Hagstrom KE-72 vs KE-USB36 or 108 thoughts?

[XOrionFE]

Great

Thanks for the quick reply. The later would scare me to death

[donrecardo]

The altimeter would be tricky as it has to rotate several times and the attitude gauge ( artificial horizon ) would require two servos. but RPM, fuel, vacuum gauges etc would be simple to build

Don

[gcompc]

I'm a new member but had read and kept up wit the board a little. Have had a generic Pit for a few years and am thinking about adding some swithches etc. I've ran across the Hagstrom vs Open Cockpit situation as well and really like the Open Cockpit stuff. The problem is that I noticed the Open Cockpit stuff uses coding memory areas and basically the FSPUIC codes and memory areas for MSFS for mapping, that's great if you only fly Microsoft Flight Simulator products.

I fly various sims and just want something that will put out keystrokes such a "G" for gear, does OpenCockpits programming languages do that? I know the Hagstrom does and assume the OpenCockpit stuff should to. But all you will find is talk and tutorials about the SOIC language and FSPUIC mapping. Any help or stick with Hagstrom?

[donrecardo]

Hi
Firstly yes , the IOCards will ouput key codes .

If you had a USB expander card and 1 Master card ( you can plug up to 4 Master cards into a USB expander) it would give you

4 axis controls for things like throttle, mixture, spoilers , anything that needs a proportional analog movement

+

72 inputs that can be used with switches, ( push button, toggle , rotary, encoders)

+

45 outputs for LED's so that for example when you press the landing gear switch you can have a red LED to show the gear is moving which then goes out and 3 green leds show gear is down and locked , You can even add a delay so they dont all lock at exactly the same time , just as they would do in the real world .

If you add 3 more master cards at a later date you will have 4 times as many inputs and outputs (288 inputs and 180 outputs )

As well as this you can if you wish add up to 4 display cards to each master card ( so allowing a total of up to 16 display cards) each display card can display 16 digits so if you want to tune your radios with real knobs and read the frequency on real digital displays you can do so , or pehaps set the HDG for the auto pilot and be able to read the exact frequency its set to.
Eventualy you could be able to fly your plane without touching a mouse or keyboard

As to your initial question , yes as well as getting switches to change settings directly in Fsim via FSUIPC you can tell a switch to send a key code just as if you had pressed a key on the keyboard.
As an example . I use a switch to send the keypress " ' " (single quote), its the one on an english keyboard that shares the @ key.
So I press my switch and up pops the ATC menu . Using 10 more buttons I can send keys 0 - 9 which are the choices offered in the ATC menu .Pressing the switch again closes the atc

If your using MS flight sims then programing iocards through FSUIPC is the way to go but for other sims that can only take keypresses you can still use the same cards but programmed for key presses , You would of course lose the outputs to leds and 7 segment displays etc

If you use Xplane you can now get XFSUIPC which is the FSUIPC equivelent for Xplane, so enabling outputs again.

The way I made my choice over IOCards and Hagstrom gear was simple .......

A Hagstrom usb 128 input card costs about the same as an IOcards USB extender + 1 Master card , so for cost there is nothing between them.

An Iocard setup and the Hagstrom will both do switch inputs so both are still similar in that respect but,then the similarity ends

If at a later date you decide to add outputs, servo's, digital displays ,motorised throttle quadrants etc you need to buy another system like the IOcards, so as they cost similar amounts why not get the one that does it all from the outset. Even if you never use outputs its cost you no more but its always there if you need it

I thought the programming might be difficult , at my age I am too old to learn something new and technical , but in fact its easy , I found it as easy as programming for the Hagstrom. Even if you get stuck there are loads of program examples, and if that fails there are lots of guys on the forum will happily sort you out

I hope that helped

Don

[gcompc]

Thanks a lot this is what I needed to know. I was sold on the OpenCockpit stuff but did not see any programming examples for simple key outputs which made me nervous. The pricing and features are fantastic compared to Hagstrom but with my luck I thought it was too good to be true and would only work with MSFS. I do plan to use the I/O with Flight Simulator but my other sims are just as important to me.

I planned on starting with some switches, knobs, rotaries then if I want, expand from there. The I/O would be optimized for MSFS but I just need basic switches and buttons for other sims, LEDs etc. don't matter for them.

You've help me make the right initial spending decision which is very important because it really sucks to have to do a change over it's sort of like "Here we go again" . When I have to do something the second time it's usually not as pretty as the first time. Thanks again for help, ordering the Master card and Expansion card immediately.

[donrecardo]

Thanks again for help, ordering the Master card and Expansion card immediately.

while you are getting your order sent You might want to order a few of there CTS 288 rotary encoders in the hardware section of their site. You cant use any old encoders but these cts 288 work absolutely fine with their master card
and are only 3 euros each
Basically you use 2 encoders per radio . one for Mhz( before the decimal point) and one for Khz( after the decimal point) .
I have 2 for each com radio ( Com1 / Com2) and 3 for each of the 2 Nav radios, the 3rd one being to set the OBS on the nav1 and 2 guages. I also plan to use one encoder to set Heading for the auto pilot to follow , and one to enable me to change the kolsman setting on the altimeter. there will be 2 more for auto pilot altitude and Vert speed. another to set my sqawk ( Ident) , One for ADF and another for the ADF's OBS setting.

The encoders are all metal construction and are small and neat. they also not only generate the output pulses but each one has a built in push switch . You can use the switch to swap between standby and main frequency

I am also using 7 segment displays on my cockpit to show all the radio main and standby frequencies , The OBS settings will also have 7 segment displays as I hope to make my own gauges using servos and wont then show the guages on screen so will need the OBS readouts to show whats happening.
I will also have readouts for Ident, DME and auto pilot displays.

Be carefull with the items you buy as the DHL shipping is done by weight . I tend to add items and check the shipping charge as its the same from 0-500 grams . so if it goes over that I take an item out .
I cant see the point in getting one item this week and another next week and having to pay two sets of shipping when I could have them both together for the same shipping charge. You can save a lot that way

I dont know if you saw it but I also sent you a Private message earlier

Ps when you get your cards If you need any help with programming Sioc for the MSFS I will be happy to try to help if I am able

Regards
Don

[gcompc]

Good Idea I'll check the shipping charges carefully, did not receive the PM though.