DeadMeat

Chiming in here - thanks for your work on DCS BIOS, Ian. I'm having a lot of fun building stuff with it.. Hope to see you back sometime

:thumbup:

Yes it's night and day right? For the other buttons you should consider P1-11118 which has a slightly lower force but easier on your pinky and index finger.. For the paddle you should still go for the full force (P1-11122).. Be aware that you need to do some filing on the paddle lever if you do that one - worth it though!

Nitpicking now.. But the 4 SAS engage switches are missing the characteristic red elastomer seal at the base of the levers. IIRC they should look like the Anti-skid and Anti-collision light switches.

Psst.. You could strap a real landing gear switch to the side of your box https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=220201 These things pop up on ebay from time to time..

Yup, I made a thread on it here https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=220201 Basically it's just a used gear switch out of a Tornado I found on EBay. It's wired up to an Arduino nano running DCS-BIOS.

Try https://www.peerlesselectronics.com if you're in the US, otherwise https://www.mouser.com is a good source or Ebay if you're lucky.

Have a look here https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=140340

:thumbup: Good job troubleshooting the thing. It's part of the learning experience messing with these things. Always nice when it pays off!

Ya mean this?

Well, we're getting somewhere with this thing :) I'm not sure why the solenoid doesn't pop back off upon landing/restart though. I'm not an electronics expert but I wonder if the MOSFET has trouble turning all the way off. Code is the same as I have so I think we're looking at a hardware/wiring issue. We gotta be careful about not shorting things or electrocuting ourselves here, but perhaps try energizing the coil as normal (take off, no WoW), then manually pull the signal wire from the arduino (which is like sending the LOW signal in code). The mosfet should turn off and the coil de-energize. Depending on what happens there could be a grounding problem - a loose connection - or a circuit problem (mosfet incorrectly wired) but I just can't tell from your pictures, sorry. Check your connections (especially your soldered common ground wires), connections on the Arduino, dupont wires in the screw terminals on the 24v supply (these are notoriously loose)..

Yes please :) we need that FCC3 footprint

The sparkfun one was just an example (that I haven't tried myself) but if your power supply is bad and doesn't supply what it's supposed to it could explain the problem. I would go for at least 12V 1A supply though to be sure. I haven't seen anyone else with your gear lever so we don't actually know if it is possible to stick with 12V, so moving up to 24V could make sense. Of course since the gear lever is *used* there could be a mechanical problem that we wont solve with higher voltage so bear that in mind The adapter you linked to has some pretty bad reviews, so maybe spend like 5 bucks more and get something like this https://www.amazon.com/SHNITPWR-100V-240V-Converter-Transformer-5-5x2-5mm/dp/B07Q29CD7J/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=24v+wall+wart&qid=1569747130&sr=8-4 note that this one has a 5.5x2.5 mm plug but looks like it comes with the female connector that fits..

Not sure what the problem is though 0.5A supply could be cutting it close, but to be sure you could measure the resistance over the coil and see what it will draw. I measured 40 ohms I think (0.3A at 12VDC) on mine. There could be a current spike when you turn it on that exceeds your supply, but I'm not sure that's actually an issue on DC solenoids in the first place.. More likely the problem is voltage and wear/friction. The solenoid is meant to work at 28V as the chart on the lever says, so 12V is really at the lower end of where it'll actually actuate. Combine that with possible mechanical friction in a used piece of hardware and well you see why you might need a little more to get it going. I had similar issues at 12V at first but now it's running fine for some reason, but then it is also a different model. I also run very real Honeywell mag switches (locking and normal action) at 12VDC with no problem even though they're also meant for 28V, so I figured that yours would also work at that voltage.. You could try a 24V adapter (easier to find than 28V) which should definitely get you going. Note that the current draw is higher at higher voltages - Hansolo measured 0.65A at 28V on his landing gear lever which is similar to mine. Probably yours will draw similar amps so get a PSU that provides enough. As for the connectors, as long as there's a connection it's fine I guess. You should maybe hot glue them in place so they don't come loose.

Sickdog, that's just fantastic! I know a few folks around here have these gear handles laying around, so hopefully you'll have inspired them to get theirs hooked up as well.

Looks good! The circuit is similar to mine. It is really simple actually, you need to hook this up the same way you would a toggle switch. As I mentioned above I would recommend that you get DCS BIOS running with something simpler first though so you know your arduino and code works. Regarding your gear handle there's redundant switches in there so you can hook up to any you want. For example, the left most on the diagram connects pin X as ground with pin W when the handle is down, and X to pin Y when the handle is up (or perhaps it's flipped, you can fix that in software) For a quick and dirty solution, you can simply solder wires to the corresponding pins on the back and plug into your arduino: X to ground and W and Y to two digital ports, e.g. 3 and 4. Load a blank DCS-BIOS sketch in your arduino IDE, paste the landing gear code snippet from the control reference and tell it what you have connected. You need to go into "Advanced" view to get the code that uses two pins instead of a single (like a push button would have) For the A-10C it could look like this Flash the board and connect the com port. You should be able to use the handle in game. You can just flip 3 and 4 in code if the action turns out to be reversed. The downlock solenoid is activated by running at least 12V positive on pin C and pin D to your 12V ground (e.g. connect a 12V wall wart power supply to a DC barrel jack adapter). If you want to control the solenoid with the arduino you need a logic level mosfet circuit as the arduino can't handle 12V directly. Wire one up yourself or get a pre-made kit - just make sure it is logic level switching. You can use the WoW code I posted earlier to activate the circuit if you want. The lights are 28VDC bulbs so either feed them that or switch them out for 5V LEDs and run them directly from the arduino. Just be sure to put a pre resistor in there. They look to be in parallel so factor that in. Connect pin B to ground and pin A to a PWM enabled arduino pin (e.g. 5) and paste code from the control reference just below the gear lever code and give it some PWM dimming code, e.g. like this for the A-10C: No sweat this is the fun part, messing with these things trying to get stuff interfaced :)

I can confirm that gear animation arguments are the same for at least the A-10C AJS37 AV-8B N/A F-5E F-14, F/A-18C F-86F L-39 M-2000C MiG-15, 19, 21 only the Harrier has an additional argument for the main/rear center wheels, like so: defineIntegerFromGetter("EXT_WOW_REAR", function() if LoGetAircraftDrawArgumentValue(343) > 0 then return 1 else return 0 end end, 1, "External Aircraft Model", "WoW Rear Gear")

Well as luck has it I have found a new way to determine WoW that is more realistic and does away with reading gauges.. DCS-BIOS can output the state of all animation arguments for the external aircraft model, so I just check the state of the landing gear strut compression. If it is fully extended there is no WoW. I check all three landing gear. Luckily most aircraft seem to share animation arguments (going back to FC3 it seems). I have only checked the A10 and F18 myself though. The function is built into vanilla DCS-BIOS, but you currently have to call it and add whatever exports you want to your aircraft libraries yourself, like so for the A-10C and F/A-18C: local defineIntegerFromGetter = BIOS.util.defineIntegerFromGetter defineIntegerFromGetter("EXT_WOW_NOSE", function() if LoGetAircraftDrawArgumentValue(1) > 0 then return 1 else return 0 end end, 1, "External Aircraft Model", "WoW Nose Gear") defineIntegerFromGetter("EXT_WOW_RIGHT", function() if LoGetAircraftDrawArgumentValue(4) > 0 then return 1 else return 0 end end, 1, "External Aircraft Model", "WoW Right Gear") defineIntegerFromGetter("EXT_WOW_LEFT", function() if LoGetAircraftDrawArgumentValue(6) > 0 then return 1 else return 0 end end, 1, "External Aircraft Model", "WoW Left Gear") You can put the code at the end of the file, before "BIOS.protocol.endModule()" If you're using DCS flight panels fork the function is already included in most aircraft libraries (they use it to export external lights), you can skip the first line and just add the gear exports. My Arduino code that uses this new WoW determination for the F18 looks like this /* Tell DCS-BIOS to use a serial connection and use the default Arduino Serial library. This will work on the vast majority of Arduino-compatible boards, but you can get corrupted data if you have too many or too slow outputs (e.g. when you have multiple character displays), because the receive buffer can fill up if the sketch spends too much time updating them. If you can, use the IRQ Serial connection instead. */ #define DCSBIOS_DEFAULT_SERIAL #include "DcsBios.h" byte NoseWow = 0; //weight on wheels - check if variable needs to match unsigned int byte RightWow = 0; byte LeftWow = 0; /* paste code snippets from the reference documentation here */ //---Check for WoW void onExtWowNoseChange(unsigned int newValue) { if (newValue == 1){ NoseWow = 1; } else { NoseWow = 0; } } [color="Red"]DcsBios::IntegerBuffer extWowNoseBuffer(0x54c2, 0x4000, 14, onExtWowNoseChange);[/color] void onExtWowRightChange(unsigned int newValue) { if (newValue == 1){ RightWow = 1; } else { RightWow = 0; } } [color="red"]DcsBios::IntegerBuffer extWowRightBuffer(0x54c2, 0x8000, 15, onExtWowRightChange);[/color] void onExtWowLeftChange(unsigned int newValue) { if (newValue == 1){ LeftWow = 1; } else { LeftWow = 0; } } [color="red"]DcsBios::IntegerBuffer extWowLeftBuffer(0x54c4, 0x0100, 8, onExtWowLeftChange);[/color] void setup() { DcsBios::setup(); pinMode(9, OUTPUT); //Output for solenoid control } void loop() { DcsBios::loop(); if (NoseWow == 0 && RightWow == 0 && LeftWow == 0){ //all wheels off the ground digitalWrite(9, HIGH); //activate solenoid to retract downlock } else { digitalWrite(9, LOW); } } Note that I have a modified F18 library, so the addresses in red will probably not work for you. Copy the code snippets from your own control reference and use this as inspiration for the code logic. Here's video where I test the new code. Not sure you can see anything but you should at least be able to hear the solenoid activating as the wheels leave the deck, unlocking the handle.

Has anyone tried this particular model? Well feel free to chime in if you have.. It is different from mine for sure, but I guess the functions should be similar. You have the pin diagram printed on top and it looks like you have the solenoid (including diodes across the poles) and two lamps in there. It should be straightforward to wire this thing up based on the pinout and try it. Then pins on the back side should have the matching letters. You need to feed the lamps 28V or switch them out for 5V LEDs+resistors (or 5V bulbs if you can find them). For the solenoid I would recommend trying 12V and see if it latches like mine does.. To control the 12V with the Arduino you need to build a MOSFET circuit: https://bildr.org/2012/03/rfp30n06le-arduino/ just make sure your MOSFET gives full output at 5V, like this IRL540NPBF Also as I mentioned above check out Hansolo's thread for inspiration on driving mag switch solenoids and maybe Joe here if you don't mind his TACAN constantly beeping haha no it's good stuff

Guys, regarding the FLIR switch issues it seems that the latest updates have changed some things, including how the LTD/R ARM position is implemented. Not sure which version of the F18 library you're on (v1.0 on this thread or the v1.1 update on DCS flight panels github) - but neither worked for me out of the box. The following changes have my switches working: define3PosTumb("FLIR_SW", 62, 3001, 439, "Sensor Panel", "FLIR Switch, ON/STBY/OFF") define3PosTumb("LTD_R_SW", 62, 3002, 441, "Sensor Panel", "LTD/R Switch, ---/SAFE/AFT") -- ARM position is handled by another parameter defineToggleSwitch("LST_NFLR_SW", 62, 3004, 442, "Sensor Panel", "LST/NFLR Switch, ON/OFF") You'll notice the device ID must be 62 (the TGP) and the counters skip one command ID (3003) controlling the ARM position - this you will have to add somewhere (like the end of the library) defineToggleSwitch("LTD_R_ARM", 62, 3003, 441, "Sensor Panel", "LTD/R Switch, ARM/SAFE") As you can see this function has the same clickable ID (441) as the rest of the LTD/R switch. The switch is working but it is not pretty.. Maybe someone can LUA the LTD/R back into a single parameter with a custom toggle switch function in the library?

F-16C (Cougar) grip: mil-spec button upgrade Looks great :thumbup: The warthog discussion is in Debolestis' thread https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3240303&postcount=495 Note that he uses P8 switches I think so they have shorter depth. P1s do fit well enough though. I haven't seen any threads on putting OTTOs in a Cougar. I was just referring to my own experience: The Cougar wiring is a mess. Easy to take apart, tricky to put back together without pinching anything.. You can see how the push buttons have a thin neck plunger going through small holes in the surface of the grip. The tact switches inside sit in moulded structures. I had to expand the holes to fit the P1 through and remove the moulded structures inside to make them fit deep enough. A carbide tipped Dremel makes short work of fingers and soft metal so be careful. It is relatively simple to swap and solder the OTTOs in place. I used electrician's tape to make them fit. I kept the raised lip around the holes so my buttons stick out quite a bit. If you expand the holes at least the index finger button should go in further. The paddle switch I left alone. Close her up and enjoy the clicking :joystick:

Excellent work there buddy. Let us know how it goes with the wiring and mmjoy box. Space is a bit tight in the handle necks so routing could be tricky, but as long as you're dealing with digital signals only and no analog axes at least noise shouldn't be much of an issue. If you plan to do the elevation wheel with a pot you may want to look into fitting a small ADC circuit in there to boost resolution and avoid noise. It plays nice with mmjoy as well.

I should probably clarify - the stock push buttons on the Hornet are the exact same as on the Warthog so if you were satisfied with those you should be golden. I mean I used to be pretty happy with the Warthog buttons I thought they were a massive improvement over the Cougar. Too bad I took Debolestis' advice and upgraded with OTTO buttons :)

Yes that's how mine felt as well out of the box. The stock buttons are pretty mushy and have a very muted click at the end of the stroke. With the OTTO buttons there is no doubt when you make contact. The click is very distinct and somewhat loud as you can tell in the video. That's a great idea! I didn't think it about when I had the grip open though. The hats should be easy to remove since they're only held in by tabs and hot glue. They pop out through the front though so you need to unplug the connector at the base PCB first. One issue may be the trim hat "crown" (with up down left right text) that may interfere with both the center screw and the up/down jog. The former is only decorative so you could just remove it but I don't know about what to do about the jog. Would be great if someone gave it a go ;)

Thrustmaster mods --------------------------------------------- F/A-18C (Hornet) grip upgrades OTTO P1 push buttons | OTTO T4 trim switch | OTTO T5 sensor control switch F-16C (Cougar) grip upgrades OTTO P1 push buttons A-10C (Warthog) grip OTTO P1 push buttons | OTTO T4 trim switch | OTTO T4/T5 hat switches for TMS/DMS/CMS A-10C (Warthog) throttle NEW--> Full mil-spec switch upgrade [OTTO, Cutler-Hammer, Honeywell, Mason] --------------------------------------------- Just a heads up, guys - the friendly engineers at Thrustmaster made it easy to swap their stock TM buttons with OTTO buttons to massively improve the clickity on the new Hornet grip same as what you can do on the Warthog grip. I opted for the 2.5 lbs actuation force for the pinkie and full 4 lbs for the pickle button. OTTO product numbers are P1-11111 and P1-11121 respectively: Here we go mashing buttons on the grip like a fool. No trouble reaching anything. Disassembly of the grip is pretty straightforward but you will run the risk of bricking it and you will probably void your warranty. First remove the paddle lever by unclipping the c clip and pushing the shaft pin out. There’s a spring in there and a small washer on the shaft. Unscrew the three hex bolts in the handle and pop the cover off. One of my bolts wanted to stay in the grip. Unscrew the PCB and push it out of the way. Unscrew the neck part that’s held in by a single bolt that also holds the ground wire and a small lock ring. Disconnect the pinkie button connector from the PCB and pop the button out through the front by pushing in the tabs on either side. You may need to rotate the button in place with pliers to be able to access both tabs. Cut the wires, strip the ends and solder them onto the OTTO button. You’ll want as much wire as possible for the new button as it can get a little tight in there. The OTTO button has a smaller diameter than the TM button so wrap some electrician’s tape around it; press it into the grip and connect it to the PCB. Fasten the neck part and PCB back into the grip and move on to the top part. Unscrew the two outer screws in the top part and pop the plastic top back and rotate it out of the way. The pickle button should be easy to pop out by pressing the two tabs in. Note that you have to cut the wires before removing this button, unless you want to try to disconnect it at the main PCB and re-threading the wire back down the neck of the grip. Replace it with the OTTO button same way as the pinkie button: leave as much wire in place in the grip as possible and use electrician’s tape to make a tight fit. You could file down the contacts or remove some plastic backing in the grip at this point if you want to set the OTTO button as deep as the stock button. I didn’t do it so mine sits at a very slight angle. Be careful not to pinch the flimsy wires and screw the top part and cover back on the grip. The paddle lever goes on last and it can be a bit tricky to get the spring seated correctly. Upgrade complete! Here's a short video showing how to get the paddle lever spring back on: In terms of difficulty I’d say this is easier than modding the Warthog since there’s fewer buttons to mess with. I suppose you could change the spring or the tact switch on the Hornet paddle lever but it’s not going to be as much of an upgrade as what’s possible on the warthog with a P1-11122. Compared to the Cougar though this is a walk in the park. Seriously. Don’t mess with the Cougar like I did. It takes a lot of Dremel grinding to fit the OTTOs in there and the result is not going to be as neat as what’s easily possible on the Warthog. Also, the new pinkie switch gets in the way of the paddle switch since they’re much closer together. Well, good luck if you decide to mess with your grips!