Question about dials and screens

[0utLAW]

I'm almost done with putting all the toggle switches and push buttons in my pit. My question is, what kind of boards are you using to interface dials and screens into the game?

 

I'm currently using 2 GGG GP-Wiz40 Max boards and Helios as an interface. I will potentially need 2 more GP-Wiz40 boards to control the fuel panel, AHCP, CMCP, electrical panel and some other switches up toward the front of the pit. I know the GP-Wiz40 Max has several rotary ports but I'm not sure how to use them. If someone has successfully used them in conjunction with Helios I would like to know how you have them configured. Also, I'm not sure there will be enough rotary ports between the 4 boards I plan on having to control all the dials I'm going to add.

 

I'll eventually want to add dials and screens for the radios and ILS, TACAN and such. Is there a solution as cheap and easy as a GGG board. I know Phidgets boards can be used but they are a little pricey. Any other suggestions?

 

Here is a sample of the types of screens I know some of you are using and that I would like to add eventually;

 

Also, I have noticed that it is possible to use the Roto-x positions on the GP-Wiz 40 Max as toggle switch ports. I have connected a toggle switch to these ports in the past but have not been able to set them up correctly. Has anyone set these ports up as toggle switches successfully? Here is a line from GGG web site stating the use of these ports as normal toggle switch ports;

 

Roto-X Specific Features

 

Dual, Independent Rotary control support. The Roto-X™ compatible inputs operate as standard button / joystick inputs until activated by the user. This allows for toggle switches and other "normally active" controls to be used on any of the Roto-X™ capable inputs without issue.

 

Here is the rest of the section stating the functions of the rotary switches;

 

User tunable pulse output. Match the Roto-X pulse timings to the application for best performance. This is a purely optional feature, as the default hardware timings have been meticulously tested with the most common applications to insure compatibility "out of the box".

 

Unique Dual-mode Selectabiliy. Standard CW / CCW and exclusive "8-Way" mode. Finally, games with "Front Line-type" controls can be played with a standard rotary joystick!

Compatible with any rotary switch with pin quantities in multiples of 3 + Ground. (3, 6, 9, 12, etc.)

 

Fully Buffered. Each rotary has it's own dedicated 20 action circular buffer.

Easy to use Software. May be used interactively (as shown below) or silently via the command line. (Click Screenshot to Download)

 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated and Happy New Year!!

[0utLAW]

Also, are there better/cheaper alternatives to the screen types? I'm looking on Digikey.com and I'm find all types of screens. Any help pointing me in the right direction would be appreciated.

[agrasyuk]

Was about to reply but NY happened, you know

So here it is now , better late then never, right? :)

 

I got my seven segment displays from china via eBay. Plan to interface them with pokeys56 card and hogkeyz software that is under development by a member here.

 

I gave up on rotary ports of gpwiz board , wired encoders to two inputs and translated rotary input with autohotkey script. That way you can have more then 2. Now however I'm going with leo bodnar board for rotary input. They are more flexible in a way that any pair of ports can be configured as rotary.

[0utLAW]

agrasyuk, thanks for the reply. I'm going to search around for some how to's or tutorials on how to implement this solution. Are you aware of any or is it pretty self explanatory?

[agrasyuk]

Im on mobile at the moment so it is hard to link, search for "Leo bodnar" to get to his site. On BU0836X product page there is a link to download encoder configuration software. Does work only for his boards of course. While more expensive then gpwiz it is still affordable to get a couple. Plus they have true analog inputs.

 

Let me know if you want to try the AHK script route too.