Jocman

Ok,i won't do it. So i think i'll separate and use the 12v only to feed the arduinos and the 5v to feed the max487 chips and all the other stuff (leds,max7219,and so) I'm going on with re-design my PCBs,so i keep waiting for your advices.

Hi all. After several years, I was pretty sure to see "the end of the tunnel": I realized almost the 90% of the physical cockpit (panels with leds, switches, displays, etc), and almost lost my right thumb while working on the metal body of the cockpit. Following the HanSolo RS485 tutorial, I realized the first working prototypes of RS485 network, then developed my "point of view" of PCB for the Nanos and Megas to use (about 30 in total). But things aren't going in the right way: most of the switches (7 nanos + 1 mega connected until now) seem working properly, but also strange behaviour: - delay in responding: even 1,5 sec between the press of a btn and the "virtual" answer, hoping it doesn't get "virtually" stucked (the physical btn is released, but the virtual keep being pressed); it happens even with the switches sometimes... - the mega giving no sign of life; until I physically unplug the TX/RX connectors and re-plug them.... - I tried to test some leds by the lamp test button (by pressing the virtual one): all the nanos got reset and restarted; I tried again a couple of times, and I had to reload all the sketches because they stopped giving any sign of life..... After reload the sketches, they started to work again (but with the above problems.....) Well, the solutions: trash everything and switch my mind to get a consolle and play only with platform games (horror and abomination!), or give it a chance (or more...) by changing something or all (and my right thumb thanks...) So, I will ask you for some info because of my raised doubts: - Can I power arduino with both 12 and 5 volts at the same time (one direct to Vin, the other on +5)? Until now I used only 5V (for everything), but maybe arduino could work better by using 12V and let him manage his internal power. But in case I'll have even the 5v option - Still about power: is fine to use a single PSU (my intent is to use an old PC PSU to power all the system-now I'm using a bench PSU)? - RS485 A-B signal: the 2 wires have to be twisted/shielded/both or 2 straight wires are enough? I see lot of you using a 5-6 wires flat cable, but on some electronic forum they talk about twisted/shielded wires.... - Still A-B signal. I've an alarm shielded cable coil (red/black 1,5 mm and 4 wires 1 mm): may I use the black and red for +12 and +5, and one of the small wires for GND (having so other 3 wires for A, B and 1 jolly)? - The master can manage 3 lines: is it better to divide the workload among the 3 lines, or even just one line shouldn't have any problem to manage tens of slaves? - I've seen that Blue73 (https://forum.dcs.world/topic/187748-modular-panel-wip/?do=findComment&comment=3775559) use the RS485 bus even to wire all the arduinos reset pin over the bus network. There's some reason to? - For my PCBs I'm using MAX487 chips; normally, for MAX486 chips I've read to put a 120ohm resistor between every A-B terminals. But if I'm right, it doesn't need with MAX487, is it? I'm sorry to annoy you with all those questions, but.... Thanks in advance for your help

Well, after several days of testing (and swearing) suddenly something's changed. I don't know what....I just re-loaded the sketch on the board. For the sake of honesty, I tested an RS485 chain with 2 Nanos and 1 Mega. The 2 Nanos are correctly working (they communicate), but initially the mega kept not communicating. I tried (desperation?) by unplugging the dupont wires fromt TX0/RX0 and plugging into TX1/RX1 (with all the system still powered and connected to the master.) The mega started to communicate..... Then unpowered the system and powered again: the mega didn't work. Unplugged the wires again and plugged back to TX0/RX0: it started to work again.... Unpowered then powered: the mega didn't work again.....unplugged and plugged the wires again (this time on the same TX0/RX0): the mega works..... I don't understand, what's wrong???

Thankyou very much for your suggestion. I'll read the post and meke some test. I'll post in the next days about the news.

I made 2 interfaces. The one for the Nano hosts a Max487 chip (and the needed components), the connectors for the nano board and the pins for wiring the panels switches/leds/others. As the Nano board is very small, it is directly mounted on the interface PCB The one for the Mega board is smaller, as it hosts only the Max487 chip and the needed components. This interface is connected to Mega board via wires: the enabled pin for RS485 is the #2, while TX and RX are wired to TX1/RX1 pins. (attached the image of both the interfaces) With some dupont wires it's "easy" to connect "on the fly" the Mega board to the interface made fo the Nano and viceversa. This way I made the cross test, so I'm sure the interface for the Mega board works, thus the problem is the Mega board (i'm referring to a Mega board as slave). When I use a Nano with both type of interfaces, by pressing the physical button the virtual button is regurarly pressed. My plans are (or were??) to connect most of the panels to Nano boards, but for some panels (as the PVI800 keyboard) I'd like to use a Mega board via RS485 The RS485 master is obviously a Mega board direct via USB.

Hi all. I've read several similar posts,but no solution worked to my issue. I self-made 2 type of rs485 interfaces (using MAX487): one such an embedded system for nano, one just the rs485 for Mega. The Nano embedded interface works very fine,all the Nanos connected work fine. But now I'm trying to connect a Mega (for the PVI800 keyboard). Well,it simply doesn't work..... I made some crossed test: - connect the Nano interface to Mega: it doesn't work - connect the Mega interface to Nano: it works - connected Mega as IRQ Serial : it works - connected Tx/Rx pin over all the Mega connection (tx/rx 0 to tx/rx 3) but no working When Mega is connected to its dedicated rs485 interface, the RX led stays off and the board doesn't work..... I tried with 2 different Mega Boards,but same result: if connected as IRQ Serial, both the boards do their job, but if connected via RS485 no way to make them work. Honestly i don't understand..... Both kind of interfaces are correctly working,so the problem is Mega, but why? Jocman

Hi all. I tried to find out something about,but no luck.... Sifting through the .h library's files (dcsbios fork),i found several very interesting functions, like (i.e.) the excellent SwitchWithCover. While it is almost clear what should this function do, it is not really clear how to use it. By reading the code inside the library, you can get the way to use it,so did I. Nevertheless, by sifting the other .h files (like SyncingSwirches, RotarySyncingPotentiometer,etc etc) there are a lot of function (at least resting on their names) potentially very interesting and / or useful. Unfortunately, even digging into github fork's repo, you can't find a complete library reference (nor examples) of the improved dcsbios library. The only reference (and well documented with examples) reported is about the Ian's "original" dcsbios library, so is missing a lot of function. My question: does it exist a complete library reference of the Fork's expanded library, so to fully understand all the available functions, without be restricted to the...standard used functions (the ones documented)? Thanks all in advantage

Going on with coding, time to pass to LWR. Easy one (8 LEDs and 1 BTN), nevertheless...... As the hardware test shows all the LEDs working (just a simple cycle in arduino), once launched the sim there's no way to see the BTN working..... You can push it whenever you want....nothing.... I double checked (but even triple quadruple, etc etc) everything about the BTN (DCSBIOS code, hardware wiring, etc etc) but nothing to do. By using a test sketch (the standard arduino example sketches) the BTN (so as the hardware wiring) works fine...... Any idea?

About the T suffix I confirm, the FlightPanels library (at least, the one I got) have the T as suffix (reading directly the library). I got it from GitHub, or there's another website more updated where to get it? Currently, I wrote the code by manually building the line and getting the code from the HUB aircraft reference, but is there any aircraft reference adapted to FlightPanels? Nevertheless, by giving the command like Switch2PosT I get an error message; giving it without T, it does work.... Nope, you're right, it doesn't. But i made a try. Compiled the arduino file with the FlightPanels library and launched the HUB. It works. BTW, so as HUB is not updated (at least, until now) are you suggesting me to use the "old" command line DCSBIOS SOCAT? If so, wich release? And, when you say "some modifications can't be used with Hub.", what are you referring to? I know I'm almost....poor in new developments, but I'm spending all the freetime I can in trying to finish the building of my cockpit, and honestly I'm not so updated.... Thanks Jocman

First of all, thanks for your support. About the FlightPanels fork, I went to this alternative last week. Honestly, since I've been starting coding about 3 weeks ago, I coded a couple of...."easy" panels, meaning just push button and leds, with or without display. I'm referring to PVI-800 and UV-26, and a couple of other panels with no switch covers. Since it was a little bit long, i'm quite reluctant to leave the "old way" considering the follows: - the release of DCSBIOS HUB is, to me, a great solution in managing the system: connecting to sim, and managing the control reference... piece of cake - Reading the docs about the fork, I'm getting a little bit confusing...I'm not understandig if by adopting the fork, i can keep using the HUB to connect the boards to the sim, or i've to "downgrade" to the previous management system (i.e. as I reed, the fork suggest to use the old chrome control reference, instead of the new one in HUB: is there any reason to not use the new one? the control reference isn't the same?ok there's the "T" suffix now, but the rest of?) - By examining the new fork libraries (at least about the switches section) I've seen the commands now have different names (i.e Switch2Pos is now Switch2PosT) and evend the code side differs from the Ian's original one. This means, by adopting the fork, I'll have to recode everything to match the new library. Well......I could even switch to the fork, but it will worth? I'm not again it, but I just wish to understand.... In my spare time, I'm trying to see if someway I can create a code similar the fork's for the switch cover to merge into the "original" Ian's library. I'm not so into C++, but who knows.... Beside this, about the rotary switches and their pins? Thanks Jocman

Hi all. Still stucked in my home cockpit building since ....... you better you don't know about, I'm now starting seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Hardware is 75% done (3 or 4 non functional panels missing, and the main structure), electronics (PCBs at 99% and full working - untill now), and time is come to start playing with coding. Not really a big issue, Ian made it really easy. Nevertheless, I'm getting some puzzlements. The main one: the "switch cover affair"...... I've read several post here in DCS concerning the affair, but it seems all of them are all "joystick user oriented" only; it means I'm still fighting with finding a solution. I learned that Ka50 LUA philosophy about the command mapping is very different from the...standard one (A10 and F18); of course, in the worst meaning.... As many people, I tried the easiest cheat: programming the same arduino's pin to drive both commands set (cover + switch). Obviously, it doesn't work....too much easy, uh....? Maybe the next (easy?) solution could be the alteration of LUA files by merging the 2 individual code lines (cover and switch) in one, so my questions become: wich LUA files are involved? And the most big question: is there anybody out there who can simply exemplify how to merge the 2 lines? Moreover as Ka50 LUA philosophy striles a discordant note....... Once understood the mechanism, everyone (not only me) interesting in such stuff would be very grateful. A second issue is related to using a rotary switch. Exemplifying: the Datakling mode selector is a 4 position rotary switch, and the related DCSBIOS code drives 4 pins; someway, it makes sense: all the 4 positions have a meaning. But considering the overhead's navlight switch (but the same for many other multipos switches): is a 4 way switch (OFF/10/30/100%). Find a 4 way level switch, well....so I opted for a rotary switch. The DCSBIOS code drives 5 pins.... My puzzling becomes: Why 5 pins to drive 4 positions??? And: can only 3 pins drive this switch? after all: pin 1>10%, pin 2>30% pin 3>100%, no pin> OFF My coding tale is just begun, so it is very likely I'll get stucked somewhere, altough I hope not, this case I'm afraid I'll bother you again..... By now, thanks in advance to everyone will support me . Cheers Jocman

Al momento sto andando avanti a dischi multipli per ogni cosa ke faccio,ogni disco con il suo OS e io software che mi serve,a seconda di cio che voglio fare cambio HDD : - Os + programmi creativi (x stampa 3d,lavorazioni CNC,etc) - Os + DCS - Os + FS - Os dedicato a cazzeggio internet, giochi vari,varie ed eventuali Probabilmente è un po esagerato,ma almeno cosi nn mi sputt...no tutto in caso di problemi. In passato(quando usavo un solo Os xper tutto) mi sono sempre trovato al punto che a causa del zozzume (soprattutto derivante dal traffico di rete) mi rallentava tutto etc etc. Da quando faccio cosi,ho tutto molto piu leggero e funzionale per il caso specifico

Sto passando ad un sistema su SSD solo per DCS,e quindi sto vedendo cosa prendere. Mi orientavo su un SSD da 1Tb,ma per sicurezza mi è venuto da andare a vedere se era sufficiente (beh,direi di si,o almeno me lo auguravo),cosi ho preso la lista delle mie "proprietà" DCS (9 moduli tra velivoli e scenari) e ci ho aggiunto DCS world. E ovviamente poi ci sarà Win10. La cosa strana è che per qualunque modulo andassi a vedere il setup ottimale,tutti richiedono 120Gb; anche World richiede 120Gb..... Ora,va bene che tutto è possibile,ma è mai possibile che qualunque componente DCS occupi "d'ufficio" 120Gb???? Anche perchè cosi facendo non basta un SSD da 1Tb per installare i soli miei "possedimenti",a cui vanno poi aggiunti World e Win 10. E del resto,anche prendendo un SSD da 2Tb,basta prendere un paio di altri moduli (scenari per lo piu che mi interessano) e riempirò pure quello.... Insomma,mi sembra un po strano.... Dove posso reperire i dati relativi allo spazio effettivamente richiesto da ogni modulo? Andrea

Well, thanks for the replies. About the models, I think maybe it will be better to pay a little bit now, but get a good (high ?) level device, more than get a cheaper one, then feel to want more, get a new one and keep the old one "on your bal...s" trying to sell it undercost. The Valve Index, currently, seems to be the one giving more features (not least the refresh rate), followed by Vive Pro. I was considering Pimax for the FOV, but something leaves me someway dubious..... BTW, I'm planning the attend the Cologne Gameshow the next month, hoping to test some headset, and in a...professional way. Couple of months ago I went to a local fair, they had some headset to play with (the Vive first generation), but (I hope) the setup was really a sh..t, the images were really a bounch of squares (really, squares, not pixels!), unconceivable! It seemed to me the first headset I played with (it was the far 1995) with Doom: for that year it was awesome, but not today!

Hi all. While I'm still going on with my homemade cockpit (Ka50 - endless....), I'd like even to fly my huey, the forthcoming F16 and maybe some other else. As it will be (i guess) inconceivable to build an individual cockpit for each of them (it would be awesome, but first of all, the place for each of them, then the cost, etc; and out of scale, the wife.....), the good solution will be the VR. It's quite some time I'm reading and collecting infos about the VR market, expecially in this last time I'm considering (in the order): Valve Index, Vive Pro and Pimax. Well, maybe the day I'll finally get my VR headset (if I keep going on this way....) many other VR products will be made, but I've a big...perplexity about, and I beg perdon for the silly question. I see, for every headset, they report to Steam environment or such. As I abhor all of these streaming/online/etc provider (reason why I'm getting all my DCS modules as standalone), I'm wondering if the VR headset will work even with no reference to them. I mean (low level talking): despite the compatibility with Steam and others, the VR headset will be seen like a "SciFi monitor" (ok with the VR features), or someway I will have to depend from these online platforms? Thanks Jocman

Hi all. I'm trying to program DCS-BIOS with the MAX72XX to drive annunciator, warning lights, etc etc in BS2 module. I've been watching some sample program (caution panel) found in the forum, but (unfortunately) they are made for AC10 module. More unfortunately, the led addressing for AC10 module's caution panel is....easy. So, to create something similar for BS2 module, I'm thinking about such logic structure (array or matrix) adapted to the BS2 led addresses. My question: LED addresses in DCS-BIOS ar something like: 0x1818 or 0x184a, etc . There are more led with the same address (es. 0x1818 , but the mask is different (0x0001, 0x0800, etc) So, every led is identified by (i suppose) something like 0x1818+0x0800 or 0x1818+0x0001, etc. I'd need to know how DCS tell arduino the led ID, so to use this ID to manage the led with arduino. As it can be very possible I'm totally wrong, that case can someone explain me how it works? Thanks all Jocman

I give myself the answer. After some test (I tried all the rotary - or multi - switches in the Ka50 cockpit), I can say the following: In the overhead panel, the 2 switches NavLights and WindshieldWiper can be wired to 4 pins instead of 5 (as reported in the reference), saving this way 2 pins. In fact, the 5th position is such a "ghost" one: if you click the cockpit switch, it will works only in left, center, right, down position. Using a physical switch (a rotary), the first 4 positions drive correctly the 4 values (off,10,30,100), but the 5th moves the lever upward (there's nothing functional in the sim about this 5th position). Same issue about the windshield wiper. So, I can say this 5th one can be deleted without any problem; I also modified the code [font=Times New Roman][size=3][font=Courier New]constbyte opWindshieldWiperPins[5] = {[i][color=red]PIN_0, PIN_1,PIN_2, PIN_3, PIN_4[/color][/i]};[/font][font=Courier New] [/font][font=Courier New]DcsBios::SwitchMultiPosopWindshieldWiper("OP_WINDSHIELD_WIPER", opWindshieldWiperPins, 5);[/font] [/size][/font] to [font=Times New Roman][size=3][font=Courier New]const byte opWindshieldWiperPins[4] = {[i][color=red]PIN_0, PIN_1, PIN_2, PIN_3[/color][/i]};[/font][font=Courier New] [/font][font=Courier New]DcsBios::SwitchMultiPos opWindshieldWiper("OP_WINDSHIELD_WIPER", opWindshieldWiperPins, 4);[/font] [/size][/font] I don't know if is correct, but it works fine Same thing for the windshield wiper No such issue for the rest of the rotaries (no need of change and, unfortunately, no pins to save) If I wrote/made/told something wrong, please correct me

I think I'll do it, as I've been doing for my previous project (never airborn, just left on the taxyway....). Don't think I'll bring new solutions, but who knows?

I start this (little) new topic just to have a clarification about the SwitchMultiPos function. As it will be used to manage rotary switches or similar, I'd need to understand this: i.e. the NavLight have 4 sets: 10/30/100/OFF, so I expect 4 position (4 pins), but the reference reports 5 position (5 pins). Same issue for all the SwitchMultiPos in the reference. Can you explain the issue? why there's always 1 pin more than the switch positions? Thanks

Well, back home, I tried with the BigOne PC with DCS2.5 and......everything is working fine: the socat window scrolls, the switch works, and the LED is ON. This will be just a little problematic to program DCS BIOS (as I'd like to work on my laptop and then move all the working files in the desk pc), but I'll manage it someway. The important thing is that is working. Thankyou very much both of you (Ian and you) for your support.

Well, Warhog, do you believe me if I tell you I was thinking about the same "solution"? (BTW, I have been supposing it in #12) I was not sure, just a sensation, in fact yesterday evening I got my new GTX1080, installed and finally downloaded DCS2.5 and BS2. Didn't have time yesterday to set DCS - BIOS, but I'll try today and I'll post the result.

Well, I don't know if it's a good idea, but I recorded a short video. On the right side, you can see my DCS folder, where I put all the DCS-BIOS data as reported in user guide (inside Script folder), more all the DCS-BIOS files. Then, while BS2 is running and no pause, I start connect-serial-port (the nano is on com5). As you can see, nothing happens (no scrolling at all), but if I press the switch, the master caution works (the LED doesn't.....) 2018-06-23-10-36-01.part1.rar 2018-06-23-10-36-01.part2.rar

Uhm..... I don't like that Any advice on how to fix / check it? I think I followed all the instruction about how to install DCS-BIOS, no idea on what to do now.... As you can see in post #3, there's a screenshot of my DCS and socat running

Hi Warhog, and thanks for your support. As reported, I made some other try by using the gear lever switch and the gear nose down led. But nothing changed: the switch (the lever, this case) works, the LED doesn't. As "test field" I use to run the free flight over Sokhumi (sorry if is wrong written), so to have the heli already on air, with all the systems on, and no pause. I dont' know if is important, but differently of the most of the BIOS online videos, when I place on the screen both BIOS and DCS Windows, I don't see a.....flux of data flowing in socat, I just see when I press and release the button. Don't know if this matters, as I'm new on BIOS. The only thing I can suppose could be related to the DCS World version I'm using (1.2), as by now I've to test on my laptop, and this is the max scenario I can run. I highly hope this is not the issue, as right yesterday I reassembled my usual desktop at home, and installed DCS 2.5; unfortunately, the desktop neither can run it, the issue, as for the laptop, is the Video RAM. About that, I'm planning to get a new video card (thinking about GeForce gtx1080, but as I've read in few days - maybe- nvidia should release the new architecture, maybe I can save some bucks - the GTX is almost 700$....)

1 - The sketch comes from DCS-BIOS (IRQ serial example, where I put the lines coming from the Ka50 BIOS reference) 2 - DCS-BIOS 0.7.1 3 - BS2 4 - The heli is currently flying (any kind of pause) (if I move the flight controls, the heli execute the commands) As reported, at the moment the problem is "limited" to the LEDs, as the switches seem working right.... Allegedly, the problem reported in post https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3535963&postcount=3 were linked to a wrong pin reference, as after i reported in post nr 5 (for clarity: my first hardware attempt has been made using an "official" nano reference. In that occasion, the switch worked, the led doesn't. later, i found the "simplified" version of nano reference, changed the pins according with that - wrong - pin numbers, so no functionality at all. The last attempt, after realizing the wrong pin number, has been made with the original Nano reference (so as posted by Han): once again, switches work, LEDs don't...)