JeeHell FMGS and Leobodnar board

[pablonator3000]

Hello guys,
One question!
I want to build an overhead- and several other panels for my A320 simulator. I want to use an leobodnar board, because it's very easy to use!
The question: Is it possible to use the leobodnar board BU0836X with the FMGS software? If yes, is it only able to put inputs into the PC or not? Which board do you prefer? Is it compatible with outputs for the LED's in the selfmade korys? I have an Arduino Mega board too but I was not able to use it for my cokpit :/.
I'm really looking forward to your replies!
Yours Pablo :)

[Stephan Schwarz]

Hey Pablo,

I don´t use it, but I remember some guys which are using the Leobodnar Board for inputs. It mainly works like the Arcazes and will be found as a joystick device under Windows.

Regarding the Arduiono board: have you ever tried Mobiflight? www.mobiflight.de .. fantastic soft for home cockpits like ours.

Cheers
Stephan

[OmniAtlas]

Hey Pablo,

I don´t use it, but I remember some guys which are using the Leobodnar Board for inputs. It mainly works like the Arcazes and will be found as a joystick device under Windows.

Regarding the Arduiono board: have you ever tried Mobiflight? www.mobiflight.de (http://www.mobiflight.de) .. fantastic soft for home cockpits like ours.

Cheers
Stephan

The arduiono and mobiflight combination sounds interesting. I will need to wire up the overhead - will it be suitable because it also supports 7 segment modules for the battery and adr indicator?

[masterp]

I have not tried Leobodnar, but the Arduino is a very cheap solution., you should try to combine it with mobiflight as Stephan's suggestion. Very easy to use.
Cheers

[Stephan Schwarz]

You can wire up 7-segment displays with a Max 7219. Unfortunately there are only these RED modules available as finished boards

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1PCS-MAX7219-EWG-8-Digit-Digital-Tube-Display-Control-Module-Red-for-arduino-/171550766752?hash=item27f138f6a0:g:UQQAAOSwnDxUbp4V

But there shall be options to build your own displays using the Max 7219 chip and your own 7-segments; but I have not realized this yet so I cannot report how it works.

Further help can be given by the Mobiflight user forum.

Regards,
Stephan

[pablonator3000]

Thanks for your replies!
Yes I have tried Mobiflight but it did not work for me. :/ Do I have to programme the Arcaze modul? If yes is it hard to use?
Yours Pablo

[OmniAtlas]

The problem is the overhead has over 100 switches, and each switch needs to be wired to 2 led outputs. The arduiono board has only 40 led outputs.

Might be be more straight foward to go with one Sys 1 board (only one Power supply needed).

[Stephan Schwarz]

The Mobiflight is easy to use: just download the MFConnector and the Arduino software, then you upload the Mobiflight firmware and you can start immediately.

There is no limitation im max. connected Mega boards, so you can have hundereds of switches and LED´s; okay, one power supply will not be enough but cost wise the Mega is IMHO the cheapest solution (15-20 EUR per Board as the clones from SainSmart etc can be used).

Regards,
Stephan

[OmniAtlas]

Hi Stephan,

I checked on the arduino website and it says each card can have 54 digital input/output. I did a quick count on PB on the overhead and there are at least over 80, excluding the switches.

So for inputs I will need at least 100
For output I need at least 160 (each PB has upper and lower LED)

So I will need at least 2 boards for the inputs, and 4 for output?

So that would be 6 boards in total I will need for the overhead, am I calculating that correctly?

This is cheaper (if you are going with the clone boards -- $11 ! http://www.sainsmart.com/arduino/control-boards/sainsmart-mega2560-r3-development-board-compatible-with-arduino-mega2560-r3.html) than the other options out there.

Thanks.

[Stephan Schwarz]

Hi Ben,

with Mobiflight there is a limitation, not all IO´s can be used for any reason. IMHO there are 40 inputs OR outputs per Mega 2560 available. This would mean at least 7 cards for your overhead.

If you separate inputs and outputs by board, you do not need 7 power supplies, only for the LED outputs those would be necessary.

I am not the big specialist in Mobiflight, I have just realized a small panel with the soft until now (some switches and some LED´s). I was thinking about building my overhead based on Mobiflight, but for several reasons I am still flying with my 1st prototype OVH and have currently no time for building.

[pablonator3000]

Ok I'll try it with Mobiflight again! If it doesn't work I will post a question again. :)

[OmniAtlas]

Hi Ben,

with Mobiflight there is a limitation, not all IO´s can be used for any reason. IMHO there are 40 inputs OR outputs per Mega 2560 available. This would mean at least 7 cards for your overhead.

If you separate inputs and outputs by board, you do not need 7 power supplies, only for the LED outputs those would be necessary.

I am not the big specialist in Mobiflight, I have just realized a small panel with the soft until now (some switches and some LED´s). I was thinking about building my overhead based on Mobiflight, but for several reasons I am still flying with my 1st prototype OVH and have currently no time for building.

Hi Stephan, looking through some tutorial videos it looks like you have to set an FSUIPC state for each output/input? This could be a time assuming affair when JL offers a plug and play solution for the fds Sys boards. I am also already running other fds boards so that would mean one less DLL or program to run.

Perhaps I can run the mega boards for the 7 segment displays, but stick with the Sys board for the input/outputs.

[Stephan Schwarz]

Well, it is not "plug and play", but in one of the latest versions Sebastian has implemented support for Jeehell.
I can only suggest to give it a try, you may start your testing with one board and then you can decide how to build the OVH :-)

Have a nice day!
Stephan

[Barrykensett]

If you decide to go with Leo Bodnar suggest you use the button box rather than the joystick card. Agree best solution is Sys1. I use Open cockpit display card for the seven digits.
Barry