Simviation Forum - Simple Switch

Jan 30^th, 2007 at 10:30pm

Mobius Offline
Colonel
Highest Point in the Lightning
Storm
Wisconsin

Posts: 4369

Alrighty folks, I've been thinking about a little project for a while now, and I was curious about the feasibility of it. I want to build a small box with a working gear handle, and maybe a few buttons and toggle switches. I have the mechanics mostly figured out, but what I don't really know much of anything about is wiring it so it is recognized by my computer. I am just curious about how difficult it would be to wire just a switch or a dial, and have that be recognized as a joystick or something, so I could use it in FS, and other sims as well.

Thanks in advance.

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Reply #1 - Jan 31^st, 2007 at 1:22am

SilverFox441 Offline
Colonel
Now What?
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Gender:
Posts: 1467

It needn't be very complex... basically you just need to gut a cheap USB joystick and you can assign all it's various buttons, switches, etc. within FS to accomplish whatever tasks you want. You also have available whatever joystick axis were available... so if you wanted to make a throttle assembly that's possible.

It's a little bit harder if you want to use toggle swtiches, but there is a tutorial available on another site that I can point you to if that's the case.

Steve (Silver Fox) Daly

&&

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Reply #2 - Jan 31^st, 2007 at 9:12am

JBaymore Offline
Global Moderator
Under the curse of the
hombuilt cockpit!

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Posts: 10261

Mobius,

Welcome to the place we keep all the real addicts! Wink

Be careful........ once you start........ there is no end in sight. Cool

Another approch would be to pick up a cheap keybopard emulator unit. Some are VERY cheap... cheaper than a joystick (in case you don;t need the axis control). See the "Cockpit Building Resources" sticky at the top of the forum. There are a number of possibilities for such items listed there. The price is tied to functions and number of keys supported.

Here's one resource from the list that might be of interest:

http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/

With one of those CHEAP units you are somewhat limited to momentary press buttons....unless you use the sork around Silverfox is hinting at. The more expensive units will allow multiple keypresses assigned to one switch as well as different keypresses on make and break. Toggles work straight away with those.

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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Reply #3 - Jan 31^st, 2007 at 2:34pm

Padser Offline
Colonel
Tally-Ho, chaps...

Posts: 241

Hiya,

Your project sounds a lot like my first steps on the road to obsession, too... Wink

You can see the switch box I made here: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1145609154

I used toggle switches and some potentiometers (easily source-able from any online electronics store - I used Maplin in the UK). The circuitry comes from Leo Bodnar's Joystick controller: http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1145609154

When you plug the USB cable into your machine, the default Human Interface Device drivers in Windows XP recognise the controller and allow you to calibrate it, etc. It will simply be available to you as a joystick on your machine - couldn't be easier.

It all looks complicated, but it's really not! I knew nothing before I got started.

There's all sorts of info in this thread over at the UbiSoft site (Shhh! Wink

): http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/26310365/m/9831081034/p/2

I'll be happy to help in anyway I can - so ask away!

Pads

http://www.234squad.org.uk

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Reply #4 - Jan 31^st, 2007 at 8:22pm

Mobius Offline
Colonel
Highest Point in the Lightning
Storm
Wisconsin

Posts: 4369

Thanks everyone. Padser, that's pretty much what I'm looking to do. Thanks for the heads up for everything. This is looking better and better... Wink

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Reply #5 - Jan 31^st, 2007 at 9:30pm

JBaymore Offline
Global Moderator
Under the curse of the
hombuilt cockpit!

Gender:
Posts: 10261

Mobius wrote on Jan 31^st, 2007 at 8:22pm:

Thanks everyone. Padser, that's pretty much what I'm looking to do. Thanks for the heads up for everything. This is looking better and better... Wink

Another life headed down the simpit drain............. such a waste! Wink

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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Reply #6 - Feb 1^st, 2007 at 6:13pm

Mr Steve Offline
Lieutenant Colonel
I Fly Sim!

Posts: 6

Adding switches to a computer input can be confusing; It was for me until I discovered a few very good articles on how to do it. They are:

http://www.desktopaviator.com/Articles/Toggle/index.htm
and
http://www.desktopaviator.com/Articles/USB_Switches/index3.htm

By incorporating the switch electronics into the Desktop Aviator's USB to 10 Button INTERFACE
(http://www.desktopaviator.com/Products/USB_Interface/Model_805/USB.htm), the job is quite easy and the finished project very rewarding.

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Reply #7 - Feb 1^st, 2007 at 9:23pm