My New TQ

[jfuenmayor]

Hello everyone.

Just to show you my new Pro-Line Revolution TQ that I just picked up
in Orlando,FL. USA. from the new distribution of this very fine TQ. It is now now
distributed in The United States called. They are putting up their new web site named CatIII.

I would like to know if any of you is using it with X plane.

My unit is a bit different and has three USB cables, one for the SIOC Card and the
two others for the respective motors.

I am still waiting until Monday to have the documentation and they will send me a script.

It looks very sturdy, and the "feel" of the THR. levers is fantastic.

Attached the pics of my old and the "new" one.

[fsaviator]

Three cables?  Curious.  Mine is a version 1.5, with three cables...  I thought three cables went out with version 1.6

Does yours have a joystick card in the center, and a motor card on each side?

Looks good though.  Maybe this CAT-III thing will work out.  Enjoy.

[jfuenmayor]

I am not really sure, but it seems that it has three cards, and one input for the
DC power supply that came with it. I had ordered the Platinum version and in the end I got the Pro Line.
It looks like my unit is the first one sold in the US. One thing is for sure, it did not
get shipped, I picked it up, so no physical harm to it.
My old TQ came broken, the park break lever mechanism destroyed. I had to fix it myself.
Also it that particular one, the Speed Break servo was glued to the side panel so when it
broke, I could not replace it. My old TQ uses Phidgets and relay cards to activate the A/T.
I understand that since the Revolution uses motors it does not require relay cards.

Since I don't yet have the documentation, I cannot be sure of its inner workings.
The unit is completely sealed. I have not been able to find a manual on the net.

I hope it works well.

[Raymondvanderploeg]

I have a 1.6 version, with 2 USB cables.

[fsaviator]

It sounds just like mine.

Try this manual, and here is a base SIOC script you can play with.

Hope that gets you up and going.

[jfuenmayor]

Thanks for the input.

The TQ has one USB cable marked as JOYSTICK and the other two
I think are the motor cards. The input for the 12 V power supply is a typical, though
slightly wider DC input.
I will examine the manuals, thanks Warren. I will try it, I don't think I can wait until tomorrow hehe.
Yesterday I was kind of wasted from the trip and a poor night sleep in the hotel due to
a terrible AC unit.

Next step, adding solenoid driven starters. $@%$%#^%$, this damned addiction!!

Joachim

[jfuenmayor]

Hi all.

I was able to get the motor cards recognized and I can see the analog input in the monitor for one of the throttles but not the other.

Connected the joystick card to the FSX PC, it is detected and properly identified but no analog input seen.

When I connected the 12V AC PS the backlights lit for a brief moment, then they extinguished. I have not been able to get them working again.

So far, no luck.

Thanks.

[jfuenmayor]

Update.

Cards working - Motors and pots working.
The issue is the Joystick card.

For Sim Avionics, does this card need to be connected to the PC running FS/X Plane or can
it be part of the hub running the motor cards attached to another PC in the network.
I have seen that the button assignments are for PM.

I have also heard that REV TQ SIOC cards are  hard wired for SimA.
What I don't know is "hard wired for what"?.

Does anybody know?

JF

[fsaviator]

If it is like my card, it needs to be plugged in to your FS computer.  It should be recognized just like a joystick card.  Nothing special to it, in fact, mine is really just a version of a bodnar card.  Try using FSUIPC to calibrate?

As for hard wired...  not sure what that means.  I don't have Sim-A so I can't tell you if it recognizes the cards, but the script may be specific for the sim-A interface.  For instance, the one I uploaded for you to check out actually started out as a PM script that was modified by Oral for Prosim (Prosim was still very very young in it's existence when I got my TQ).  I could guess that the script commands may be written in order for Sim-A to use them.   At the end of the day, they are just OC motor cards which require a SIOC script. 

Not sure I was much help, but look at the bright side...  the hard part is over, now the fun begins.  Welcome to the "constant messing with the settings to get everything recognized and working together, perfectly" club 

[jackpilot]

When I connected the 12V AC PS the backlights lit for a brief moment, then they extinguished. Thanks.

Are you sure the backlighting is 12V?
Jack

[matta757]

When I connected the 12V AC PS the backlights lit for a brief moment, then they extinguished. Thanks.

Are you sure the backlighting is 12V?
Jack

I'm with Jack on this one. If they're not 12V, I hope they didn't get blown out by the power. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think most backlighting runs on 5V power.

[fsaviator]

Not that it means anything, but the backlighting on my TQ is 12V.

[jfuenmayor]

Well, I would hate for that to have that to have happened. There is only one power input to the
Motors and it is 120/240 to 12 V DC, that's all.  Like I said, there is a little switch that I don't know what it is for. There is no
indication of what it is for. It was in one position, not even on off. I don't know if
it has to do with anything. The Throttle levers work and the spoiler handle as well as the flaps pots are OK, the script
seems to have the right offset but I think it is not loading. When I run the SIOC porgram it signals that the
IOCard device ver 4.5, Status: Stopped. FSUIPC status Ok.

They sent me a script today. Still no manual. I placed the script in the Scripts subfolder but it does not seem to
read it. Does it have to be compiled to run?.

I know this may be a long process. The SIOC interphase has changed since I used like 4 years ago.

I have been promised the Manual for tomorrow.

I'll keep you posted.

PS: It seems to have a motorized Park Break. If it is there, I can't see it.

JF

[jfuenmayor]

Short update, it wasn't even reading the script!!!. I come from the UNIX world
and there is "FORWARD SLASH" like ./  NOT .\ like in Windows. puafff.
- age is getting tome hehe

JF

[jfuenmayor]

OK. New status on the recent Pro Line TQ from Revolution.

As I mentioned, it has two motor cards. The first one controls the Throttles, Speed Brake, trim indicators, trim wheels and flaps.

The second card controls the motor for the Park Brake. The Park Brake functions like the real Aircraft and when set to on, it stays up until you apply the toe brakes.
This card must be identified as a 4,xx in the SIOC configuration.

The Speed Brake has a stop function at the flight detente, but it can be manually overidden by forcefully moving it against the in flight detente if needed in case of emergency just like in the real aircraft. The horn cutoff will not function since Boeing has removed the functionality due to potential for confusion and is now managed through the aft overhead panel. The trim wheels are extremely quiet.

The Sim Avionics script does not function well since it was designed for the Silver edition.

In summary, a very impressive piece of hardware. We will be tweaking the script for the PL edition, which has the extra functionality, to make it
work with X plane and SA. Support, so far, has been excellent.

JF
nd SA

[jfuenmayor]

Correction, I meant the platinum model, not silver

[jfuenmayor]

Well, the A/T work with X Plane. There is a lag in the response at the beginning but
the the movements are quite smooth. I have been working to adapt the scripts with
Eren. The new functions in the Proline are very nice.

When they work as intended I will post pictures and a video.

JF

[jfuenmayor]

Well it has been sometime since I posted regarding the Revolution Proline TQ.
So far I have it functioning after working with the scripts for the Platinum model, that I have
sort of mixed with the newer code for the Proline model. Rrecalibration had to be done.

The newer scripts that I got for this unit were written for PM, not Sim Avionics so the
offsets are different, thus the Autothrottles do not work using  this script yet.
The main reason is that the original code references PM offset 0505 ( see code below ),
but when I check the PM page, 0505 is not listed, but 0504 is, and since they are two bytes in length
the next offset is 0506.

0504 deals with AP Mode 3 ( Annunciator Values ). I don't know if  this is a typo error or what,
the code would look something like:

var 001, name thrust_ref, link FSUIPC_IN Offset $0505
{
  L0 = $thrust_ref AND 15
  $T_announce = L0
}

var 001, name T_announce

The AND operator is described in the SIOC manual as performing binary
operations when used with numbers and boolean otherwise. I " assume" ( I know the joke.... ) , that 15 refers to the 16 bits in a two bite offset ( length 2 )., My experience with the SIOC language is scanty.

The the value in T_announce would then be used to execute a "SUBRUTINE" as spelled in SIOC,
that would call the code to move the motors forward or backward.

The values checked, therfore returned,  are integers 1-9 and each one would represent a state,
perhaps A/T ARM and SPEED , or V/S , TO/GA etc.

Does anybody know anything about this? , I mean, what each value represents?.
Then I could use Sim Avionics offset 5320 and check the bits to make it equivalent

Cheers to all.

JF

[fordgt40]

Joaquin

Check the sim avionics documentation folder/latest version .txt. Do a search for TOGA and towards the end of the file you will find a FSUIPC_IO.ini entry for THRUST_REF_MODE=. The various modes have values defined there.

David

[jfuenmayor]

Thank you David. That will be of great help to me.
So far, I love the Proline Revolution TQ. Once I get the SIOC script
polished  I will post a preliminary video.

joaquin.

[jfuenmayor]

Hi to all.

It has been about  3 months since I received my TQ from CAT III, AKA Revolution.
I have now a functioning throttle under Sim-Avionics.

Some difficulties needed to be addressed.

I needed to replaced the Joystick card which Eren kindly sent to me. The backlighting system lit for 2 seconds then it died, That's my next task which I yet have to attack. Also, the trim wheel mechanism loosens up after 5-7 flights and need re tightening.

I made several changes to the script since it was written for PM and Prosim. I had to modify the
Park Brake functions since it was adapted for the Rev. Rudder Pedals and I use PFC ones. Then add some logic to make those levers move  smoothly. The FUPIC file in the Sim-Avionics Server also needed to be dealt with.

I think it can still be improved though.

Here is the Youtube link to the video. I am not much of a cinematographer but it can be seen.
The results of flying without a FO and check lists is clearly evident. The video is bit long but I wanted to show how it works in a sort of regular flight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxAmzUkPC5k

Keep flying!!!

[FredK]

Hi Joachim -

Thanks for the video update.....very nice indeed!

Your levers do move smoothly...what was the nature of change in the programming script to achieve that?  Per the discussion on all that here a few months ago I had speculated that just slowing the movement would improve smoothness and synchronization since the program execution would always lag reaching the active target values.  Your's do move the slowest of any I have seen.  I am at the slowest possible movement with my 15rpm motors right now.....would have to swap those out for even slower rpm motors to test which is not high on my Sim priority list right now.  Or was there some other way you approached it all in the software script?

Fred K

[jfuenmayor]

Hi Fred

I achieved this by just by modifying the software. It so happens that
if you look closely, there seems to be a difference in the displacement of the throttles as they
travel both in forward and reverse and that the velocity of travel changes as you move from a
high position to a low and vice versa. For example, close to idle, I noticed the jerky movements were more pronounced as well as at high power settings. The smoothest seemed to be at the mid settings. So I changed  the calibration and introduced some conditions in the logic to reflect this. I think the jerks have to do with FSX itself. Remember that one is reading from FS to translate this into the displacement of the levers in the TQ. I yet have to test it with X- Plane.

I think that mine move a bit slower than in the real plane but is a trade off for a more natural operation.
It sort of looks more professional. I am still working on it to optimize them.

The speed of the motors themselves are of second importance as long as they are good quality motors.
The ones that Eren Javi from Revolution chose seem to be just that.

Do you have a TQ conversion or a Revolution one.
The principles in the script are the same however, and can be adapted to
a TQ conversion from a real 737TQ.

One last thing is that separating the calibration part of the script in a different file itself helps
a lot to play with the settings. Sort of the same principle uses in C programming.

I hope this helps.

[FredK]

Thanks Joachin for some new ideas to think about.  Mine is a TQ conversion using the OC Plus board and SIOC.

Fred K

[jfuenmayor]

Let me know how it goes.

JF