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Comment by Jesse Hartman on January 5, 2014 at 2:04pm

makes sense to me.  Thanks

Comment by Brian A Manlove on January 5, 2014 at 1:58pm

P.S. - Bro also was the one who recommended facing the rear of the panel with vinyl, just in case a powered wire became loose...  I have seen the immediate effect of a 12v. wire hitting aluminum ground - NOT PRETTY... even if it's fused, I'm more comfortable knowing that it's one less potential problem (good pun there.)  I used some cheap leftover "carbon fiber look" vinyl that I had, before I figured out that for anything important, the only way to go was with the "real deal" 3M stuff.  So I put my scrap piece to good use!

Comment by Brian A Manlove on January 5, 2014 at 1:49pm

Plus, the relays are very inexpensive... I think I paid about $10 for the whole setup, not including my time soldering everything up and making a nice little aluminum mount for the relay sockets.  It's also very light weight.

Comment by Brian A Manlove on January 5, 2014 at 1:44pm

Jesse - 

I have a couple of reasons... you're right that the actuator is pretty lightweight - I think it draws about 3 amps.

1.) My flap switch is positioned in a place on my panel that is pretty tight. - I wanted it centered to the pilot because I have a single center control stick. DPDT switches are almost 1" wide and I only have 3/4" of room.  The only switch I can get in there that has a really good momentary action with a nice sized toggle lever is a "standard" DPST, about 5/8" wide. 

2.) This setup was recommended to me by my brother (who is a master electrician) due to it's safety - if either relay or the switch itself shorts out, there is ZERO chance of anything coming back through the wiring.  With a single relay, you don't get the same protection depending on which contacts might short out. 

Picture:

Comment by Jesse Hartman on January 5, 2014 at 11:57am

Why can't you just use 1 reversing switch with 1 relay.  I replaced the trim actuator on my jet boat and I use a reversing switch with a fuse.  Do the actuators that we have to use pull enough amps that we cant just use a switch?  A good toggle switch should be rated for 20 amps momentarily. Not not saying yours is wrong, and I have not done any research on this circuit, just kinda picking your brain.