How To: Build a A-10 flight panel controller

Works fine on my Windows 7 64bit. Should not be a problem.

Works fine on my Windows 7 64bit. Should not be a problem.

 

Thanks

TigersharkBAS,

 

regarding to GP-Wiz40 - do you know if its supporting win7 64 bit?

i got 2 GP-Wiz40, it is not working on my 64 bit but works fine on my win7 32.

it is possible my windows need drivers update, but can someone tell if its works on his windows 7 64 bit?

 

Thanks

 

Fine on my win 7 x64.

Thanks to you all , got it working, it was running old driver

Sure Warrior. I am still planning this all in a detailed video and such but here goes.

 

The toggle switches are DTDP (Double Throw Double Pole) switches. The could also be single pole but I plan to find a use for the second pole later.

 

The USB interface is from GroovyGameGear.com. It allows up to 32 buttons and is a plug and play gamepad type interface.

 

The enclosures I bought from an electronics store in Australia but naturally any enclosure you can find will work.

 

The key challenge here is how to hook up a toggle switch with a USB controller so that it sends only a "pulse" like a button press and not keep the connection open. At the moment the interface thinks that you are continuosly holding down a button when throw the switch.

 

A-10 doesn't mind this so much but I am trying to make this as generic as possible so I will be posting my solution for making a toggle switch send a pulse using a very simple and cheap IC.

 

Need anything else?

 

 

going to try this over Turkey brake.. really interested in building my own panels after the TM's get here.

 

did you ever find out how to make it "cheap" so its just a pulse? Found your vids and linked back to here (was a member but never browsed)

 

anyways thanks for the info thus far, cant wait to get off the ground once more.

Hi grimm,

I am assuming you are the one who posted in the YouTube channel as well. Glad you found it here. A guy named Dave in this forum can make laser cut panels for you should you need em.

 

Regarding the pulse. The cheap way is to use the chip as I outlined in my video. They aren't too expensive. The effort is in wiring them up. But A-10 at least (and I'm assuming future sims worth their salt) caters for continuous transmission of buttons. DirectX in combination with USB makes this all a bit easier now for sim programmers and I'm not sure the pulse is needed for anything but the oldest sims around.

 

Thanks for the comments on the vids.

This is great stuff TigersharkBas. I have no idea with electronics but after seeing the You Tube vids you made i have started purchasing switches etc in an effort to have a go myself.

 

Many thanks for taking the time to post this stuff. Inspired! :)

You're very welcome Mule. The idea behind sharing this was to inspire and show people that electronics need not be such a mysterious place. This is fairly basic stuff in the scheme of things and I'm glad people not only appreciate it but that they are also are inspired and even add to the great info in this thread.

 

Looking forward to what you come up with.

What a great tutorial. I have no experience or even any knowledge of doing something like that but I think I could do it easy following this tutorial. I was wondering though... How would you use something like: http://xkeys.com/custom/xkmatrix.php to do the same? Would it be better option/worse option? Maybe better if I was to create most of a left/right console as a single unit, or? How would you wire something like that? Looks a lot harder than the USB controller...

I started off wishing I could build a panel but not knowing how to start. I have a basic understanding of electronics (I can use an iron and my hands don't shake too bad :) ), so when I came across Tigershark's vids on youtube, it lit a fire. I picked up a GPWiz board,some cheap switches and box, and came away with a an almost identical copy of the A-10 master arm panel, with the power panel rigged above. Wasn't hard at all.

 

I was wondering though... How would you use something like: http://xkeys.com/custom/xkmatrix.php to do the same? Would it be better option/worse option?

Looks like that's just a keystroke creator that you hook switches to. While it's probably okay if you're going to change your switch settings a lot for different titles/purposes, it still relies on key commands. The GPWiz is a more direct, hard-wired approach. Think of the Matrix board as a keyboard, and the GPWiz as more of a joystick/DirectX input.

 

regardless of how you go about wiring it, you should start off thinking about your layout, which switches you want to create, and ease of purpose.

 

I'll be the first to admit that the Thrustmaster Warthog throttle quadrant, while cool, has a lot of largely useless switches when you play A-10. How often do you use the fuel-flow, engine, or APU switches really? On start-up and that's about it. The Master-arm panel i built shares that a bit, but at least the M/A, Gun, laser, and TGP switches get more use.

 

In addition to layout, ease of construction is important. Keeping wires neat makes for easy repair or additions. Since you're not dealing with high voltages, thin wire is all you need. I chopped an old 40-wire IDE cable for use in my box. The ribbon helps to keep groups of switches wired neatly, since they run in the ribbon until you get close enough to split them off.

 

My next project is a collective controller modeled after the BlackShark's. I have most of the stuff I need, I just have to find an axis board to go with.

Actually I have already built a collective head using the X-Key matrix board. It was easy because the board is very small and very easy to program.

 

As you don't have any Xkeys experience I will mention that you have seriously underestimated the power of the XKeys matrix board. It has onboard memory so can be programmed without Macroworks running or using Macroworks one has access to a powerful programming language that allows you to utilize every kind of switch contact possible from rotaries to pots to any kind of multi-position switch.

 

I have a step by step picture gallery of the construction of my collective at www.scsimulations.com and am working on the cyclic. I am using Helios for my switch panels at the moment. The wife nearly divorced me while I was building my Falcon cockpit. I will take the Black Shark and Warthog build a bit slower:)

The wife nearly divorced me while I was building my Falcon cockpit. I will take the Black Shark and Warthog build a bit slower:)

 

:lol: That gave me an idea how to get rid of my wife sooner... :P

 

Seriously though... There's at least two options how to proceed:

 

1) Build small panels one by one over time

2) Build the whole left or right console at once as a single large structure

 

The X-Key Matrix would suite better for the latter, right? A bit academic for me as I don't currently have the room for it so it's small panels only... But still, you never know...

Yes, the Matrix would be better for a larger console. When you start looking at panels like the right side panel of the KA-50, you start to realize how many inputs you need. The problem with the GPWiz is the 40-switch limit per device. Since they offer up to 4 device ID's, you can get 4 boards for 160 inputs. That 4 USB devices. The advantage of the Matrix in this case is the "single-device" nature of it, which will help with older games that might have trouble using multiple input devices. Everything used keystrokes.

 

Then again, the nice thing about DirectX-style input is that Winblows doesn't care if they are held down/on, so there's that.

Hi FieroCDSP,

 

did you check this IO ?

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=80201

 

i got one , it great one with many inputs in very good price, i now there is another run

and Niclas support is great.

Have the files changed in 1.1.1.1? My controller config in notepad++ looks nothing like it used to. Or am I looking at the right file?

My files look nothing like these.

has anybody looked into building a entire left right side panel(s) I've seen some products for the CDU. The buttons and switches I don't see having a problem with, it's the rotory switches, especially the radio knobs. I know they make switches that pick up button presses at multiple points in the rotation (which is what you'd need for the freq adjustment knobs on the radio) would the board that you used be able to interpret the inputs from a switch like that?

okay.... heres what i have now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as I can tell this is the new code for input. When joy_btn22 and Joy_btn21 are off I want boat switch to center. Ill let you know when I get that working.

Trial and error. I got it working.

 

 

 

 

In bold is what I added to get it to work. Simple but hard enough for me.

Thank you Krebs20!

Your solution is working just fine.

 

I'm programming a custom build console right now. Does anybody know the command for closing the canopy? There is the command iCommandPlaneFonar. This command either closes or opens the canopy with one click.

 

But when I'm clicking the button with the mouse in game, the canopy closes or opens until I release the button again.

 

Anyone knows the command for that?

You have to click and hold till the canopy is fully closed in the cockpit. That's always been that way. If you build a panel with switches it would work if you used a non momentary switch.

Ctrl-C?

Okay. My plan was to use a on-off-on switch. One way opening the canopy, the other closing it, but that isn't possible?

I don't know if it is or not. But a simple on/off switch will work. I'm not home to look the file over. I do all of my forum browsing on a smart phone...

 

Check the keyboard.lua and see what that looks like for canopy open and close. That's a single button press and it works fine.

would the momentary switch physically stay in the up position when you flip it on?

The following commands are concerning the canopy:

 

• {pressed = iCommandPlane_Env_CanopyDefog_Dec, name = "Canopy Defog Decrease", category = "Environment System Panel"},
  
• {pressed = iCommandPlane_Env_CanopyDefog_Inc, name = "Canopy Defog Increase", category = "Environment System Panel"},
  
• {down = iCommandCanopyJettison, name = "Canopy jettison lever", category = "Systems"},
  
• {down = iCommandCanopyJettisonUnlockButton, name = "Canopy jettison lever unlock button", category = "Systems"},
  
• {down = iCommandCanopyActuatorDisengage, name = "Internal canopy actuator disengage lever", category = "Systems"},
  
• {combos = {{key = "C", reformers = {"LCtrl", }}, }, down = iCommandPlaneFonar, name = "Canopy Open/Close", category = "Systems"}
  

 

Clearly, the last one is the one used to close the canopy. But it doesn't represent the command corresponding to the mouse click-and-hold function used to close and open the canopy in the game.

It is then impossible to make a canopy switch in real life representing the function (for example a (on) off (on) switch), as the act of pressing the close canopy button isn't represented in the lua file.