After ordering $20 aircraft grade switches from Aircraft Spruce, I ran across one of the best little finds so far. Radio Shack has these heavy duty 20amp spst switches at $2.95 each. And even better, they have LED's built into the toggle. These have a nice polished toggle to them. Also they come in different colors. .
I hooked a drill up and a brake spring to test the switch and I ran the drill over night so I could do my own little scientific test on the durability of these switches. I ran a switch through 90,000(est.) cycles overnight and found the switch to work just fine afterwards. Not bad for less than $3.
I will be using red ones for items like the fuel pump where I want to be reminded that I need to turn it off. Ill use green for "on is o-k" for things line position lights. And I will use Amber for items I should "keep an eye on" like the strobes. This is my own little color scheme that will allow me to quickly scan the row of toggles and have the color alert me to the need to review any particular switch that is on to determine if I need to address the item further, and reassess weather it should be on or not. Pretty neet huh. I have an additional toggle that will shut off all LED's. I am afraid that at night, the LED's will light up the cockpit like a x-mas tree and will be distracting.
Here is what the breakers look like. I have 21 of them.
Her I snagged a light from AutoZone. There will be two in the cockpit, 2 in the baggage compartment, all underneath something to shine light downward.
Last Updated 11/05/2002