Duckling

Hi Lynx_132a1, why not use an older TM Cougar throttle as base for your build instead ? Base, grip, switches etc provide what you need. Building a replica from scratch does have an appeal but it is a lot of time and effort needed, just wonder why you roled that option out. Cost on what avaliable on ebay right now is cracy but both older items and bricked ones pops up from time to time, and there been some HAL conversion kits offered in the sale thread recently if I remember correct. Best /Gus

Nice MIP, Mac Great to see your progress. No real input to the measurements of pedal placement just 5 inch sounds a bit high but cant say for sure. /Gus

Agree with Hans on both statements. I figure there are some nice things coming .. :-)

Very well made, purist as you say may chouse to look away ;-) /Gus

A model and a beauty. Worth an xtra "0" To bad I'm in the opposite part of the globe Suggest you post a link i cockpit subforum /gus

Search Deadman's thread with the word "RAL"

Hi nrgized. the more basic panels w stiches, rotatries, buttons etc are normally rather easy to interface when talking about connect or convert to 5V usage, ie how prepare them before the next step connecting,em to a chousen interface board as arduino and dcs-bios for example I suggest open them up (gently) and check the internal wiring and create a simple connection diagram of the parts inside (like Ians sketch above) and backtrack the wiring to the connector pins. Verify them also with an multimeter (ohm meter). There quads/panels with (lets say) complex electronics that for pit building is beyond interfacing with normally means where the controlls (switchws, buttons etc) is easier to use if circumvent the rest of electronic interior and go for the switches etc directly. Keep in mind, most quads has several redundency connections (a lot more wires then needed for a simpit is in there). Lamps/lndicator/panel backlight etc power requirements are typically out of scoop without additional electronics to handle these but,,, most of those can be converted by basic means to swap a oldie lamp to a LED if the circuit diagram shows where to connect etc If you check inside the quad for a componenst partnumber labled on in, most of them have a datasheet you can google and use to get info of have to connect it. Nothing can compare with the feel of a real panel in the simpit :-) If you go for the original connector but lack the external component part., you can use separate wires with crimped female connectors to it (a bit tediuos work just be sure you secure a wires to avoid pull them loose while working on the quad The electronics is the easy part, wish I know the coding part instead :-) Edit: typing on the small buttons of my phone with no glasses is not a good idea. Ignore bad spelling above please

Forgot to report back, my bad Recieved my Pro fast in a well packed package. Excellent communication also and it works perfectly with my older TrackIR 3 unit Thanks HAV Cheers Gus

You the Man Hans ! And surely Ian too :-) That presentation was the best sim "porn" I seen in years. Thanks for taking the time to put it together. I can't see any flaws in it and points to get my mags running with DCS:BIOS instead. Also that I need to review the power supplied config for the Mags (12V isn't sufficient for my Mags so I probably have some issues to solve there. Striving for working Mags for so long I lost count :-) Well earned rep inbound Thanks to both of you Cheers Gus

Congrats Hans. Well done ! I still struggling with my codebase. Can you confirm that the SAS Mags function works as intended both in start in cold and running cockpit ? (I got it working in a "running" state but in a cold pit, the mags state export is not working currently)

See that CPU,Mem and Disk C have a slight dip during the slot when your D drive spikes. Active processes & Services tab if not checked already might help to narrow down whats going on when D drive goes havoc. You have this visual effect only when running DCS ? Running DCS native or any extras that might target the D drive for read or write data ? Things that may impact are other apps, antivir active memorycheck, pagefile location (if some additional app ballons and you have it on Ddrive), syncs, intel rapid access, to name some of sources Just throwing out ideas here, a list of files accessed on D Drive during that peak time is another way to dig deeper for a solution

Great news and thanks for the heads-up Ky, Ordered.

Figures :-), those beasts looks strong enough to crunch human bones Never seen the rightside inner, downmost quad either. Is that a trainer only or something standard existing that normally is hidden by other stuff ?

It looks good but only 'almost' :-) All SAS switches and EAC connected and works but yet only when enter a live cockpit. Haven't yet found the cause but pretty sure it caused my myself in the scripting mess. work ongoing. I get an invaled state reported back from DCS on the SAS Pitch Right switch (or more likly I've f-d up my script that grab that arg val of it) Starting a mission in a cold/dark pit stops all SIOC/DCS communucation so it seems the err is in my scripts somewhere (disabling the Mags part and I'm back to normal status again) It's four variables per switch so far #1 Imported value of DCS cockpits switch dev(0) Arg 185-188 if DCS reports switchstate = 1 (on), set Var #2 high/enable if DCS reports switchstate = 0 (off), wait a few millisec, set Var #2 to 0, wait > 40 millisec, set Var #2 to 1/enable, (this causes the Coil to release and the enable again shortly after: The physical switch position changed to off, is sensed by Var #3 and fed back to DCS throgh Var #4) #2 outputport to enable the relay that powers the Mag Switch Coil) #3 physical 2-pos switch (of the Mag) position is sensed and set "#4" accordingly #4 Variable to to send switch position to DCS The loop looks like this: Start SIOC, Var #2/Coil are enabled on script start Start of DCS to 'push pause to continue" Set all Mags Switches to desired poition Start DCS (un-pause) If DCS says the Mags are in On position, nothing changes, all system go If DCS says the Mags are in Off position, Coils are recycled (On->Off->On) and the physical switch is returned to DCS reported state. If I manually set switch to Hold/On, (when the DCS switch is set to released), the switch will be held a few millisec by the Mag, then released again when DCS set it to 0, and the cycle continues. a slight offset in timing of the delays between switches seems to be needed, The OC cards misses (some times) when all switches is set on/off at the same exact time. My USB expansion card for left panel is bad, and has been for some time, pops up as unrecognized device more and more and needs to be replaced. Will be some weeks until that made so I'll put this in pending until then. edit: function verification is made by the SAS Monitor test switch (on sas panel) in DCS cockpit and the physical switch itself. SAS switches goes 'off' and shortly after the EAC follows so it should be a valid test. Not sure of best way how to induce an error/fault into the environment that triggers an error in one or both of the SAS channels. Any suggestions ? Cheers Gus

Great assembly and reference, thanks DM The big red button on outer rightside, below the Env panel, what is that ? A trainer 'power-cut' or something else ?

Grattulation to you and your family (but don't forget the Pit :-)

Looks great matbog, Love your focus on details You plan to project the HUD image through the scope ? /Gus

Thanks Lynx, I'll compare it with my 'space and see if it fit. /Gus

Hi Anton, welcome to the 'Mags-club' 8) Good to know there are plans for other approches if my stunt fails. Cheers Gus

That look great DM, nice work. Nothing compare with true quads. A bit more tedious to connect but the feeling using'em is worth it. Just having a look of is woth something too Cheers /Gus

To early to say for sure but it looks good so far :-) Got one of the SAS switches state exported into SIOC (was barking up the wrong tree as suspected earlier) and made a test script that seems ok. Will rig it end of week to test it. 4 SIOC Variables used. # 1: Has the DCS cockpit switch state # 2: Input from the physical switch position (just On or Off) # 3: Controls the relay that energizes the Coil # 4: Status Var, Used to send the Command into DCS to set switch position (through Clickabledata) The theory (so far ;-) - The Var #3 / Coil is allways (almost) On/Energized - Var #2 (Physical switch) set status of Var #4 to On/Off (The physical switch (hold by force or MagCoil in On position) send an impulse to Var #4 to go to On position or Off (placed mnually or by the coil release) - Var #4 send its state that sends the command to DCS to set the "DCS" switch to on (and stay there if nothing else is detected on Var #1). - DCS export of the switchstate into Var#1 (if the SIM sense a release/return to Off state), Var#1 trigger Var#3 to go low (release power to the coil), and releases the Physical switch that will go to Off, THEN energizing the coil with a short delay. Var #2 sense the 'Off' state (physical switch goes low) and send a '0' to DCS (that is allready in that state (just to close the loop of thought) In other word, even if the Coil is active and holds the switch for some milliseconds, DCS switchstate will release the switch if the hold is not allowed. Only tested it as far as with the 'monitor test' switch on the SAS panel and with one of the Mags through SIOC Console but looks good so far. Struggling with a SIOC Delay function and some logic handling DCS vs SIOC. and as said before, I might be way off target here but future will tell Cheers Gus

@Tekkx, yupp agree on that it introduce some issues for existing Mags, the approach itself looks workable but as you say, it require some extensive tinkering @Bolts, Within the existing (DCS provided) function for the Mag switches, there is no release command stated, just the absolute On or Off. There are some stated in the newer DCS:Bios but haven't tried to see if that could work. Read some note from Craig and Ian that the switch in on state still overrides the possibility to let DCS disangage the coil. (not sure if that was written prior or after Ian posted the DCS:BIOS 'new' Magswitch function. Currently got all my Mags but the Anti-Collision (remain to be connected) switch hooked up to Opencockpit boards/SIOC. @Hans. Great post and concise written, some diff from the 'real' guide but thats a minor. Question is also how much of the EAC, SAS, etc functionallity that have been implemented in A-10C module in DCS. Disengage says to loss of Hyd pressure, caution indication etc that relate to the SAS channels not allways trigger a release. Single channel reengage possible under some circumstances and induced rudder effect will be seen and so on. Have to reread posts again a calm environment, dogs and kids running wild all over ;-) Any option to slave the Mags to DCS I think would be preferable over the other way around even if some functionallity is lost on the way. I been tinkering to get the Magswitch state into my scriptbase in SIOC, but failed first attempts but think I found the way, in a attempt to see if I could mimmic the switch state of DCS. This must be basic scripting and I think I found the way but remain to be verified Haven't given up yet and learned that even if it's 'basic' scripting, it's better in the long run to try it out oneself prior posting a plea for help. Got a few hours peer week availiable for this so it's a long running task. Cheers Gus

Hehe, you are very welcome yourself. Did you get that it describe a solution for how to 'decoupling' the switch from the coil ? (In a way that will solve the problem) edit: And then again, this might be the old dog venting the same message all over again and I fail to get the prerecs Been struggling with these for longer time then I wish to remember If the logical switch is in an on state (1) and held in place either by coil or manually, and the Argument of that logical switch can't be set to to off (0) by any means, it's a usolvable by any approach, right ? Or is there ANY way to circumvent this restraint Forth option not listed is a request to ED to expose the the state of the Mags coils through either Mainpanel or the deviceID (.autopilot. for the SAS switches) In essence, how hard could it be for ED considering the time this module been around and the knowledge they have of it Limited user has any issue with this but time 'unsolved' might count for something.. Cheers Gus

Thanks Hans for lighting up this thread again. (and those links are the best prices I've seen in years for Mags) I feel kinda an old dog barking up the same empty tree here so please ignore bad spelling, grammer and result of a numb brain @Tekkx/Ian/Any: For a DCS:BIOS approch, Does the"DcsBios::LED saspPitchSasL(0x1108, 0x1000, PIN) command provide a working solution and is active as long the DCS Cockpit switch is in 'On' state, and DCS:IOS sets that to 'off' state if the virtual switch falls to 'off' ? If DCS:BIOS triggers and maintain that output as long the physical switch is in on state (hold be the Magswitch) and drops the 'LED' output when the "DCS" switch falls to 'Off state', it's much simpler to adopt then what is described below. The wiring and solder stuff is the easy part here (for me at least) My current setup is a manual quick and dirty config of the Mags in my Pit (Running Opencockpit cards & SIOC). I activate the coils on script start and then check if any of the GEN switches are in 'On' state, if so I mantain the power to the coils and manually deactivate them if any fall to 'off state' in the Sim. The word is quick and dirty here :) A summery from the true flightmanual (not errorchecked): But above taken into account, I probably left the 'true' path along the way (or if I ever been on it at all) Returning to the subject, using SIOC, one way could be to build a simple function to react on the switches state on the panel instead. It should be doable in SIOC IF I could export the state of each switch (up till now I only used Oakes script to send commands to the switches/deviceIDs) but not reading the value out of specified switches / device Think about it like this, When DCS Sim start, - Set the physical coils to activated (individually) regardless of what the state the Sim is in. Setting the Physical switch to on (the actived coil will hold it). SIOC sends a "1" to the VAR that itself trigger the set command to DCS (it not continously repeat that value to the VAR). -Check the DCS Device:Switch state on next export cycle, - If the Sim switch falls to the 'off' position in DCS, Drop coil power and cockpit Switch will do the same - Set a Delay/Timer (10-20 ms) then activate the coil again As long as DCS have the logical coil poweredand hold the switch. the physical switch is held by the Mag coil. If DCS doesn't and decide that the virtual one is unpowered, The physical switch will fall after a short delay, triggered by the switch in DCS that is released. Same approch should be applicable to EAC, AntiSkid and Anto Collision Mags also but as always remain to be verified and only if I could get the correct status of the switches / device exported. All mainpanel exports flows with minimal pain.

Great intiative ! Thats one of the most difficult panels to make. (My ones are halfway there and seems to stuck in that limbo state for ever.) Place for ladder button missing or is it to be drilled by byer ? Can you share your chosen size/angle of the bottom plate ? /Gus