Jahanzeb
09-15-2013, 09:21 AM
Hi everyone.
first of all, i looked through all the pages and topics, and couldnt find the answer to my problem. i apologize if this topic has been dealt with.
so i finally started building my 737 cockpit, starting with the overhead panel. since i cant get my hands on any I/O cards like the BU036X, i had to resort of joystick hacking.
After taking a cheap joystick apart, i realized how hard it was to solder those minute connections on the board. took me 2 days to get about 10 switches on that thing. after each successful solder, i checked the connection with a multimeter before sealing the solder with silicon using a silicon gun. upon connecting the controller to the pc, i had no problem. tested the joystick with connecting toggle switches, and it worked fine. so i pulled out the cable, and started connecting the rest of the switches, with ever-growing excitement. when i was done, i plugged in the joystick, and to my disappointment, it said, USB device unrecognized. no idea what happened. my best is that the heat from the iron destroyed the IC or micro controller. or maybe it was the hot silicon. in either case, i looked into online solutions and found USB keyboard hacking. did more research, and it sounded like a good idea. something that might work, I had two options. to go with an old keyboard, which does not have matrix, but individual keys. the other option was, more easily available, modern USB keyboard. so i decided to go with the latter.
I quickly opened up the keyboard, to discover two transparent sheets of plastic, with copper wire running through them. as per hacking guide, i took upon the painful and arduous journey to resolve the matrix.
A few days later, after i had all the key combinations, i connected two toggle switches to the PCB with the keys "A" and "B" respectively. opened up FSX, loaded PMDG 737, went to FSUIPC, keys, created a MACRO for the Taxi Lights and Logo Lights. programmed FSUIPC for no repeats and there i had it. both switches turning on and off together and independently as intended. excited, i starting the physical construction for the overhead panel. took me a few weeks to wire everything, finding and putting in switches, even mounting the overhead panel. wiring the darn thing turned out to be more complex then what i had initially anticipated. thankfully, i kept it organized from the beginning.
Next came the programming of every single switch. creating MACROS all the way. upon testing the switches one by one, they all seemed to work as intended. but thats when i hit a rock. when i turn on 3 switches on the same circuit, the switches wont turn on. scratching my head, i opened MS word, and tried the same combination of switches with a keyboard and realized that the keys "KCD" cannot be pressed together. apparently i need a better keyboard for that. some "N" type keyboard. even that doesnt allow more than 12 keys to be pressed down at once. ive been researching this for a few days now. and have come up with a blank. here are a few solutions that i can think of:
1. using relays and capacitors for momentary key presses. (im no engineer. so no idea how to read schematics or go about it)
2. maybe use an older keyboard? the ones that did not have matrix. i dont know how many key presses they allow.
3. go back to using a joystick/controller and be careful with the soldering.
4. maybe FSUIPC has a solution? the advance user guide is french to me.
5. off the shelf I/O cards. something that is not delivered in my country. so kinda pointless. but still id wanna know whats best. anything besides the 32 switch BU0836X?
6 maybe a keyboard emulator software that allows momentary key presses?
Any help would be appreciated. ive spent a zillion hours on this thing. i dont want to give up. Especially when i'm so close.
first of all, i looked through all the pages and topics, and couldnt find the answer to my problem. i apologize if this topic has been dealt with.
so i finally started building my 737 cockpit, starting with the overhead panel. since i cant get my hands on any I/O cards like the BU036X, i had to resort of joystick hacking.
After taking a cheap joystick apart, i realized how hard it was to solder those minute connections on the board. took me 2 days to get about 10 switches on that thing. after each successful solder, i checked the connection with a multimeter before sealing the solder with silicon using a silicon gun. upon connecting the controller to the pc, i had no problem. tested the joystick with connecting toggle switches, and it worked fine. so i pulled out the cable, and started connecting the rest of the switches, with ever-growing excitement. when i was done, i plugged in the joystick, and to my disappointment, it said, USB device unrecognized. no idea what happened. my best is that the heat from the iron destroyed the IC or micro controller. or maybe it was the hot silicon. in either case, i looked into online solutions and found USB keyboard hacking. did more research, and it sounded like a good idea. something that might work, I had two options. to go with an old keyboard, which does not have matrix, but individual keys. the other option was, more easily available, modern USB keyboard. so i decided to go with the latter.
I quickly opened up the keyboard, to discover two transparent sheets of plastic, with copper wire running through them. as per hacking guide, i took upon the painful and arduous journey to resolve the matrix.
A few days later, after i had all the key combinations, i connected two toggle switches to the PCB with the keys "A" and "B" respectively. opened up FSX, loaded PMDG 737, went to FSUIPC, keys, created a MACRO for the Taxi Lights and Logo Lights. programmed FSUIPC for no repeats and there i had it. both switches turning on and off together and independently as intended. excited, i starting the physical construction for the overhead panel. took me a few weeks to wire everything, finding and putting in switches, even mounting the overhead panel. wiring the darn thing turned out to be more complex then what i had initially anticipated. thankfully, i kept it organized from the beginning.
Next came the programming of every single switch. creating MACROS all the way. upon testing the switches one by one, they all seemed to work as intended. but thats when i hit a rock. when i turn on 3 switches on the same circuit, the switches wont turn on. scratching my head, i opened MS word, and tried the same combination of switches with a keyboard and realized that the keys "KCD" cannot be pressed together. apparently i need a better keyboard for that. some "N" type keyboard. even that doesnt allow more than 12 keys to be pressed down at once. ive been researching this for a few days now. and have come up with a blank. here are a few solutions that i can think of:
1. using relays and capacitors for momentary key presses. (im no engineer. so no idea how to read schematics or go about it)
2. maybe use an older keyboard? the ones that did not have matrix. i dont know how many key presses they allow.
3. go back to using a joystick/controller and be careful with the soldering.
4. maybe FSUIPC has a solution? the advance user guide is french to me.
5. off the shelf I/O cards. something that is not delivered in my country. so kinda pointless. but still id wanna know whats best. anything besides the 32 switch BU0836X?
6 maybe a keyboard emulator software that allows momentary key presses?
Any help would be appreciated. ive spent a zillion hours on this thing. i dont want to give up. Especially when i'm so close.