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PittsburghLever
10-01-2008, 05:22 PM
Hi,

Probably a simple question: What kind of board would be needed to read a rotary encoder? I have been looking at Phidgets among others, but I don't see anything that catches my eye.

XOrionFE
10-01-2008, 06:09 PM
Hagestrom has some good boards and there is also an offering from Desktop Aviator.

ian@737ng.co.uk
10-02-2008, 02:27 AM
hi chaps......
reading rotary encoders.....my preference is the BU0836X from leo bodnar.
http://www.leobodnar.com/products/BU0836X/
as well as being a joystick card, it is also capable of reading different types of encoders.
simply, you run leo's utility, tell it which switch pair you are attaching an encoder to and way to go !
i find it reliable, accurate and never let's me down. works well with the cheap encoders from sure electronics on ebay. see http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/12mm-Rotary-Encoder-Switch-With-Keyswitch-10pcs_W0QQitemZ230295807503QQihZ013QQcategoryZ67003QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262
use the 1:4 option in the pulse selection panel of the utility.
i have 3 of these boards running and once fitted, i never have to go near them.
hope that gave you some ideas.....have a great day
regards from wales..... ian

skywatch
10-03-2008, 03:37 AM
Ian,

thanks for an informative post, it answers a few questions I was about to post myself.
One thing though, how do you assign the encoders to the various flight sim functions?

Skywatch

iwik
10-03-2008, 05:14 AM
Ian,
I see your comments re Leos Board.I purchased the BU0836 and have tried two types of encoders(CTS288 and a type Leo said would work,).
I find that when i program this board and check it in Xp game controllers
the buttons are acknowledged well and at speed.However when trying to
get it to change digits for example the transponder in FS9 its unreliable.
Others have found the same thing.What are your comments,have you tried other types of encoders or just the Sure Electronics ones.
Appreciate any comments.Your website is great and very imformative and
thanks for making it so available.
Les

ian@737ng.co.uk
10-03-2008, 05:21 AM
hello there.......
in short...thru FSUIPC. the bu0836x board is seen by the system/fsuipc as a joystick controller with 32 buttons. leo bodnar gives us the ability thru his encoders.exe utility to assign a 'switch pair' (for example button 3 & 4) to be configured to read the inputs from various types of rotary encoders.
ok, that being said, once an encoder has been wired to a switch pair on the card, windows and FSUIPC see it the same way they see joystick button pushes. turn it one way by a detente and button 3 will be seen, turn it the other way and button 4 will be seen. but if you turn it several detente's in either direction, the result is that fsuipc sees it as repeated button presses.
from there, the world's your oyster.......once fsuipc is seeing a joystick button press, you can do just about anything. you can generate keys, you can adjust fs or your aircraft variables and if you know them, you can even manipulate offsets. that coupled with the new macro technique has blown it all wide open for me.
the application of the encoder generated input is only limited by your imagination.
examples of what i use encoders on.......
rudder trim....assigned in fsuipc (fs control) as rudder trim right and left
view .... pan left and right
n1 set and spd ref .... assigned in fsuipc as (home made) macro's.
EFIS units see http://www.737ng.co.uk/EFIS_BU0836_HOWTO.pdf (a little bit out of date now because i have exchanged all my standard bu0836 cards for the new X board.
another example is here http://www.737ng.co.uk/simple%20encoder.pdf
hope that gives you plenty to chew on captain and have a great day.....
regards from wales..... ian
the list is

ian@737ng.co.uk
10-03-2008, 05:53 AM
hi les.......
first thanks for the nice comments, flattery will get you everywhere :o))
ok, i am using CTS288 encoders and the ones from sure electronics. all are connected to bu0836x boards (4 cts and 12) of the others. in leo's utility i am assigning 1:1 for the CTS encoders and 1:4 for the 'cheapo' one's.....
i am having no issues with the operation of any of them.
what i cant understand is if the XP game controller is seeing the inputs, then they should be visible also in fsuipc/fs9.
my only thought on this is that perhaps because my usage of these encoders does not require me to rotate at speed, then possibly they dont respond well over a certain directional speed or the other thing i should mention have you played with the pulse width in leo's utility? quite possible 48ms is too fast for FS9/FSUIPC to see with everything else going on.....increase it, it's not going to do any harm. i did have issues (both CTS and cheapo's) when connecting to the boards using 'ribbon cable' and IDC connectors, especially over long runs. but hardwiring everythinng cured my problems.
sorry i can't be more help, but without seeing the problem, it's difficult to pass constructive comments.
by the way, i have also got two alps dual encoders hooked up as well (but not fitted yet, they're for the N1 Set and Spd Ref) and they work a breeze as well.
good luck anyway and i hope you get round it.
re: site, i have so much to do to update it (i have a few more ideas, but i'll wait for the winter to come to do that).
have a great day and best regards from this side of the world :o)

ian

XOrionFE
10-03-2008, 07:35 AM
I have the same problem with moving rotaries at speed using DAs 2090 board.....

I have been trying to figure out the issue with Steves help at DA and he just got a program update that allows pulse widths all the way up to 200 which I have tried to no avail.

When I move rotaries slow they do work pretty good. But try to rotate fast (such as changing heading bug quickly by 180 degrees) they do not respond fast enough. In other words, it is almost like there is a maximum speed that it registers the inputs and beyond that is not possible.

I compare this to my GoFlight rotaries and there is just no comparison. The GF units work perfectly whether moving slow or fast. I also have a couple rotaries on a Hage KE108 board and these work fine as well.

The DA2090 and it sounds like the BUO836 exhibit the same problems. I am running FSX btw.

If anyone who has some electronics knowledge can offer any ideas I would much appreciate it.

Thank you,
Scott

kiek
10-03-2008, 08:55 AM
Hi,

Probably a simple question: What kind of board would be needed to read a rotary encoder? I have been looking at Phidgets among others, but I don't see anything that catches my eye.

The Opencockpits Master Card is a very good choice.

http://www.opencockpits.com/catalog/master-card-p-29.html?cPath=21_27

That board is versatile, mature technology and cheap.
You can connect CTS288 encoders with 16 pulses/rotation (and 4 cycles per rotation) directly to this board (only taking 2 inputs).

Programming can be done in the free SIOC software, either via FSUIPC offsets, or via the IOCP protocol. Lots of example code is available.

I also recommend the OC USB expansion card, you can connect up to 4 Master cards to one USB port.

iwik
10-03-2008, 07:35 PM
Hi All,
Ian: Your comments were valuable,im now getting good results.Your key words were ENCODER KEYS SEEN AS KEY REPEATS.I did not have the key repeat checked.I also noticed that i lost this reliability when Fsim went funny.Rebooted machine fs9 still ok but encoder operation poor.
So i DELETED FSUIPC.ini and let it regenerate a new one and reassign
encoder switches and all was GOOD again.

Scott: Try and delete FSUIPC.ini to see if it helps.I also noticed that
the encoders did not work wellwhen you just used the FS to assign
encoder switches to functions.My heading bug spins very fast.
Hope this helps you.

Thanks Ian you'r a saviour i can now use my surplus encoders that were
destined for the scrapp heap.
Where did you buy those Alps Dual Encoders from?

Les

XOrionFE
10-03-2008, 07:48 PM
Hi All,
Ian: Your comments were valuable,im now getting good results.Your key words were ENCODER KEYS SEEN AS KEY REPEATS.I did not have the key repeat checked.I also noticed that i lost this reliability when Fsim went funny.Rebooted machine fs9 still ok but encoder operation poor.
So i DELETED FSUIPC.ini and let it regenerate a new one and reassign
encoder switches and all was GOOD again.

Scott: Try and delete FSUIPC.ini to see if it helps.I also noticed that
the encoders did not work wellwhen you just used the FS to assign
encoder switches to functions.My heading bug spins very fast.
Hope this helps you.

Thanks Ian you'r a saviour i can now use my surplus encoders that were
destined for the scrapp heap.
Where did you buy those Alps Dual Encoders from?

Les


Interesting. I will try with a fresh FSUIPC.ini file to see if that is causing it. As for using just FS...what do you mean? You mean the checkbox in FSUIPC for FS? What did you do? Check both boxes?

iwik
10-03-2008, 08:27 PM
hi Scott,
My problem was that even at slow speeds it was unreliable.The check box i refer to was to repeat keys in FSUIPC.I do get a speed limit when turning the Control extremely fast.That is the heading bug does not move as quickly when turning at extreme rates.I find it quite acceptable.
Les

Efe Cem Elci
10-03-2008, 10:45 PM
Hi Les,
I'm not sure where Ian got his dual rotary encoders from but here is an online store where you can get some:
http://www.onlinecomponents.com/product/3575914/

This was suggested in the topic here:
http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php?t=12907

And of course, if you haven't checked it out yet, Ian has a website that is very extensive and informative for us builders. http://www.737ng.co.uk

skywatch
10-04-2008, 03:59 AM
IAn,

MAny thanks for taking the time to produce a perfect description. Now it all make some sort of sense ;-)

THe links to your site were very informative. I will order a BU0836X tomorrow and start getting and FCU together for the A319/320 that is my goal.

Skywatch