Rotary Switches

[shawnpwilson]

Hello.

Can any of the IFK boards with digital inputs handle say a 3 or 6 or 12 way rotary switch? If so, how many DINS would it take? If not, would any other phidget board be able to do so? What kind of toggle or momentary switches can be used? SPST or DPDT?

Thanks

Shawn

[phidgets]

>>>If not, would any other phidget board be able to do so? What kind of toggle or momentary switches can be used? SPST or DPDT?

The digital inputs can handle pretty much any switch you want to hook up. Momentary, toggle, etc. You could take 2 wires and touch them together to get an event. If the switch is one of the kind that requires voltage to work, like some cockpit switches are, you need to use the 0/16/16 IFK because the digital inputs are "switched to ground" and they need voltage to work correctly. The digital inputs on the 8/8/8 IFK don't use voltage and react to just having the contacts closed.

>>>>Can any of the IFK boards with digital inputs handle say a 3 or 6 or 12 way rotary switch? If so, how many DINS would it take?

If I understand this right you mean a mechanical switch with 3,6,12 leads? If so you need as many digital inputs as you have to wire up. 1 to 1 connections with a common ground.

Matt

[shawnpwilson]

Thanks Matt.


To extend a little bit further.
Lets say I have a 4 position rotary switch. Labled A , B , C , and D.

I don't know the details of how rotary switches work or how they are made, but when turning the dial from point A to point B, at some point between that, there is no connection of the circuit for a brief moment of time. I am correct or wrong? I'm guessing here, so please excuse me.

If I'm correct about the above, then:
Can I short the poles of ABCD and then tie them to 1 digital input so that no matter what position the switch is in, when turned, it will always trigger an on/off state with that one digital input? I know this would leave a state in which the io card would not know the position of the switch.

Extend this a little bit further:
If I do need to know the position of the switch, I would then need to tie the ABCD poles to 4 separate digital inputs.

I'm really sorry for the annoying questions as I'm not a customer of phidgets just yet, but these are important questions for me so that I can get a more indepth position of understanding.......
..... at which point, I've just decided to take the plunge with this and experiment. I guess the only way to learn is to buy one of the products and start experimenting in a hands on approach. I'm going to head on to the order page...

Regards,

Shawn

[phidgets]

Hi Shawn,

You are going to have to experiment with the hardware in question. I can't give you answers about a switch I've never seen. :)

Buy a switch and an ohm meter and learn how it works and then pick up an IFK for testing. If you can't get an ohm meter, you can use a battery and some light bulbs and wire them up to your knobs to learn how they work.

A digital input will read 1 connection a piece. If you have 4 switches you use 4 digital inputs. It doesn't matter if the 4 switches are in one mechanical unit or not. How can 1 digital input turning on and off indicate something rotating? It can't.

The Phidgets can be hooked up in a million creative ways to make Simulators do most anything someone wants. The FS2Phidget can work with any function that is made available by FSUIPC.

Matt

[shawnpwilson]

Thanks again Matt.

I just place my order for the 3 pack IFKit. I'll be having a lot of fun soon in the next few days.

I agree 100 percent that I just need to jump in and get started. How else will I learn? Theoretical and book smarts are just one part of the equation. Actual hands on are the other. I can sit here all day posting HowTo questions for basic switch and digital IO questions. Better that I just dig in and go.

Regards,

Shawn

Heading out to home depot to buy a fire extinguisher now.... just in case . ahahaa.