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Hello Valin,
On our 320 we have a few breakers and lots of
fuses. The fuses free up a lot of panel space which, as you state, is in short
supply. Here's the logic we used in determining which circuits would be
protected by which device.
If a circuit opens (fuse or breaker) there are two
main possibilities. The first is that there is a short circuit. This is the
reason that you put this protection in. The second is an intermittent surge or a
breaker fault. Bad things happen with unprotected shorts, fire and smoke come to
mind as well as equipment damage. Let's say that a breaker pops in flight. Do
you try an inflight reset, betting that it was an intermittent problem and
not a short? For me, the answer depends on how bad I need that circuit. For
example, if the strobe breaker popped I would NEVER reset in
flight. The advantage of having a strobe is, to me, not worth the risk of
bigger problems. If it were my primary GPS/COM, I MIGHT consider an
inflight reset depending on the situation at the time (IFR probably yes,
VFR probably no).
The items that I might consider resetting inflight
(damn few) went on breakers. The items that I would not consider resetting
inflight (most of 'em) went on fuses blocks in the foot well which are pretty
much inaccessable in flight. We've been satisfied with this arrangement, it's
worked out well.
On our IV were planning pretty much the same thing.
The only additional consideration is this really neat fiberglass CB panel that I
bought from Starflight http://www.starflight.aero/legacy/ that
can hold around 50 breakers very compactly and off the panel. (nice job, Valin).
I might have to cut it down a bit though.
Bill Harrelson
N5ZQ 320 1,400 hrs
N6ZQ IV under construction
Hello LML
gang,
I’m looking
for opinions on the use of circuit breakers and/or fuses in our Legacy under
construction. There’s not a lot of panel space in the Legacy and I’d
rather not take up room on the panel with a bunch of breakers if the benefits
are marginal. I have made a remote circuit breaker panel as a potential
solution – though, I’m starting to lean toward just remote fusing much of the
circuits with a few breakers or switch/breakers on the panel for some high
load components (eg. Hydraulic pump). I also understand there are some
self resetting electronic breakers that might be
useful.
I’d
appreciate some advice and commentary on this subject from the
community.
Thanks,
Valin
Thorn
Legacy
Texas
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