynon servo harness, but I have a question about the ES-00045 plug near the bottom. I'm assuming this is for future aileron trim installation. The 2 white wires running back to it from ES-00013 are jumpered out from 2 white wires running into ES-00013. Does anyone know how this aileron trim system would be set up? Will it use the existing servo for trim? If I want to retain future aileron trim capability, should some of the harness remain?

As far as I can tell from what vague information Van's will let out, they plan on using something close to what the RV-10 has. The RV-10 has a Ray Allan trim servo with the sensor built in. It connects to an inspection cover and two brackets rivet to the push/pull tube so that two springs connect to the servo. This arrangement requires 5 wires and I "think" there are only provisions for two in the wing. I should know as that is just the bundle I ripped out last evening. I will install the Ray Allan 5 conductor this evening and have the proper wire for that task. I also installed a Dynon servo harness in my wing.
 
I have now cut the Dynon plug off and crimped on the D-Sub as below. The factory harness is thus now setup for GSA28 Roll servo, with future trim support. Numbers in red are the new D-Sub pin numbers.

RV-14GMA28RollServoWingWiringV2.jpg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top