Mailing List flyrotary@lancaironline.net Message #28145
From: Steve Brooks <prvt_pilot@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Re: Intersting flight
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 19:13:38 -0800 (PST)
To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Charlie,
Yes it is a 1/4" spade as you thought.  I have several
in the wiring system, and they are suppose to be high
quality.  Since I added the tyrap in May, and it just
now worked off, it probably did take alot of force.

The cold weather may have played a role as well, since
wire tends to shrink a little with cold, whic would
have made it even more strained.  While I removed the
tyrap, and it has some slack, I'm going to rework the
wire and connector on my next trip down to SC.  I'll
lengthen the wire and install a new connector.

Steve



--- Charlie England <ceengland@bellsouth.net> wrote:

Steve Brooks wrote:

>I made it down to South Carolina, to among other
>things, fly the Cozy.  It had been 2 months to the
day
>since I had been down, so the remaining 8 hours of
the
>40 test hours have been slow to come off.
>
>  >
snipped

>Since I have two separate electrical systems
(engine
>and everything else), I was really stunned that I
lost
>both like that.  After thinking about it for I
while,
>I figured out that the master switch was the only
>common link.  I pulled the I/P cover off, and found
>that the ground connector was pulled off of the
>terminal and just sitting there barely touching the
>contact.
>The cause of this was the fact that when I did an
>annual on the plane in May, I had added some
addition
>ty-raps to dress up the wiring a little more.  In
>doing so, I had stretched the ground wire which
runs
>to the master switch, which energizes the two
master
>relays. >

>snipped
>  >

>Steve Brooks
>Cozy MKIV
>Turbo rotary
>
Hi Steve,

Congrats on the safe conclusion of your adventure.

I assume that the offending connector was a 1/4" 'spade lug' type connector. Did you check the quality & integrity of
the connector after the incident? High quality connectors like that
require an amazing amount of force to remove, usually involving pliers
or prying them off with a screwdriver. If it came off with just the
tension added from dressing wires with a wire tie, I'd be concerned.

FWIW,

Charlie


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