Analogue Gauges - prototype 1

[Sim Solutions Australia]

Hi All,

 

First working prototype... please comment. Yes, I know the photo is pretty poor quality.

 

I am adding green back lights for prototype 2.

 

What I'm aiming for...

Stepper motor controlled analogue engine gauges.

 

Custom control boards - 4x gauges each. Soft controlled back light dimming.

 

First board connected via USB Serial. Other boards via CAN Bus to reduce USB ports used.

 

Where I am at:

Boards designed and prototype works - USB serial and CAN bus. Needs back lighting control to be added.

 

1x gauge designed and put together - rough finish for the prototype and bad painting lol.

 

Thoughts anyone?

 

Cheers, Pete

[predator-nz]

Nice gauge. What software do you use to run the gauges ?

Also which aircraft will you be designing the gauges for ?

That gauge I recognize from the A10.

[Sim Solutions Australia]

Interface controlled by LUA script or DCS Bios. Its a serial interface so its pretty easy.

Command structure is:

[board address]M[motor number][half degrees to display - 0-630 where 630 is 315 degrees]

 

There is a math routine to calculate the degrees but its a pretty simple calculation.

 

Control boards run on 9-24v so easy to interface to any power supply.

 

On startup you will need to set the back light brightness.

 

I am currently changing the controller to run 8 gauges on one board to reduce cost (instead of 4).

 

A10 gauges at first but could modify for any aircraft as it is just a gauge face. This is provided I can find the correct font....

 

Cheers mate!