rocketeer

I've made changes to my panels. In the past I used wood, one layer, drill holes at the corners, stuck some printed paper and used masking tape to stick it to the one. Very crude prototyping. Now I use two layers, spray paint the sides black. Before painting I sand the middle to spread the light, if one day I decide to do backlighting. For now, I just want to finish the panels, wire them and learn to use all the switches. Using a dremel multi tool to sand is much easier than by hand. just loud. This time instead of plain paper, I print on white shipping labels that are self adhesive. Double print them to make the black darker. Then I spray them with crystal clear enamel, which protects the printouts, and actually also makes the black darker yet again. Also this time with the top layer I have the C shaped ears at the four corners. And bury most toggles under the top layer so that the locking ring does show on top. Sometimes for small toggles they are not long enough, then I'd place the ring/nut at the top layer else the shaft doesn't protrude above the surface far enough. Same with small push buttons. Finished a few panels. Added a barricade for this one. To prop the acrylic block up and prevent from falling through the rectangular hole, I use this. Thin acrylic sheet hot clued together. Always looking for the simplest solution. or just lazy. CNCed panels look very nice. And more precise for cutting and drilling than by hand. But I don't have a cnc machine to mill the wordings. I can only paste paper on top. But I'm satisfied with this version using the hand tools I have, to manually cut and drill. CNCs can also make nice square and round buttons for UFC and CDU. And the many required square holes that is impossible to make by hand. I'd just use plastic ones over push buttons over a breadboard. Knobs are made out of molds to create many cheap replicas.

Ian, you gave an excellent example of a 16x2 character display set up in youtube. Would setting up 7 segment LEDs arduino board to very different? How do you dictate and control which digit display what? Possible to do a youtube video on 7 segments control?

John, thanks for sharing your solution. I had the same idea in mind, using 3 digits of 7 segment display and one 16 segment display combined for the TACAN. But don't know how to execute! LOL. I gave this link http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-4-Bits-Digital-Tube-LED-Display-Module-With-Clock-Display-Board-For-Arduino-DIY/1749694071.html?spm=2114.30010108.4.37.mwycGc just as an example to see what you guys think. I knew the number of digits and color are not ideal, but again, just as an example as the 4 digit product seems the most common at that site. I like that the digits are already on an arduino ready board to interface to. If there is a PCB ready board for you to put 3-6 digits that would be ideal but I don't find such boards. I can't just buy the MAX whatever chip as I don't know what other components to get and how to wire them together. I need a board that has all the need stuff already added and wired, like the one above. What you did is really cool but I don't know you did it. I don't need to get a PCB printed if I can find a circuit diagram and I buy the components and wire them on a blank breadboard. Can you share your pcb design or the circuit diagram that shows/explains how all required components are connected with the 7/16 segment displays? Only figuring out this part then I can do the same thing like you did for the VHF, ILS, TACAN etc. put the required number of digits and wire them. Next how do I make them arduino compatible? Pardon my ignorance with all these questions.

I just came across this. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-4-Bits-Digital-Tube-LED-Display-Module-With-Clock-Display-Board-For-Arduino-DIY/1749694071.html?spm=2114.30010108.4.37.mwycGc Looks like it can be used for displays for VHF, UHF, TACAN, and ILS panels. I see only four wires to connect to an arduino board. I see on google people using individual pieces of 7 segment displays, then connect it to a breadboard and some chip and bunch of resistors. So complicated. This one with chip, resistors etc build in seems much easier for a novice like me. If I get individual pieces like this, I wouldn't know how to wire it to make it work with arduino. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-CPS05611BR-Common-Anode-1Bit-Digital-Tube-7-segment-0-56-Red-LED-Display-10PCS/1768490862.html?s=p And I assume the board above, stated as arduino DIY, will work with dcs bios?

Gremlin, congrats and thanks for sharing your solution. Not sure if you have been following this thread. I encountered lots of noise interference from pots to the extend they jam other switches. Warhog suggested that I stop using pots and change all dials to using encoders. Ragtop suggested using resistors with pots. There are dozens of volume and light dials that normally one would use potentiometers for them. I'm curious what's your solution and does it work well?

http://s221.photobucket.com/user/MRAR15/media/A10%20Cockpit%20Panels/IMG_0542.jpg.html?sort=3&o=13 you use a pro mini for each panel. you designed this tiny board. what pins does it connect to on the pro mini? what does the board do? how do we wire the switches to it? or just to the pro mini. what else we connect the board to? sorry so many things i don't understand : (

thanks mike for your input. looks like pots are still not easy to solve. think i really have to buy more encoders. warhog, i like your method of using clear acrylic sheets as the backplate and shining led rows from the white box. this way there's no fuss snaking the lights around the switches like most people do. however, would it be easy for bigger switches than toggles like pots and encoders to block the light? or because the light is bounced all over the walls of the white box that it doesn't need direct light from the bottom and the result will still be ok? can you show a few more examples of how you light some panels? second, what happens when you have switches that are packed very closely together, like those in the UFC and CDU, with dozens of push buttons stacked side by side? how do you light them? your panels are a great inspiration to us.

No response from ragtop. anyone else tried this?

Ragtop, thanks for the suggestion. Have you tried it? How much resistance to add, which leg to add to, how stable it became after adding it? if this works then I don't have to buy a few more dozen encoders to replace all my pots.

Warhog you seem way ahead of us in terms of having many panels done. How much of hooking them to PC have you done? Since you are using arduino too, are you also getting constant noise in pots to the extend they become not usable? I was told to switch all pots to encoders. What's your situation?

Got it. Thanks again. You are from ontario canada? I went to college in the east coast. Been to toronto twice. Canada is such a beautiful place. Just a tad too cold for someone in california. :)

Guesstimates are good enough for me. I don't have cnc machine. A PDF file that I can print is all I need. Then I'd attempt to manually cut the shape on wood or acrylic. Thanks!

Thanks Warhog and Ian for the explanations. Warhog, 1. In your drawing you show two tactile switches at the bottom, but in the photos I didn't see. 2. What is the small hole at the bottom of the handle's neck for? 3. To the small hole's right there is a small semi circle cutout. And what is that for again? 4. Can you share the rough dimension of the handle and semi circle body? Sorry for the many requests. Your work is awesome!

Hi Warhog, thanks very much for sharing your backlighting secret. 1. Looks like you are using an arduino uno for each panel? If one arduino board for each panel, it'd be like 40-50 usb connections. My understanding is that the current arduino library does not support too many usb connections and I don't know how I2C works. Have you managed to wire all panels? are you using arduino or interface boards? 2. how are you powering each board/panel? one power adapter for each panel means you need several long power strips. or you make a wire split or connect in series? 3. how do you make the oxygen panel switches work? they are kinda like toggles, 2 or 3 positions, although the wide rotation at first makes them look like we should use pots. and did you 3d print those 3 handles? or are they a replica of the real thing? I haven't figured about the make the handles and how to make the switches for this panel yet.

I believe someone posted some code change at Ian's thread for pots. I haven't tried that yet. Not sure how that works. I have a whole bunch of pots. Will be great if it makes pots work. Else I have to buy a whole bunch of encoders and the pots go to waste.

Looks good!

what I mean is to physically put something behind the panel to let the encoder turn from 7 o'clock to say 5 o'clock position, for most volume and brightness dials which seem to use these angles.

Warhog, thanks for sharing your solution. Pots normally rotate about 300 degrees but encoders have no restrictions. Switching from a pot to encoder, did you add something below the panel to restrict the encoder from rotating round and round?

It's been exactly a week since I figured out how to get dcs bios working. Since then, I've wired and tested 8 panels in a week and got them working, mostly, except for the pots that are acting up :cry_2: These are the panels that are wired up and works in the game. Copying and pasting the code for toggles, push buttons, rotary switches are easy. Yet to get pots to work consistently. Yet to try encoders. Thanks so much to Ian for the DCS BIOS library, else I wouldn't have considered Arduino as the interface option.

Should the CDU and Caution light panels use matrix as well? Both require too many pins.

no one else tried hooking up pots through dcs bios? if so what's your take on pots?

I'd have to go buy one.

10k ohm

Tried a new mega. Got the pot to respond. For a while! Then same thing. Quit game. Started game again. Respond for a while. Changing physical pots or pins or even arduino cards and still the pots seem to respond only for a while in the game. Even isolating all or switches and just having one pot and nothing else connected and code for all other switches commented out. If any of you managed to get pots working consistently without failing please share your two cents. I've wired and tested six panels so far. Toggles, push buttons, rotary switches are all fine, except pots.

I've isolated everything-just one physical pot at a time, one line of code the rest commented out. tested the same physical pot on different analog pins, assigned to different panels. Also tried pinning to different ground pins, different physical pots. All same behavior, turning a bit then stop. maybe my arduino card has gone bad. i'd try with another card.