Dual encoder rotary pins

[Fliegerbenny]

Hey friends,

first of all I want to say thank you to this forum because I found a lot of interessting things here... ;)

Now to my question :)
I have here two orginial dual encoders (Gables) of a real aircraft and some other switches. The switches works fine but my encoders does not.
My main problem ist, that I don't have a datasheet so I dont know which pin is ground and which pin is the actual button.
The only thing what is to see on the encoder are the two shafts and a flat cable in rainbow colors (7 cables). At the end is a little box and at the bottom are 8 pins, 4 short pins and 4 long pins. I think that every direction has one pin + one ground for each encoder. (two encoders + two directions = 8 pins)

Sorry for my "bad" description but I don't know how I should describe the encoder better. For information, the encoder rotary was installed on a COM Panel.

I hope you can help me, so I can use them on my little project ;)

PS: I use the BU0836X card and plan to realize the COM Panel in the FS. This should be 4 buttons of the card...

So far, IÄm looking forward to your answers ;)

Benjamin

If you have questions, I hope I can answer them.

[cscotthendry]

FliegerBenny:
This may seem like a non-answer, but I think it will be the easiest solution for you. If you are building a sim and don't have a multimeter, you might consider buying one as it will be useful for many many things just like this. You can get a reasonable multimeter at any electronics store and they are quite cheap these days.

If you do have a multimeter, then you can easily find out what the encoder does with the resistance measurement function. Most encoders that I've seen in common use are passive devices which means they don't have transistors or other active components inside. Being passive, they just act like switches inside. However, if the encoder you have IS an active device then you will need a datasheet to work with it.

It should be easy to tell whether it's active or passive generally by the appearance. But if that is not conclusive, the resistance check should show some changes when you connect to the multimeter to the pins. You may have to try a few combinations of pins before you start to get the idea of the inner workings, but just a bit of patience goes a long way.

You might also like to post a picture of the device as someone here may have direct experience with it or have a datasheet for it.

Hope this helps..

[ran56]

I may be wrong here, but usually rotary encoders are not passive at all.
They generate pules of code (with OC card, need grey code). Usually 5V is logic 1, 0v for logic 0.
So each detent changes high and low on the output pins.
I'm not familiar with BU0836X and if it support rotary encoders.
I will refer your question to a friend builder that has also real encoder
and he might be able to help you with pin out of them.

[Fliegerbenny]

Hi Scott, Hi Ran

thank you for your replies

I have a multimeter but unfortnuately I dont know how to check the pins. I'm no electronic expert and I have to learn many things about electricity ;) But everyone starts somewhere ;)

I figure out that both encoder have 15 detents and on the website of Leo Bodnar (BU0836X) is the information published, that the card supports encoder. I hope thins information helps ;)

I also make a picture of the encoder

sorry for the bad quality but it was a snapshot

Benny

[ran56]

Hi Benny,
Do you see any manufacture name or part no. on that encoder ?
Does this encoder has push button on it as well ?

[Fliegerbenny]

Hey Ran,

the manufacture name is GEI (I think this Gables) and the partnumber is 700-D27980NN

Ther is no pull or push button

[ran56]

Benny,
Searched the web but could not find data sheet for what you have there.
What I could find is that is called switch shutter wheel (http://books.google.co.il/books?id=E5q1JsN3xA0C&pg=PA138&lpg=PA138&dq=switch+shutter+wheel&source=bl&ots=b8wIWgpRMZ&sig=HA7IGwCLN8RshrsfZeHbixFaWso&hl=en&ei=vJAuSpedG9m2_Aaw8aS9Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1).
From what I understand it's an optical encoder.

More on encoders and optical ones

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_encoder#Encoder_technologies

and

http://www.quadratureencoders.com/support/glossary#glossary_optical-encoder

Sorry I couldn't help more :(

[Fliegerbenny]

Hi Ran,

i opened on of the encoders and figure out, that there are two little plates with holes on the edge and litte white stripes on black background..

seem to be a gray code encoder...isnt it?

if it is optical, do i have a chance to find out what pin what is?

thx Benny

[ran56]

Hi Ran,

i opened on of the encoders and figure out, that there are two little plates with holes on the edge and litte white stripes on black background..

seem to be a gray code encoder...isnt it?

if it is optical, do i have a chance to find out what pin what is?

thx Benny

With out the data sheet of the encoder, you can't tell the type of
code it's outputing.
You need to know which is the common pit and which are the outputs.
You can test with trial and eror, but I'm not sure if this can damage the encoder.

You can try and contact Gables (http://www.gableseng.com/home.asp) and ask for pin out or data sheet.

[dnoize]

Hi Ran,

i opened on of the encoders and figure out, that there are two little plates with holes on the edge and litte white stripes on black background..

seem to be a gray code encoder...isnt it?

if it is optical, do i have a chance to find out what pin what is?

thx Benny

sounds like an optical one.

opencockpits rotary encoder card can read some opticals, but again. you will need a data sheet.

Stef

[dnoize]

btw, ADMIN: what happened with quoting? i didnt change anything to my settings but i liked the previous way the forum quoted more.

Stef

[cscotthendry]

Hi Ran,

i opened on of the encoders and figure out, that there are two little plates with holes on the edge and litte white stripes on black background..

seem to be a gray code encoder...isnt it?

if it is optical, do i have a chance to find out what pin what is?

thx Benny


Benny:

From what you describe of the insides, my guess is that it IS an optical encoder, in which case it IS an active encoder not a passive one. Before you start connecting anything to it, it would be best to try to find some datasheet for it. If you put the wrong voltage on the wrong pins you may ruin one or more of the semiconductors inside. Did you notice anything that looks like a transistor or little IC inside? You don't want to blow them up or the encoder will become useless.

[Leo Bodnar]

Hey friends,
Now to my question :)
I have here two orginial dual encoders (Gables) of a real aircraft and some other switches. The switches works fine but my encoders does not.

PS: I use the BU0836X card and plan to realize the COM Panel in the FS. This should be 4 buttons of the card...



If you post one of them to me I can figure out the connections for you.
BU0836X would work with active encoders just as well as soon as they have +5V digital outputs.

Greyhill makes similar encoders. Maybe their pinout will give you some hints? http://lgrws01.grayhill.com/web1/images/ProductImages/Opt_Encoder_62C.pdf

[Fliegerbenny]

Hey

thank for all your help. I dont want to ruin the encoder and therefor it may be better to buy a new one or to let check the encoder..

@Leo
Is there any way how I can contact you? E-Mail? If you want we can talk about the encoder and maybe there is a possibility to use the encoder ;)

Benny

by the way.. the Grayhill looks simliar to mine but I dont think that the pins are the same

[Leo Bodnar]

Sure, email me at leobodnar@leobodnar.com
Cheers
Leo

[10michel01]

Hello,

i have also gables dual optical encoders
if you give me the gables partnumber, or the part number of the panel or where it come from (adf nav atc panel) maybe i can help you further.

my question is can i put these encoder directly to the oc master card or do i need inverters or a other circuit to connect it.

greating Michel

*Sorry, i read the hole thread i have found your prtnr.
i will look for you.

Michel