Quote from Hangar45 Admin on December 17, 2017, 11:24 am

(Original thread started on 12-11-09 by Derek H.)

I have a question for those of you who have worked a bit with the AML switches for your panel. I bought a bunch of these off eBay and have been testing them. I hooked one up and connected it via FSUIPC as the R Gen switch. I then start up FS9 and it shows the gen off so I push the switch. The gen turns on – works like a charm. But here’s the issue: the next time I restart a flight, the switch is in the ON position but FS9 sees the gen as OFF again. Correct me if I’m wrong but I see only 2 solutions to this:

 

1. Convert all the switches to momentary via Ron’s copper wire pull solution.

 

2. Reset all switches by hand to a “default” position before starting any flight.

 

Are there other ways around this or am I just missing something? I’m just worried about converting all of my switches to momentary and then learning there’s a better way to avoid the problem.

 

(Posted by Eric Tomlin on 12-11-09)

What you say here makes perfect sense EXCEPT you must remember that you OUGHT to reset all your switches back to the proper state as you shut the aircraft down anyway, per the aircraft manual/checklist items.

 

You will have the same issue even if they are momentary other than them being in the wrong position. The vast majority of the switches in the LJ45 are momentary, but there is a benefit to keeping some of them latching vs. momentary, but that's a whole new topic.

 

Also, what interface board are you using? Some have 'state detection' which will detect the state you left it in and you wont have to worry quite as much.

 

One last thing- you should never have to turn on the GEN switches in the LJ45 if you have your autostart configured like I outline in the resources area- the GENs come on automatically upon engine start. You only need the switches when you do a ground cart start (which is impossible in FS) or if there's an issue inflight (very unlikely in our sims) per the manual. In this case, the switches are momentary and you should never have to touch them if your engine start switches also tell the sim to turn on the GEN switches for that particular engine, but you need an interface that allows you to do this kind of logic too.

 

What interface board are you using?

 

(Posted by Derek H. on 12-11-09)

Right now I'm using a BU0836X, but I think I'm going to need something a little more "robust" when I start hooking up all these switches!

 

Eric - thanks for the lengthy reply! I can appreciate following a good checklist procedure, however, my question doesn't involve a scenario of shutting down. I was thinking more along the lines of starting a flight en route at an assigned altitude, flying for 10 minutes, and then pausing the flight, and starting over back at the starting point. Probably won't happen that often, though. Which boards have 'state detection'? That sounds intriguing!

 

(Posted by Eric Tomlin on 12-11-09)

System boards from Flight Deck Solutions and I believe one more but I can't remember. I've not had the best luck with it though in some aspects. I think the feature only works if you scenario is aligned as well. Example: a few times I've had to shut down in a hurry and left the gear lever in the up position but when FS started the gear was down because my scenario always starts with it down.

 

(Posted by Mark L. on 12-11-09)

Or with the Open Cockpits and SIOC programming you can initialize the state, read the position of the switch and continue from there...

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 12-11-09)

Hey Derek, the majority of the AML switches are momentary in the real AC. By converting them to momentary, it should solve most of your issues. The other quick thing is your going to have to reset all of your ON OFF switches back to their preflight positions before shutting down the sim.

 

The biggest one that stands out like a sore thumb is the landing gear handle! I would imagine that in the real AC, if you accidentally moved that handle/toggle to the UP position while just sitting on the ground, we would get and audible warning and a EICAS message telling us that something is wrong. The gear would not just fold up and the plane do a belly flop on the tarmac.

 

(Posted by DonnyRay Jones on 12-13-09)

Ron said, "I would imagine that in the real AC, if you accidentally moved that handle/toggle to the UP position while just sitting on the ground.....the gear would not just fold up and the plane would do a belly flop on the tarmac."

 

You'd be surprised. On many aircraft with electrically driven gear motors that is exactly what it will do. That's one of the reasons it is the FOURTH thing down in the Preflight Checklist on the Lear. Just BEFORE energizing the battery switches......you check the GEAR HANDLE for "Gear......DN". On the 45 the gear logic is interlocked with BOTH left and right squat switches to avoid such a stupid, but that surely doesn't mean it can't happen.

 

Can you simulate this in your cockpit? Sure. Bring the FS variable for "aircraft on ground" (or in-flight) out to drive a relay, and interconnect the physical gear switch wiring through the contacts of that relay. Set up the relay to be ENERGIZED when in the air, and de-energized while on the ground. That will make your "squat switches" work consistent with the real aircraft.

 

As for all the other switches in the cockpit, I am surprised to read here that your middleware doesn't automatically align itself with the physical switch positions when it finds that MSFS is running. I use Phidget cards and the FS2Phidgets software. It does this. So if you use momentary switches for everything in your cockpit that is a momentary in the real airplane, you're good.

 

(Posted by Derek H. on 12-14-09)

Thanks for the info, guys. Looks like I will have to shop around for an interface board or two.

 

I should point out that I currently have an OpenCockpits USB Outputs card, as I was attempting to figure a way to light the AML switches when they were pressed. I'm trying to learn SIOC, but the learning curve is steep. Any good English based manuals/tutorials out there for this? I did get one switch to light properly (R gen switch) when pressed, but it was a struggle. I may stick to OpenCockpits cards because I'm already invested in them to a certain extent.

 

(Posted by Eric Tomlin on 12-14-09)

Good news on getting some progress made on the lights via SIOC, but remember to use your resources here in the hangar!  Check this thread out HERE and use that information as a guide to show you when lights should be ON or OFF. In the case of the GEN switches, they should only light up when they are OFF, so pressing them ON would actually turn the light off. What this means is that when the BATT switch is pressed ON, the GEN light switches will show OFF if they are indeed not on. What this does is create what's known as 'Dark Cockpit' environment to minimize distractions to the crew- i.e.; if it's an issue, then it's lit up. If it's all good, it's dark.