Electrical System Curve Ball | F-4 Phantom
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- Опубліковано 6 кві 2024
- Getting the electrical system put back together for testing, and things didn't go as expected. While the relay was definitely a problem, there was another one along for the ride. A bit of a frustrating end to the day for sure. And for those curious, the NC8 was just fine, no problems that we could find.
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God do I love wiring diagrams. Looked at plenty of those troubleshooting and repairing electrical systems on a submarine! A good wiring diagram is a lifesaver!
Not a disappointment at all. I'm so thankful that we've got people like your team to push through and work on this marvel of an aircraft. I'm an aviation photographer, and I hope to catch this guy in the air some day.
Brings back memories. As a Plane Captain (crew chief for non navy pukes), carrier attached A-6E squadron. We had 2 external power cord stations on aft end of the ship, that must put out a tad too much juice, so the A-6 wouldn’t accept power. Kinda like this video. We figured out , for those two power stations, we could get power on by Turning On a couple things in cockpit, usually some external lights, if it was a day launch. Very vague memory. Lol. Only 40 yrs ago. Lol. But this reminds me of that, but we knew we had a good airplane
Good grief - I can't believe these guys have an NC-8 LOL. I was a 6077 in the USMC 71-75 and the NC-8 was brand new to the Navy. I spent a lot of time working on those things. Never thought I'd see one again. The sound of that thing running brings back a memory or two. Great work, gentlemen.
NC-8 life blood for every maintenance tech…. Oh the frequency variations… power overloads… but my 26 years of service… at least it didn’t kill me …. Turned like a brick 😂🤣
Somewhere around here, I’ve got my old NATOPS jacket with my GSE license in it. Including the NC-8, NAN-2/3, PON-6, TD-10! Went to NAMTRADET NAS Barbers Pt. For school…Also picked up a 2-1/2 ton stake truck license…40-years ago!
That Detroit ran great on jp5 jet fuel. Louder than hell when its operating.
What does NC-8 mean?
While I only have very limited experiences with F-4's, since I was an Crew Chief on F-16 ,F-117A and later F-22's . I know enough that I appreciate the amount of work it takes to trouble shoot and rewire a fighter aircraft. The sheer amount wires stuffed into the tiniest spaces is mind boggling. The plus side was always that you always had a complete schematic TO for every system to help sort out the mess.
No Air Power Without Ground Power! Love the sound of a -60 early in the morning.
You don't need ground power to run the Phantom "D" model.
They do sound pretty good, though she's needs to go on the battery charger soon. Had just enough to start it.
AGE !!!!
AGE 1983- 1989. First base had F4D's at Homestead
@@irishcurse65 AGE. 98-02. Edward's AFB. F-16, F-15, F-22, T-38, X-35, X-45, V-22, KC-135, C-17, C-130.
When I was in the Air Force in the early 80s F-4s were still in use. We got Air Force Flying Safety magazine and at the back they always had a "There I was" story of an incident or accident. Most of the time it was an F-4.
Current based troubleshooting: Unplug cables until the fault clears. The fault is down the LAST one you unplugged. I've used this system when troubleshooting complex F/A-18C/D simulator systems. Found a bad backup attitude/directional indicator in less than 15 minutes of work that way.
Get yourself an Extech clamp-on ammeter that has both DC and AC read modes. They work very well.
I don't solder connections anymore if the wire ever gets hot the solder melts at a much lower temperature then wire will. Good mechanical crimp connections are actually just as good or better. I use the Molex brand crimp tubes heat shrink over that with high temp shrink.
Tyco/Raychem environmental splices are the way to go. Secure and sealed.
Are they mil spec or faa approved?
I was hoping she'd come to life in this episode. Keep on troubleshooting, you'll get her running!
Me too! Not looking forward to dealing with the AC power box, but we'll get her going!
when I was young I hung around a small rural airport in riverside California there where some old warbirds there I can still to this day remember the smell of those ol girls when sitting in the cockpit
They certainly have some unique aromas!
I crewed f4 d’s for years at nellis still my favorite jet, it scared the hell out me the first time I stared one up on the trim pad my legs were shaking
Ten 4 on that, I used to stand out on the engine run pad at Travis AFB when MX was doing engine run ups! Power is amazing.
New sub. Crazy how much stuff is in that cockpit. Always loved the F4. I grew up in Birmingham AL. We had an Air Recon wing operating out of the Birmingham Airport and anytime an F4 went over I stopped and watched and listened for that sound. That screaming Banshee F4 noise of Freedom.
I live in Birmingham now. The 117th is now a refueling squadron but one of the old F4s is on display at the front gate of the base.
@@fox2102 yep. The big birds are cool but they can never catch my attention like the F4. The F4 Phantom on display at the Veterans Memorial in Jasper, AL has been repainted last year. I think they are almost through with it. Its on highway 78 in front of the Jasper VFW.
@@martinswiney2192 that’s awesome. I’ve never gotten to see the phantom fly before sadly but once in a while the vipers from Montgomery will come up to do touch and goes
I swear i could hear Disco for a moment
Good work, keep at it.
Lacing is how our electrical guys and galls did it.
Thank you!
Look at all that magic. So glad theirs people that can read electron.
Progress being made. Frustrating, but you're gettin there. Don't give up!
I really liked that wiring diagram. It made sense. I've seen some bad ones over the years.
Those wiring diagrams aren't as clear cut as they look all those flags are different mod numbers. You have to know which mods you have so you can trace the correct wires for the airframe you're working on. I once had to rewire the relay box that appeared under the WSOs right console on an F4E. About 20 different mod flags in that box alone. Not typically my job but I could read the diagrams and helped the guys whose job it was. My analog navigational computer was just outboard of it.
Keep up the great work, you will find the problem!
I spent several years working on the weapons system on the D models, until the F16’s came along. I always loved troubleshooting and repairing the F4, the F16… not so much. I found the F16 boring.
Sooo glad I was in Com/Nav.
I was comm/nav, too (1975-79). Some of that stuff in the rear seat was hard to change such as #2 miscellaneous relay panel and antenna changeover relay. Still bear the scars!
Very cool
Holy crap-a cheesebox on wheels. That thing could BARELY power an F-4-issue was-they weren't steady state enough-freq. wise & the pig would reject it. Now that was some 40+ years ago-Dec 1981 NAS Cubi Point R. P. & our pigs had a few more things on them -like a full complement of AIM-7 & 9 missiles & a somewhat fully functioning AWG-10 fire control radar.
And no racing them either-them beasts will MOVE !
Pretty unique for sure, and not often one can see (or hear) a Detroit Diesel these days. Ours got upgraded some years ago with an electronic governor. It holds frequency pretty tight these days. Cool that you got to run them for real on the flight line!
Ohhh lovely. Sorry to see that you're having to go even further down the rabbit hole but you'll get it. You mentioned the RAT and that got me thinking, did the air cylinder that deploys it get fixed? I remember it had a pretty good leak. As always, thanks for sharing.
Kinda like peeling back the layers of an onion, we'll get there!
For the RAT, Crew Chief Al looked at it. It's on the list of things to look into further. Happily it is only a minor leak, and only does it when the RAT is deployed.
@@DieselThunderAviation It's being 'only when deployed' is kind of double edged. It's good because it's not a normally used system but bad because you really want it to work proper when you need it.
My uncle sometimes talks about his days working on F-4's during the Vietnam war. He mentions this thing he pronounces as the "abba jabba seven". I think he said it it is a component related to nuclear bomb payloads. Any idea what he's talking about?
Wow, that's pretty cool he served during Vietnam. Not sure what he may be referring to there. Lot of secrecy when nuclear weapons are involved, and whatever capability our Phantom may have had was long gone by the time we got it.
This channel just found me! I'm loving it, I've tried to figure it out but looking at passed videos please forgive me, is this a flyable F4?
Welcome! And yes, she is indeed a flyable Phantom! Sadly, she also the last flyable Phantom in the United States.
@@DieselThunderAviation Sad to hear. I was stationed at Zweibruken AB Germany 1988-1991. The very last active USAF F-4 Recon base in Europe. F-4s are built like tanks…but served us well for many years. Good luck getting her goin again!
You soldered the wires and then crimped? This may lead to cable breakage...
No, the ones that needed to be joined together were soldered and heat shrunk. Two of the wires (#2 and #4) got ring terminals since those go to the nearby grounding point.
@@DieselThunderAviation Thank you for your answer. Is solderimng OK for aircraft? I suppose due to possible G-forces any stiffening of stranded wires is undesirable anyway.
Great work, are what are the plans for her? Ground run, taxy or fly? We had an F4 which could taxy in the UK but the ITAR prevented her flying.
Fly! She's nearly there, and last flew in 2019. Ended up sitting dormant for a while after the B-17 crash and COVID.
If you guys want to add another Vietnam warbird to your collection. I’ve got a 1967 Cessna O-2A Skymaster for sale. I started the restoration but just don’t have the funds to complete it.
Fantastic aircraft! Have over 500 hours in the civilian version. How much work is left for an airworthy certificate?
It’s still a complete restoration. If you’ve got the time and money it could be flying in 6 months.
When you put ground power on did you turn on the ground power switch in the rear cockpit? It has to be on to get power to the airplane.
Not entirely correct on that. That switch (Instrument Ground Power) is a magnetically held switch that connects ground power to the Instrument AC bus. Under normal conditions the left AC bus (left engine generator) would power the instrument AC bus. That switch allows for ground power to power the Instrument bus, and since it's magnetically held when turned on (using ground power), drops out when turning off ground power or shifting over to the engine generators. Everything else not on the Instrument AC bus should turn on with ground power, including the right, left, and essential DC bus.
@@DieselThunderAviation The ground power sw has to be manually actuated. It drops when when going to internal power.
Right, but you have to have ground power turned on first (and accepted) in the forward cockpit before the Instrument Ground Power switch can be used. That switch won't do anything otherwise if ground power isn't accepted by the aircraft.
Ahh, the time old complaint. As it should be, clearly remembering a build where not a single wire is labeled on the diagram or the harness.
Is your F-4 Phantom plugged in? Did you blow in the cartridge slot three times?
Lol, if it were so easy!
This is what’s wrong with it. “DCS players after the F-4E Phantom is released” UA-cam video.
Would be great for you to scan knee checklist to pdf for the upcoming heatblue phantom and openkneeboard integration.
Not a bad idea. Wonder how much from the D crosses over the E?
@@DieselThunderAviation no idea ..just just a comment off the cuff that jumped into my head 😀
Fuse, not a breaker?
Yes, the ground power T/R is protected by a 1/2 amp fuse on the AC side.
Are fighter jet pilots really accustomed to the point where they just know where each and every switch is?
I'd like to think so, especially as they rack up the hours flying them!
I gotta ask-how could one get hot brakes landing on a 10,000 + foot long runway ? And anti skid-really ? Us Jugheads had NO such thing-anti skid-and at MCAS Kanehoe Bay-the pilots either engaged the MOREST gear or popped the chute immediately upon touchdown. K-Bay has a 7700 ft long runway & our rule of thumb fro hot binders was if one could get within 10 feet of the wheel/tire assy-all good. Either send 'em to the pits for a hot turn or back to the line. Anti skid........................
Same rule applied at El Toro-runways were a bit longer there-closer to 10K if I recall correctly.
That discussion wasn't just about the F-4. One of the guys helped maintain Navy P-3's, and the others worked on both F-4's and F-16's.
What airport are you at Gary jet pilot and air force mechanic i am good with electric aircraft systems my dad designed most of it i fly a fouga jet may be able to help retired now so i have time to travel no cost to you 👍
Ellington Field, KEFD, on the south side of Houston. Not sure how far away from there you would be though.
Will stop buy my little sister lives in Texas i am near pittsburgh pa next 2 -3 weeks or sooner 👍
You saying Saw'der is it 'solder' ? If so no 'A" in sight
Oh relax.
That's how we say it in Texas and that's all you need to know. You have yourself a nice day now.
Thanks Mr. Carlson This is the US, not Canada.
@@MA-iv7ol , I know, and why I mentioned it, seems y'all Kaint read ..
standard 'phantom phrowns' all around
> wtf is wrong with this b !!!! < was the usual banshee wail in the maintenance hangars or on the ramp (crew included)...
lol.
So basically, everything is off....
Pretty much! The exact opposite of what we’re trying to achieve.
Dang junky cockpit.