Originally Posted by
Thud_Driver
Don't use a Y harness., and, with that radio, you should pretty much try not to have to use a Y harness for anything. 2 batteries to 2 switches to 2 ports. Provides higher current capacity to the Rx and switch redundancy. I had a jet once where I went to fly and neither switch would turn the jet on. So switches do fail. I also killed a couple pairs of Nicads years ago by using a Y harness on the batteries before the switch and they self discharged each other to nothing when I let the airplane sit for a couple months. You might as well also use 22ga wire for servo extensions and such as they will carry the current better.
PS: In the early 70's, I used to fly at the field north of the Beech plant when I was in the Air Force.
Unfortunately Beech North is gone - went the way of a developer. It was moved once many years ago, then was going to be moved again but the new area didn't have enough room to be safe. Instead the developer worked with the City of Wichita to put a paved runway into Chapin Park (behind the drive-in at Hydraulic and MacArthur).
I know the "Y" harness is a failure looking for a place to happen. I guess some things just stick in the mind even though technology has changed like night and day since the 1970's when radios were wired differently and had the separate battery wire for a reason. I did install the second switch and flew all weekend with both packs into different ports. With 4200mA worth of battery I didn't even think about running them down. The radio worked like a champ even with the glider going out of sight for about 20-30 seconds when it hit a boomer at 1500'. And all the extensions are MPI 22ga extensions with heat shrink at all the junctions except were the ailerons/spoilers plug in from the wings to the fuselage.
Hogflyer