Old wiring diagrams used to drive me crazy, now I just take photos

Back when I started at a small shop in Phoenix I would sit there with a paper schematic for an hour trying to trace a single wire bundle. Last week I had to troubleshoot an old King KX 155 install and grabbed my phone, took a picture of the whole panel, and zoomed in on the connector pins. Took me 15 minutes. Has anyone else switched to using phone photos for reference instead of fighting with paper?

2 comments

2 Comments

susan_wells7d ago

The first time I tried it with an old Narco panel I was fighting with a faded paper diagram that looked like it had coffee spilled on it. I snapped a photo with my phone, zoomed in on the pin numbers, and had it sorted in under 20 minutes. Now I keep a folder on my phone labeled "avionics nightmares" for all the old stuff I run into. The only thing I learned is to make sure the flash is off or you'll get glare off the connector shells.

johnson.lee7d ago

Watch out for that glare for sure. I learned the hard way that even with the flash off, the overhead panel lights can wash out the photo just as bad.