Installation Guide Instruction Manual
 Appendix 
FlightDEK-D180 Installation Guide    9-27 
Heater Controller Wiring 
Before making the connections to your Heated 
AOA/Pitot Probe and controller, refer to the 
Recommended Wiring Practices section on page 
2-1. The chart at right provides general 
recomm
endations for wire gauge choice, given 
wiring run length. 
Probe to Controller Wiring 
As mentioned above, it is preferable that the 
heater controller box be mounted near enough to 
the probe that 5 wires between the controller and 
probe can be connected without extension. The 
three mating pairs of colored wires – terminated with Fastons – are used to carry the current to 
the heating element in the probe. The 2 white wires are for temperature measurement, and can 
thus be small. If you have mounted the heater controller near the probe and do not need to extend 
the wires between the two, simply plug each wire on the controller into its corresponding like-
colored wire from the probe. 
If you do need to extend the wires between the probe and the controller, use the recommended 
wire size (see chart on page 9-25) for your run length. Since extending the wire runs requires that 
you cut the connectors off the 5 wires between the probe and controller, splice the extension 
wires between the probe and controller using butt splices or other sim
ilarly secure method. The 
white wires are not polarity-dependant. Additionally, as the white wires do not carry any 
significant current, you may extend them with 26 AWG or larger for any run length. 
Controller Power wiring 
Three wires – colored red, black, and white 
– exit the controller for connection to your 
electrical system. Power (between 10 and 
15 volts) is fed to the controller via the red 
and black wires. The maximum current 
draw of the heated pitot controller/probe is 
10 amps. You must route your own 
appropriately-sized wires to where the 
heater controller is mounted. Both power 
and ground lines should be able to handle 
10 amps with minimal voltage drop, as 
recommended in the chart on page 9-25. 
The red wire should be connected through 
a pilo
t-accessible switch to the main power 
source in the aircraft (limited to 15 volts). 
The switch allows you to manually turn the 
heater controller on and off, depending on 
the situation. Install a 15-amp fuse at any 
point along the power line to the heater 
Recommended wire gauge for runs, 
given 10-amp peak current 
Run length  Gauge 
0’ – 7’  18 AWG 
7’ – 9’  16 AWG 
10’ – 16’  14 AWG 
17’ – 24’  12 AWG 
25’ – 40’  10 AWG 
From FAA AC 43.13-1B, page 11-30 
Color Notes 
Red  Connected through a pilot-accessible 
switch to 10–15V supply. Must handle 
up to 10 amps. 
Black  Must have a constant connection to 
ground. This is required for the warning 
light to operate when controller is 
powered off or not functioning. Line 
must handle up to 10 amps. 
White  Connected to a light bulb (or resistor & 
LED) tied to switched ship’s power. 
This line is grounded when the heater 
controller is powered off or not 
functioning. Connection can handle no 
more than 1 amp. Current depends on 
light source connected. 










