New to this (Uh oh!) and needs some advice?

Hi all...

I'm new to this self building game (I can handle a soldering iron and I'm not afraid of circuits and components) but I have a very specific goal in mind...

I want to make a bank of rotary switches to control the AI bars, Alt setting, Hdg bug, NAV1, NAV2 and ADF so I can do this more naturally than a mouse click.

However, my seraching thus far has led me to posts filled with numbers, letters, program id's and all other manner of confusion... I'm totally new to this so a lot of it really doesn't make much sense to me.

Would it be possible to lay it out "idiot guide" fashion what I would need? The building itself I've got covered... Just need to know if it's possible and what I would need!

Thanks...

Hi Mate,

Heres an idiots guide to a 'rotary bank'.......

Mount a number of rotary encoders to a small panel or project box. Make sure your rotary encoders are something like '2bit grey scale rotaries' such as the type commonly found on ebay. Wire up all the middle pins of all the rotary encoders (gnd) to the ground of an input / output interface. There wire the left pin of the first encoder to input one of your interface, then wire up the right pin of your first encoder to the input two of your iterface. Repeat this process times the number of encoders you have so logically if you have 6 encoders you will have used up 12 inputs on your card (6 pairs). Now you need to assign each right click of your encoder to the a right click of a FS function, and then repeat this for the left click. Now repeat this for how many encoders you have. If using a leo bodnar board, you need to flash each input pair as an encoder type switch and select the ratio. You can do this by downloading his flash utilty from his website. Of course you need FSUIPC to assign clicks to FS functions, but you will need to use the fsuipc registered version which you have to pay for. FSUIPC is a module that you install into to FS that lets you assign detailed functions to joystick cards such as leo bodnars cards. I hope this gives you some idea, the more i write this idiots guide the more I realise how hard it is to explain this in such basic terms, so if you have any problems, please let us all know and we will do our best to get you out of trouble. good luck matey!

Alex

Hi Alex... Thanks for the info.

It makes a lot of sense so I wouldn't worry too much. It's everything I need to know.

I guess my main confusion at this point is how FSX recognises a rotary command for the basic instruments and Nav setting knobs... I've been through the FSX command menu and can't find any way to assign a joystick axis, button or key command to these functions... Is this something that is made possible by FSUIPC?

You got it. FSUIPC allows access to a whole range of commands that work in FS but aren't included in the default control menus. Well worth the price of admission!

reid

Awesome... Thanks for the info guys.

I now have my plans well in order and I'm going to start ordering parts and FSUIPC soon.

In the meantime, this may sound like a stupid question, but where can I find knobs for the rotary switches?!

I've looked everywhere... and I can't seem to find any which don't have some kind of index mark on them... I just want plain, non-indexed knobs... Perhaps you guys know a decent online electronics store?

Thanks in advance...