LEDs to indicate gear status

[nathansowers@hotmail]

how can I get LEDs to indicate gear status with the same acton as a real aircraft? Not going from green to red.

[Kennair]

Hi Nathan,

There's lots of info here that you can find by searching the forums, however in your case you'll need to purchase some sort of hardware interface board to translate switches and lights to and from FS. There are many available from the likes of Phidgets, Opencockpits, Simboards etc. You will need to research the pros and cons of each and decide what is right for you. Cost is a major factor in the decision of course.

Once you've decided on the interface, you'll then need to research all the parameters of the boards and their associated software application that runs them. All this will lead to the answer to your various questions. Your request is very simple to implement, however it is different depending on which type of hardware interface you own. I don't won Desktop Aviator products but as far as I know they are just joystick devices and not switch interfaces as such, so while you can make things happen in the sim by activating a switch and assigning that in FS, there's no way to get LED's to light or anything else more sophisticated.

Certainly in your other post requesting information on getting LED displays of Autopilot functions requires specific interface hardware to drive 7 segment displays along with associated software. All very doable, but you need the hardware to begin with.

Hope that helps,

Ken.

[Jackpilot]

I do not know exactly what you want to achieve and how far you want to go in Cockpit integration but there are ways to make things work with a little ingenuity if you do not intend to be ultra realistic and have a limited budget.

Ex: gear lever
easy to make
Then put some microswitches one for up one for down, linked to the same joystich button assigned to key G in FS
(only limitation be careful to sync the real lever with the FS lever)

Two other microswitches will drive lhe LEDS one for gear in transit (red) one for gear down (green)
If associated with a basic little timer that you can build in minutes (Radio Shack kit)
your LEDs will lit up after 3 or 4 seconds to mimic reality(green ) or stay lit for a few seconds (red Transit)
Just a thought!!!
Jack

[Doug Norman]

Try this site http://www.simprojects.nl/gear_up_down_indicator.htm

Doug

[skywatch]

Nice web site, but is it not possible to read the status of the 'on screen' gear status lights and map them to an output to drive LEDs???

Skywatch

[Trevor Hale]

Nice web site, but is it not possible to read the status of the 'on screen' gear status lights and map them to an output to drive LEDs???

Skywatch

Of course you can, if you have an interface that can read the Offset from FSUIPC.

[Jackpilot]

So complicated, time consuming and far removed from the exhilaration of flying .....
Those 3 greens come on with a simple switch contact whenever the lever is down, why complicate things..its a sim!
Put the darn lever down, watch these little 3 green peas light up (wherever the juice comes from) and shoot carefully for that threshold and center line....300`some virtual lives depend on U!
Priorities first (lol)
Sorry I'm grumpy tonite!
Jack

[nathansowers@hotmail]

I did that exactly "Jackpilot". all green down and all red up. I just like realism in the fuctions of the controls and switches etc.