total newb question

[djcevera20]

could someone please point me in the dirrection as to how to light a led that is on a momentary switch.. im trying to get it so when i hit my ap engage button a light comes on and stays on letting me know auto pilot is on.

[Buddym]

Hi,

What interfacing solution are you using? In general your hardware output for the LED must be linked in software to the appropriate FSUIPC offset for the desired function, like AP ENGAGE.


BuddyM

[djcevera20]

i am using the desktop aviator rotary encoder and usb to 20 button interface

[Buddym]

I am not well versed with this hardware, but scanning the product pages on the website it looks like these boards do not have outputs. Maybe someone else here has some expertise, but to me it looks like inputs only.

BuddyM

[djcevera20]

buddym thank you for the quick return if that is the case do you know of a way to incorporate some diy outputs

[Buddym]

Well depending on your comfort level and electronics skills there are a couple... The no-hardware method would be a straight connection to output pins on a parallel printer port... BUT, you still have to get software to get the FSUIPC offset data to your hardware. You could write a application in C or VB to read the FSUIPC data and the take action on the parallel port pins accordingly... Jan Axelson's book on parallel ports would be the place to start. Another method would be using a PIC or AVR microcontroller in HID mode to drive some outputs via USB, this will require some small $$ for chips. This is all depending upon skill levels with such things, and how much your time is worth compared to buying something assembled and tested. I love to build things are write code (not an expert at either), so it's ok for me sometimes.....

that being said, I use the Opencockpit mastercard in my sim, but I am very interested in trying out the Bodnar cards.

Buddy

[djcevera20]

i love to build things however im not too familiar with writing code so that would be fun to try....do you know if the oc master card kit comes programed also do you know of somewhere i could get some ideas as to how to do the pic controller method you spoke of? can i use oc master card with desktop products or would they conflict

[Gsey]

If the led is built into the switch which iam assuming it is from your question, then you need to run a seperate power line to your switch. The switch will have its own circuit for the light. This will work great if you physically push the switch to engage then have to push the switch same again to disengage the ap. If your wanting to turn the light off via software by using a different switch to disengage (in the yoke for example) then you probably going to have to go with a interface solution unless your good at electronics.

Edit: http://www.flightsim.com/main/howto/ortek2.htm this will give an idea how you can do it if the led is seprerate from a switch, but DONT ever hook power to a switch if it doesnt have a seperate circuit such as a spst switch. You may fry your board.

Gary

[djcevera20]

from the sonds of it it might be easier for me to switch to oc products as there master card has outputs...hmmmmm guess i wish i did a little better research before i purchased the stuff from desktop aviator...ah well lesson learned....

[Buddym]

well so far the OC products have been pretty good in my opinion. I have 2 mastercards and a USB expansion card, plus 3 displays cards to drive 7-segment displays. I have managed to get my FCU funtional so far, and will be trying to the EFIS and multi-radio panels working next. Kiek and others here are far more experienced with them than I am and they still use them I think. The OC mastercard has no programming on the card itself, but there is software on the pc (free) that you must use to make it work. These are the IOCARDS and SIOC. SIOC has less capabilities, but is easy to implement, one of the first "tests" you do is to make a switch toggle the strobe, and light an LED to indicate that is on. SIOC is very powerful and can be made to do very copmplex things, I am not using SIOC yet, but very soon.

Compared to writing your own code to drive a PIC or AVR module that you build, using OC would be easier.

For PIC info I would google the PIClist and look at some of the PIC examples on youtube and instructables. For AVR stuff look at the avrfreaks website and again at youtube. It is worth mentioning FSBUS too, that system seems to have matured a great deal, I almost went with it when I started.

Overall I would say that going with OC is a better bet than designing a custom solution using AVR/PIC, if for no other reason that so many people are available to help you when you run into problems. Given that some of the buildes using OC have been at this a LONG time, there is little they haven't run into. Looking through the forums here you will see numerous builders such as kiek and brianwilliamson who have accomplished a huge amount using OC, and they are always very helpful.

BuddyM