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HMA's cockpit build


Hansolo

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Hi Gadroc,

 

Thank you very much for the kind words. Yeap that sound like the exact same behavior I saw on the original board. To try and measure it I put a rubber around the 'pin' of the slew sensor and the made a piese of wood so that I could apply 'near' same force on the pin. When rotating 360º I only got readout on the same axis.

 

I am afraid I din't get any further on the testing because then I continued on mapping an original AN/ARC-164. The Leo Bodnar cells kinda worked but it seemed like the calibration got lost over time. It may also have been the some of the component got loose on the breadboard.

I was going to try and find an operational amplifier that ran on 5VDC so that I could go with the original layout but time went somewhere else. Sorry :-(

 

I didn't know Mike Powell made amplifiers for this. Wuld have saved me some headache trying to map the original boards :-D

 

Cheers

Hans


Edited by Hansolo
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The original amplifier works on 5v. I was testing that last night. There is an unexpected 5th lead on the original amp which I haven't figured out yet. It's tied to the centering pot for one of the axis and looks like it has 5.6nF capacitors to both power inputs.

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Thanks DM :-)

 

Gadroc many thanks for the link to Mikes Powell's board. Below is my original drawing notes from when I tried to map the original amplifier board

v1jzGlE.jpg

 

I seem to recall that I found the numbers on the two components which are connected between the power supplies and that they were metal foil resistors. BUT that being said I may also very well be misrembering.

 

Good find on the board working on 5VDC. I never tried as I wrongly assumed it would be something like 28VDC. I also found a never model of the operational amplifier on Ebay which I never got around to exchange. Too many loose ends and not enought time :-D

 

Cheers

Hans


Edited by Hansolo
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Trying with best effort to read up on all the threads and found your throttle mod. Looks great. (made another approach but didn't work out as expected so I used my TMWH instead).

Does your config and the linkage works ok ? Any issues found ?

 

Looks a great bit more solid than what I did and a lot closer to the the newer version of the throttle

- - - -

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Hi Duckling,

 

I haven't incorporated into the pit yet as it won't fit in the side consoles I have but will fit in the news ones I am getting :-)

Also I need to make a right hand throttle 'handle'. I have a mockup done in aluminum but I am still waiting for to see if we can find a good relatively cheap solution for the coolie hat and mic switch. The real ones from Otto Excellence are pretty expensive.

 

I did take apart the throttle friction and loosened it just a little tad to get it smoother and may have to look into the wriggling between the throttle shaft and the bushing. I anticipate using a Leo Bodnar card for the signals.

 

The hall effect potentiometer I found were 65º, if I recall correctly then the throw in current setup is about 50º. The construction is quite sturdy so I do not anticipate and problems with the linkage. The hall effect potentiometer almost feels friction less. It was a little bit of trial an error to align to get room for the cutoff micro switches.

I deliberately avoid using the toothed rod as shown on the picture on KLaFaille throttle; http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1196549&postcount=118 as I felt it would complicated the construction significantly.

 

Cheers

Hans


Edited by Hansolo
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@Hans: Thanks. Good to now. Probably copy your setup or close to when time allow, ping you for some extra details then. (rearrange my MIP is first prio and will take some time).

For the "second" version of the throttle as wrote, I just assumed that KLaFaille pics was just that. If that is DIY mod, it's a masterpiece.

- - - -

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I got my amplifier up and running. It's a modified version of Mike Powell's circuit. I switched it to be non-inverting instead of inverting and added some filtering. I then hook it in through a BU0386X. Also it looks like the F-16 RDR cursor might be wired differently. In order for my transducer to work I had to short pins 2/3 and 5/6.

 

One not on the difference between your circuit and this one. In yours you use the 1k pot to center the transducer to dead center. In this one the reference voltage for the opamp is adjusted to match the transducer. The nice thing about that is 2 less wires I have to run up to the transducer.

 

A quick video. I cut off the video a little fast but the cursor is pretty stable. When calibrating the jitter is only spanning value of 3.

 

I have attached the circuit I'm using on the breadboard. Any electrical engineers out there I'd love some feedback on the circuit.

 

(Removed bad circuit diagram... see later message for update)


Edited by Gadroc
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Here is a new circuit diagram.

 

Changes...

* Went back to using inverting configuration on the op amps. As it was a little easier for some things.

* Removed filter caps. Testing showed they didn't do anything. What they where originally filtering out ended up being bad wire connections.

* Added a second opamp stage to fix X directions.

* Fixed voltage regulator to be 7808 instead of the wrong 7805

Slew Amplifier 1.2.pdf

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Also I'm looking into other op amps that have a rail to rail capability, which might eliminate the need for a secondary power supply. I have to order some parts to test it so will be a week or so before I can tell if it's possible.

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Very interesting. I have just ordered some more parts to get going as well based upon your schematics.

 

With regard to the second OP amp for correcting the X-direction. Is that when you look directly at the slew sensor or when its mounted? I mean the x-direction may be correct when mounted facing forward.

 

I'll get cracking on my breadboard as soon as parts arive :thumbup:

 

Happy Easter.

 

Cheers

Hans

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The OpAmps in the configuration of the second schematic are inverting amplifiers. They invert around the reference voltage which is roughly 4 volts. The first amplifier is configured with a gain of roughly 12.5x. So when 4.16 volts is read from the transducer (full defection) which is .16 volts above that's amplified to 2 volts and then subtracted from the 4 volt reference giving you 2 volts total. The second amplifier has a gain of 1x so amplitude is the same on output but it's inverted again so the the 2 volts is converted to 6 volts.

 

[TABLE]Input Voltage|OpAmp 1 Diff|OpAmp 1 Amplified Diff|OpAmp 1 Output|OpAmp 2 Diff|OpAmp 2 Output

4.16|0.16|2.00|2.00|-2.00|6.00

4.00|0.00|0.00|4.00|0.00|4.00

3.84|-0.16|-2.00|6.00|2.00|2.00[/TABLE]

 

On my transducer when mounted like your going to grip it Y is inverted on the transducer output. So the single inverting amplifier actually makes the pulling up on the transducer go positive Y. X on the other hand is already correct, so the second amp makes the polarity the same on output of amplification as the input.

 

Technically you don't have to do this as you can invert the axis in game, but I didn't want to be restricted to using the input only on games that can invert axis. Since the OpAmp I had was a 4 channel amp it was simple to add this. You can make both the X and Y circuits look identical bypassing the second op amp if you don't want the complexity, or want to reduce the parts costs.

 

I'm thinking about how to do a circuit board with a few jumpers to allow you to invert either or both X and Y axis. The opamp chip i'm buying has 4 op amps so it's not much more cost.

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  • 1 month later...

Not really much of an update on the pit building. But did manage to get the fuel panel ready for hooking up with DCS-BIOS. Thinks just started taking a lot longer than they used to.

q01x5LL.jpg

 

Just cleaning it up with water/vinegar solution. Since the fuel handle in the real A/C is mechanical I had to make a little setup for getting the electrical feed back. So a bit of fiddling with some aluminum plates, got some good advice from DM and it looks alright and works nicely. Nothing fancy but it works. The handle knob itself I bought years back from DM years but never got around to install it on my mockup.

tDyggRs.jpg

 

The connectors I found in Croatia, origin is Russian but works nicely for this panel. Eventually I will have to try out the RS485 setup with DCS-BIOS but for now just keeping it nice and simple.

 

Cheers

Hans

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  • 3 months later...

Hansolo, (or anyone for that matter)

Is the command_def.lua file in ...DCS World\Mods\aircrafts\A-10C\Cockpit\Scripts not used anymore when configuring button boxes?

I mean before, you could reference your switch box by going to line 492 and using the switch definitions that were +3000

 

But just now, I added Bodnar board and when I assigned the rotary or button, it only shows up in the XXX.DIFF file under the SavedGames directory.

 

I take it now, you take the number 957 below (from the xxxx.diff lua file)?

 

If the 3000+ switches are still used, how do you know what number blocks go to your switch box? When I added my first GPWIZ, it was fine, but how do you differentiate from multiple boxes? Do you just count the # of controls per box?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

["d957pnilu958cdnilvdnilvpnilvunil"] = {

["name"] = "Stick to trimmer control mode",

["removed"] = {

[1] = {

["key"] = "JOY_BTN3",

hsb

HW Spec in Spoiler

---

 

i7-10700K Direct-To-Die/OC'ed to 5.1GHz, MSI Z490 MB, 32GB DDR4 3200MHz, EVGA 2080 Ti FTW3, NVMe+SSD, Win 10 x64 Pro, MFG, Warthog, TM MFDs, Komodo Huey set, Rverbe G1

 

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Hi hansangb,

 

I haven't done anything to the DIFF.lua

 

I am still using the 3000+ numbers in the default.lua file that I exchange the original with using JSGME. Then afterwards I map the buttons DCSW. DCSW will then alter the DIFF.lua accordingly.

 

I think I did look into the DIFF at one time but couldn't find heads and tails on it.

 

Not much I am afraid :cry:

 

Cheers

Hans

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Hi hansangb,

 

I haven't done anything to the DIFF.lua

 

I am still using the 3000+ numbers in the default.lua file that I exchange the original with using JSGME. Then afterwards I map the buttons DCSW. DCSW will then alter the DIFF.lua accordingly.

 

I think I did look into the DIFF at one time but couldn't find heads and tails on it.

 

Not much I am afraid :cry:

 

Cheers

Hans

 

Fuel panel looking good m8. Looks kind of weathered already. I like that you haven't tried to hide the dots/imperfections etc Hans. I'm same, if there are chips and scuffs, it makes it more realistic. :thumbup:

Windows 7 64 Home Premium, i5 3570K (3.4 @ 4.4GHz), Asus P8Z77-V LX, 16GB dual channel 1600 ram, EVGA Nvidia GTX980ti, 240 GB OCZ SSD, 3 TB Raptor, Thrustmaster Warthog Hotas and Throttle, Saitek Pro Combat Rudder pedals.

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