lesthegrngo

All, most of the time I am fine with soldering, I've had enough practice doing my build that in theory it shouldn't be an issue. The majority of joints are good, if not the best quality, but every now and then I get a joint, or more often series of joints that have whiskers of solder sticking out from them. I can't make this happen if I try, but when it does start happening I can't seem to stop it. Sometimes the whiskers can be 3 or 4 mm long, and either stick up or sidewards. The soldering iron is set to about 380 degrees, and like I mentioned most joints are good. I bought a good ceramic iron, wipe the iron tip regularly, use flux, generally solder with cored solder, and the problem can appear after doing ten good joints, then the next one in the line on the same component does its trick. I've searched the web, and either I've invented a new problem or I don't know the correct terminology, but all the 'common soldering problems' tips pages don't discuss this. If anyone can point to either some tutorials or reasons why this is happening I would be grateful Cheers Les

I'll dig out the one that I modified and post pictures. It won't be impossible, just a bit of a pain to do. Cheers Les

Sorry, I didn't explain properly - the actual toggle lever in the switch can turn with respect to the body of the switch, so even if I could time the cap to the lever, the lever would still be free to turn. Sorry for not being clear Cheers Les

Two related but different answers While you can run switches from Arduinos, USB 'button box' devices like Bodnar's BBI-64 are a very reliable and easy way to control switches and rotary encoders, and some of Bodnars devices work well with potentiometers as well. They are pretty bullet proof and you can connect lots of input devices to them. Also, they work outside of DSC Bios, requiring you to only set the assignments in the DSC controller setup page For controlling OLEDs, LCD displays, Stepper motors for gauges, advanced input devices and also LED indicator light outputs etc, Arduinos over an RS485 network is the way to go, check out the DCS Bios over RS485 sticky thread at the top of the home cockpits forum page. A note on trying to use one Arduino to power multiple devices, you can find that over RS485 the way the data is streamed seems to make the refresh of things like steppers slow, whereas over USB it seems multiple steppers can be run off one Arduino more easily. However don't run any steppers that move a lot on the same Arduino as an OLED, my experience is that the refresh of the stepper is timed by the refresh rate of the OLED. As a result I bit the bullet and made one Arduino Nano for each device when I went the RS485 route You can run both types of devices (USB button box and Arduino controlled devices) in parallel. I am a complete dunce when it comes to electronics and all the programming stuff and even I was able to make it function (although with a great deal of input from the great people on this forum) I'm certain that there will be lots more replies to this! Les

There is a way to change how switches behave by some kind of script, I remember doing that about three or four years ago. This is the thread, I managed to make it work, but I have to confess I found it hard to follow due to me not being very adept in programming, plus there were some confusing references in there where commands didn't appear where I expected them to be I hope you find it easier to follow that I did, good luck! Cheers Les

There aren't yet, simply because I haven't got round to them, but I will. However there are three issues with them. Firstly, most toggle switches have a slight teardrop shape, which means either you have to use a rubbery material to make them with so that they can push on OK, or use a rubber sleeve to line a cap, or as I am experimenting with, you machine the toggle switch lever so that it is straight and put a thread in the top. That way you can use a little M2 or M3 bolt to hold the cap in place. The problem with that is that I'm still not clear how I can make caps like the ones with the pointed tops, as that would have to go over the bolt head somehow Secondly there are lots of toggle switches out there, and from my experience they are similar, but not the same, so what works for one may not work for another. The splines and D shafts for potentiometers and encoders are much more defined by specifications, but the shape of the toggle lever is not Lastly, there is no way to stop the levers from rotating, so as you move the switch, the cap will go out of line with the switch body. That all said, I was already looking into this before getting distracted by another part of the build, and had stripped down one of the large toggle switches, machined the lever parallel and threaded it with an M3 thread. I'll try and knock up some switch caps over the coming days to see how well that will work. I was thinking of the flat topped conical ones used on the armament panel to start with due to the ease of putting the caps on and no rotation issue Les

Thanks, only one wire so easy to incorporate. Cheers Les

Is there any point in a 12v supply to Master Mega input? So far I have only used the USB connection, with a 5v bus on to the RS485 outputs. Will the 12v in do anything or is it unnecessary? Cheers Les

Sorry, just seen this - no alert to show me it was answered Thanks for the response, much appreciated! Cheers Les

I have a NRL V3 unit, and use it extensively for Sim racing in concert with a VR headset - but the few times I have used it with DCS has left me very much in the 'no thanks' camp. On its own in DCS, it just doesn't feel right, and with the VR, sorry to say that I'm one of those who can't take it due to motion sickness. For the sim racing though, it has been very very good - in fact it was the cure for me for the Sim racing motion sickness that VR caused. With the V3 it really helps to make you feel that you are there, and vastly enhances the experience. I would imagine it would help with DCS in VR as well if you were able to stomach it Les

Hi all, my joystick was seeming to drift, and I couldn't accurately steer - to begin with I thought it was just my poor flying, but I noticed that at deadstick position the aircraft would keep turning. As it's well out of warranty, I thought I'd take a look at it, as well as seeing if I could add a laser cut and engraved spacer to the spring. What I found was that under the upper gimbal part that has the male thread on it for the handle, there is a post with two plastic pins, onto which fits a small plastic module onto which is mounted the magnet that the hall effect sensor reads. It looks like that the pins are melted over to form 'rivets' that retain the magnet holder. On mine, the magnet holder was loose, with one of the pins completely bent over. I can't imagine how that can be caused by misuse, as it is in a 'sealed' area, but it is what it is. However I need to get that part replaced, so I am hoping that Thrustmaster are reasonable with spares policy. I've sent them a message on their site, but can anyone give me any insight into whether they are good in terms of aftermarket support? Cheers Les

A short update, here are pics of the HUD frame and support, the 'glass' is some thin transparent polycarbonate sheet but to keep it scratch free I will only install it once the HUD frame is fixed to the rig Cheers Les

The Beta version worked fine, came up with the dialog box to select the path. So, either the non-beta version installer has a glitch, or the installation is only allowed in one specific location, though why that would be is beyond me Thanks for the help guys Les

Regular - I'll try the beta version tomorrow, I assume it works with DCS Bios ok? Cheers Les

I've tried the usual stuff - restart the PC, gone in and deleted the install DCS was trying to do in the default location and the folder, but for some reason it seems to be hard wired to install in C:/Program File/Eagle Dynamics I should have been a beta tester for Microsoft, I would have found all the bugs for them.... Cheers Les

All of those show up to the epilepsy warning, then when you click NEXT, it goes straight to Select Additional Tasks, missing out the location dialog box Les

Sorry, but it doesn't show any of that, the only options are install, cancel, yes or no. It gets to the updater, then says not enough space without ever asking for an install location Cheers Les

There is none of those options, because it does not ask for any directories, it just goes straight to 'not enough space' At no point does it give me any other options other than to proceed or cancel Cheers Les

What I did was open explorer, clicked on 'my computer', then right clicked on the downloads folder. From there, 'properties', then 'location' and changed it to F:/Downloads It then asked me if I wanted to move all the downloads into that folder and I clicked 'yes' As for properties of the updater, this is a complete new install on my son's PC, so the only thing I am doing is on the web clicking on the 'download' button on the DCS World page, then opening the .exe file that pops up in the corner. From there, there are no other options other than do you want to continue Am I missing something? Cheers Les

Hi all I just moved the downloads folder to another drive with over a terabyte free space and tried again, and it still comes up with the same message. I moved the install.exe file to the new downloads folder and tried again, no luck. It wants to only try and install in the C drive, I can't see any option to change the installation or download to folder Any ideas? Cheers Les

His downloads are set to the C drive which only has 45Gb space, but it's his PC - I don't want to mess it up for him Why is there no 'download to' option? Cheers Les

My son has left his PC with me so that I can use it to to test all my cockpit gear with DCS, but when I tried to download DCS World (non steam edition)it tells me there is not enough space on the disk. However there is plenty of space on other drives, but DCS doesn't give you an option of where to download to Is there a way to change where it downloads to? Cheers Les

Hi All, I have the A10-C DLC (actually bought as a DVD years ago) installed on my dual purpose Sim PC. It is shared between my car racing sim rig and my A10-C cockpit used for DCS. It's a very high spec machine due to the use of VR for the racing sims and the requirement to run 6 monitors total for the cockpit. As I will only ever play one game at a time it is not worth purchasing a second high end PC. However the problem is that I am still in the (eternal) process of building the cockpit, and so right now I am not actively playing DCS, but I do have to test out the various bits I make. This means having to connect and disconnect all the monitors, USB devices etc each time, even for simple tests as DCS Bios needs it. It's a chore to do plus I am always worried that the continual disconnection and reconnection will cause issues. My son has gone off to college and has left his gaming PC with me, which is a reasonable if not spectacular spec, and while probably not good enough to use to play DCS, it is more than good enough to work as a test PC, but I am concerned that if I install the A10-C DLS onto it, it will disable the original installation or cause issues. It would never be the case of both running DCS at the same time so I want to know if it is permissible to have two instances of the same on two different PC's so that I can use it for testing Cheers Les

Perfect, thanks! Les

got it working, the only thing is I am unable to find a PAN view control, is that possible with model viewer? Nice tool by the way, thanks for pointing it out! Les