What to do, what to do

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Rich
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What to do, what to do

Post by Rich »

I thought I'd address the couple of things that haven't worked in my plane in years. Specifically the front seat map lights and overhead speaker. I don't use any of these so it's not been a priority but I figured I should remedy anyway.

I pulled the light fixtures out, figuring they had blown bulbs. Not so. Bulbs are all fine. The right seat light was inoperative but by tweaking its innards I was able to get it working again. The pilot map light fixture is broken in a way not repairable and will need replacement. All of these now have a seal available, presumably in place of the silicon goop used originally.

But I'm in a bit of a quandary over the pilot map light, in particular. I've had the luxury of a broken switch all these years, which saves me from it being inadvertently being turned/left on and the subsequent running up of the Hobbs and running down the battery. The original bulb is a 5W OSR2845 incandescent. Based on this wattage it draws .2 amp. An lumen-equivalent bulb should draw about 1/6 of this, or roughly .033 amp. Put another way, the original bulb would suck up an amp-hour in about 5 hours, the lumen-equivalent about 30. My question is, for those that replaced this with an LED, exactly what bulb did you use? I haven't found a solid answer digging through the forum. Did you actually conduct a leak-down test to confirm its effect? I'm tempted to replace the fixture, leave the bulb uninstalled and call it good.

On to the speaker. I find there's no way to remove the speaker without removing at least 1-2 of the screws holding the right side GPS antenna, if not the antenna itself (both antennae are WAAS units). It looks like the screws that are holding mine in place are longer than minimally necessary which might be what's happening. Has anyone found anything different?
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Steve
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Re: What to do, what to do

Post by Steve »

Rich:

I replaced all 3 map light bulbs many years ago with LEDs. I will have to search a bit to find the P/N and source. Before replacing them, I had very intermittent function of the lights, which I traced to degradation of the Trojan-like waterproofing they used on the fixture. I removed all of this material, and no switch issues since then. I never did get the sealing skirts that are now available, and the fixtures don't leak much air from the plenum in my airplane.

As to the speaker, I replaced mine about 5 years ago. Although it was tight in there, I was able to do it with only one "special" tool that I didn't already have:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-10mm-12 ... 1000389329

You need this to remove a nut on one of the grounding straps which interferes with moving the speaker into the right position/angle to get it through the hole. Be aware that I have only one non-WAAS GPS antenna on the canopy bow, my other (WAAS) GPS antenna is in my GPS/COM antenna on the rear dorsal fuselage. The speakers are fairly inexpensive and available from Newark:

https://www.newark.com/visaton/55-4586/ ... ct-product

Steve
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Re: What to do, what to do

Post by AndrewM »

If someone could post a photo of the sealing skirts, that would be greatly appreciated.
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astaib
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Re: What to do, what to do

Post by astaib »

Hello,

Mine only have one GPS non-WAAS antenna so I was able to remove the loudspeaker easily.

Regarding the bulbs here are the ones that I installed.

Regarding the map light part, it’s a carry over from a Renault car, so I’m France we can find plenty of them on eBay for nothing (even in other color). If you need me as a French buyer for you, feel free to ask. But the car version doesn’t have the skirt, but you can use your.
D23BBAA7-1D7A-4757-B651-0093C71613E2.jpeg
Arnaud
DA40 Star 180 / 40.026 / 2001
Wingtip, landing and taxing LED (Whelen)
Skitube
GNS430 NON-WAAS
Steam gauges
Non certified ADS-b
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Rich
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Re: What to do, what to do

Post by Rich »

astaib wrote: Sat Sep 12, 2020 3:26 pm Hello,

Mine only have one GPS non-WAAS antenna so I was able to remove the loudspeaker easily.

Regarding the bulbs here are the ones that I installed.

Regarding the map light part, it’s a carry over from a Renault car, so I’m France we can find plenty of them on eBay for nothing (even in other color). If you need me as a French buyer for you, feel free to ask. But the car version doesn’t have the skirt, but you can use your.

D23BBAA7-1D7A-4757-B651-0093C71613E2.jpeg
Thanks Arnaud. I ordered 3, though I'm not going to bother changing the rear seat light for now. The first thing I'll do upon receipt is measure the amperage, as they don't publish it on the website.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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astaib
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Re: What to do, what to do

Post by astaib »

Let me know the results of your measurements please
Arnaud
DA40 Star 180 / 40.026 / 2001
Wingtip, landing and taxing LED (Whelen)
Skitube
GNS430 NON-WAAS
Steam gauges
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Rick
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Re: What to do, what to do

Post by Rick »

AndrewM wrote: Sat Sep 12, 2020 12:32 pmIf someone could post a photo of the sealing skirts, that would be greatly appreciated.
Map Lights.jpg
The rubber cover is on the right.
Roanoke, VA (KROA)
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Rich
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Re: What to do, what to do

Post by Rich »

Rick wrote: Sat Sep 12, 2020 9:42 pm
AndrewM wrote: Sat Sep 12, 2020 12:32 pmIf someone could post a photo of the sealing skirts, that would be greatly appreciated.
Map Lights.jpgThe rubber cover is on the right.
It looks like these are compatible with the original fixtures some of us have. I'll be ordering 1 new switch assembly and 3 of these covers next week. Now if I could just figure out a more elegant way of removing the switch assembly.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Rich
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Re: What to do, what to do

Post by Rich »

Steve wrote: Sat Sep 12, 2020 1:14 am Rich:

I replaced all 3 map light bulbs many years ago with LEDs. I will have to search a bit to find the P/N and source. Before replacing them, I had very intermittent function of the lights, which I traced to degradation of the Trojan-like waterproofing they used on the fixture. I removed all of this material, and no switch issues since then. I never did get the sealing skirts that are now available, and the fixtures don't leak much air from the plenum in my airplane.

As to the speaker, I replaced mine about 5 years ago. Although it was tight in there, I was able to do it with only one "special" tool that I didn't already have:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-10mm-12 ... 1000389329

You need this to remove a nut on one of the grounding straps which interferes with moving the speaker into the right position/angle to get it through the hole. Be aware that I have only one non-WAAS GPS antenna on the canopy bow, my other (WAAS) GPS antenna is in my GPS/COM antenna on the rear dorsal fuselage. The speakers are fairly inexpensive and available from Newark:

https://www.newark.com/visaton/55-4586/ ... ct-product

Steve
The switch I repaired might never have worked. In fact, even after I tweaked it to work, it still has more resistance than I would like to see. I'll spritz some contact cleaner in there to see if that clears it.

It appears that the GA 35's and the GA 56's they replaced have the same hole pattern, so given a dual-antenna installation the same potential problem would exist. I'll be using an endoscope next time to get a better view in there to see what's what.

Too bad I don't have all the parts in hand right now, since I'm basically grounded with all the smoke. All the airports for miles around are like 1/4-1/2 mile visibility. But at least the fires themselves are quite distant and there are many folks with bigger problems than just being unable to fly.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Steve
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Re: What to do, what to do

Post by Steve »

Yes, good luck. I heard that you guys may get a little rain up there in the next couple of days.
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