Petes /brissy A10

[bnepethomas]

Look great... really good job... I have a feeling I may be asking Santa for a set of this engine guages... so much better than presenting with a monitor behind the front panel... if only they would include the little tertiary needles too!!

Thanks Guys, 100% agree, there is nothing like a stream gauge. While you are saving for them save a bit extra for a two good USB hubs, I'd recommend driving them with two ManHattan Hubs, a single hub doesn't quite have enough juice.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

[showtime817th]

What software are you using to run your gauges? And will it work with other modules of DCS? I'm hoping this will work for the Huey.

 

Showtime

[bnepethomas]

What software are you using to run your gauges? And will it work with other modules of DCS? I'm hoping this will work for the Huey.

 

Showtime

 

The S/W is supplied by Simmeters (Workspace - http://www.simmeters.com/software/62-workspace-gl.html), and should work with other modules. Whilst the instructions, could at times be clearer, I've been happy with stability, and they've been responsive to questions. Simmeters supply the LUA script, so there should be no coding needed on your front.

[showtime817th]

Thank you! That's awesome, I'm more of a plug and play kinda guy lol.

[bnepethomas]

Progress over the weekend, some work on UFC components and caution panel. Have laser, acrylic and a spray paint, will build. Still have a few buttons to do on the UFC, but getting there.

 

 

Add one - pre-aged caution panel :)

 

 

 

[nobrot]

Watching this pit very closely as I am teetering on the edge of ordering a set of Simmeters for my A10.

 

What displays are you using behind the cougars for the MFD's? and any special trick to hooking them up?

 

Also, how are you driving the caution panel?

[bnepethomas]

Watching this pit very closely as I am teetering on the edge of ordering a set of Simmeters for my A10.

 

What displays are you using behind the cougars for the MFD's? and any special trick to hooking them up?

 

Also, how are you driving the caution panel?

 

The Simmeters are a good buy, one little thing, the S/W for the RWR hasn't been released just yet, it lights up but not warnings, S/W should be landing soon.

 

The Displays are from Vitrolight - http://www.ebay.com/usr/vitrolight, they are very crisp.

8.0inch TFT LCD Panel Screen, AT080TN52 V.1+VGA/AV/HDMI

 

No tricks needed, just the usual monitor configuration, and a bit of woodwork :)

 

My current plan is to drive the caution panel via the Open Cockpits output card.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

[nobrot]

Thanks Peter, I will take a look at the displays, and did Simmeters give you any ETA on the wrapper for the RWR?

 

Also, I am planning to use Helios and a GPWiz40 for switches; I wondered if you are using Helios, I just want to be sure that the Simmeters wrapper and Helios can work together on the same system, so if you are I would appreciate the feedback.

 

Thanks,

[bnepethomas]

Thanks Peter, I will take a look at the displays, and did Simmeters give you any ETA on the wrapper for the RWR?

 

Also, I am planning to use Helios and a GPWiz40 for switches; I wondered if you are using Helios, I just want to be sure that the Simmeters wrapper and Helios can work together on the same system, so if you are I would appreciate the feedback.

 

Thanks,

 

Hopefully within three weeks for the RWR, for the switches my primary plan is to use a high capacity Joystick controller (Brydlings), as I want it to be able to use the pit across various sims. Unsure if Helios and the Simmeters wrapper would work, my take is it should, you'll just need to edit the LUA file.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

[nobrot]

Hopefully within three weeks for the RWR, for the switches my primary plan is to use a high capacity Joystick controller (Brydlings), as I want it to be able to use the pit across various sims. Unsure if Helios and the Simmeters wrapper would work, my take is it should, you'll just need to edit the LUA file.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

 

Ahh three weeks is encouraging, I will be ordering around then so it would be good to see it in action; fingers crossed the wrapper will work happily with Helios.

 

I have been avoiging this .lua beastie, but I have a feeling I am not going to be able to ignore it much longer!

[Spuds]

Hey bud, nice equipment! Maybe you can share a list of parts and site locations to procure some of that equipment? Thanks!

[Chain]

The Simmeters are a good buy, one little thing, the S/W for the RWR hasn't been released just yet, it lights up but not warnings, S/W should be landing soon.

 

The Displays are from Vitrolight - http://www.ebay.com/usr/vitrolight, they are very crisp.

8.0inch TFT LCD Panel Screen, AT080TN52 V.1+VGA/AV/HDMI

 

No tricks needed, just the usual monitor configuration, and a bit of woodwork :)

 

My current plan is to drive the caution panel via the Open Cockpits output card.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

 

Be carefull when ordering from Vitrolight. Many pit builders have had problems when trying to get a refund/replacement on a broken item. :(

[nobrot]

Be carefull when ordering from Vitrolight. Many pit builders have had problems when trying to get a refund/replacement on a broken item. :(

 

Yea i have been researchign them on ebay and feedback is nit very good, thanks for the heads up.

[nobrot]

Peter, are you planning to light your Simmeters instruments?, I ask because I am working up some theoretical designs for cockpit lighting, I want to try using EL wire for back-lighting engraved panels (less soldering than LED and better light distribution), but the jury is still out to provide authentic lighting to the front panel.. ideally I would manufacture light posts (Grimes replicas) with LED's, but may be time consuming... or perhaps cnc instrument bezzels and feed some EL wire into the inside groove.. would look ok I think.

 

Would be interested in your approach.

[bnepethomas]

Hey bud, nice equipment! Maybe you can share a list of parts and site locations to procure some of that equipment? Thanks!

 

Will do, need to organise myself.

 

cheers

 

Peter

[bnepethomas]

Peter, are you planning to light your Simmeters instruments?, I ask because I am working up some theoretical designs for cockpit lighting, I want to try using EL wire for back-lighting engraved panels (less soldering than LED and better light distribution), but the jury is still out to provide authentic lighting to the front panel.. ideally I would manufacture light posts (Grimes replicas) with LED's, but may be time consuming... or perhaps cnc instrument bezzels and feed some EL wire into the inside groove.. would look ok I think.

 

Would be interested in your approach.

 

Good news - the Simmeters instruments have integrated lighting, so that is covered.

 

 

Re EL sheets, I've got an F16 that I used EL sheets on.

Whilst they did the job nicely, but there are a couple of considerations:

1. You need to get them commercially cut

2. The inverters are noisy, especially considering you'll have one per panel

3. The do degrade over time.

 

So whilst I'm happy I got the F16 completed using El sheets for backlighting, this project will just use Leds. Still experimenting with options, but have testing SMD LEDs on veroboard, and they seem to work well.

 

 

Cheers

 

Peter

Edited September 26, 2013 by bnepethomas

[nobrot]

Thanks for the reply Peter, I did not realize that the Simmeters had integrated lighting, is it always on when plugged in, or can you control on/off intensity?, I am literally 24 hours away from ordering a full set!

 

Dam the F16 pit looks fantastic! if that's an indicator of the work you turn out, then I cant wait to see your A10 completed.

 

As an alternative to EL sheet, I am thinking of using some EL wire, the plan would be to build the top panel normally (spray black and engrave), and then using black acrylic as a single back-plate with pockets and grooves to feed the EL wire, I would think that this would provide good light distribution, and require a lot less soldering, and as long as you don't glue the top and bottom plates together, it would be easy to replace the EL wire if it degrades. As for the inverter, I will hard wire the on off switch to the A10's inverter switch.. the noise may add to the immersion :)

[bnepethomas]

Apparently the simmeters lighting is controllable, but the guys at Simmeters haven't found a simple way to monitor whether the lights should be on or off. Need to monitor both switch position and Bus Voltages, I have explored that yet. Pretty sure they aren't dimmable, but I found they aren't too hard on the eyes even in a dark room.

 

The F16 build was a bunch of fun, but took a long time and some dosh, really hanging out for someone is DCS world to support the viper. A10 pit was going to be a quick and dirty, so we'll see how it goes.

 

Hadn't heard of EL-wire time for some research ;), be a little careful, you probably want an inverter per panel (thats pretty much how they are sized), and thats how the noise build-ups up. Even if you find a large enough inverter, having that high voltage bouncing around the pit can be interesting, especially if it bites ;)

 

cheers

 

Peter

[bnepethomas]

Just checked out that el-wire looked very cool, wonder how easy it is to splice into multiple lengths?

[bnepethomas]

Some progress this week. First hacked together (with a bit of help from Levinsky) the LUA script, C# and SOICinterface, so now have a working interface between DCS and Opencockpits USB output card. Super-brief video here, was thinking about using timers, but now decided output per frame is a good thing to ensure the flashing on the caution panel is captured..

 

 

Wired up all of the current outputs to the OpenCockpits (OC) card, lights off

Lights on

 

And a few more ports available, but given I'd like to use the integrated PWM capability of the OC card, I need to use a second one to drive the optocouplers which drive relays, as relays do not appreciated PWM being applied to them (most interesting noise ;))

Edited September 29, 2013 by bnepethomas

[bnepethomas]

Have cleaned up the LUA and c* code, and now have one operation caution panel installed in the pit. Front panel indicators are now operation. Video of the pieces in action. Pleasantly surprised our simple it ultimately was to integrate the OpenCockpits card into DCS.

 

21KBELs1GbE

[Feuerfalke]

Beautiful piece of work! :wub:

[Duckling]

Clean and beautiful. Nice work ! (as always :-)

[nobrot]

Oh boy.. I cant wait for my simmeters to arrive.... great job!

[AhSoul]

Very, very nice!