Wiring up the pretty lights

Some good news folks - I found my tripod! Expect a dramatic improvement in the photos otherwise Maddox will be completely on my case... After all, he does rule, has the best page in the universe and knows a thing or 2 about blogging.

So this week I've been wiring up the fire and master caution lights, the six pack and the AFDS (Autopilot Flight Director System. I always slag my guys off when they don't spell out acronyms, I better get with the program too). Here are the former:

The lights on the fire and warning buttons are a little dim. I'll be experimenting with brighter LEDs. More on this in a future post (if I ever get the suckers to work). Check out the depth of field in this photo and the lack of camera shake. It's the tripod I tells you.

Here's the latter:

Can you believe it takes 17 individual wires to get this unit going? The A/P and A/T buttons have both amber and red LEDs in them. The test button will reveal both colors when activated. There's backlighting in there too. So how did I hook them up? I used 2 sets of CAT 5 cable and a separate strand for the 12v +. So the backend is starting to look more like an early 20th century switchboard, or that viral email that's been going around, depicting an Indian street scene of telecommunication mayhem:

And at best I've only got about a third of the connections made....

Next up, I tackle the annunciators (where are my analog gauges anyway?)