KLaFaille

As an FYI, the innards of my real ARU-2B/A ADI.

No worries total. I got the 30A 5V deal for about 50 bucks so I can't complain too much and it will do what I need it to. What I'm currently working with on the emergency panel light plate are two diffuse LEDs in series with a resistor. There will be 9 sets of these, then there will be the 19th LED by itself with a 150 Ohm. the 9 sets and the single will then all be connected in parallel, so worst case I lose an LED only two will go out. I am going to have to route new tracks into the board to get all my positives and negatives to the same point at the 5V connector. The original lighting was 19 small incandescent bulbs wired in parallel and then all sealed in with this hard white filler. A 1980 emergency panel at it's best. Thanks, Red

Hey everyone. Just a post to indicate that I'm still alive ;) and still working on the pit, albeit slowly. I'm away on an eight month road assignment for work so with all the pit stuff at home, things are progressing rather slow at the moment. I found a proper AAU-9/A VVI to replace the commercial gauge I had, and found a solution to my need for lighting the panels and pit. I picked up a 5V 30 amp power supply for a good price that will have all the current I need to light everything and then some hopefully. I've made a little headway on my emergency panel lightplate, I routed out all the old traces on the back side and removed the 19 original incandescent white bulbs. I'm currently tinkering with green LEDs to light the panel in as close a shade to NVIS Green as I can get. Dunno if I'll use a straight parallel or series / parallel LED array yet. Parallel will end up being 19 150 Ohm resistors soldered to each led, or the series / parallel would be 9 47 Ohm resistors soldered to 2 LEDs in series, with a 150 on the odd LED, have plenty of resistors to fiddle with just need to breadboard it all out and see what works best then mount it all to the light plate. That's about what is going on for now anyways. Red

Well as he said you have to deal with the weight consideration of the real instruments as he and I are using. Our real ARU-2B/A's weigh approximately 9 pounds, the HSI is around 6 or 7 pounds, RWR, Altimeter, Airspeed all weight anywhere between 2 - 5 pounds each. Let alone MFCD solutions, and all weight from the engine instrumentation gauges (probably 15 or 20 lbs there) All that weight hanging from the front bezel on 2mm aluminum wouldn't work very well. Then you have to take into consideration the forces that will be applied to the panel from auxiliary controls such as the landing gear handle and the fire pulls. These take probably close to 20lbs of force to actuate. if you are running straight sim gauges and instrumentation then perhaps you could get away with it, real stuff you need heavier, thicker material.

Any ideas how you'd reduce the light leaking from the panel and around the individual lamps?

Paul, thanks for the clarification on the panels. I had assumed that the entire faceplate was replaced during the NVIS conversion. It sounds like you added the green filters only? Have any tips for getting the sealer / filler out of the channels on the back of emergency panel light plate without destroying the plate? ;) My emergency panel is just white light so I need to change it and that stuff is pretty solid in there. Keith

If you going to run the bulb, I think you'd be fine with that cord. It's only 28V and the bulb states it draws 300mA current. I don't know if you have any internal lighting dimmer solution, but I'd wager you wouldn't want to run this at 28V anyways, it will likely be exceedingly bright. 14-18 volts would probably be a more comfortable level for a darkened room. Of course there would be the heat from the bulb which becomes a nuisance, so a hi-power LED or even a couple super bright ones tied together would be nice. And of course it's easier to supply the voltage to run the LEDs than the incandescent. I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Red

Ok some more info. http://www.bulbtown.com/1495_MINIATURE_BULB_BA9S_BASE_p/1495.htm That's the bulb (T-4-1/2, 500 Hour, 28V DC, 1.375" MOL) that I believe your light would use, based off the MIL-SPEC sheet I found on the light. It's made to run on 28V DC, voltage in through the solder contact on the back, ground is carried through the mounting bracket. Red

Well if you are going for accuracy vs a real ARU-2B then, the pitch knob is missing, the glide slope indicator seems to be missing, the sphere is wrong, it's missing the glide slope warning flag, and unless the internal zeroing screw is turned way up, the horizontal yellow needle should not be in that position with no power on the unit. The real ARU-2B/A is 5.0" wide by 5.25" high, bezel dimensions. As Gus mentioned, these are no easy task to make operate, and the items missing from the ADI you have pictured will not be easy to add in. The internals of these are very cramped and quite delicate for what they go through. Also, you'll need a way of providing 400Hz 3 Phase 115V AC, 400Hz 3 Phase 26V AC, and 400Hz single phase 13.8V, just to power the unit and supply the necessary voltages to the synchros and control transformers. To actually get them to work and do things, you need two digital to synchro converters, one for each axis, which are not cheap but can be made yourself, and a microcontroller to interface it with whatever data you are going to feed it. Not trying to scare you off, just telling you what you have in store for you if you go down this road. I know it well myself. Stuff (1 of 2) by KLaFaille, on Flickr Red

Thanks Total, I'd appreciate that very much. But you definitely have your priorities straight right now! :beer: Enjoy your vacation, Red

The dark lens is also likely a UV filter for NVG use, so you won't see visible light coming through it, or if you do it may be a very faint bluish purple. Best bet is to replace the lens. Red

Likely 26V-28V AC / DC is required to run the light. Without seeing the inside I would guess that a T1-3/4 bulb or two would be used, just because that is the most common. Couldn't say for sure though. Are there any markings on the light that could help locate some info? Red

The real transducer slew switch only has an X and Y axis. Voltage differences between each axis can be translated into diagonal movements. The real transducer is fed a voltage which then goes through the internal resistors and as the shaft moves the resistance changes thus varying the output voltages. These are fed through an operational amplifier circuit which boosts the voltages and they are sent to the aircraft. There are trimmer pots that are used to center and equalize the default resting position voltages. Red

10 degrees

Thanks for the great info again Total. I found it interesting that there was so much difficulty getting LEDs to work properly. Considering the narrow voltage window and the way the current scales in them though, I can see where there might be problems, especially considering how specific the requirements of MIL STDs are. I may play around with it a bit, but it will be hard to match the quality of the light the real panels put out currently. Good call on making some home built supplies, that seems a very good way to go. Just from taking other supplies apart they don't seem terribly complicated and, i'm guessing, it isn't like the bulbs would require some super low ripple high quality 5 VDC anyways. Red

Looking good! Red

Thanks everyone! While it's nice to get more of the panels and things together, I need to start working on the structure to mount these things to! Everything will be built with aluminum so I'm going to have to invest in some metalworking tools and basics to get that going, but that is down the road. I really want to get the throttle finished up and wired to the TM Warthog boards, and then work out the mechanics for the control stick. I'm thinking of using four pillow block bearings, two mounted to a frame that the stick will attach to for the roll axis, then that frame mounted to two others for the pitch axis. Hydraulic dampers will provide resistance and stick centering force. Or could eliminate two of the pillow blocks and use a yoke also. Hall sensors will provide the positioning, and I will likely rip those out of the TM stick base and extend the wiring as needed. The end goal is to have a totally plug and play throttle and stick setup for ease of interfacing. m0jo and Total thanks for the information regarding the supplies. Computer PSUs would seem like a logical choice that I hadn't really considered and I probably have five or six of those stashed away. Total makes a good point though, in that this will be a sustained steady current. A very rough guess off the top of my head, I'm looking at maybe 15A give or take a few just for the left and right console alone. I'm going to play around with some LEDs to see what sort of quality of lighting I can get. A draw 200-300 mA per panel would be a lot better, not to mention reducing heat (these panels do get quite warm) and not having to desolder miniscule incandescent bulbs when they burn out. Let me know what you find out Total, thanks. Thanks! All I can say is it helps to know the right people when you want to keep all your organs intact. :beer:

I've been a little slow on the pit side of things, playing around with some electronics to learn more on that side of things, and real life has a way of kicking you in the junk just when you think things are going OK...:music_whistling: Anyways, some work has gone on, and some bits and baubles have been acquired. The throttle is just about done, attaching the new face to the original grip has proven to be a bit of a pain but I pretty much have that worked out. Rewired the entire thing using proper Milspec 22ga wire, and with help from AlexRCPilot have a new transducer amplifier circuit built for the slew control. I have to get all the TM Warthog control boards mounted in an enclosure, right now they are all sitting in a pile on a shelf. Some more panels and a compass have been acquired, I now have an Electrical Panel, Aux Lighting, and LASTE panel all with the proper NVIS Type 1 Green backlighting, and I replaced a faulty magnetically held switch for the EAC in the LASTE panel with one I had on hand. The compass had red lighting, I took that out and filed down green LEDs to fit in a cavity above the glass, and with a resistor I'll get them their correct voltage (3.7V @ ~20mA) while still running it on the 5VDC lighting rail for the rest of the panels. Interestingly enough, these panels and most all others draw over half an amp current at 5V, so either LEDs will be in order or I'm going to need some large amperage 5V supplies and the proper hookups here in the house to power everything. Panels (17 of 23).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr Panels (16 of 23).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr Panels (18 of 23).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr Panels (20 of 23).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr Panels (19 of 23).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr Panels (21 of 23).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr Panels (22 of 23).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr Panels (23 of 23).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr Here's a video showing the proper magnetically held toggle switch for the EAC on the LASTE panel.

See attachment. Drawn by me, from this: Panels (2 of 23).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr Red ThrottleLightPlate.PDF

There is a specific wavelength for each color specified in the MIL spec. The two different classes of green NVIS lighting specify different wavelengths for different NVIS optics, for example.

There is also an NVIS blue color in the MIL. I'm sure you knew, so I'm just pointing it out for those that didn't.

They won't sell to outside the US because it would be a felony violation of ITAR laws, International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Even though they are just instruments they still fall under the regulations due to their military usage. A lot of backroom or loophole sales to Europe happen on these instruments or other components, by people who either don't know, don't care, or just take chances anyway. It is not unheard of for there to be arrests regards to this either. Just an FYI, Red

Pretty close. That looks like an AAU-31 whereas the A-10 uses the AAU-34 currently. Differences being the dial markings, pressure in inches, and the switch being ELEC and PNEU with the PNEU flag being yellow. Not that it matters for sim use, but the air fitting is missing, and you need an altimeter encoder in a real aircraft to run these along with 400Hz AC likely at 115V or perhaps stepped down to 26V. Best bet for running this is gut the inside and setup aircores, unless you have a pretty extensive electronics background or a TON of patience and are willing to learn it all. Crack it open and you'll see what I mean. AAU-31 altimeters show up on eBay regularly for decent prices. Red

Thanks, A lot of the weathering and shiny spots you see that look likes grease is black paint filling in all the chips and light leaks in the panels. Remember too that many panels and components never changed from the A-10A or A-10A+ so once the NVG panel upgrades happened in the 90's they haven't been changed out since. The switches themselves are sealed from dust and water but nothing is waterproof in the truest sense of the word. The instruments are sealed units and some, like the ADI are purged and filled with nitrogen, but really unless its monsoon type rain nothing is going to be affected. . The "new" comm head below the throttle is the AN/ARC-210(V) which can do standard VHF/UHF unencrypted but can also do SATCOM, HAVE QUICK, HAVE QUICK II, and other crypto secured comms. Yeah, I fat fingered the date, fixed now thanks.

A-10C Cockpit (20 of 26).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr A-10C Cockpit (21 of 26).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr A-10C Cockpit (22 of 26).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr A-10C Cockpit (23 of 26).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr A-10C Cockpit (24 of 26).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr A-10C Cockpit (25 of 26).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr A-10C Cockpit (26 of 26).jpg by KLaFaille, on Flickr Red