VP-50 Installation

I am at the point when I had to make a commitment to the wiring in the new RV-6a I am finishing. About this time, the VP-50 was getting close to shipping and Marc Ausman at Vertical Power approached me about beta testing it since I had beta tested the VP-100. I downloaded the VP-50 load planning worksheet from the Vertical Power website that is used to assign wiring and power to all of the electrical equipment and found out that the VP-50 would work find in the RV-4.
So, the long story short is that I decided to remove the VP-100 from the RV-4 and put it in the RV-6a and put the new VP-50 in the RV-4.
I had a large amount of wiring left over from the installation kit for the VP-100 so I didnt need a complete wiring installation kit for the conversion. Marc loaned me the crimping tool for the connectors that the Control box uses so I could crimp my own connectors.
I started on a Saturday morning and was operational by noon on Sunday, including talking with several visitors who came by the hanger to check out what was happening.
I was hoping that the VP-50 box pattern was as the same as the VP-100 but the VP-50 box is slightly smaller. I had to redo the brackets that attach the VP-50 to the angles in front of the instrument panel. This took several hours to make new brackets, install platenuts, and prime.


The actual wiring was extremely easy as I used my old load planning and new load planning spreadsheets to remove the power pins from connectors one by one and either use them as is in the new connectors or redo the power and ground connects to the various avionics equipment.
The VP-50 doesnt have all of the features of the VP-100 so I had to reinstall my master switch and flap switch. As I still had them available, it was simple to redo them. I had to drill a new whole in the panel to the right of the last switch on the VP-50 switch panel for the flap switch.

Here is the finished panel with the VP-50 installed. The Trio AP was also removed to be installed in the RV-6a and replaced with a Dynon AP for RV4chicks simple VFR fun plane.

2 comments:

Bob Collins said...

I'm just curious if you had enough switches on the VP-50 for your need or whether you had to have an auxiliary buss and, if so, what did you run off the auxiliary?

Anonymous said...

Hi Bob,
I emailed my VP-50 load planning spreadsheet to you.
I was concerned about the lesser amounts at first, but after doing the planning spreadsheet, I had enough to do the RV-4 and let me move the VP-100 to the RV-6a which is going to be IFR rated and have more electrical power requirements. Still I think you could do it with the VP-50 too.

I have one 8-fuse Fuse block and only currently have the Starter Solenoid on it. Everythning else is on the VP-50.
I have the following unused circuit left.
J11 pin 5 18 amp

However, I am going to end up with more because I am moving the roll trim frin J11 pin 16 to the J8 which already has roll trim power on pins 36 and 37.

I also am eliminating the tach and taking the signal from the magnetos.
That will give me 3 unsed circuits.

I actually like having the power seperate now.
If the VP fails, I can still start the engine and fly home on my backup bus.
Best Regards,
Tom