Start Engines with out keyboard

[Jason210]

Hi

 

I usually start the engines with ALT / CTRL + HOME combination but how can you do it just from the cockpit when in VR?

 

Jason

Edited March 19, 2021 by Jason210

[thunderchicken02]

Bind it to your HOTAS or use voice attack.

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[Foka]

Depends on HOTAS you're using. In Warthog there is a button on cut-off position.

[LeCuvier]

On 3/19/2021 at 8:33 PM, Jason210 said:

Hi

 

I usually start the engines with ALT / CTRL + HOME combination but how can you do it just from the cockpit when in VR?

 

Jason

 

I cannot find a command "Engines Start" bound to ALT or CTRL + HOME. Are you referring to the auto-start procedure, or really just starting the engines in a manual start-up?

What kind of HOTAS do you use?

[Caldera]

Jason,

 

Way back during my first engine starts (4 months ago...)  I looked into that.  My conclusion was/is that you can't.   At the time, I was just happy to get the aircraft up and running.

 

The actual A-10 is something like yada yada yah, engine control switch in Ignition then advance the throttle to the idle detent.  This is suppose to initiate the engine start sequence.  The start sequence would be something like engage the pneumatic starter motor, spin up to the starting RPM, turn on the igniters, turn on the fuel valves, check for EGT temperature rise, stop the starter motor and then spin up to idle RPM.  

 

At that time I wondered why the ALT-HOME (left engine) worked the way it did and I guessed that ALT-HOME initiates all the stuff I just described above.  I am not exactly positive, but I think that moving the throttles past the idle detent shuts them off as well.  And maybe the reason why things were programed the way they are might be exactly that.

 

My Virpil throttle could most likely could be configured to accomplish that.  I am not that familiar with other brands or what you own.  You would need to be able to program digital buttons into the analog axis and set up your detents so that they were correctly positioned.

 

-OR-

 

Look into building yourself a button/switch box. Put some big buttons/switches on it that you can use in the pitch black darkness.  It is extremely easy, quick and cheap.  I used the Zero Delay USB Encoder Card (12 digital inputs).

 

Caldera

[zinhawk]

As long as your battery is on, ignition breakers in, and you have an air source (in normal case the APU), all you need to do is put the corresponding throttle "over the horn" (lift function on HOTAS throttles) to start. That is what we do real world. Look for the "Engine on left (right)" and "Engine off left(right)" functions and map them to 4 buttons or if you have a throttle like  the Warthog, assign the lift up and foward function to on and up and back to off respectively.

 

We only touch the manual motor switch to cool the engine below ITT parameters to prevent hot starts and other troubleshooting techniques. The fuel pumps are for the tanks and only necessary to maintain pressure in the lines during manuevering. The pump on the engine is driven by the engine itself and is sufficient for startup and maintaining run feed.

[Caldera]

Zin,

 

Are the engine starter motors hydraulic or pneumatic?   I may have muffed that.

 

Are the manual motors required to purge for restart in the event of a failed to light off?

 

How is the engine stop accomplished, going back over the horn?

 

I wondered about the electric fuel pumps.

 

Thanks again,

Caldera

[zinhawk]

Pneumatic starters just like the airlines, hence the air source. The APUstarter is electric. There are no hydraulics for the engine systems. They run on fuel pressure. The hydro pumps attached are purely for servicing aircraft systems.

 

Real world no start you tell the crew chief who calls engine shop, who tells you to step to the spare because it will be a loong day of troubleshooting. Short answer is, yes, to attempt an immediate restart you should motor to blow out excess fuel and cool the ITT below 150ish. I don't think DCS goes into that much detail on the model though as I tried a hot start scenario just because and it fired right up no problem. 

 

To shutdown, yes, back over the horn in off position.

[Caldera]

Zin,

 

My experience is strictly land based and some of it with aircraft engines.  All with digital controls.  The purge cycle always runs prior to initial starts and often is several minutes in duration.  The reason is because generally there are massive exhaust ducts attached that provide for steam production.

 

Caldera

Edited March 25, 2021 by Caldera

[FoxTwo]

For some reason, the engine idle cutoff switch binding is only available for the warthog.

To add it to be usable by other throttles with the same button idle cutoff design (winwing, for example) you need to copy the code out of the warthog ONLY bindings and add it to the joystick agnostic bindings. It's been reported as a bug under controllers but not resolved.

 

You'll need to add:

 

{down = iCommandLeftEngineStop , up = iCommandLeftEngineStart,  name = _('Left Engine Throttle Set OFF') , category = _('Systems')},
{down = iCommandRightEngineStop, up = iCommandRightEngineStart, name = _('Right Engine Throttle Set OFF'), category = _('Systems')},

 

into the \Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\Mods\aircraft\A-10C_2\Input\A-10C_2\joystick\default.lua file, anywhere in the keyCommands section. If you wanted to be pedantic you could drop it after line 319, in the systems section and just before autopilot.

 

If your throttle doesn't have an idle cutoff button then you could bind these to a pair of two position switches and that should move the throttles into the idle position.

Edited March 25, 2021 by FoxTwo

[Frederf]

The older A models have the more manual engine start procedure using the EO switches. The C version we have has the automatic start cycle sequence. You can still do the old manual sequence but normally the automatic sequence is used.

[Dragon1-1]

On 3/25/2021 at 6:01 PM, FoxTwo said:

To add it to be usable by other throttles with the same button idle cutoff design (winwing, for example) you need to copy the code out of the warthog ONLY bindings and add it to the joystick agnostic bindings. It's been reported as a bug under controllers but not resolved.

What a crock. Might be worth adding it to the bugs section, the Warthog was, for a long time, the only throttle that worked like that, but today it's far from the only game in town. 

[Hulkbust44]

I cannot find a command "Engines Start" bound to ALT or CTRL + HOME. Are you referring to the auto-start procedure, or really just starting the engines in a manual start-up?
What kind of HOTAS do you use?

He is referring to the throttle off to idle command. Not sure of it's exact title.

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