Smoked a switch the other day...

...in the overhead that controls my 5VDC panel lighting. Too much current running through it. As the sim (and lighting) has grown, it put quite a strain on that little switch. It probably wasn't rated for over 250ma, but I forget now as it's been too long.

I ordered a few 3A rotary switches from Mouser the other day. Just the on/off type, they don't turn like pots and the lighting is not dimmable. It's not bright enough for me anyway, so I sure don't want it any dimmer than it is.

While I had the overhead swung down for maintenance, I decided to install the second interior lighting light plate and wired my glareshield fluorescent lights up to the proper switch (instead of reaching under the glareshield and turning them on individually). Adds a bit more realism, and the lightplate looks good.

One more to go when I get another roundtuit. Just some little things I've been putting off now for awhile. Last three flight have been flown with a pretty dark overhead except for the 12 and 24VDC busses powering various Gables boxes.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...27overhead.jpg

One of the interesting things about a simpit is that there really is a certain level of "routine maintenence" that needs to get done, and that real hardware failures can happen, just like in a real aircraft. Switches can only function for so many "flips", a cold solder joint can come loose, a pot wipers wear out, and stuff like your amperage "overload" can happen.

A while back I had a toggle switch "go pear shaped" in the middle of a flight, and it created a "real" virtual emergency situation that I had to deal with. It was actually sort of fun, while in flight, to figure out what the heck was happening, and deal with the "work around", and sontinue the flight sucessfully. Because it was TOTALLY unexpected and unplanned, ..... it created a LOT of realism as to how I reacted to it.

best,

....................john

PS: Geezzze...... you'd think that picture was a real overhead! Oh....right....it IS a real overhead. ;)

Yeah, most of it's real. If Boeing didn't build it, I did. Hopefully the rest of the real panels will come along eventually.

Some of these panels are almost as old as I am. I've got a few that date back to '65 and several from '68. Some are newer and run into the '70's and '80's.

My newest piece is mt Sperry SP-50 that dates from '89. A relative 'youngster' next to all of the older equipment.