Nav Light Ground Wires

[JLA]

I am working on my 1969 7ECA wiring. I purchased airplane as a basket case. I have new surplus Grimes A-2064-12 tail light assembly. Does anyone know how the ground wire attaches to the tail light itself? Is it soldered to the outside of the light casing? My airplane has a ground strap hard soldered to the lower tail of the fuselage.

 

[osxuser]

There is supposed to be a copper plate just inside the screw cap with a ground wire soldered to it. If it's missing you either have to source one used, or replace the whole unit (Nobody sells just the copper...)

I've seen people do the solder to the outside if the unit, it general either breaks off (Steel isn't meant to be soldered to) or causes and intermittent because the bulb doesn't ground to it all that well.

If you are rebuilding the whole airplane, I suggest going LED all around. Dispatch reliability is way better.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/whelen14volt.php