Electrical Cables – Modern Equivelents For Static Cockpit?

Ooh that’s interesting but I don’t think our glider has enough cable to need bundling.

That said I’ve sussed how to make pretty good looking repro Uno, Duo and Tricel cable now 🙂

Oooo do tell 😀

This is what this forum is really good for. Great thread.

Ooh that’s interesting but I don’t think our glider has enough cable to need bundling.

That said I’ve sussed how to make pretty good looking repro Uno, Duo and Tricel cable now 🙂

DON 10

Don 10 is nasty field telephone wire, partly steel.

Not really the right stuff for aircraft …

Good stuff here… but what do you do when you finally get all the correct wires together? Nil points for birdsnests! Try this instead…

The lost art of wire bundling as taught to me when I was a young wireman with Smiths Industries Aviation.
The material we originally used was waxed cotton thread… the wiring ties fitted to the Tiffie panel that I am restoring are about 0.85mm thick and the wiring is entirely bundled using individual clove hitches.
The nearest equivalent thread I have found is ordinary Jewellery making thread… it just depends what colours your local hobby shop have in stock.
Anyway…here’s the technical stuff…
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Chaps. Just want to say thanks for all the info. I think I’ve got this sussed now.

Seems the cockpit I’m looking at is Uno, Duo and Tricel, mostly 4 amp with 19 amp from the accumulator.

Finding a source for cable is going to be fun…

Pren Cable:

Terry, can you please just scan the whole AP and send it to everybody ! If it is delivered with a pizza and can of beer that would be good too !

I reckon the smell is one of the best parts of vintage aviation ! So far I have figured out I am attracted to :

Radon gas, emitted by the decay of radium filled gauges, deadly.
Phenolic compounds, emitted by resin impregnated fabric components such as pulleys, old circuit boards and panels, deadly
Asbestos dust, from flaking firewalls, supercharger gears, brake pads and the roofs of old storage sheds, deadly.

This is the sweet smell you get when you walk into a room of old aircraft bits.

I am thinking of blending these into an underarm deodorant called ‘Top Gun’, have the airport beagles all over me , no doubt.

@TerryP – many thanks – that’s useful info.

Pren Cable:

Cable ident sleeves

Here is some enlightenment on cable identification:

Don’t forget Nyvin & Minivin!

So where does “DON 10” fit into this?. We used to use yards of this (yes, pre decimal), and reckoned that if “it” couldn’t be repaired with Don 10, and a sufficiency of “Chiefy’s Tape”, then “it” was really knackered!! I actually sewed one of My Leader’s buttons back on his Combat Kit with bits of Don 10. Shows you how useful it can be to have had a Tyneside Mother when it came to domestic issues!!!!
HTH
Resmoroh

So what’s PREN then, as in Unipren – used extensively in the Hunter and is that blue (or sometimes green if aged) rubber covered stuff that has the ‘smell’ associated with cockpits of the era (and my Mrs hates so much for some reason … but my study smells of due to the quantity of Vulcan panels in there 😀 )

We could certainly do with a thread on electrics, the only thing I know about electrickery, is that if you lick 2 fingers & put one on the blue wire, & the other on the brown wire, It don’t half make your hair go curly :eek:.

Bob T.

AAP318 (Standard notes for wireless maintenance mechanics and wireless assistants) gives the following information:

1. Cables.—(i) Core.—The number of cores in a cable is indicated by the prefix to the class name :—

Uni means one. Quinto means five.
Du means two. Sexto means six.
Tri means three. Septo means seven.
Quadra means four. Nono means nine.

(ii) Covering.—The nature of the covering is usually indicated by the main part of the class name :—

(а) Flex . . Coloured cotton braiding.
(b) Proof . . Cotton braiding, waterproofed by varnish.
(c) Sheath . . Tough rubber sheath.
(d) Core . . Tough vulcanised rubber, coloured red.
(e) Cel . . Cotton braiding, waterproofed by coloured cellulose.
(f) Met . . Lapped with varnished cambric, and braided with metal wire.
(g) Com . . Metal braided, compounded with rubber.
(h) Lead . . Lead covered.

(iii) Rating.—The number following the cable name indicates the normal (maximum) current rating of each core in amperes, thus “uniflex 4” will carry 4 amps., and “dusheath 19 ” will carry 19 amps.

With the normal current flowing, the volts drop per yard is 0.1 volts for the smaller cables (4, 7, 19), and less than this for the larger.

Absolutely – make it work if you can!

I’ve used vintage car suppliers for some wiring – if you want cotton sheathed cable for example. Otherwise, RS do wire that is quite similar. If you are using the blue and yellow stuff that is found in 50’s jets, you can use a very similar wire, called ‘equipment cable’, that is cheap and easy to use.

Bruce

Wired

All,

Been going through engineering notes and wiring diagrams and keep coming across names of different types of electrical cable. I’m curious to know more about them and what might be a suitable (cheap) modern equivalent for a static display cockpit that won’t actually carry a live circuit.

Examples of cable descriptions include:

Uniflex 4 – 5E/84
Unicel 4 – 5E/1358
Unicel 37 L.T.- 5E/1361
Ducel 4 – 5E/1362
Ducel 7 – 5E/1363

Likewise, on the wiring diragrams, each wire segment carries a code either “U.19”, “T.4” or “D.4”. I’m wondering if this refers to Unicel 19, Teleflex 4 and Ducel 4?

If so, what do the numbers mean exactly??

Apart from Terry P’s excellent post I can only add what I have gleaned from too many hours glazing over DH Mosquito wiring diagrams :

Cable code
U19 = Unicel 19 Amp
T4= Tricel 4 Amp
D4 = Ducel 4 Amp

Once you get the drift it is all pretty straightforward, electrical engineers don’t seem to want too much mystery.

Apart from the Cable code there is the function code, eg Fuel Contents Gauges = S, so cable S31 is the 31st cable in a bunch routing fuel contents information. Much like modern machinery wiring, there is a little collar with S31 on the cable in the physical example of wiring.

Most recently I have twigged that Breeze type sockets which connect wiring looms have pins identified alphabetically, eg A-Z, so cable S31 goes to pin K in a Breeze socket male end connecting to a female end taking S31 out through pinhole H.

So S31 D6 J D2 J means Fuel Contents cable S31 (Ducel 6) into Breeze socket pin J output as (Ducel 2) into Breeze socket pin J, I think !

There really is quite a lot of wiring in these old flying mechanisms – a big job to rewire, which from the oxidised state of most of the 70 year old wiring I have seen would probably be prudent….

Ducel (cellulose) covered cable might be hard to find, unless you cannibilised some vintage electrics – no doubt the old radio folk would know what to do. I have observed ‘old stye’ sheathed wiring used in modern electrical element control systems, due to heat resistance – any folk supplying industrial electrical elements would no doubt be able to supply this, if it is the ‘look & feel’ you are after.

I reckon you should wire to fire. Use supplies from your local auto electrician to allow gauge functionality. Make you UC warning horn work and gravity switch pop the top off a fire extinguisher ! Connect the prop feathering switch to the feathering pump. Connect the red destruct buttons to a fire cracker and the Identification Friend or Foe to your front porch light !

Can’t answer your question(s) but these may help: