Aircraft Wiring Guide
The practical guide to planning, wiring, and enjoying the electrical system in your experimental aircraft.
About The Aircraft Wiring Guide
After talking to thousands of fellow homebuilders and giving many presentations at fly-ins around the country, I realized there was a need for information to design and build the newer, more complex electrical systems. The Aircraft Wiring Guide takes that experience and condenses it into 100 pages of useful information and guidance. Filled with images, pictures, text, and drawings, this book has a wealth of practical information so you can design the electrical system that’s right for you and your mission!
If you’re building, maintaining, upgrading, or repairing an experimental-category aircraft, this book can help you uncover the mysteries of aircraft wiring.
The wiring system in small aircraft used to be fairly simple because many of the systems were mechanical or simply did not exist when compared with modern avionics. Today we have electronic stall and AOA warning systems, GPS receivers, glass cockpit displays, autopilots, backup batteries and busses, electric trim and flap motors, ADS-B receivers, multiple power plugs, powered headsets, and host of other modern electronics. Therefore, the electrical system is a much more important part of the aircraft than it used to be, and therefore it is worth your time to understand the subject matter so that your plane will operate reliably.
This book is for experimental aircraft builders who want to know how to plan and wire their aircraft. First-time builders will learn how to start thinking about and planning for the electrical system. Advanced builders can keep abreast of the latest technologies and products.
This book is designed to focus on the practical information you need to make important decisions about the architecture of your electrical system, what parts to buy, and how to wire it all together.
The Aircraft Wiring Guide is available in print format, and in electronic format for Apple Books, Kindle on PC, Android, Reader, Fire, and Apple devices.
How this book can help you:
PLAN Helps you think about the electrical system and what things are important and what are not. Detailed three-step plan to designing the right electrical system for your mission.
UNDERSTAND Insights into all aspects of wiring to help you make better decisions. Practical information to help you learn fast! No engineering required.
BUILD Once you build, you’ll have the confidence and knowledge to do it right. And, this book is available in both paper and digital formats so it is easy to have with you while planning and working on the plane.
What's in the Book?
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Electrical System Overview
1.1 Installation Overview
1.2 Electrical Power Distribution
1.3 Primary Power
1.4 Secondary Power
1.5 Data Buss
Chapter 2. Wiring Basics
2.1 Electrical System Terms
2.2 Wire Sizes and Circuit Protection
2.3 Conductors
2.4 Wire Labeling & Color
2.5 Stripping Wire
2.6 Terminating Wires
2.7 Connectors
2.8 Tools
2.9 Supplies
2.10 How to Crimp Terminals
2.11 Switch Nomenclature
2.12 Circuit Protection
2.13 Introduction To Electronic Circuit Breakers
2.14 Diode Isolated Power Inputs
2.15 Recommendations On Using 14 or 28 Volts
2.16 Firewall Penetration
Chapter 3. Electrical System Planning
Chapter 4. Alternators and Voltage Regulators
4.1 Over-voltage Protection
4.2 Alternator Capacity
4.3 Low-voltage Indication
4.4 Alternator Current Sensing
4.5 Detecting Failure Conditions
Chapter 5. Contactors
5.1 Battery Contactor
5.2 Starter Contactor
5.3 Rear-mounted Batteries
Chapter 6. Buss Architecture
6.1 Emergency Buss
6.2 Avionics Buss
6.3 Technically Advanced Aircraft (TAA) Buss
Chapter 7. Lighting
7.1 Landing & Taxi Lights
7.2 Navigation & Strobe Lights
7.3 Instrument Panel Lights
Chapter 8. Electric Trim
Chapter 9. Electric Flaps
Chapter 10. Grounding
10.1 Ground Loops
10.2 Grounding Choices
10.3 Engine Grounding
10.4 Magneto Grounding
Chapter 11. Data Bus and Audio Wiring
Chapter 12. Ground Power
Chapter 13. Common Wiring Mistakes
Chapter 14. Annual Inspection Items
Chapter 15. Thinking About Switches
15.1 Choosing switches
15.2 Switch layout
Appendix with over a dozen wiring diagrams (see below)!
Wiring Diagram 1: Avionics Bus Architecture - VFR
Wiring Diagram 2: TAA Architecture - IFR, with backup alternator, power system, and EFIS
Wiring Diagram 3: Vertical Power - IFR, with backup alternator, power system, and EFIS
Wiring Diagram 4: Alternators
Wiring Diagram 5: Backup Alternator
Wiring Diagram 6: Contactor Layout & Connections
Wiring Diagram 7: Starter Switch
Wiring Diagram 8: Landing & Taxi Lights
Wiring Diagram 9: Strobe Lights
Wiring Diagram 10: Navigation Lights
Wiring Diagram 11: Instrument Panel Lights & Dimmer
Wiring Diagram 12: Electric Trim
Wiring Diagram 13: Electric Flaps
Wiring Diagram 14: Starter Annunciator
Sample Pages
Shunts and Detecting Alternator Failures
Connector and Tool Selection
Wiring Diagrams Put It All Together
Excerpt from Chapter 2
2.14 Diode Isolated Power InputsMany modern avionics have diode-isolated power inputs – typically a primary and a secondary power input. The diode isolation ensures that each power input is “independent” of the other power input. Current coming in from one buss cannot flow through the device and out to the other buss. The diodes shown below can be thought of as check valves that ensure current only goes in but does not come out that particular power pin. The device will automatically choose between the inputs and select the one with the highest voltage.What people are saying…
"Much better [than other books] for the average builder in every way!” - Stein Bruch, SteinAir
"Having read through a draft of Marc's book, I can tell you that it clearly answers many of the basic wiring questions that the average builder (without extensive aircraft wiring experience) would have - I think it will be a great resource." - Paul F. Dye, Editor in Chief, KITPLANES Magazine"
"I just picked up my copy of your book Marc. Nice job!” - James Clark, TeamRV
"My overall impression is that this is a great buy. I don't keep too may hard copies of anything anymore since we are in the electronic age but I have to say that this gem is a keeper.” - RV-9 builder
"I found the booklet to be a well written and useful guide for homebuilders.” - Sportair Workshop instructor
“At the suggestion of a good friend, I purchased your book and read it cover to cover. Very well done!” - RV-8 builder
"I learned more about wiring my plane reading your book than any other book I have read.” - RV9A builder
“This is a 'gold standard' source for aircraft wiring!” - On-line review
“This book is a straightforward, organized presentation.” - RV-8A builder
“Thank you for cutting to the chase in your book and delivering the information concisely and logically... Money very well spent.” - RV-7A builder
"I purchased a copy at Sun N Fun. I showed it to a friend in the campground and he went over and purchased a copy. It is extremely easy to read/understand/follow. Thank you for taking the time write it.” - RV-7 builder
"I can say that we here all agree this is something everyone should have. Very simple, concise, updated to modern methods and not too overbearing for the new builder.” - Stein Bruch, SteinAir
"Got home this morning at about 1am and spent an hour reading the first parts before my eyes gave up on me. So far it's great, well organized and thought out and exactly what I need while I think about and try to understand the fundamentals of electrical wiring we are about to undertake on my project.” - RV-8A builder
Purchase
The Aircraft Wiring Guide is available in three formats:
8.5 x 11 inch spiral-bound paper, COLOR printing. Our printing partner lulu.com will take your order information, print the book, and ship it to you worldwide. In many cases, the book is printed locally in your country.
iBook format viewable on Mac OS X, iPad, and iPhone.
Amazon Kindle viewable via Kindle reader on Apple products, PCs (Windows), Android, and Amazon products.
Tax and shipping may be extra. Priced in USD below. Contact info@AircraftWiringGuide.com for more information.
Click a button below to go to the third-party website and purchase the Aircraft Wiring Guide.
WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THE PRINTED VERSION, AS THE DETAILED WIRING DIAGRAMS CAN BE HARD TO READ ON TABLETS.
PRINTED
Spiral-bound softcover.
(now in color)
$40
Apple BooK
Digital for Mac & iOS devices.
$39.99
Amazon Kindle
Digital for Kindle reader on PC, Android, Apple, and Fire.
$40
Sources - Parts and Supplies
Below is a list of suppliers that have a large selection of electrical parts and supplies.
Below is a list of vendors mentioned in the book.
And a special thanks to Bob Nuckolls, the original AeroElectric guy!
About the author
Marc Ausman flies an RV-7 that he finished building in 2006. He was founder and president of Vertical Power and volunteered for two terms as an EAA Director. He served with the U.S. Navy as a Naval Flight Officer on board the P3-C Orion.