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Matt Dralle's RV-8 Project
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Date: 2-1-2009
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Number of Hours: 2.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: TruTrak Autopilot Wiring - Part 1
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Well, let me first say that I was feeling a bit intimidated by the sheer number of wiring connections necessary to wire up the TruTrak AP with the AutoTrim Module and Electric Trim and the Pitch and Roll stepper motors. It just seemed like there were a ton of connections that snaked their way everywhere. Well, turns out, it took me about a day to do the actual wiring harnesses and a couple of hours yesterday to do the drawing that I worked from today. All-in-all, not a bad return on my time investment. And now the piece-de-resistance'... All of the autopilot functions worked the first time I turned it on! I got every single wire correct the first time though! No, I don't believe it either. ;-)
The Auto Trim module interconnects with the electric elevator trim and takes the pressure off the pitch servo for various power changes. There is a 5-wire bundle that comes up from the trim motor on the Elevator. Two of the five are for the motor and the other three are for a position sensor. The Auto Trim Module sits in between the two wires going to the motor and allow both the pilot to adjust the trim from the stick grip switch, but also allows the Autopilot to adjust the trim as necessary. Rather than cut the 5-wire cable and have to reterminate the three position sensor wires, I just looped the cable though the Auto Trim module's DB25 housing, carefully slit the outer jacket, cut the two wires for the motor, and just left the remaining three sensor wires untouched. It was a little tricky getting all of the lengths just right and making sure that the labels fit, but alas all worked perfectly! The Auto Trim module is the small, square, golden box by the battery with the DB 25 connector on it. The black wiring coming from the Auto Trim module goes to the Pitch Link Sensor strain gauge which provides feedback to the system so it knows when to feed in trim via the electric trim motor.
I still have to connect the ARINC serial data lines (provides the Vertical Steering and Horizontal Steering autopilot
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Pitch Servo DB9 Connector
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Roll Servo DB9 Connector
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Servo DB9 w/ Shell
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Copyright © 2008-2024 Matt Dralle. All Rights Reserved.
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