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.
From what I understand it's an optical encoder.

More on encoders and optical ones

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_...r_technologies

and

http://www.quadratureencoders.com/su...ptical-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 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