LEDs

[paul7647]

I am currently building a 737ng pit and going in almost totally blind !
I am only building captains side

Can any body please tell me how to wire the LED warning indicators, and can they be done through the BU0836x card ?

Thanks:roll:

[verticallimit]

If the indicators do not already have mounted a resistor, then you can use the link below to calculate the resistor.
You can not use BU0836 for outputs this card is only for input.

LED Resistor Calculator (http://www.hebeiltd.com.cn/?p=zz.led.resistor.calculator)

[paul7647]

Thanks for that, Claus

So how do I connect LED indicator to light up on panel ?

[ohsirus]

You need to buy an Output card..ala open cockpits, fds, phidgets, etc.

[Bernie]

Hi Paul7647,

Pokeys Cards and Led Extension Boards from Wendy http://www.flightsimparts.eu/ (mhtml:{0EE469D2-DD60-4103-9954-44239940B845}mid://00000000/!x-usc:http://www.flightsimparts.eu/) would be a good option for your Project,

I have so far used nothing but these cards plus other 7 segment cards from Wendy's site and am also using prosim737. This so far has done myHomemade MCP & Overhead and will be using this for homemade CDU. soon.

Kind Regards

Bernie.

[paul7647]

ok! Got that sorted !!

Is there any tutorials out there that can help me regarding wiring the leds for the landing gear ?

Thanks

[fsaviator]

1. What card are you interfacing the landing gear lever LEDs with? Different hardware has different wiring specs.
2. How many LEDs? makes a difference in how they are wired
3. What software are you interfacing the landing gear lever with? makes a difference in how they are controlled, and thus wired.
4. What color LEDs? White LEDs with green and red film, or red and green LEDs. Makes a difference in how they are wired together due to different voltages and current.

All required information in order to provide an answer. In the meantime, you can check out this link:

http://led.linear1.org/

In basic theory, you'll wire the LEDs (usually two per postion) in series with a common ground, inline resistors, and the positive going to a hardware output (OC card, FDS card, Sismo, PoKeys etc).

Of the top of my head, using the wizard at the above link http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz an example of ONE Annunicator, say Nose Gear Down, with white LEDs would be:

Source voltage of 5V
diode forward voltage of 3.6 (Red and Green will have a different voltage, check the LED specs)
diode forward current of 20mA (Red and Green will have a different voltage, check the LED specs)
number of LEDs in array is typically 2.

You'd end up needing two 82 Ohm Resistors between the short leg of each LED and the ground. Postive side wiuld be connected to your card output which would be triggered by your software, and the negative would be connected to your cards negative.

Hope that helps a bit.

Warren

[paul7647]

Hi Warren

And thanks for that mine of imformation ! WOW

I am currently awaiting an Opencockpits Output card and thought I would have a go at wiring the leds before it arrives.
they are 3 reds and 3 green leds again from opencockpits and I am using Ifly 737 on FS2004 do I assume I will use iflytofscuip or is it sioc that I need?

Paul

[fsaviator]

No problem.
I won't be much help in the SIOC with the OC cards realm however, you need to check out this site for examples of how to do the scripts for that. While Nico's Lekseecon deals with 767, it all applies. http://www.lekseecon.nl/howto.html

The OC landing gear panel uses two bulb annuciators, meaning two GREEN 5mm LEDs in each GREEN annunciator, and two 5mm RED in each RED. RED LEDs typically have 2.2V forward voltage and 20mA max forward current. GREEN LEDS have 2.0V and 20mA. Use those numbers in the wizard and it will tell you what resistors you need. Click on the various outputs (schematic, wire diagram etc) and you'll get an idea of what it looks like. the Long leg on an LED is the ANODE (POSITIVE) and the short leg is the CATHODE (NEGATIVE). As for the resistors, it doesn't matter what direction they face in.

Now you just solder all that together and you should end up with an annunicator box that has two leds, two resistors, and a positive and negative wire. You can connect ALL the negatives together and then connect them to the output card as long as all the corresponding positives also connect to the same output card.

I haven't got a clue on the iFly, but you will still need to run SIOC to interface the USB Expansion/Master Card/Output to FSUIPC.

You will also need inputs for the gear handle switches.

Off topic, but to just make sure you are tracking: Your OC output card will need to connect to a Mastercard, which unless your system has a parallel port, will then in turn need to be connected to a USB Expansion card.

[paul7647]

Noted!

Thanks for your help, fantastic website you've got!!!!

Paul

[paul7647]

oops!

Am I right in saying that the negative side of all 6 leds can be linked to each other to leave 1 negative wire that goes to the output card. And there will be 6 individual positive wires 1 from each annuciator that will then also go to the output card ?
Also can I test these on a battery and if so what one should I use.

Thanks in advance

Paul

[fsaviator]

That is correct. The negatives can all be connected together to form one negative wire that connects to the output card AS LONG AS the corresponding Positives are also connected to that same card.

As for testing. As long as you have a battery that matches the voltage of the output card then you are good. Remember on your LED calculations to use the appropriate voltage in the calculator. I am concerned I may have misled you with the 12V bit... 12V for your LEDs would be appropriate for backlighting... I believe the Mastercard/output combo delivers 5V so make sure you use the appropriate resistors.

You might want to look at acquiring a power supply for 5 and 12 V. Hacking a computer power supply works very well and you can buy an AT power supply for dirt cheap.

Niko's website has a good breakdown on the cards http://www.lekseecon.nl/iocards.html


The output card pin 1/37 is the ground, so in theory you would connect your six positive wires to say... 2/38, 3/39, 4/40, 5/41, and 5/42.

Hope that helps.

[paul7647]

Thanks again!

I had a look at the calculator and it recommended 330ohm resistors, however when I purchased the ultra bright leds from OC I also purchased there recommeded resistors for the mentioned leds for the landing gear annuciators which are 470ohm so I am a bit confused now!
Perhaps I can try them and see what happens, I have a new ATX power supply that I can check them on?

Paul
Or is it not a good idea?

[Bernie]

Hi Paul, This may help http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz Kind Regards Bernie. Sorry my enter key does not work with this forum for some reason.