Prepping For Power

Over the past 3 weeks I've been finishing up various chores in preparation for powering up all the avionics and electrics. Among them was tidying up and organizing all the wiring and air lines in the fuselage center tunnel area that all go forward and then up to the panel. Using a plastic syringe, I did a vacuum leak check on my pitot, static and AOA lines. I sealed the static ports and pitot tube with electrical tape then pulled a hefty vacuum and propped the syringe plunger out with a popsicle stick. In order to legally fly IFR, a pitot/static check is required every 24 months and doing it now let me address any leaks in the system. All 3 lines checked good. I had to integrate my Garmin GTP 59 outside air temperature gauge harness into a preexisting Garmin connector using D-sub pins. For that I had to buy the special crimping tool for these pins. It was way easier doing quality crimps on D-subs then Molex pins and I see why people like them better. I mounted both VHF radio whip antennas on the bottom of the fuselage and connected the BNC connectors I'd fabricated on the RG-400 coax cables months ago. This in preparation for powering up and testing my dual VHF radios. Radio damage can result if you attempt to transmit with no antenna. I continued to tidy up my avionic sub panel, zip tying and adding clamps as needed. I got both Garmin multifunction displays mounted followed by the center stack of my GNX375 transponder/GPS navigator, GTR200 VHF radio and GMC 507 autopilot control head. Lastly, I finished all the plumbing of my pitot, static and AOA lines to the GSU25 ADAHRS and G5 EFI backup. With all that completed I got my freshly charged Odyssey battery installed. With all CBs pulled I turned on the Battery Master switch. Thankfully, there was no flash of light or puff of smoke, so I methodically began resetting CBs and powering up systems. I wasn't able to test everything, but it was gratifying to see all the avionics power up, exterior lighting work, pitot heat, flap motor, etc. all work. In the days ahead I'll do a more comprehensive checkout.