Hot take: most guys in avionics skip the manual and it costs them big time

I kept having this issue with a Garmin G5000 install where the displays would flicker randomly. Everyone on the line told me it was probably a grounding problem or bad coax. After 3 days of tearing my hair out I actually sat down and read the stupid installation manual cover to cover. Turns out I had the power supply wired in series instead of parallel like the spec called for. Fixed it in 20 minutes and never saw the flicker again. Has anyone else gotten burned by assuming you know the basics already?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathankim1d ago

Yeah I've definitely done that with a wiring diagram before (facepalm).

fionam111d ago

Nathan, what kind of wiring diagram was it? A simple house layout or something from a car stereo manual with like 50 different colored wires? I find the car ones are way worse because everything has that tiny print that blurs together after a minute. Did you catch the mistake before you turned the power back on, or did you learn the hard way with a pop and a spark?

logan_wood1d ago

Hold on a second @nathankim, I actually see it the opposite way. Getting lost in a wiring diagram forces you to slow down and trace each circuit step by step, which is how you really learn the system. I've messed up plenty of jobs by trying to speed through it, only to realize later I skipped a connection I should have double checked. There's something to be said for taking that extra time to get it right the first time.