L-1011 Trainer Installation: S/O Console and Center Panel Power-Up - Continued

L-1011 F/O Audio Panel and SELCAL Panel Installation

The power up of our L-1011 panels continues. Jim and myself powered up a total of 4 additional panels and also installed the necessary cable bundles for the instruments. Today we powered up the F/O side audio panel, the SELCAL panel located on the aft center console (see below). Currently the Captain's side and the F/O side audio panels are different. The F/O panel is actually just a placeholder for now; it will be replaced with an audio panel identical to the Captain's next week.

L-1011 SELCAL and F/O Audio Panel

We further powered up the Cabin Pressurization module on the upper Second Officer console as well as the APU Control panel located on the lower S/O console (see below). 

L-1011 Pressure Control and APU Control Panels

The Lockheed L-1011 Cabin Pressure Control panel is a really neat instrument. It has two large windows with a tape behind them for adjustments. The window on the left hand side sets the Flight Altitude and the one on the right sets the barometric pressure (see below).

L-1011 Cabin Pressure Control Panel

Besides the panel light up, Jim started preparing the Pilot's and First Officer's side consoles for the installation of the audio connectors. The side console holds connectors for the headset an headset-boom microphone; a handheld microphone and the audio connectors for the oxygen masks.

Jim Blasco working on the F/O side audio connectors.

L-1011 Trainer Installation: Integral Instrument Lighting - F/O Side

The buildout of the instrument integral lighting continues on the First Officer side. We only have a few instruments left and we will have then 400Hz power as well as dimmer controlled lighting going to all of the instruments in the L-1011 simulator. We are doing the lighting build-out in parallel with the digital build-out of the simulator. 

L-1011 Trainer Installation: Integral Instrument Lighting - Glare Shield

L-1011 Trainer Build-Out

Jim Blasco and myself are slowly working our way with the instrument lighting from left to right. Today we started putting cabling in place for the glare shield components. The Lockheed L-1011 glare shield is home to the controls for the Autoflight system as well as the navigation radios. In the image below you can see the initial state of the light plate illumination for the Thrust, Pitch and Heading module as well as a partial light up of the Autopilot/Flight Director engage panel. 

The Micro Fiche that we received from Paul Talbot a few months ago has proven absolutely vital to the project because it has allowed us to attempt to re-create the original L-1011 cabling as close as we can. The APFD System on the L-1011 relies heavily on Synchros ... so getting the AP to work close to the real thing will be an interesting challenge, however, I have been cooking on a rather unconventional synchro solution that I will show you guys at a later point.

L-1011 Glare Shield Lighting

L-1011 Trainer Installation: Instrument Integral Lighting - Captain

L-1011 Instrument Lighting

The L-1011 cockpit has dozens and dozens of instruments that need to be connected to the integral lighting systems. I have been falling behind a little bit on working on the pilot side instrument lighting. Ignore the air conditioning hose in the image above in the top left corner ... it is temporary.

L-1011 Instrument Lighting

L-1011 Instrument Lighting

L-1011 Instrument Lighting - Captain's Side

L-1011 Trainer Installation: Instrument Lighting Continuation

L-1011 Trainer: Instrument Lighting

We finally received some of the parts that needed to continue the power-up of the integral instrument lighting on the main instrument panel. Also, I have been pretty busy the last two weeks working on our Boeing 727 to get it ready for the Museum Gala on September 14th 2013. 

The instrument lighting for the L-1011 main instrument panel is split into a number of 5V power buses. Each of the buses has a discrete power supply and a breaker associated with it. The buses are:

1. Captain's Instrument Lighting Left
2. Captain's Instrument Lighting Right
3. Center Instrument Lights Left (actually they are more top)
4. Center Instrument Light Right (bottom)
5. F/O's Instrument Lighting Left
6. F/O's Instrument Lighting Right 

What you see in the pictures and the short video below are instruments powered from the Center Instrument Lighting buses. 

L-1011 Trainer: Instrument Lighting

A short demonstration video of the breaker controlled light buses:

L-1011 Trainer Installation: MIP and FE Station Instrument Lighting

L-1011 Trainer: Instrument Lighting Build-Out (FE Station)

Today we continued the build-out of some of the integral instrument lighting on the FE station as well as the main instrument panel. On the FE station we connected the Engine %RPM N2 instruments as well as the Slat Monitor / Slat Position Indicator. All the instruments use 5V power and are driven from either the FE Station Lower Right Light Bus (for the %N2) and the FE Station Upper Right Light Bus (Slat Position).

During the connector installation we discovered that the FE station used for the trainer has a metal plate right behind the Slat Monitor that prevented the connector from mating correctly with the instrument. Therefore, we had to make a panel configuration change and move the Flight Engineer's Annunciator Panel into the position of the Slat Monitor and moved the Slat Monitor down.

L-1011 Trainer: FE Station Instrument Lighting and Door Annunciator

We don't think that this configuration change is going to make a significant difference to the authenticity of the L-1011 cockpit, however, one of the %RPM N2 instruments is still one of the original simulated procedures trainer instruments. Need to replace it with the real flight hardware as soon as I can find one.

L-1011 Trainer: FE Station %N2 Instrument Lighting

Last week we had started powering up the instruments on the pilot's center instrument panel. This is the place where the majority of the engine instruments are located. The instruments are split into two 5V light buses: Captain's Center Instrument Left and Captain's Center Instrument Right. The instruments that you can see illuminated in the picture below all belong to the Center Instrument Right light bus. During the initial build-out session we discovered that we did not have the right connectors for the Engine EPR instruments ... hence, we could not connect them ... we missed three Deutsch 15-S7 connectors. We now have them (those guys are hard to find and expensive) but we finally got them. So now all the instruments belonging to this light bus are connected.

L-1011 Trainer Build-Out: Main Instrument Panel Engine EPR Instrument Lighting

L-1011 Trainer Installation: Instrument Lighting Buildout (Flight Station and MIP)

L-1011 Trainer: Flight Station Cabling and Instrument Light Power Units

As I mentioned in some of my earlier posts, the Lockheed L-1011 cockpit has quite a large number of instrument, indicator and light plate power buses. For the last few work sessions I have been focusing on the instrument and indicator light buses. Instrument lights and the panel light plates are powered by 5VDC sources. Indicators, on the other hand, are powered by 24VDC. The image above shows the two 5VDC power supplies (each is rated at 20A) that drive the instrument lighting. The one on the right is of the lower Flight Station and the one on the left is for the upper Flight Station instruments. Power Supplies are Lambda-Nimic and the distribution blocks are Phoenix Contact. Each of the 5VDC source is further split into sub-buses. The different buses for the Flight Station are:

1. Flight Station Lower Left
2. Flight Station Lower Right 
3. Flight Station Upper Left
4. Flight Station Upper Right

The left and right does not always indicate "left" and "right" on the station as viewed from a geometric point of view, but it is more a left and a right power bus. Here is an example on the Hydraulic System panel instruments that I powered up today:

L-1011 Trainer: Hydraulic System Instrument Lights

The top row of instruments (see image below); four Hydraulic Level indicators, are powered by instrument light bus "FE Upper Left" while the instruments for the Air Turbine Motor (ATM) RPM as well as the four Hydraulic Pressure indicators on the bottom of the panel are powered by "FE Upper Right".

L-1011 Trainer: Hydraulic System Instrument Lights

Here is what this looks like in the WDM with line "A" being "FE Upper Left" and "B" represents "FE Upper Right"

WDM for L-1011 Hydraulic Panel Instrument Lighting

A few weeks ago, Jim mounted four 5VDC power supplies in the forward Main Instrument Panel and today I finished cabling the power supplies into the the Circuit Breaker system of the L10 Trainer. There is a breaker for the 115V side of each of those supplies as well as a break for a "Left and Right" side on the 5VDC output side. The power supplies (top to bottom are):

• Top: First Officer Instrument Lighting
• Center Top and Center Bottom: Center Instrument Panel Instrument Lighting 
• Bottom: Captain's Instrument Lighting 

L-1011 Trainer: MIP Instrument Power Supplies

Time goes so fast during sim building and after working on the cabling for the power supplies I only had time left to connect a few instruments that are part of the "Center Instrument Right" light bus. The instrument lighting powered are the N1 (Eng1-3), Rated EPR, Standby Horizon and Standby Airspeed Instruments.

L-1011 Trainer: Initial Buildout of the Center Left Instrument Lighting Bus

Here is what this looks like in the WDM:

L-1011 Center Instrument Lighting Schematic

L-1011 Trainer: Center Instrument Lighting Bus Buildout

L-1011 CPT Installation: DC System Buildout - Integral Instrument Lighting FE/SO Station

L-1011 Trainer - Integral Instrument Lighting Buildout

Continuing with the Instrument Lighting build-out on the lower FE/SO Station. We now have almost the entire instrument cluster on the FE/SO Station connected to the FE/SO Lower Right instrument light bus. The only three instruments that are remaining are the %N2 Tachometers at the very top of the instrument cluster. (Currently only 2 of the 3 are real flight hardware, I am trying to get the 3rd one but I keep getting outbid on eBay).

Below is an image that better illustrates the instrument illumination work for the FE/SO Station Instrument Cluster.

L-1011 Trainer - Integral Instrument Lighting Buildout

All instrument integral illumination on the lower FE/SO Station is powered via two Circuit Breaker by a Lambda 5V 20A power supply. The incandescent lamps in the instruments consume a total of about 16A when fully built out. An identical 5V 20A power supply will drive the upper FE/SO Station integral instrument lights.

L-1011 Trainer - Integral Instrument Lighting Buildout

Light Plate illumination is going to be next and will require a 5V 40A power source to drive the light plates on the S/O station. Once the integral instrument lighting on the FE/SO Station is done we will move on to the Captain's and F/Os instrument lighting. 

L-1011 CPT Installation: FE/SO Station Instrument Lighting - Buildout

L-1011 Trainer - Electrical System Panel

Today we continued with the work on the instrument lighting buses. The FE/SO station has four segments that make up the lighting bus fort he integral instrument lighting. The image below shows how the integral instrument lighting for the FE/SO Station is split over tow breakers located on the CB3 panel. The instruments on the lower left and the instrument on the lower right (as indicated) belong together and make up two segments of the instrument lighting bus. Further, each light plate on the FE/SO console has a discrete circuit breaker. The image above shows the 3 light plates that make up the Electrical System panel illuminated.

L-1011 Trainer - Integral Instrument Lighting Buildout

The L-1011 can be powered with external power while on the ground. When external power is connected to the aircraft the green "AVAIL" annunciator illuminates on the lower left hand side of the electrical system panel and a hold solenoid is activated for the switch. When the switches is moved to the "ON" position the external power is directly connected to the AC Tie bus and the "ON" annunciator illuminates. The ON/OFF switch will release back to the "OFF" position when the hold solenoid is disconnect; the disconnect happens when either the external power is disconnected or another on-board generator (APU, or Engine) is being brought online.

L-1011 Trainer - External Power

 Below is a picture of the current state of the FE/SE Station buildout. The goal is to complete the integral instrumentation buildout over the next few days and then to move on to the light plates. By the way, each of the instrument and plate illumination systems is powered by a Lambda 5V 20A power source.

L-1011 CPT Installation: AC Buildout - Power Buses - AC Tie Bus and Flight Station Buses

L-1011 Trainer - AC Tie Bus and AC Flight Station Buses

Slowly but surely the power distribution for the trainer is taking shape. Today we worked on the AC Tie bus and the AC Flight Station Buses. The image below shows the three AC Flight Station Buses. Each bus has a relay that is controlled from a "R" labeled circuit breaker on the CB3 panel. There is also a 120V relay that is for sensing voltage on the flight station bus to communicate to the computer as well as the annunciator on the Electric System panel.

L-1011 Trainer - Flight Station Buses

Another important AC bus component is the AC Tie bus. The tie bus is used to allow all AC sources to work together or to act as fail over for one another. Below is the AC Tie bus in the current build out phase. The bus has the relays for the three engine generators on the left together with one 120V relay used for sensing power on the bus. Eventually relays for External Power (Ground Power) and the APU simulation will be added.

L-1011 Trainer - AC Tie Bus

In additional to the work on the AC buses we also added a few more instruments to the flight engineer's instrument light bus. Below is how far we have gotten in bringing instruments onto the light bus.

L-1011 Trainer - Integral Instrument Lighting -  Continued

L-1011 Trainer - Integral Instrument Lighting - Continued

L-1011 CPT Installation: DC Buildout - Instrument Lighting Bus

L-1011 Trainer - Instrument Lighting Bus

Most of the L-1011 instrument panels have both backlit light plates that illuminate the panel legend as well as integral lighted instruments. Since the panel background and the instrument can be brightness controlled independently there are a number of lighting buses for various sections of the L-1011 cockpit. Building out the lighting buses for both the instruments as well as the light plates is part of the AC/DC system build out that we are currently doing at the museum.

The image below shows the 5V instrument lighting bus for the F/O console. The other images on the page show a number of instruments connected to the bus for testing purposes.

L-1011 Trainer - Instrument Lighting Bus 

On the actual L-1011 all instrument lighting is done with 5VAC circuits, however, for the simulator I will be using 5VDC. Below is an image of the three engine fuel quantity used indicators that I sowed you a few postings ago. The indicators are now installed into the cockpit and illuminated.

L-1011 Trainer - Instrument Lighting Bus

Original Flight Hardware: Overhead and Panel Lights

The lights control panel for the overhead lights and the main panel lights is located in the overhead panel of the Lockheed L-1011. The panel has a dimmer for the panel lights, and the overhead lights in the cockpit. There is also an on/off switch for the overhead lights.



The center section of the panel has a test switch and a brightness switch for the warning, caution and advisory lights on the main instrument panel and the overhead panel.



Panel Location