rocketeer

Gadroc, thanks for the info. Just want to share a few things here of what I learned. 1. Loading the profile after opening Helios, then minimizing it is not good enough. You have to get out of Helios, then from the system tray icon, load the profile. then it'd appear on the screen in static mode. then you can run DCS to see the gauges move 2. I could not load Gadroc's sample profile initially because it is display config specific. It has only one monitor set in the profile, which is number #2. I have mine with two monitors. from system tray it could not load the sample profile at first as the display config was different. After playing with it a bit I got it to load, but you won't be able to run the sample profile on one monitor and the sim on another, as the profile was set to run on only one monitor. 3. I could not import/export panels. So since the sample profile was set to one monitor with a different config than mine, I had to manually set up my own panels, using the sample profile as a reference which helped a lot. now I could have the 3 monitors running DCS and the 4th monitor running helios, but fps takes a big hit. Guess I should run it on a different graphics card rather than the 2nd graphics port of the same card.

The first time I exited Helios. The second I didn't after selelctimg the profile. Does Helios need to be minimized first? And what display option should be used in dcs?

Airdog or anyone who knows this, how did you display the helios gauges on the second monitor in the sim? what kind of settings is needed? I have four monitors. 3 are 19" dell, all 3 set as one display through TH2G. Then I have an old 17" monitor from walmart. I set that as 2nd display and extended it to the desktop. Then I opened helios, it shows two displays. I chose the smaller one. Opened the A10C profile, and saved. Then I exited helios. Then I started A10C beta. Display is set to 1 screen. When I ran training I could only see the widescreen of the first display. I tried the other options: 3 screen, MFCD, shkval1, shkval2 etc. I couldn't see the helios gauges on the second display. What am I missing?

Why else are we sharing our work here, to copy from each other! and to save each other the effort of figuring out some stuff, and hopefully learn from each other's mistakes. eg. made this gear from acrylic sheet. At first I was quite happy with it. Then realised at 2.5" it's still too big. The slot on the VHF panel is about 2". Did another one at 2". fits ok, enough of the top sticking out, but then there is no room at the bottom to place the encoder as it'd be too near other stuff. So now need to use gears instead, in pairs, one to be turned above the panel, the other in sync below to turn the encoder, so that it can be several inches below where there'd be more room.

What I meant was an example of the mission card. There are some acronyms that I am not familiar with.

Thanks Riley. More pics. Made my own custom volume knob for the VHF panels. You know the one on the top left corner of the panel, with the straight cuts? I just cut it from acrylic using dremel tool. But given it's small in diameter and I insisted on still using 1/4" pot shaft, it cracks easily if you are not careful as the bottom will be thin. Ask me how I know? One for the AM and one for the FM VHF. I've followed DCS' color scheme, one of them is grey, then other black for the two VHF panels. EW panel is done, except for the rocker switch and the LCD display. The five push buttons are functional, not just paper stickers. They have tactile switches underneath, set on a perf board, and are held in position by acrylic 9mm cubes from Tap Plastics. Initially tried to save money by cutting my own cubes but realized I couldn't produce the dimensions consistently with hand tools. For this knob it's supposed to be a cube like thingy. If you just drill a circular hole and use a normal toggle switch it'd keep rotating. So I use a flat toggle instead, and drill a thin trench. Now it doesn't rotate anymore.

Not to mention that OC cards will be cheaper than a bunch of leo boards, and OC cards can handle output which leo boards can't.

Wow, looks really great! so much better than my quick and dirty setup. The height of the panels looks a bit high though, but without scale comparison to other objects it's hard to tell if I'm wrong. I find the comfortable height for me is at or below or your seat. Anything higher you'd be raising your hand all the time which will not be comfortable.

Thanks WarriorX for sharing this. This is so much more detailed than I expected. I don't even understand everything on the card! Can you provide an example? That'd help a lot.

Did you plug in the leo board first before running the sim? did you try reinstallingthe beta? I don't have the warthog or MFD so I can't comment on those. how many lua files do you see \config\aircrafts\joystick? Not sure if you are facing a bug. Have you gotten to leo board to work with other sims before like Lock On or BS? Do you see the leo board in the windows controller as a device? and when you press the buttons connect to it do they light up in the windows controller screen? first try to isolate and make sure each part is working. sorry these are all I can think of right now. the 92... file is just an example. you system will generate a different number for each input device you plug in. if you can get any of the device you plug in to show up, then you can start putting in the stuff I showed earlier and then use the sim's controller screen to configure the buttons. Note the beta install will have to sections in program files folder. one is x836 and the other 64 bit. if you can't find your config files try to the folder.

This is how I mount my rotary switches and pots. I put both types on a backplate, adjust the height to that of the pot meeting the knobs, then cut the shaft of the rotary switches since they are longer and easy to cut being plastic compared to the metal for pots. if there is a toggle or push button in between, then you need to cut a hole large enough for the legs to stick out. Right console. left console. When I first started pit building I found it hard to find the various different length of spacers. Now I figured out the simplest solution is to use screws and adjust the screws on both sides of the backplate to any desired height! No more fumbling for different spacer lengths. Took me a while to figure this out. :doh: It was quite tedious to mount all the pots and rotary switches to the knobs, and also fix them down to the wood at the correct rotation angle. After several days, this is what I got. Now it's fun to sit there and rotate all the knobs even without the wiring to I/O cards. Feels pretty real with the touch of the knobs rotating esp. with the sound and feel of the clicks of the rotaries. Still need to get encoders for UHF, VHF, Tacan, ILS etc. Slowly getting there...

This is awesome! Any chance of a video to show the guages running etc?

see post 101 at http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=50071&page=11. same question asked recently.

I still need a conclusion on the appropriate type of switch to use for the various Inter panel knobs. if pots are ok and if the pull type is too hard to find how about something above. another one from radio shack is 10k ohm. 10K-Ohm Audio Control Potentiometer with SPST Switch http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062298 what do you guys think? I heard you guys said only the pull part is implemented in the sim, not the rotation of the knob. but in the beta I could pull/push and also rotate. Am I misreading something?

Pure insane goodness.

So you are saying it can't be done for 8 pos switch because it's not divisible by 3. If so instead of getting 12 pos switches I'd get encoders directly.

Because I have spare 45 degrees ones and no 12 pos 30 degrees ones. If I can't get the 45 degress ones to simulate as encoders then I'd buy actual encoders to save the trouble, instead of buying 30 degrees ones and then simulate them as encoders. I believe I can get the CTS 288 encoders for about the same price as the 30 degrees rotary switches.

Thanks Gus for the link. It says - shortcircuit pins 1-4-7-10; 2-5-8-11; 3-6-9-12; The example was for a 30 degree 12 position rotary switch. I suppose it's also possible for a 45 degree 8 position rotary by joining sets of 3 pins instead of 4? If so, which ones? I said earlier post #342 that the GC Electronics equivalent of the C&K rotary switches are 35-1343 35-1324 Correction it should be 35-1314 instead of 1324. 1314 is single pole, 12 position, others may be 2 or 4 pole and limited to 3 or 4 positions, which will not be useful when trying to use for a 5 position, 30 degree switch. So 1314 will be the most ideal. still, the GC ones cost about twice that of the C&K ones I found yesterday. so it'd be cheaper to find the A11215RNZQ and A12515RNZQ ones.

Has anyone tried converting rotary switch to encoders? I suppose they'd work with OC cards. I have spare rotary switches lying around, so rather than buying encoders I thought of doing the conversion. Just have to figure out which legs to join together for a 2 bit encoder.

Look at post #48 to 70. http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=45071&page=2 After reading this I had a good idea of how SOIC and LUA works, even though I have not bought the OC cards yet. This is for a simple switch. Once you can get this going, then it's just a bit more work to figure out pots, encoders, rotary switches etc.

looking good!

Things look a bit better with some dash of colors added, else it's all black and gray.

This is the one I meant by E3 pictues. It looks bigger than 23", and is probably not touch screen. I'd like to know the size of the monitor used.

see my thread. http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=48697&page=10 I posted some online sites somewhere in the thread. see also post #342, 346 etc. if you buy by the dozens online you'd save a lot, even after paying for shipping, compared to a retail shop like radio shack or fry's.

for the CODE knob, position HOLD is momentary. For position ZERO, you have to pull in order to turn to that position. Similarly for MASTER knob you have to pull to turn to EMER position. Besides the 4 test switches that are momentary for the UP position like Feed said, so are the RAD test switch and the IDENT switch, all 3 position. Audio/light is normal 3 position switch. Mode 4 switch you have to pull to toggle. And of course the two special press-to-test switches at the top you'd have to get from ebay. you can press and also rotate them. the thumbwheels are spring loaded, such that there is some resistance when you turn them, and they 'jump' to the next number once you turn > 50%. if you can do all the above it'd be as good as the real panel!