courierguy
MEMBER
Inkom, Idaho
I re-installed them a few days ago, my 11 th or 12 th. season, 400 plus hrs., on the RANS S-7S, all mountain flying, but when I went to make my first transition one ski kept blowing the 7 amp breaker. I double, then triple checked everything, to make sure nothing was binding up, but not only did the breaker keep tripping, it started to do it almost instantly, then it WAS instant, earlier it took a few seconds.
Turns out the fix was simple. The 2 conductor cabling, protected by a wire loom, is spliced about a foot above the ski, as the linear actuator comes with a 2' or so length of protected cabling, which is enough to exit the ski but not nearly enough to reach up thru the boot cowl and to the panel, so a splice is a given. Good heavy heatshrink over the splice, but right where the wire loom exited the heat shrink, it had, near as I can tell, work hardened. You have a length of loomed cable, flexy as can be, but then a stiffer section because of the heavy duty heat shrink used by Datum. Some movement of the cable is to be expected as the ski moves, (why there is plenty of extra length also) and now that I think about that right side ski gave me warning as I thought it sounded "wimpier" then the other side, explained by the fact it was working with many broken strands, not to mention eventually shorting out as the two wires made contact. That explained the breaker behaviour. An easy fix, and nothing that would be a deal breaker in the boonies. Forewarned is forearmed, next time, if there is one, I'll go right to the wiring V. suspecting a mechanical binding or a bad actuator.
Turns out the fix was simple. The 2 conductor cabling, protected by a wire loom, is spliced about a foot above the ski, as the linear actuator comes with a 2' or so length of protected cabling, which is enough to exit the ski but not nearly enough to reach up thru the boot cowl and to the panel, so a splice is a given. Good heavy heatshrink over the splice, but right where the wire loom exited the heat shrink, it had, near as I can tell, work hardened. You have a length of loomed cable, flexy as can be, but then a stiffer section because of the heavy duty heat shrink used by Datum. Some movement of the cable is to be expected as the ski moves, (why there is plenty of extra length also) and now that I think about that right side ski gave me warning as I thought it sounded "wimpier" then the other side, explained by the fact it was working with many broken strands, not to mention eventually shorting out as the two wires made contact. That explained the breaker behaviour. An easy fix, and nothing that would be a deal breaker in the boonies. Forewarned is forearmed, next time, if there is one, I'll go right to the wiring V. suspecting a mechanical binding or a bad actuator.