DCS A-10: Building your own instrument panel. WIP

Tigershark · Post by **Tigershark** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 11:19 pm

Hi guys,
Just thought I'd share with you a project I have begun whilst on vacation in Australia. With access to electronics component stores I deided I would research and eventually build USB compatible panels from the DCS A-10. This is prototype stage and I have begun sourcing and building the components. Also teaching myself basic electonics and surprisingly it is not that hard.
Hi there,

Background
I use CH products. I have a Fighter Stick and Pro Throttle. When the Warthog HOTAS came out I was very impressed. It looked brilliant. And although I could probably afford one, my CH products sticks have never let me down and I guess you could say I was brand loyal to them.

Still, those toggle switches and buttons on the Warthog throttle...they were niiiiiiiice. The feeling of flicking the APU Start switch must be awesome.

I decided that it would be a fun project and more satisfying to build my own panels for common functions used in the plane. Particularly for ramp start up because that is when you are flicking the most switches.

I decided to begin with, I would replicate the Electrical Power panel. 6 toggle switches that are crucial to starting the aircraft.

It should be USB based, require little to no software to implement and be a realistic as I could make it for under a 100 bucks.

I bought an enclosure and realised there was still space so under the Electrical Power switches I built some other toggle switches slected from other panels, mainly to power the plane up. I chose Boost Pump switches, the APU Start and the L/G Warning horn button.

Here is how the panel should look when it is finished:

Here is an example of the result we are shooting for. This is a prototype box that is kind of my development and experimenting platform.

Part 1 of How to Make an A-10 Panel is here:
Please find here Part 1 of my 3 part series on making your own panel.

Part 2 is here:

Part 3 is here:

And a quick vid about toggle switches:

Finally...how to configure your panel in A-10 correctly:

Bonus: How to turn Toggle switches in momentary "pulse" buttons

Headspace · Post by **Headspace** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 4:10 am

There's always an excuse to have a big switch cover that you can dramatically flip up. I would keep that thing around just in case you need it.

Post by **fer** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 11:19 am

Can a switch be wired that re-creates a keystroke? In other words, is it possible to make a switch that can send a keystroke to anything?

Tigershark · Post by **Tigershark** » Sat Dec 25, 2010 10:33 am

Yes fer. It is like a button on joystick or gamepad. If you can program it in game then it works.

Post by **fer** » Sat Dec 25, 2010 11:13 pm

I want a switch with a red flip-up cover, inside a flip-up glass case which has to be opened with a key, a key that lives on a chain that I keep around my neck at all times (even when I'm in the shower); and when I flip the switch I want it to make you explode. Can you have that done by Monday? And I don't mean explode in-game. But it's okay if that's all that happens in version one. ... So long as there is a version two. ... And you deliver a development roadmap. Okay?

WatooceTZW · Post by **WatooceTZW** » Sun Dec 26, 2010 1:24 am

You could just get a touch screen and Touch Buddy http://www.touch-buddy.com/forums/dcs-a ... ofile.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22L0YzbQnVM

Tigershark · Post by **Tigershark** » Sun Dec 26, 2010 10:26 pm

Touch buddy is nice and I can see it being useful for things like the CDU. But the purpose of this panel was to get the tactile feel you can only get from flicking toggle switches.

It's not just about a way to input buttons. It's about the "feel" of flicking a switch and hearing an APU roar to life.

Headspace · Post by **Headspace** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 4:19 am

Know what would be badass? Getting some actual flight instruments and somehow hooking them into the game. Of course it'd be an engineering nightmare to do, but that would be slick. After thinking of it, I'm now curious how actual simulator cockpits do it--things like the artificial horizon and other gyroscopic instruments contain actual gyroscopes, so perhaps they use "fake" versions of these things. I was in the (very old, but modern standards) 727 sim at Purdue once, but didn't have the time or forethought to look at the instruments in detail and see how they differed from the standard.

Tigershark · Post by **Tigershark** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 10:44 pm

Hey headspace. Actually, there is plenty of info on this and my extensive research on this topic has uncovered a lot of the techniques simpit builders use. There are also a tinned of 3rd party instruments people create that easily interface.

The amount of research this has taken, to implement a simple 6 switches on a panel has bee surprising but fun and enlightening at the same time. I am looking forward to sharing my findings with all of you through this forum and through a series of how to videos I plan for YouTube. When I return to Switzerland in a week the USB interface hardware should have arrived and I can begin making these videos quickly.

I also have panel designs I can share (including the difficult to identify and source font for the panels) and many other tidbits on which toggle switches are appropriate it appears I have poured about 300 dollars into this already (half of a warthog hotas

) and mostly on mistakes. But once done, it should be easy to learn from my mistake and assemble your own panel quickly and cheaply.

The amount I have to learn about electronics makes my head spin as well. But the biggest challenge by far is how make a regular double throw toggle switch behave like a momentary push button switch without actually purchasing a momentary toggle switch. I will be experimenting with both types but have yet to purchase a momentary DT toggle switch. Want to do some proof of concepts first using the USB interface and push button switches (targeting l/g horn silence and signal lamp test buttons).

As I mentioned before headspace. I know you are busy with tars but I could use a little of your help to identify all the keys of the sim. I have heard even the mfd buttons can be accessed using lua. However beta5 may have an entire listing of these keys now.

Can some check for me if l/g horn silence, signal lamps test and APU start/stop are mappable in the key options screen?

Tiger out.

Headspace · Post by **Headspace** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 11:49 pm

Tigershark,

Great work, man. I have a decent (not great, but decent) working knowledge of electrical work but not much in the area of what Simpit builders are using--it's new territory for me. But, if you can help me out there I'd be more than happy to share whatever scripting help I can give.

Can some check for me if l/g horn silence, signal lamps test and APU start/stop are mappable in the key options screen?

All of those are settable via scripting, i.e. you write an interface (or use an existing one) and then when your device flips the switch, it will send to the shark. Although if you have a USB device (which it looks like you do) you might be able to send them as XInput. Is that what you're doing?