Possible easy usb solution for analog gauges

I think with this phidget http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?category=11&product_id=1066 plus this servo http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?product_id=3000[/url] with helios www.scsimulations.com in control.. this should work for most analog gauges. All your limited to is usb ports and money..lol A full range of motion servo with a usb control board that can very speed and angle with helios linking the two with a-10c it should work.

This option is not cheap but all i really want to make is about 5 so it's not to bad. If anyone else has tried this.. please let me know.

Edit: Updated Servo.

plus this servo http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?category=22&product_id=3202

This servo cannot be commanded to a specific location, only the speed can be controlled. A normal servo should be used instead.

There is also a lot of cheaper option either the PHCC system or the simpler servo opencockpit card. Phidgets device are really expensive for their capability compare to the PHCC cards.

I wonder if PHCC or opencockpit cards would work with helios or not.

I wonder if PHCC or opencockpit cards would work with helios or not.

PHCC support was planned originally for Helios but was abandoned for some reason... Opencockpit is not supported by Helios but it will work with a custom export.lua script.

PHCC support was planned originally for Helios but was abandoned for some reason... Opencockpit is not supported by Helios but it will work with a custom export.lua script.

I'm afraid i don't know how to wright .lua scripts :cry: i have plenty of extra servo to try at home. I fly rc airplanes so ill some different types to see what works. Thank you for the insight

PHCC support was planned originally for Helios but was abandoned for some reason... Opencockpit is not supported by Helios but it will work with a custom export.lua script.

Only so many hours in each day. I have a PHCC motherboard sitting here along with several key matrix and lighting boards. I don't think I have any of the servo or stepper daughter boards though.

I actually abandoned it because it gets expensive fast making it only marginally better than something much easier for some one who doesn't want to solder up that much. The way the PHCC motherboard is designed you almost out of necessity need two levels of break out boards. You have the PHCC Motherboard.... to a 64key matrix board.... to a break out board... then you have a separate board from PHCC to lighting board. Custom designing and having breakout boards etched made it no less expensive than other options.

I may well still sit down and get a Helios plug in for PHCC done, but there is significant UI work to make it "useable" in the general case.

*EDIT* - Those Phidget single servo controllers are overpriced in my opinion. It looks like a design trade-off as it's bus powered so it can't run very many servos. I'd much rather have a power supply on it and have it control 4-6 servos.

Thanks for the input gadroc. I'm going to go with the 8 servo control board and start there. They are not cheap but worth the price to me if it works with out alot of messing with.

I think with this phidget http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?category=11&product_id=1066

I don't think so. Maybe one of these guys:

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/12

plus this servo http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?category=22&product_id=3202

No. To quote the Product Description on the above page: "It is not normally used as an actuator, as there is no way of commanding it to move to a particular position, as a standard RC servo does."

with helios www.scsimulations.com in control

That part could work :-)

Cheers,

Colin

I don't think so. Maybe one of these guys:

 

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/12

 

I couldn't remember where I had saw that before. Thanks for the link. Those look much better price wise. I'm debating on steppers vs servos with gearing to get to 360 travel for things that don't need continuous rotation.

Nice find! Phidgets are not cheap but i know they work with helios so if these boards will work then i'd go that route.

Nice find! Phidgets are not cheap but i know they work with helios so if these boards will work then i'd go that route.

I don't know if these boards will work with Helios out of the box, but I firmly believe (meaning of course that I haven't a shred of evidence) that they can be made to work.

There's an SDK that lets you access the board through either the virtual serial port or native USB. There's also a command line interface -- here's a link to the appnote about controlling servos with AutoHotkey Application Note: Using AutoHotkey . Maybe someone who knows Helios can give us an idea of how hard it would be.

Cheers,

Colin

I already have the phidgets SDK working in Helios, but i did not develop the UI to configure the servo boards.

I actually abandoned it because it gets expensive fast making it only marginally better than something much easier for some one who doesn't want to solder up that much. The way the PHCC motherboard is designed you almost out of necessity need two levels of break out boards. You have the PHCC Motherboard.... to a 64key matrix board.... to a break out board... then you have a separate board from PHCC to lighting board. Custom designing and having breakout boards etched made it no less expensive than other options.

I solved the breakout problem by replacing the IDC connector on the PCB with those connector (277-1800-ND) and a modified PCB design. I have etch those board myself but even a pcb prototyping service could produce these board quite cheaply, IteadStudio can produce 10 of these sized boards for only 25$. The component on the PCB are also quite cheap to purchase, the modified key 64 is only about 9$ in parts. The key64 also have a low price, about 10-15$.

Modified 7segment card:

Modified key64 card:

MOjo that looks very intersting

I already have the phidgets SDK working in Helios, but i did not develop the UI to configure the servo boards.

So what would it take to get these working with Helios?

http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/12

Can anybody do it, or is it a developer thing?

Thanks,

Colin

I have a usb pcb and some servos coming so i'm gonna play around with them in helios and let you guys know how it goes

MOjo that looks very intersting

I have uploaded the design files. I have also made a blog post with a bit more information about the modification.

I am also working on a Python interface between DCS and the PHCC motherboard. This other project is also almost finished, I only need to test my system a bit more to be sure everything is working correctly.