Update: Sept 07

[wollo]

Hi guys and girls. I've been busy with work and other non sim related stuff so I'v not posted for a while. I hope everyone is feeling good.

I've posted a few images in the gallery to show recent progress.
I had to have a total rethink of where and how I sited the pc's I had.
I was only using two pc's and the heat generated in their box was unbelievable. I had a 70w fan trying to cool the box and the noise was unreal. I really didn't want to fly.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1774

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1766

I reckon I can get by with 4 pc's. I'm now running 3 spread further apart from each other with space for another upfront. I'm water cooling the front
(main view machine) and will water cool the other front machine when i can afford to build it!

The rear pc's are a little noisy but I'm working on that. I've now got much better access to all pc equipment and the noise levels have me flying late at night again. hurray.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1763

While I was at it I've popped a 10.4 inch touch screen in the front this size fits much better than my temp 15inch display. I can start to think about a mip at some point now. I've also connected my psone display to pc number 3 now. I've put GAPanel on this as well and put the navigation instruments up there. this helps compensate for the loss of screen size on the main display.

Bill

[Michael Carter]

Thanks for the update.

I had the same problem with my computer. After moving my sim from the shop to the room where it will be finished and flown, I had no place to put the computer.

The only spot it would fit was in the forward radio rack and I don't have to tell you how hot that got. Even with piping in cool air from the outside, the computer kept crashing from overheating.

Since the shop area is right on the other side of the sim room wall, I built a sturdy shelf on the shop side and moved the computer there. A 2" hole and pass-through pipe routes all of the cabling to the shop side and I have a 14" free-standing room fan blowing into the case.

Temps have dropped to below what they were even before sticking the computer into the radio rack, and crashes have been eliminated.

That 14" fan moves a lot of cool basement air.

[wollo]

A 14 inch fan sounds good, it seems like bigger slower fans are the way to go. I want ot hear quiet in the cockpit on the few occasions it is supposed to be quiet.
I can't put my pc's in another room, makes me wonder how others take care of noise and heat. My 2 worst enemies it seems.

[Michael Carter]

In addition to the heat mine was generating, the six fans in the case contributed to a LOT of room noise. Imagine a small vacuume running the whole time you're using the computer.

It sounded as though the aircraft was running without even having FS started up.

You can hear a pin drop now in the room. My TV set and stereo are now at a normal volume when I'm using them.

[Bob Reed]

Hey Bill... Looks great! I would be a little worried about getting in and out of the cockpit with that tower there. Kick splash and then the computer goes Lock up..!! Just kidding but the project does look good!

[wollo]

yeah I just put it there to make sure it would work with the pipes laid out like that. It's quite secure though so no worries. I'm due to start a more permanent bracket soon I hope. I can hardly imagine the damage if a hose pulled off a heatblock.

[Bob Reed]

yeah I just put it there to make sure it would work with the pipes laid out like that. It's quite secure though so no worries. I'm due to start a more permanent bracket soon I hope. I can hardly imagine the damage if a hose pulled off a heatblock.

OUCH!!! Had not even thought of that!ZZZzzzzZZZaaaaaaPPPPPppppp, poof.... Out goes all the magic smoke!

[Michael Carter]

I followed a hack on the internet for my PS1 screen, but I've never gotten it to work correctly. Could you tell my how you have wired yours?

The site I used for the hack is here: http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2004/07/07/psone_lcd/2

I followed the wiring diagram, tripple checked everything, and the computer won't recognize that it's pluged in, nor will it turn on.

Nice shots on your sim!

[wollo]

cheers BS. I'm not an expert for sure but I'll certainly try to help. First time I tried this I got hold of a generic screen without realising that not all of them will even work. I've still got that screen in a shoe box to try again now that I know a little more.
(I suspect that the reason for the generic screen not working was no 5v on dcc)

first off you'll need powerstrip - www.entechtaiwan.com/ps.htm you can try this as shareware for quite a while anyway.

My screen is PAL and that is what caused me the problems.
I found that at first my screen wouldn't seem to power up. I had read from the same site as you that dcc on pin 10 psone(pin 9 vga) was optional. It isn't optional for PAL screens they need 5v reference on that pin to turn on.
I couldn't find a cable with pin 9 (dcc), I soon grew tired of gutting vga cables and old monitor cable I can tell you.
Don't know if it was electronically sound to do this but I tested for 5v to ground on the display and its pcb and found it on one of the pins of the pcb mount buttons below the screen. I've soldered a wire from this switch post through a switch onto the pcb of the psone display at pin 10.

When I turn on the switch the screen works. A little tweaking and you wouldn't believe the qulaity for the price 768x576i @25Hz.

Only thing is a cant seem to change the font size. A couple of nav instruments on this make it look great.

If that doesn't help we will try some more.

[Michael Carter]

I GOT IT!

The only thing I missed was getting the correct header plug back on the correct header on the small board where the VGA connections are made.

Now I'll see if I can get a picture on it.

I have Powerstrip already installed.

Thanks for the input!

[wollo]

thats good news, I'll look forward to seeing the results. I've foundit quite hard to get a good photo of the small lcd. Especially if you have more than 1 screen on in the shot.

[Michael Carter]

It doesn't appear to be recognized by the ATI 9800Pro card on my system. I tried to enable all monitors from Powerstrip, but that didn't work either.

Well, at least the thing turned on finally. Now I'll see if I can get pat the next hurdle. It I can get this thing working, I'm going to be using a Sandel 3808 EFIS pronto!

[AndyT]

Bill,

Where did you get the 10.4 inch LCD from?

[wollo]

E-bay. payed around £124 from a uk reseller.

[Michael Carter]

I'm scrapping the PS1 idea. Now I can't even get it to turn on. I'm wasting time with this idea, though it might work down the road for the radar display.

I ordered a Hanns 17" wide-screen from New Egg this morning. I hope it fits. There is going to be some monitor bezel in the way, so I may cut this back some and avoid stripping the TFT from the chassis.

My 4" airspeed indicator and 4" HSI are probably going to end up as 3" instruments.

If I can get this fitted, it will save several thousand dollars on analog simulated instruments. I'll probably still buy the standby instruments though.