Wing wiring in a finished wing

[jjbardell]

I am finally seeing the finish line and I am about ready to move the plane to a hanger and install the wings.

I am installing double magnum strobes, LED nav lights and Ductworks LED landing and taxi lights.
Since the wings are finished except the wing tips are not installed yet I am trying to find the best way to run wiring through the wing.

Any recommendations?

I know I can run them through one of the larger spar holes but not certain that is the best since the wiring can just 'flop' around inside the wing. If I resort to that, I will feed the wires through a clear flexible tube to get additional protection.

Any other ways to more secure it inside the wing?

[Sonex1517]

I used clear tubing through the tooling holes in the wing ribs. Not sure if you can still do that now but if you can it works great


Robbie Culver
Sonex 1517
Chicagoland
First flight 10/10/2015
N1517S

[Rynoth]

I also ran 1/2" diameter plastic tubing through the forward most tooling holes.

[MichaelFarley56]

With your wings already being closed up I'm not sure if using the tooling holes will be much of an option. You may be able to use the inner and outer few ribs (those you can reach) but the middle ribs are the problem.

I hate to say it but if you feel that you absolutely need all those lights you'll probably have to run them through a main lightening hole in the forward rib and wrap them up to avoid rubbing along the edge of the rib. You'll add a lot of weight but that may be your only option.

[achesos]

Originally, I had single conductor wire installed through rubber grommets in each rib, and closed the wing. Then I bought strobes instead, so I needed multi-conductor.I used 1/4" ID vinyl tubing and placed in the lightening holes. I hope to build up some carbon fiber wingtips someday, so once I open them back up I'll be able to route and constrain both ends - but in the meantime, the tubing will give plenty of chafing protection even though it isn't tied down at each rib. This small increase in mass adds up, but I'm not going to sweat it - I prefer the thought of the increased safety with the strobes over a few ounces spread across the width of the entire plane.