What have you done for your simulator today?

[Joe Lavery]

So....next suspense !
What are you going to do with it
 

He's going to fly it off the deck of his carrier. 

[bernard S]

  @Jack ... well I am going to ask really "important" questions as an example: 

What colour is Boeing Black ? Once I have the solution to the correct Black because God forbid I use the wrong Black... I will put forward more important questions

 

[fsaviator]

Bernard.... very jealous.  Is that a T38 or an F5.  Can't really tell.

[blueskydriver]

Hey Warren,

Glad too see you logging in 

As for Bernard's new project, just look away, just look away...lol! Otherwise, you'll wanna do something like that!

I do admire Bernard's adventures as it reminds me of my own...remember the B727 on a trailer in a snow storm, hauling it to Wisconsin...totally crazy it was.

Anyway, it'll be awesome once he gets everything setup. His kids will love it as much as he will; talk about having an amazing Dad!

John

PS Is it a F18, it looks like one 

[bernard S]

She is a T38B but has all the operational abilities of the F5 :-)

[fsaviator]

She is a T38B but has all the operational abilities of the F5 :-)

Sweet!  Love that little jet.  Looking forward to watching it come together.

[bernard S]

bingo can beat hard points ;-) yup am sourcing "wing candy"

[blueskydriver]

Hey Bernard,

How about an update on your B747 sim, what have you done for it lately? Or, is it in hibernation?

John

[bernard S]

its there complete and it does not blow stuff up

[blueskydriver]

How about a video or two? Love too see it in operation after all the time you've invested....

John

[blueskydriver]

My cockpit got some loving attention today 

Well, sort of... I'm still working on updating the main sim PC to Windows 10 and after solving the problematic issues. I had a good time trying to get my entire C: drive shared, but in the end it's still doable. If you need help anytime, just ask as it's not hard once you know how and where too make the sharing and security changes.

Anyway, I always network config my addons, in other words, keep a lot of them off the main sim PC and on a client PC. So, the client PC is still waiting to get upgraded to W10 and it's still on W7.

Now, I've always used ActiveSky Weather, REX, GEX, UTX, and etc in a network setup. Thus, the client injects everything into the main sim PC via the network, and it's always worked. With W7 to W10 it's a little different, yet still workable.

Hang in there, I'm getting to the good part...lol! Okay, after running all the Windows 7 updates on the client that I skipped over in the past, the USB keyboard stopped working; not a bad keyboard or driver issue either. Turns out, after troubleshooting this for 3 days (searching Google and YT), I had to modify the keyboard registry.

Yep, who would've thought a Windows Update would do such a thing...Microsoft is impeccable about things like this...wait, that was a dream I had last night...ROTFLOL! Of course it was the updates, but after trying system restore points it didn't work. Nor did any older PS2 keyboards I tried; basically, it was one simple registry change that fix it.

Here is a link to a YT video that shows how too fix it for W7,8,& 10

https://youtu.be/k-TL-zhNMxo

Even though it says for laptop keyboard, it works the same for your PC keyboard. Also, use the on screen keyboard to type until your physical keyboard is working again.

Why the lengthy explanation about the keyboard issue; well, because it's happening more often and even in W10, yes Windows 10. Therefore, if it happens to you, you might remember this post.

Alrighty then, moving on...I got the client working and finally setup Active Sky 2012 (AS2012) for FSX into P3D v4.5 (yep still rocking that nearly 10 year old program). Funny thing is, AS2012 recognized P3D right out, which I was surprised since HiFi says you must buy a new version for P3D. If you just follow the original manual instructions exactly it'll work in either FSX or P3D via network just fine. Next up is to get REX and GSX working....

Lastly, some folks might ask,"why not upgrade to P3D v5 now, since you're upgrading to W10?" Well, the short answer is this; I'm still using my I7 2600K main Sim PC with Nvidia 580 card for P3D v4.5; whereas, v5 requirements are much higher. So, instead of worrying about going that route, I'm going too wait for MSFS2020 to catch up too us Cockpit Builders, and then I'll purchase all new up-to-date PC hardware. Besides, I figure there is no real need to goto v5, if v4.5 is working just fine, along with all my still usable addons that will work (fingers crossed)....

John

[Jason L]

My CFY throttle shipped? Does that count? never been so nervous about a purchase in my life.  Having to wire some serious money to an international bank..whew.
Also have about half my MIP wired and interfaced.
The goal is to have this puppy up and running before the end of the year.

[MistyBlue]

My CFY throttle shipped? Does that count? never been so nervous about a purchase in my life.  Having to wire some serious money to an international bank..whew.

Keep us posted.  I'm curious how you'll like it.  I have also considered CFY as a potential future purchase but yeah, that's a lot of money to drop on an international buy, so I'd certainly be hesitant too.

[blueskydriver]

Hey Jason,

Anything counts towards your sim, even posting here is related to it...lol.

Glad to hear you're going for the CFY route as it'll help prove their reliability. Once you get it, make an unboxing and review video for us....

John

[MistyBlue]

Lastly, some folks might ask,"why not upgrade to P3D v5 now, since you're upgrading to W10?"

Also note that P3Dv5 requires a graphics card capable of DX12.  I learned that after trying to install v5 on my separate gaming rig with a 1080TI in it.

And yeah, these little computer gremlins are enough to drive a person mad sometimes.

[sagrada737]

The question about the status of Bernard's 747, made me to recall the time back in 1995 when my wife and I had a chance to sit in the cockpit of a 747 in Hong Kong.  No way they would let you do that today...

Below is a retouched photo of our cockpit visit, taken by the Captain.  The Captain and Crew were very nice.

Bernard might be able to tell what model 747 that was.

jpg[/attach]

Mike

[Jason L]

Hey Jason,

Anything counts towards your sim, even posting here is related to it...lol.

Glad to hear you're going for the CFY route as it'll help prove their reliability. Once you get it, make an unboxing and review video for us....

John

Will do. It's heading over the pond as I type this.

[bernard S]

a part of retaining wall still another 30ft to go

[ame]

I realise that I talked about my circuit breaker design, but I never actually posted any details.

It's been sitting in a box for a while as I had a big list of small changes that I wanted to make. I'm sure I could get them out of the way if there was some interest.

The key design points were that it would fit in the original envelope of an authentic Klixon breaker. Did not use too many exotic parts. Was easy to assemble.

What I ended up with is a design that uses a standard subminiature microswitch as its contacts, a tiny solenoid for the trip mechanism, a ballpoint pen spring to pop the breaker out and the smallest safety pin I could find for the latching mechanism.

The most exotic part is the solenoid, which is still listed at AliExpress and which I'd expect to remain available for a while.

Anyone who wanted to use the design would need to do two things. First, decide how to connect the microswitch to some interface board and then into the simulator. Second, provide a short voltage pulse to the solenoid under whatever condition they wanted to simulate the breaker opening.

The model can be used in three ways. As a dummy, glued closed with no switch, spring, or solenoid. As a simple switch (push to latch, pull to open) with no solenoid. As an automated simulation of a real breaker (push to latch, pull to open, automatic opening under control of something else).

Rather than writing 3000 more words, here are some pictures:

[_alioth_]

I realise that I talked about my circuit breaker design, but I never actually posted any details.

It is really great!!!

I made a similar, but more bulky design.
I 3d print them in blocks of whatever number I need.
And they work with a reed sensor and magnent, instead of microswitch.
But It is quite similar.

To trigger them I use MCP23017 expander and ULN2003a to power relays.

I install them in the panel with metallic 10mm led supports.

A video:
https://youtu.be/Eag0DRNq86s?t=124

Arturo.

[blueskydriver]

Hey Andrew and Arturo,

You guys are totally going all out and doing an amazing job with the CB projects! I'm very glad too see these are working items now....

Will you be sharing your 3D files on Thingiverse? I hope so, as it'd be fun just to make some and order the hardware, and then see them working.

Hey Bernard,

Looks like a fighter aircraft hangar from that pic! Can't wait too see it all when your finished.

John

[MistyBlue]

Does Prosim even have CB functionality?  I want to say maybe only the Pro version does.

I'm getting ready to build my CB panels now and trying to decide if I want to go through the tediousness of making them myself, or sourcing a real set somewhere.  In my case, they'll probably be just for show, though I might consider interfacing at some later point if the software allows for it.

[ame]

I don't know what support for circuit breakers exist in various simulators, but it should be easy to check by locating the simulated panel on the cockpit display and clicking on the breakers to see if they respond.

Wiring up a "real" simulated circuit breaker would then be the same as wiring up any pushbutton on a panel. When the contacts in the circuit breaker change state then a message is sent to the simulator (e.g. via a dataref in XPlane).

[navymustang]

Several things are getting done on my SH-2H helicopter.
The Targeting Pod FLIR system has been implemented and is about 90% done. Movement of the pod camera is working with the new joystick controller along with sensor changes (color daylight, IR white hot and IR black hot). The targeting pod appears in the tactical MFD screen (a modified Cougar MFD). The joystick panel on the center console is custom built and is nearly complete.

I have also finished installing the Garmin auxillary GPS status panel which is a emote readout of the status of the GTN-750 which is on the pilot side of the main panel. The devicewas custom built by Ruscool for me and stil needs to be interfaced to the im.

Lots of work on the turbine engine models. Can't believe how poorly P3D add-on folks implement turbine engines, especially on helicopters.

[bernard S]

loving it :-) :-)