Charlie,
Yes it is a 1/4" spade as you thought.  I have several
in the wiring system, and they are suppose to be high
quality.  Since I added the tyrap in May, and it just
now worked off, it probably did take alot of force.

The cold weather may have played a role as well, since
wire tends to shrink a little with cold, whic would
have made it even more strained.  While I removed the
tyrap, and it has some slack, I'm going to rework the
wire and connector on my next trip down to SC.  I'll
lengthen the wire and install a new connector.

Steve



--- Charlie England <ceengland@bellsouth.net> wrote:

> Steve Brooks wrote:
>
> >I made it down to South Carolina, to among other
> >things, fly the Cozy.  It had been 2 months to the
> day
> >since I had been down, so the remaining 8 hours of
> the
> >40 test hours have been slow to come off.
> >
> >  
> >
> snipped
>
> >Since I have two separate electrical systems
> (engine
> >and everything else), I was really stunned that I
> lost
> >both like that.  After thinking about it for I
> while,
> >I figured out that the master switch was the only
> >common link.  I pulled the I/P cover off, and found
> >that the ground connector was pulled off of the
> >terminal and just sitting there barely touching the
> >contact.
> >The cause of this was the fact that when I did an
> >annual on the plane in May, I had added some
> addition
> >ty-raps to dress up the wiring a little more.  In
> >doing so, I had stretched the ground wire which
> runs
> >to the master switch, which energizes the two
> master
> >relays.
> >
>
> >snipped
> >  
> >
>
> >Steve Brooks
> >Cozy MKIV
> >Turbo rotary
> >
> Hi Steve,
>
> Congrats on the safe conclusion of your adventure.
>
> I assume that the offending connector was a 1/4"
> 'spade lug' type
> connector. Did you check the quality & integrity of
> the connector after
> the incident? High quality connectors like that
> require an amazing
> amount of force to remove, usually involving pliers
> or prying them off
> with a screwdriver. If it came off with just the
> tension added from
> dressing wires with a wire tie, I'd be concerned.
>
> FWIW,
>
> Charlie
>
>
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