1.5 hours
Whoever decided that the 5-pin mini-DIN plug was a good idea for connecting the ELT to the shielded GPS cable needs to be pulled apart by 4 out-of-tune Harleys. Finicky, tiny little wires attached to miniscule pins with freaking solder. Couldn’t use a d-sub crimp-type connection, no, that would make too much sense. To add insult to injury, you need to make a pigtail off the GPS receive wire so you can check operation by, get this, making a tester out of an LED light and a 300 ohm resistor. The panel components are fastened with 4-40 screws, the only things aboard to do so.
I guess what sucked the most was after waiting 6 freaking months for the ELT itself, it has to go and be one of the most painful installs I’ve run into yet. At this point, I’m almost ready to get back into fiberglass.
But the wires are run, and I now have to join them to the big bundle going from the spar up the firewall to the panel. I also have to run the extra PTT wire at the same time, but that’s not such a big deal. The next few days will involve that, remounting the EFIS, and wiring the power and audio for the radio stack. With any luck, I should be able to hear Santa Monica ground and tower by Sunday night.