Simviation Forum - Cockpit Construction (Part 25)

Apr 23^rd, 2006 at 4:08pm

JBaymore Offline
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Wiring Controls For FreeFD ND Display

Started wiring the panel on the glareshield that will control the FreeFD ND display (Captains Right MFD) on the Main Instrument Panel. This display is driven by computer #3, and the interface to get data into this computer is via a combination of a Hagstrom KE-72 card and some Phidgets devices.

Here is an older image of the panel in question:

Below is the panel from the rear before the wiring was done.

Below you can see all the leads soldered on to the switches. These wires will run back to the various interfaces. I use cat 5 cable for most connections since the bundled twisted pairs make for "cleaner" wiring. In this case it takes a minimum of three cat 5 cables to drive 90 percent of the functions on the board. Once I find out the exact functions for the last two switches on the bottom of the panel.... it will take one more cat 5 cable to get them hooked up too.

I have written on the back of the panel what each connection point does, so that it is easier to debug problems.

In the above, the row of switches across the top are push on / push off soft feel square buttons. When they are "on" they stay indented. Unfortunately, not internally lit. But I will be working on that someday. Wink

The two center round multi-position switches are simple 6 position wafer rotary switches.

In the picture above you can also see a small printed circuit board located on the top right (from the rear). That is a Phidgets rotary sensor.....that will control the setting of the barometric pressure. A button elsewhere will control instantly setting "standard".

Now to route the cables through the various panels and back to the cards that will run them. Not fun!

best,

.....................john

« Last Edit: Apr 23^rd, 2006 at 6:33pm by JBaymore »

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Reply #1 - Apr 23^rd, 2006 at 10:13pm

JBaymore Offline
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EFIS Panel Wired In

This evening I moved on to routing the cables from the EFIS panel I wired this afternoon to get them running to the second Hagstrom Keyboard Encoder (KE-72) that is located on the #3 computer that runs the FreeFD ND display.

Below you can see the Hagstrom KE-72 awaiting all the wiring connections. I have already programmed the connections into the software for the unit for the first 24 of the 72 available inputs. This is done right through the keyboard cable into the Hagstrom unit with a program that comes with the unit.

Below you can see the mass of wiring that is routed through the glareshield. In general, the blue cat 5 cable is for switches/inputs, the white cat 5 cable is for led annunciators, the black cables are usb, and the red and black wires are 12V regulated DC.

While I was in there with all the panel facings taken off anyway......, I added cabling for all of the remaining items on the glareshield.....which mainly are about three more switches on the EFIS, the led annunciators on the left side of the glareshield, and the master caution and master warning switches/lights.

So after all this "non-flying activity"...... I fired up the sim.... and it works perfectly! Grin

For example, push the TACAS button on the EFIS panel on the glareshield and you see all the surrounding traffic on the ND. Flip the Arc / Rose switch and get the appropriate display. Adjust the range from 10 nm to 360 nm with the twist of a rotary switch. Go to Approach mode... and you see the necessary information. And so on.

I now control the captains right ND display from the EFIS panel. Bye-bye to another keyboard Wink

.

Geeeeeezzzze.... this hobby is addicting Shocked

8).

best,

....................john

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Reply #2 - Apr 24^th, 2006 at 2:20am

SilverFox441 Offline
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It looks like you're having fun John!

It actually reminds me of my days wiring up prototype panels in the electrical labs at CFB North Bay!

Have you tried out the standby compass ideas yet?

Steve (Silver Fox) Daly

&&

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Reply #3 - Apr 25^th, 2006 at 12:31pm

JBaymore Offline
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Steve,

Yup... having fun. Grin

Not time for the compass idea yet. It will be attempted.

Today I solved another "little" issue.

The FreeFD ND dispaly has the functionality of the real thing in displaying the flight plan on it when in the appropriate mode. The problem is that the flightplan must be located in the same directory as the ND gauge, must be in Squawkbox 2.X format (file type .sbp), and must have exactly the "flightplan.sbp" filename.

So up until now I have not had the display of the flightplan running on the ND.

After a search ....greatly assisted by commoner....... I now have the older freeware FSBuild flightplanner program. This will directly import the fs2004 flightplans from that default directory, and allow me to directly export them across the network and put them right into the ND folder on the networked machine driving that gauge.

Relatively simple. And a great step forward.... although there isn't too much to see in photos.

best,

.....................john

Intel i7 960 quad 3.2G LGA 1366, Asus P6X58D Premium, 750W Corsair, 6 gig 1600 DDR3, Spinpoint 1TB 7200 HD, Caviar 500G 7200 HD, GTX275 1280M, Logitec Z640, Win7 Pro 64b, CH Products yoke, pedals + throttle quad, simpit

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