Brilliant work Craig! The results look outstanding. I tried those steppers for my hydraulic gauges, but I just couldn't get them to responds quick or smooth enough. I ended up going with geared servos instead. I've got lcd engine gauges on my hog, but I'll likely be going this route on my next project, so your detailed explanation is very helpful. Thanks!
Hi Ray, making this panel was a lot of fun, took me a while however due to work demands. Your projector setup looks to be truly awesome, if you get chance to upload a video outlining it's exact setup, I'll be first in line to watch it. Cheers
This is an impressive presentation of what can be accomplished using micro-controllers, motors, and input data from any source. 10 out of 10 for presentation and how you researched, developed, designed and finished your prototype.
Hi Doug, thanks for the positive comments. I'm just at the final stages of making a newer version of this unit to be incorporated into my simpits front dash. Will hopefully have a video uploaded in a couple of weeks on this, check it out, cheers 👍
Hey you definitely need terminating resistors on your network, especially for long cables. The resistor reduces ringing in the cables and the reduced slew of the max chip helps too. That's an amazing project. This whole network with the RJ45 cables could be reduced to one PCB with the steppers and interface all on a single board. This would reduce 12 individual cables to 1 cable.
Great work Craig. May I suggest improvements? - Given the number of free inputs on the Nanos, you can easily add a 7 bit deepswitch to configure the 485 ID, that you can read within your code initialization (setup), and avoid having different code/recompile for each instrument. - you can do the same, for any settings to configure each instrument, or alternatively use the flash capabilities of the chip, to keep those settings, while having a single generic code base. - you can also include the nano chips within your own pcb, reducing the size. Actually, you could have a board with all the stuff in your later layers all into one.
Forgot to mention that you might find the CAN bus protocol (Car Area Network) more suitable to the task than the 485 network, due to it's reselience to noise, and easily available integrated chips with CPU and CAN interface.
Very impressive work. Presumably using 28-pin GPIO from RPI can power more than 130 thousand steppers(2 bits for step and direction) and would be much cheaper. But this is very impressive, and cluster execution is superb.
I agree , he could have used that master arduino mega to control all the steppers (24 bits) and avoided all the nano arduinos and the cabeling. An arduino mega coupled with a relay card and One usb to computer would have been the best solution imo. This is none the less pretty impressive and u inspired me to build my own, also very detailed and well explained , keep up the good work
You could have used a single sketch for all the gauges by using 5 digital inputs on the arduinos for each gauge to allow for a digital gauge address 0-31 to be set via solder bridge or jumper wires. This way you could keep a couple spare arduinos pre-programmed on hand and make them work for any gauge. You would read the address jumpers at startup and set the RS-485 address appropriately. Great job on the build!
If the reflection of back lit gauges produces too much glow. There is a paint called Vanta Black. It has no reflectivity. Spraying that on would create inky darkeness. Another idea is too look for black velvet on sticky back adhesive and put that in around the gauges. If the seam is at 12 oclock, you won't notice it.
I love your video’s! Keep them coming Craig! The MAX485 solution is beautiful, well explained. I’m thinking of building a large PCB with sockets to put nano’s in. The outputs would be RS485 over RJ45 just like yours. This would make things so clean and easy.
Thanks Joe, I was working on this one for a while. I'm glad I had chance to explore the RS485 approach, although my overall simpit will probably become a mix of several interface types.
Now I've seen why. He's not using "H-bridges" per se, he's using stepper drivers. That makes far more sense. It means his Arduino only needs to provide direction and step signals - the driver deals with the sequencing.
The termination resistor should be used. It is not for noise reduction as you say. It is there to generate the proper voltage difference between the 2 data pins for sensing by the receiver amps inside the chip. RS485 is a differential voltage bus. That it works without the termination resistor is just luck and could cause problems down the road.
Hi Brian, thankyou for the comment. I am keen to make the network function as best as possible. I did consider using a termination resistor. However, in my initial reading, I saw that the creator of the software I use to export data from the sim, commented that for MAX487 chips there was no need for bias or termination resistors as long as the total bus length was shorter than about 12 meters. However with a MAX485 chip, termination would be needed for anything above 15cm. Was your comment on the basis I was using a MAX485 chip or the MAX487?
at the end you should get rid of the rounded screen (I know, I know ear me out...) If you use a virtual reality set and wear captors on yours hands and fingers, you would be able to visually be seated in the A10 pit, see your arms and hands and fingers move. That would allow for some serious immersion because you'll be able to have the haptique feedback of the buttons an switches interaction.
At college we/I had a module which introduced the arduino and all the components incl. coding C . But we never ever did something useful (some LED and SCREEN stuff) , which the result that I never touched my arduino again after I got my degree. What a pity and now I see your cool stuff here
College is supposed to teach you the basics, you then go out and go on from there, nothing's stopping you to go home after a day of college and try something out yourself ;)
looks great well done lovely job sir work of art should be on show degree level i wish more people like this were in the main stream for schools in south east uk most of the kids coming out are chav culture. very worrying. great job once again
I comment, for backlit LED you can use a DC-DC buck converter with current control (DC-DC CC CV). PWM like backlit on TV may be good. Sorry for mi inglish... If you like, search "smart led", neopixel, addresable led, etc.. on aliexpress are cheap. Very impresive work. good luck.
Hey Craig, I have a mini version of your network all wired up and have begun testing with one mega as master and another a slave. My slave works perfect via serial, but will not work via RS485 using the Max487cpa+. I have checked and rechecked all connections, grounds, voltages and they match yours exactly. I copied the RS485 slave text to my sketch and configured it as slave 1 on pin 2. The master is set to #define UART1_TXENABLE_PIN 2. I have tried swapping both the slave and master Max chips just in case of a dead chip. When I power up and down I do it as follows. Master and slave connected via RJ45, turn on power supply, power both megas, next plug in the usb and make sure the correct com is selected. And lastly run connect-serial-port.cmd and type correct com for the master and get data stream. Power down is, kill data stream, unplug usb, and lastly turn off power supply. I can not get any buttons to work via RS485. Even thought everything is wired exactly as yours with zero shorts or crossed connections. I do not have comms between master and slave. Any input would be well advised. I don't understand why it isn't working when it's wired up just like yours.
Solving this might get a bit detailed, if you can email me at craig@mysimpit.co.uk with the answers to the below questions and some photos of what you have set up, I'll take a look. 1. Have you tried a nano as a slave? 2. The batch of max487 chips you have, are they all from the same seller / order? 3. Do the Max 487 chips run hot? 4. Do LEDs on the master Arduino flash to show its receiving the data stream via socat (when running on your RS485 network)? 5. Do the LEDs on the slave flash to show its receiving data from the master? 6. Was the sketch you were using from my website or the one within the dcs bios example master / slave sketches from with the Arduino IDE? 7. Before doing a mini network similar to mine and using RJ45 connections and wires, have you used a breadboard and wired it up using the minimum number of wires needed? So you have it in its most basic form? Cheers
@@CraigSmysimpit Thank you for getting back with me. I figured out the problem. There isn't a lot of info for using a mega as a slave. I had my slave TX and RX on pins 18 and 19. I finally figured it out. It hit me in the face. The MAX487 DI pin must go to the TX0 pin, digital pin 1 and the RO from the MAX487 must go to the RX0 pin, digital pin 0. I had my RX and TX on the wrong pins. RX0 and TX0 are the ticket. I didn't look at the schematic well enough. DI = TX0 (D1), RO = RX0 (D0)
@@CraigSmysimpit I am using one mega as master and two as slaves. I daisy chained one slave to the other. All is working great now that my RX TX pins are on the correct Digital pin 0 and 1. The leds would flash on the master but not the slaves. Once I got the pins sorted, all came flashing to life. Added a video explaining what happened and how to prevent it. th-cam.com/video/dfmGnDb0bzg/w-d-xo.html
Could you discuss why steppers instead of servos? Using 360degree servos with the appropriate signal scaling would seemingly eliminate the need for drivers and make the finished unit significantly more compact. Am I mission something? Just personal choice?
hi Craig S.. Congrats on the videos you bring I wanted to ask you a courtesy, having followed your videos. I built the HSI for the A10C and it's driven by stepper motors that move with the bus you described in this video. I have a problem I entered the limit switch incorrectly by a few degrees. I wanted to know if it is possible via script to give the motor 40 counterclockwise steps to bring it to zero it's possible? and if it is possible how should I write it in the sketch? Thank you for your patience reading the message but I'm using a translator
Maybe I missed something, but why use 12 Arduinos instead of using one with a single rs485 link to the master and an I/O multiplexer to control all the motor drivers? It should be more than fast enough to control everything even with the comunication overhead and the multiplexing, while being much cheaper...
It could be cos the máster, will work only recieving and sending data, while each slave do its routine or control every single stepmottor, if he use only the arduino mega, it could work, yes, but every time he add another panel, would be a mess, instead of just simply add routine for another slave who proccess itself his own function/job. Its about further scallability
Super impressive. I thought I was fairly smart until I watched this and now I feel my IQ dropped 100 points. So a question or two. All of your panels, lights, push buttons displays in your SIM, can be run across the 485 network? If not the displays, how are you doing that? What software program (s) in the computer need to be running in order to have everything function? Thanks again for a great video. I learned a lot for a newbie!
Hi, the free community program DCS Bios allows the cockpit state of aircraft modules within Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) to be exported. This exported data is streamed to arduino microcontrollers. The arduinos can then either interface directly to custom made panels of the aircraft or through an RS485 network. In theory all typical components (buttons, toggle switches, rotary encoders, potentiometers, 7 segment displays, OLEDs, stepper motors, servos, etc) should work over this network type. In reality some play better than others, for example I had mixed results at times with OLEDs or running panels with lots of LEDs, like the Caution Light Panel (CLP). Any that didn't run as desired I just interfaced using IRQ serial, so non-networked connection straight to the arduino. The RS485 network was particularly handy for running large clusters of stepper motors, so perfect for the Engine Monitoring Instruments (EMI) Cheers
@@CraigSmysimpit Would this type of setup from the switches and such on the console of a general aviation sim work on a 485 network.? Also, from the HUB tot he computer, are you using USB from the Arduino or something else. My interest (at least first) is to build a general Aviation sim so I can become proficient while and after getting my pilot's license. Certainly, I would love to them have a sim like yours also for flying military aircraft. One last question, after watching this and your videos where you moved and cleaned up your sim and cabling, I got to wondering if you had a wiring diagram of your system? If there is a place to get it, even if I needed to pay for it, I would. It seems that in general, there is little info where the process of building a sim go from making the panels to the electrical / electronic connections to the computer showing the software used and how to set it up. Basically, a complete start to finish. I would definitely pay for that, and I think it would help others that would like to get into SIM building. I definitely want to thank you for being one of the few people that answer back to people watching you videos, and you ahve given me the desire to pursue a sim build when I was about to give up. Do you have a Patreon page? Thank you, sir!
Hi, The starting point is likely what simulator are you using as that will determine the software packages you are working with to export data. Dcs bios works with RS485 but other simulators probably won't. From the RS485 hub to my computer is a usb connection. Alot of my wiring is shown in the various videos I uploaded. The DCS bios guide is a good resource showing how to wire various components for use with DCS. I don't have a patreon page but a thumbs up on my videos is appreciated. All the best with your simpit building and pursuit of a pilots license
These panels aren't backlit... They used UV bulbs in the front pillars on the top right of each dial. This illuminates the needle as well as the dial. It also simplifies the lighting as you don't have to backlight. And OMFG... these are pretty amazing panels but one thing that drives me bonkers is calling them Adreeno and Adderfruit boards. It's ARR DWEE NO and AID-A-FRUIT. The latter because it's from Lady Ada's company... not Lady Adder lol. Other than that, it's some good info.
Great video man. You've helped me setup my own setup I just built but much smaller (For Block 50 F16). Couldn't be able to do this without people like yourself, thank you so much. If I could ask, how do you figure out the zero point of a X27.168 motor? Basically where 0 degrees starts and final 300 ish degrees ends, just by looking at the motor case itself? It looks like you have all of your motors mounted in the same position to the panel.
Hi Cyrus, it's not so much about the position of the steppers shaft, it is the position of the pointer you attach to that shaft. You have total control of where you attach that, for example, if the actual shaft rotated from the 3 o'clock position to 11 o'clock, but you wanted it to move from 12 o'clock to 8 o'clock, then when the shaft is sitting at its 3 o'clock you attach the pointer aligned to 12 o'clock.
@@CraigSmysimpit Thanks for the reply. I think I see what you mean. I saw red lines drawn on one of your motors and assumed that was the rotating range.
@@CyrusEpion General comment here -- is DCS Bios still relevant? Many comments as of late running into many issues, there are a few different ways to get gauge data ... so figured I'd at least toss that question out and see what the general consensus is. I saw a repository "rollback" for the f16 on the github, was wondering what that was all about. Thanks gents!
@@phrozen755 Honestly, I haven't had any issues with DCS bios. I use it in my pit and all my guages are working great. I have DCS bios running everything minus larger LCD's, which I use Helios for. What did you hear about DCS bios? On the other hand, I heard Helios split. There's the old version and a second branch. Two different creators for that.
@@CyrusEpion heard the same about helios! I heard compatibility issues with a few modules, but saw the f15 module code roll back and raised an eyebrow, looking into the diff for the code (I’m a software engineer of … 20 years … wow that makes me feel OLD…!) and didn’t see anything alarming but did question what the cause was. Amazing to hear about your pit! Hope you had a heck of a good time putting that together. I’m a mere pleb with a sims gear ICP for my f16…and you probably guessed it … I got bit by the bug! Anyway thanks for the response, love talking to other flight sim people!
Also, it could considera a simply RJ11 panel, with cheaper and thin telephone cables. One issue I didnt see its about the end resistor in the rs485 bus, I was expecting it, but I didnt see every second of the video, it great, really, but with 3 childs its difficult pay attention at all...
Excellent approach to use a "bus" (RS485) and thanks for the explanation. As you designed a small PCB for the Arduino Nano and the RS485 chip, it significantly reduced the "wiring mess". I just wonder why you did not take that PCB design one step further. You mount the Nano on the PCB, but keep the stepper interface separate ... why not add the stepper also on that PCB? Then you would one have 4 wires going to each X27 at one side and the ethernet cable at the other side. Just a thought. Looks great, works great. For "night flights" the brightness is a bit on the high side. Are you planning to add a dimmer at a later moment?
Hi Henk, that's a good point about the pcb which I had considered but not done anything with currently. It does make sense. As regards the back light, when I build the right console, the last part of that will be the lighting panel. At that point I'll tie all panels to it and have brightness control.
Not sure this is the simplest way. Personally as evertyhing is in close proximity it might have been simpler to use an STM32 or similar micro with lots of GPIO, common the motor clocks and break out step and direction to the GPIOs. The lack of termination is probably why the 485 ICs are blowing up, really the bus should terminated at both ends. I work with DMX512 using 485 ICs at 250k bits, nothing blows up even with 30 meter cable runs. Nice work on the display itself, looks the part.
A single Arduino Mega could easily run those steppers on its own already, hook up a single RS485 link, or even just RS232 with some added error correction code (readily available libraries for this) and that's it. While I love the dial design, the electric part is just a case of throwing Arduinos at it until it starts to work here, which is a shame.
Cool, RS485 might be a bit bulky and over powered for these applications, but it is a standard and it does get the job done. Cool project. (However, after watching all of these I feel I have to say that its ARDUINO, not Adrino. Sorry, haha)
Hi Gurk, I agree, this RS485 network is bulky. Whilst it's serving me well, I have recently made a smaller PCB based version which I'm due to test out in the near future. As regards the Engine Monitoring Instruments (EMI), I did a version 2 of the PCB which sits at the rear. It has thicker traces, RJ45 connectors so standard ethernet cables can be used to connect to the hub and dedicated sockets for 2 stepper motors per PCB. When I'm further along with the front dash facia, I'll likely upgrade the back of the EMI panel at the point I integrate it into the front dash. Thanks for watching
Holdup. Did you say you're powering this stuff over 12V? 12V to VIN? That is very high voltage for the Mega//Nanos AMS117 chip. You'll be generating a lot of heat, them being linear converters. Plus, Nanos don't have a protection diode. All this makes for a good reason to avoid VIN and the circuitry behind it like the plague. Why not just run 5V from a hefty supply, directly into any 5V pins of the boards involved? Safety then depends on the stability of the supply, but that should not be a problem. By the looks of things, you will be using vast amounts of Nano slaves, and that's a great opportunity to derate any supplies significantly just by switching to 5V and enjoying lots of efficiency gains. The build in linear converters are horrible, but there are so many other great options to get 5V.
Hi Paul, 12v did strike me as high too. I read a fair bit before building the network and found a number of people within the cockpit building community who were running full pits by this method (wiring and power) without issue. I am always looking to improve and refine, ill take a look and keep in mind your comments when revisiting the setup of this. Thanks
Great project. So much to learn. Ever considered using a 14" monitor panel as your cluster showing all the instruments readings instead of the mechanical system?
@@Palamatar I quite agree and appreciate. I probably wouldn't have watched the video if it was a build for a screen version because that's easy and common. I appreciate your doing this, it's given me ideas for my own projects. Question: could one arduino not have been able to control all the motors in the cluster? Perhaps using an I2C bus expander chip if you're runningvoutvof GPIO pins?
@@9jatechie I'm not the guy who built the project you've seen in the video. Just wanted to share my opinion on why it's better than using a screen. Should've mentionned it before, my bad.
I must admit you have done a great job here but I am curious why you used 12V input? as far as I know, Arduino is running on just 5V? Isn't that dangerous to these boards?
Very nice video! One thing I am still trying to figure out is what if I wanted two way communication with the max487? I'm planning to use more powerful microcontrollers than the arduino uno/mega, so I would have one microcontroller controlling a whole F-16 left console for example, I need to receive data to turn on some LEDs, while also sending data when a switch state is changed. When I saw you used RJ45 connector, I thought why not use two MAX487 networks? The RJ45 has 8 pins, so if I use 2 pins per network I'll still have 4 pins for power. What do you think of this solution? Is there a better one? Thanks.
Hi KroceBow, the RS485 network (using MAX487 chips) does allow 2 way communication. The engine cluster is made up of outputs only from the sim, but have a look at some of my recent videos and you'll see inputs also 👍
@@CraigSmysimpit Thank you for your answer, I did some research and I found that the max487 has an enable pin which control who's transmitting in the network. I've looked on your recent videos but I couldn't find the exact moment you are talking or showing full duplex communication, would you mind giving me a video link please? Thanks.
@@KroceBow Hi, take a look at my most recent video using this link th-cam.com/video/iykHgKYWt-8/w-d-xo.html In this video you see me start the data stream from the simulator to the RS485 network, and every input and output you see into the simulator is through that network. The RS485 network functions this way as standard with dcs bios.
Neat, but why Arduinos and not just stock AVRs? Especially since you can find even SOT-23-6 -packed atTinys nowadays which will make things much more reliable and compact. On a side note, RS485 is supposed to be connected in a chain-like way (that is, every slave is connected by tapping a single cable), not a star connection where the proper termination is barely possible. Anyway, Arduinos are extremely messy due to the dodgy compiler and loader, with both being so pointless since a cheap AVR programmer is below $5 while the instruction set on those is so narrow you can easily outrun any compiler by a very low-effort ASM code. But - since you have all the motors in a single enclosure, the best solution would be a single - yet slightly massive - CPLD which will easily handle all the drivers rigged via some MPSSE-capable FTDI chip (as those have two channels and the second one is not MPSSE-compatible, you will get a free 485 as well for any external loads and a direct single-cable USB connection).
Hello! help please !!!!! I connect and program the Arduino, I do everything according to the instructions, everything works fine, but when I open the DCS the game just does not connect to the board, I realized this because when I turn on the toggle switch in real life it does not turn on in the game, I tried many combinations but still did not help ((((( please tell me someone! thank you!
you are using wrong stepper driver... X27 have 3/6 steps per rotation and driver have 4/8. it will somehow work but its noisy and with microsteping its skipping steps. You need H bridge driver and control A1/2 B1/2 directly. Btw x27 needs 20mA per coil so you cand drive it directly from arduino.
@@CraigSmysimpit What kind of "opal acrylic", the first time I hear about this, and where can I get it? I know that aviation panels are made of light-conducting plastic, and as you describe, they engrave inscriptions and they glow, and where it is painted it does not glow. Tell me where you can buy this acrylic and how to paint it, just like ordinary plastic or is it immediately sold painted?
Hey Craig. Thanks to your great in depth information, I put together a small bench top RS485 test box for testing panels as I build them. Here is a short video of a small unit based on your larger network cabinet. Seriously, thank you all for sharing your builds! th-cam.com/video/qALD0baOBwA/w-d-xo.html
Hello, not sure if you want info on the software that drives the network shown in the diagram or to confirm what software I drew it with, so will detail both below: The software used to drive this network is called DCS Bios and this is for use with Digital Combat Simulator. Here is the link to read more dcs-bios.a10c.de/ Beyond the standard use of arduinos to connect physical panels to the sim to both input commands and output data, an RS485 network can be created which enables one Arduino to be a master and others slaves. My video outlines this. A lot of other information on this is available on the ED forums. I drew the diagram using Fritzing (as far as i can remember). Its free to download online and to use. Cheers
Hi Simon, that was an option. I do plan to use micro servos for the flaps gauge, the two hydraulic gauges on the fuel panel, and the SYN-IND annunciation on the HARs control panel. I might also use some to move flag indicators on instruments like the altimeter, etc. For the Engine Monitoring Instruments I wanted to get some experience with X27 steppers, plus in tests the steppers were quieter than micro servos, so made sense for a dense cluster like this where the range of movement was quite large.
@@CraigSmysimpit Thanks for the reply - makes sense. I suppose you'd soon get annoyed with the noise when all those servos moved at the start. It's those little things that ruin the realism of the sim. Great project 👍
Isn't this all needlessly cable-heavy? Surely one Nano can drive several motors, and one Nano with one single RJ45 can coordinate the Nanos driving motors?
Hi DundeeDriver, A reduction in cables can definately be achieved through a rewire of the hub. This would halve the number needed. But as regards a further reduction through nanos driving multiple steppers each, I found in early tests on this that the steppers didn't seem to run as smoothly. It seems the processor speed of the nanos can be a reason for this. Given the cost of nanos is small I decided therefore to use one nano per stepper to ensure they all ran the best they could. Perhaps a more powerful microprocessor in place of a nano could be the ideal solution. Then combined with a rewire of the hub the 12 cables I used could be reduced to 3.
@@CraigSmysimpit I think you might win more by not sending data in such a steady stream to the arduino. It seems very unlikely that the processor isn't fast enough to run a couple of stepping motors, and I have a feeling the problem lies in bottlenecking the inputs. Have you tried running the outputs out of sync?
Why not new nice stepper controllers, say Drv88xx series? They have SPI and I2C controls and you would be able to drive ALL of them with one arduino... Arduino nano is a COMPUTER! you don't need a computer to run a single feedbackless stepper...
Hello Craig, how are you? Craig, could you please help me I need to design and build the CAD / CAM of the F-16 RPM, would you have any tips, I also need your email, and can you provide it? Thanks !!!
Hello, the steppers have an end stop due to their limited range of motion. When the Arduino initally receives power it runs the onboard sketch. The initialisation sequence of this, drives the dial backwards for a short period. Provided it hits the backstop during this movement it will be properly aligned / homed. Cheers
This is not a 'noob' level project, you'll want to start off with several other easier projects first. If you want to build up to this: start with getting familiar with Arduinos, there's plenty guides etc. to help with that as an easy but required start for this. Next try connecting a stepper motor (again plenty of tutorials available on this), after you've gotten that to work like you want it to you can start with RS485 communication, which is a slightly bigger hurdle, after that just put everything you've learned together. That's how you do these sorts of things.
@@someguy4915 I built a full overhead panel for a 737 on Arduinos. I just wanted a cleaner way of wiring my panels. The way he uses rs485 to connect multiple nanos is incredible. I just don't know what i'm doing with that part yet.
Brilliant work Craig! The results look outstanding. I tried those steppers for my hydraulic gauges, but I just couldn't get them to responds quick or smooth enough. I ended up going with geared servos instead. I've got lcd engine gauges on my hog, but I'll likely be going this route on my next project, so your detailed explanation is very helpful. Thanks!
Hi Ray, making this panel was a lot of fun, took me a while however due to work demands.
Your projector setup looks to be truly awesome, if you get chance to upload a video outlining it's exact setup, I'll be first in line to watch it. Cheers
Superb detailed video and excellent work.. Professional quality. Thank You..
This is an impressive presentation of what can be accomplished using micro-controllers, motors, and input data from any source. 10 out of 10 for presentation and how you researched, developed, designed and finished your prototype.
Hi Doug, thanks for the positive comments. I'm just at the final stages of making a newer version of this unit to be incorporated into my simpits front dash. Will hopefully have a video uploaded in a couple of weeks on this, check it out, cheers 👍
Hey you definitely need terminating resistors on your network, especially for long cables. The resistor reduces ringing in the cables and the reduced slew of the max chip helps too. That's an amazing project. This whole network with the RJ45 cables could be reduced to one PCB with the steppers and interface all on a single board. This would reduce 12 individual cables to 1 cable.
Impressive. You, sir, are a legend. I envy your skills!
Great work Craig.
May I suggest improvements?
- Given the number of free inputs on the Nanos, you can easily add a 7 bit deepswitch to configure the 485 ID, that you can read within your code initialization (setup), and avoid having different code/recompile for each instrument.
- you can do the same, for any settings to configure each instrument, or alternatively use the flash capabilities of the chip, to keep those settings, while having a single generic code base.
- you can also include the nano chips within your own pcb, reducing the size.
Actually, you could have a board with all the stuff in your later layers all into one.
Forgot to mention that you might find the CAN bus protocol (Car Area Network) more suitable to the task than the 485 network, due to it's reselience to noise, and easily available integrated chips with CPU and CAN interface.
Very impressive work. Presumably using 28-pin GPIO from RPI can power more than 130 thousand steppers(2 bits for step and direction) and would be much cheaper. But this is very impressive, and cluster execution is superb.
I agree , he could have used that master arduino mega to control all the steppers (24 bits) and avoided all the nano arduinos and the cabeling.
An arduino mega coupled with a relay card and One usb to computer would have been the best solution imo.
This is none the less pretty impressive and u inspired me to build my own, also very detailed and well explained , keep up the good work
You could have used a single sketch for all the gauges by using 5 digital inputs on the arduinos for each gauge to allow for a digital gauge address 0-31 to be set via solder bridge or jumper wires. This way you could keep a couple spare arduinos pre-programmed on hand and make them work for any gauge. You would read the address jumpers at startup and set the RS-485 address appropriately. Great job on the build!
@Craig S Congratulations for such an impressive setup and complete how-to video. Cheers.
Outstanding job, well done!
Impressive and incredible.
I have no words to describe your hard work.
I’ve been looking for a video like this. Great job explaining every detail. Thank you.
Another awesome job. Instruments and RS485. It seems that there is nothing that you can't do Craig. Thumbs up!
Thanks for your positive comments and support, appreciated
Man... your work really inspires...
You have definitely inspired me to make my own cockpit hardware now.
If the reflection of back lit gauges produces too much glow. There is a paint called Vanta Black. It has no reflectivity. Spraying that on would create inky darkeness. Another idea is too look for black velvet on sticky back adhesive and put that in around the gauges. If the seam is at 12 oclock, you won't notice it.
Great work!!! 10 of 10!
I love your video’s! Keep them coming Craig! The MAX485 solution is beautiful, well explained. I’m thinking of building a large PCB with sockets to put nano’s in. The outputs would be RS485 over RJ45 just like yours. This would make things so clean and easy.
Fine art work Craig. Absolutely brilliant.
Thanks Joe, I was working on this one for a while. I'm glad I had chance to explore the RS485 approach, although my overall simpit will probably become a mix of several interface types.
I’ve driven my x27s direct from the arduino. Saves time & money.
My first thought was "Why's he talking about H-bridges?"
Now I've seen why. He's not using "H-bridges" per se, he's using stepper drivers.
That makes far more sense. It means his Arduino only needs to provide direction and step signals - the driver deals with the sequencing.
What a work, congratulation
The termination resistor should be used. It is not for noise reduction as you say. It is there to generate the proper voltage difference between the 2 data pins for sensing by the receiver amps inside the chip. RS485 is a differential voltage bus. That it works without the termination resistor is just luck and could cause problems down the road.
Hi Brian, thankyou for the comment. I am keen to make the network function as best as possible. I did consider using a termination resistor. However, in my initial reading, I saw that the creator of the software I use to export data from the sim, commented that for MAX487 chips there was no need for bias or termination resistors as long as the total bus length was shorter than about 12 meters. However with a MAX485 chip, termination would be needed for anything above 15cm.
Was your comment on the basis I was using a MAX485 chip or the MAX487?
at the end you should get rid of the rounded screen (I know, I know ear me out...) If you use a virtual reality set and wear captors on yours hands and fingers, you would be able to visually be seated in the A10 pit, see your arms and hands and fingers move. That would allow for some serious immersion because you'll be able to have the haptique feedback of the buttons an switches interaction.
Fantastic, great work
At college we/I had a module which introduced the arduino and all the components incl. coding C . But we never ever did something useful (some LED and SCREEN stuff) , which the result that I never touched my arduino again after I got my degree.
What a pity and now I see your cool stuff here
College is supposed to teach you the basics, you then go out and go on from there, nothing's stopping you to go home after a day of college and try something out yourself ;)
looks great well done lovely job sir work of art should be on show degree level i wish more people like this were in the main stream for schools in south east uk most of the kids coming out are chav culture. very worrying. great job once again
I comment, for backlit LED you can use a DC-DC buck converter with current control (DC-DC CC CV). PWM like backlit on TV may be good. Sorry for mi inglish... If you like, search "smart led", neopixel, addresable led, etc.. on aliexpress are cheap. Very impresive work. good luck.
Hi Aj, I've seen a few people mention addressable LEDs, neo pixels, etc. I'll take a look, cheers
Very Nice!!!!!
Dude, you should just build a real one! That’s really quite amazing!
amazing
Hey Craig, I have a mini version of your network all wired up and have begun testing with one mega as master and another a slave. My slave works perfect via serial, but will not work via RS485 using the Max487cpa+. I have checked and rechecked all connections, grounds, voltages and they match yours exactly. I copied the RS485 slave text to my sketch and configured it as slave 1 on pin 2. The master is set to #define UART1_TXENABLE_PIN 2. I have tried swapping both the slave and master Max chips just in case of a dead chip. When I power up and down I do it as follows.
Master and slave connected via RJ45, turn on power supply, power both megas, next plug in the usb and make sure the correct com is selected. And lastly run connect-serial-port.cmd and type correct com for the master and get data stream.
Power down is, kill data stream, unplug usb, and lastly turn off power supply.
I can not get any buttons to work via RS485. Even thought everything is wired exactly as yours with zero shorts or crossed connections. I do not have comms between master and slave. Any input would be well advised. I don't understand why it isn't working when it's wired up just like yours.
Hi, from reading your message. Did you say you are using two Arduino megas. One mega as a master and one mega as a slave?
Solving this might get a bit detailed, if you can email me at craig@mysimpit.co.uk with the answers to the below questions and some photos of what you have set up, I'll take a look.
1. Have you tried a nano as a slave?
2. The batch of max487 chips you have, are they all from the same seller / order?
3. Do the Max 487 chips run hot?
4. Do LEDs on the master Arduino flash to show its receiving the data stream via socat (when running on your RS485 network)?
5. Do the LEDs on the slave flash to show its receiving data from the master?
6. Was the sketch you were using from my website or the one within the dcs bios example master / slave sketches from with the Arduino IDE?
7. Before doing a mini network similar to mine and using RJ45 connections and wires, have you used a breadboard and wired it up using the minimum number of wires needed? So you have it in its most basic form?
Cheers
@@CraigSmysimpit Thank you for getting back with me. I figured out the problem. There isn't a lot of info for using a mega as a slave. I had my slave TX and RX on pins 18 and 19. I finally figured it out. It hit me in the face. The MAX487 DI pin must go to the TX0 pin, digital pin 1 and the RO from the MAX487 must go to the RX0 pin, digital pin 0.
I had my RX and TX on the wrong pins. RX0 and TX0 are the ticket. I didn't look at the schematic well enough. DI = TX0 (D1), RO = RX0 (D0)
@@CraigSmysimpit I am using one mega as master and two as slaves. I daisy chained one slave to the other. All is working great now that my RX TX pins are on the correct Digital pin 0 and 1. The leds would flash on the master but not the slaves. Once I got the pins sorted, all came flashing to life.
Added a video explaining what happened and how to prevent it. th-cam.com/video/dfmGnDb0bzg/w-d-xo.html
I'm glad it's all working, brilliant 👍
awesome work, thanks for sharing.
Could you discuss why steppers instead of servos?
Using 360degree servos with the appropriate signal scaling would seemingly eliminate the need for drivers and make the finished unit significantly more compact.
Am I mission something? Just personal choice?
hi Craig S.. Congrats on the videos you bring
I wanted to ask you a courtesy, having followed your videos.
I built the HSI for the A10C and it's driven by stepper motors that move with the bus you described in this video.
I have a problem I entered the limit switch incorrectly by a few degrees.
I wanted to know if it is possible via script to give the motor 40 counterclockwise steps to bring it to zero
it's possible?
and if it is possible how should I write it in the sketch?
Thank you for your patience reading the message but I'm using a translator
nice work my friend...good luck
You sir are a genius.
Really impressive! Great work!
Brilliant, thanks for sharing!
neat and clear, excelent!
Maybe I missed something, but why use 12 Arduinos instead of using one with a single rs485 link to the master and an I/O multiplexer to control all the motor drivers? It should be more than fast enough to control everything even with the comunication overhead and the multiplexing, while being much cheaper...
It could be cos the máster, will work only recieving and sending data, while each slave do its routine or control every single stepmottor, if he use only the arduino mega, it could work, yes, but every time he add another panel, would be a mess, instead of just simply add routine for another slave who proccess itself his own function/job. Its about further scallability
I am impressed very cool!!!
I wonder if you could have used DMX512 which is a RS485 protocol with lots of documentation. Just a thought
Super impressive. I thought I was fairly smart until I watched this and now I feel my IQ dropped 100 points. So a question or two. All of your panels, lights, push buttons displays in your SIM, can be run across the 485 network? If not the displays, how are you doing that? What software program (s) in the computer need to be running in order to have everything function? Thanks again for a great video. I learned a lot for a newbie!
Hi, the free community program DCS Bios allows the cockpit state of aircraft modules within Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) to be exported. This exported data is streamed to arduino microcontrollers. The arduinos can then either interface directly to custom made panels of the aircraft or through an RS485 network. In theory all typical components (buttons, toggle switches, rotary encoders, potentiometers, 7 segment displays, OLEDs, stepper motors, servos, etc) should work over this network type. In reality some play better than others, for example I had mixed results at times with OLEDs or running panels with lots of LEDs, like the Caution Light Panel (CLP).
Any that didn't run as desired I just interfaced using IRQ serial, so non-networked connection straight to the arduino. The RS485 network was particularly handy for running large clusters of stepper motors, so perfect for the Engine Monitoring Instruments (EMI)
Cheers
@@CraigSmysimpit Would this type of setup from the switches and such on the console of a general aviation sim work on a 485 network.? Also, from the HUB tot he computer, are you using USB from the Arduino or something else. My interest (at least first) is to build a general Aviation sim so I can become proficient while and after getting my pilot's license. Certainly, I would love to them have a sim like yours also for flying military aircraft. One last question, after watching this and your videos where you moved and cleaned up your sim and cabling, I got to wondering if you had a wiring diagram of your system? If there is a place to get it, even if I needed to pay for it, I would. It seems that in general, there is little info where the process of building a sim go from making the panels to the electrical / electronic connections to the computer showing the software used and how to set it up. Basically, a complete start to finish. I would definitely pay for that, and I think it would help others that would like to get into SIM building.
I definitely want to thank you for being one of the few people that answer back to people watching you videos, and you ahve given me the desire to pursue a sim build when I was about to give up. Do you have a Patreon page? Thank you, sir!
Hi,
The starting point is likely what simulator are you using as that will determine the software packages you are working with to export data.
Dcs bios works with RS485 but other simulators probably won't.
From the RS485 hub to my computer is a usb connection.
Alot of my wiring is shown in the various videos I uploaded. The DCS bios guide is a good resource showing how to wire various components for use with DCS.
I don't have a patreon page but a thumbs up on my videos is appreciated.
All the best with your simpit building and pursuit of a pilots license
These panels aren't backlit... They used UV bulbs in the front pillars on the top right of each dial. This illuminates the needle as well as the dial. It also simplifies the lighting as you don't have to backlight.
And OMFG... these are pretty amazing panels but one thing that drives me bonkers is calling them Adreeno and Adderfruit boards. It's ARR DWEE NO and AID-A-FRUIT. The latter because it's from Lady Ada's company... not Lady Adder lol. Other than that, it's some good info.
I love your work, and I hate to be that guy but can't help myself: it's not aDRuino
Great video man. You've helped me setup my own setup I just built but much smaller (For Block 50 F16). Couldn't be able to do this without people like yourself, thank you so much.
If I could ask, how do you figure out the zero point of a X27.168 motor? Basically where 0 degrees starts and final 300 ish degrees ends, just by looking at the motor case itself? It looks like you have all of your motors mounted in the same position to the panel.
Hi Cyrus, it's not so much about the position of the steppers shaft, it is the position of the pointer you attach to that shaft. You have total control of where you attach that, for example, if the actual shaft rotated from the 3 o'clock position to 11 o'clock, but you wanted it to move from 12 o'clock to 8 o'clock, then when the shaft is sitting at its 3 o'clock you attach the pointer aligned to 12 o'clock.
@@CraigSmysimpit Thanks for the reply. I think I see what you mean. I saw red lines drawn on one of your motors and assumed that was the rotating range.
@@CyrusEpion General comment here -- is DCS Bios still relevant? Many comments as of late running into many issues, there are a few different ways to get gauge data ... so figured I'd at least toss that question out and see what the general consensus is. I saw a repository "rollback" for the f16 on the github, was wondering what that was all about. Thanks gents!
@@phrozen755 Honestly, I haven't had any issues with DCS bios. I use it in my pit and all my guages are working great. I have DCS bios running everything minus larger LCD's, which I use Helios for. What did you hear about DCS bios?
On the other hand, I heard Helios split. There's the old version and a second branch. Two different creators for that.
@@CyrusEpion heard the same about helios! I heard compatibility issues with a few modules, but saw the f15 module code roll back and raised an eyebrow, looking into the diff for the code (I’m a software engineer of … 20 years … wow that makes me feel OLD…!) and didn’t see anything alarming but did question what the cause was. Amazing to hear about your pit! Hope you had a heck of a good time putting that together. I’m a mere pleb with a sims gear ICP for my f16…and you probably guessed it … I got bit by the bug! Anyway thanks for the response, love talking to other flight sim people!
Nice build but wtf would you run a separate cat5 for each gauge when you have the same bus going down each. You could drive it all from one cable.
Also, it could considera a simply RJ11 panel, with cheaper and thin telephone cables. One issue I didnt see its about the end resistor in the rs485 bus, I was expecting it, but I didnt see every second of the video, it great, really, but with 3 childs its difficult pay attention at all...
@@inglaof He could also just use a USB male / female combo. can't he? it has four cores.
Excellent approach to use a "bus" (RS485) and thanks for the explanation. As you designed a small PCB for the Arduino Nano and the RS485 chip, it significantly reduced the "wiring mess". I just wonder why you did not take that PCB design one step further. You mount the Nano on the PCB, but keep the stepper interface separate ... why not add the stepper also on that PCB? Then you would one have 4 wires going to each X27 at one side and the ethernet cable at the other side. Just a thought. Looks great, works great.
For "night flights" the brightness is a bit on the high side. Are you planning to add a dimmer at a later moment?
Hi Henk, that's a good point about the pcb which I had considered but not done anything with currently. It does make sense.
As regards the back light, when I build the right console, the last part of that will be the lighting panel. At that point I'll tie all panels to it and have brightness control.
Not sure this is the simplest way. Personally as evertyhing is in close proximity it might have been simpler to use an STM32 or similar micro with lots of GPIO, common the motor clocks and break out step and direction to the GPIOs. The lack of termination is probably why the 485 ICs are blowing up, really the bus should terminated at both ends. I work with DMX512 using 485 ICs at 250k bits, nothing blows up even with 30 meter cable runs. Nice work on the display itself, looks the part.
A single Arduino Mega could easily run those steppers on its own already, hook up a single RS485 link, or even just RS232 with some added error correction code (readily available libraries for this) and that's it.
While I love the dial design, the electric part is just a case of throwing Arduinos at it until it starts to work here, which is a shame.
Cool, RS485 might be a bit bulky and over powered for these applications, but it is a standard and it does get the job done. Cool project.
(However, after watching all of these I feel I have to say that its ARDUINO, not Adrino. Sorry, haha)
Hi Gurk, I agree, this RS485 network is bulky. Whilst it's serving me well, I have recently made a smaller PCB based version which I'm due to test out in the near future.
As regards the Engine Monitoring Instruments (EMI), I did a version 2 of the PCB which sits at the rear. It has thicker traces, RJ45 connectors so standard ethernet cables can be used to connect to the hub and dedicated sockets for 2 stepper motors per PCB. When I'm further along with the front dash facia, I'll likely upgrade the back of the EMI panel at the point I integrate it into the front dash.
Thanks for watching
JLCPCB allows you to build large PCBs for free and they print at very low cost.
Absolutely fantastic. Whats the software that is sending this from PC?
Hello, its called dcs bios. If you search the Eagle Dynamics forum you will find quite a lot of info on it. Its truly great software
Nice one! 👌
Ah! Unbelievable!
Holdup. Did you say you're powering this stuff over 12V? 12V to VIN? That is very high voltage for the Mega//Nanos AMS117 chip. You'll be generating a lot of heat, them being linear converters. Plus, Nanos don't have a protection diode. All this makes for a good reason to avoid VIN and the circuitry behind it like the plague. Why not just run 5V from a hefty supply, directly into any 5V pins of the boards involved? Safety then depends on the stability of the supply, but that should not be a problem. By the looks of things, you will be using vast amounts of Nano slaves, and that's a great opportunity to derate any supplies significantly just by switching to 5V and enjoying lots of efficiency gains. The build in linear converters are horrible, but there are so many other great options to get 5V.
Hi Paul, 12v did strike me as high too. I read a fair bit before building the network and found a number of people within the cockpit building community who were running full pits by this method (wiring and power) without issue. I am always looking to improve and refine, ill take a look and keep in mind your comments when revisiting the setup of this. Thanks
What software do you use for your block diagrams? Btw: Using a patch panel with Cat5 cables is genius!
Hello, for the wiring diagrams I use Fritzing. Its free to use and served me very well. Thanks for the thumbs up
Great project. So much to learn.
Ever considered using a 14" monitor panel as your cluster showing all the instruments readings instead of the mechanical system?
Well, building the thing is part of the fun.
@@Palamatar I quite agree and appreciate. I probably wouldn't have watched the video if it was a build for a screen version because that's easy and common.
I appreciate your doing this, it's given me ideas for my own projects.
Question: could one arduino not have been able to control all the motors in the cluster? Perhaps using an I2C bus expander chip if you're runningvoutvof GPIO pins?
@@9jatechie I'm not the guy who built the project you've seen in the video. Just wanted to share my opinion on why it's better than using a screen. Should've mentionned it before, my bad.
@@Palamatar Hi. I Should've checked too. But thanks for the communication. We all learn from each other.
I must admit you have done a great job here but I am curious why you used 12V input? as far as I know, Arduino is running on just 5V? Isn't that dangerous to these boards?
I like the video but it's "R-dWeen-o" not "r-dReen-o"
Probably using CAN would be easier?
Very nice video!
One thing I am still trying to figure out is what if I wanted two way communication with the max487? I'm planning to use more powerful microcontrollers than the arduino uno/mega, so I would have one microcontroller controlling a whole F-16 left console for example, I need to receive data to turn on some LEDs, while also sending data when a switch state is changed. When I saw you used RJ45 connector, I thought why not use two MAX487 networks? The RJ45 has 8 pins, so if I use 2 pins per network I'll still have 4 pins for power. What do you think of this solution? Is there a better one? Thanks.
Hi KroceBow, the RS485 network (using MAX487 chips) does allow 2 way communication. The engine cluster is made up of outputs only from the sim, but have a look at some of my recent videos and you'll see inputs also 👍
@@CraigSmysimpit Thank you for your answer, I did some research and I found that the max487 has an enable pin which control who's transmitting in the network. I've looked on your recent videos but I couldn't find the exact moment you are talking or showing full duplex communication, would you mind giving me a video link please? Thanks.
@@KroceBow Hi, take a look at my most recent video using this link th-cam.com/video/iykHgKYWt-8/w-d-xo.html
In this video you see me start the data stream from the simulator to the RS485 network, and every input and output you see into the simulator is through that network. The RS485 network functions this way as standard with dcs bios.
crazy
Could u just do a video on how you make one panel conect to arduni
Hello! What kind of material 23:53 ? How did you make it?
Neat, but why Arduinos and not just stock AVRs? Especially since you can find even SOT-23-6 -packed atTinys nowadays which will make things much more reliable and compact. On a side note, RS485 is supposed to be connected in a chain-like way (that is, every slave is connected by tapping a single cable), not a star connection where the proper termination is barely possible. Anyway, Arduinos are extremely messy due to the dodgy compiler and loader, with both being so pointless since a cheap AVR programmer is below $5 while the instruction set on those is so narrow you can easily outrun any compiler by a very low-effort ASM code. But - since you have all the motors in a single enclosure, the best solution would be a single - yet slightly massive - CPLD which will easily handle all the drivers rigged via some MPSSE-capable FTDI chip (as those have two channels and the second one is not MPSSE-compatible, you will get a free 485 as well for any external loads and a direct single-cable USB connection).
Hello! help please !!!!! I connect and program the Arduino, I do everything according to the instructions, everything works fine, but when I open the DCS the game just does not connect to the board, I realized this because when I turn on the toggle switch in real life it does not turn on in the game, I tried many combinations but still did not help ((((( please tell me someone! thank you!
Interesting project, would you like any assistance getting a circuit board designed and fabricated? I'd be happy to help.
Wow
Amazing. Are you an electrical engineer?
Hi, I do office work. In my spare time, I love learning about electronics / coding. Thanks for watching my video 👍
@@CraigSmysimpit Well, that's even more impressive then!
you are using wrong stepper driver... X27 have 3/6 steps per rotation and driver have 4/8. it will somehow work but its noisy and with microsteping its skipping steps. You need H bridge driver and control A1/2 B1/2 directly. Btw x27 needs 20mA per coil so you cand drive it directly from arduino.
I making a list of video about of RS485 and modbus. You can view this list if you like, many vids and very goods.
How you make backlight for gauge?
Hi, I suspend LED green strip behind the panel face. The panel face is 3mm opal acrylic so the light illuminates the engraved text and lines
@@CraigSmysimpit What kind of "opal acrylic", the first time I hear about this, and where can I get it?
I know that aviation panels are made of light-conducting plastic, and as you describe, they engrave inscriptions and they glow, and where it is painted it does not glow.
Tell me where you can buy this acrylic and how to paint it, just like ordinary plastic or is it immediately sold painted?
Hey Craig. Thanks to your great in depth information, I put together a small bench top RS485 test box for testing panels as I build them. Here is a short video of a small unit based on your larger network cabinet. Seriously, thank you all for sharing your builds! th-cam.com/video/qALD0baOBwA/w-d-xo.html
Hi, can you please tell us the software used for the wiring diagram representation?
Hello, not sure if you want info on the software that drives the network shown in the diagram or to confirm what software I drew it with, so will detail both below:
The software used to drive this network is called DCS Bios and this is for use with Digital Combat Simulator. Here is the link to read more dcs-bios.a10c.de/
Beyond the standard use of arduinos to connect physical panels to the sim to both input commands and output data, an RS485 network can be created which enables one Arduino to be a master and others slaves. My video outlines this. A lot of other information on this is available on the ED forums.
I drew the diagram using Fritzing (as far as i can remember). Its free to download online and to use.
Cheers
Why not use micro servos driven directly from the Nano?
Hi Simon, that was an option. I do plan to use micro servos for the flaps gauge, the two hydraulic gauges on the fuel panel, and the SYN-IND annunciation on the HARs control panel. I might also use some to move flag indicators on instruments like the altimeter, etc.
For the Engine Monitoring Instruments I wanted to get some experience with X27 steppers, plus in tests the steppers were quieter than micro servos, so made sense for a dense cluster like this where the range of movement was quite large.
@@CraigSmysimpit Thanks for the reply - makes sense. I suppose you'd soon get annoyed with the noise when all those servos moved at the start. It's those little things that ruin the realism of the sim. Great project 👍
how i know lua script open what ever it need on game side.connect serial port not work.arduino is sending serial data
Hello, the best way to get data export working is to follow the first example in the documentation for dcs bios. See link attached dcs-bios.a10c.de/
Isn't this all needlessly cable-heavy? Surely one Nano can drive several motors, and one Nano with one single RJ45 can coordinate the Nanos driving motors?
Hi DundeeDriver,
A reduction in cables can definately be achieved through a rewire of the hub. This would halve the number needed.
But as regards a further reduction through nanos driving multiple steppers each, I found in early tests on this that the steppers didn't seem to run as smoothly. It seems the processor speed of the nanos can be a reason for this. Given the cost of nanos is small I decided therefore to use one nano per stepper to ensure they all ran the best they could. Perhaps a more powerful microprocessor in place of a nano could be the ideal solution. Then combined with a rewire of the hub the 12 cables I used could be reduced to 3.
@@CraigSmysimpit I think you might win more by not sending data in such a steady stream to the arduino. It seems very unlikely that the processor isn't fast enough to run a couple of stepping motors, and I have a feeling the problem lies in bottlenecking the inputs. Have you tried running the outputs out of sync?
how much you whole setup costs, aside from thrustmaster hotas?
Why not new nice stepper controllers, say Drv88xx series? They have SPI and I2C controls and you would be able to drive ALL of them with one arduino... Arduino nano is a COMPUTER! you don't need a computer to run a single feedbackless stepper...
Hello Craig, how are you?
Craig, could you please help me I need to design and build the CAD / CAM of the F-16 RPM, would you have any tips, I also need your email, and can you provide it?
Thanks !!!
Hi Humberto, drop me an email at craig@mysimpit.co.uk
Speak soon, Cheers 👍
How do you home the steppers?
Hello, the steppers have an end stop due to their limited range of motion. When the Arduino initally receives power it runs the onboard sketch. The initialisation sequence of this, drives the dial backwards for a short period. Provided it hits the backstop during this movement it will be properly aligned / homed. Cheers
@@CraigSmysimpit Ok thanks.
Is there any way you could explain this on a noob level? This is absolutely amazing!
This is not a 'noob' level project, you'll want to start off with several other easier projects first. If you want to build up to this: start with getting familiar with Arduinos, there's plenty guides etc. to help with that as an easy but required start for this. Next try connecting a stepper motor (again plenty of tutorials available on this), after you've gotten that to work like you want it to you can start with RS485 communication, which is a slightly bigger hurdle, after that just put everything you've learned together.
That's how you do these sorts of things.
@@someguy4915 I built a full overhead panel for a 737 on Arduinos. I just wanted a cleaner way of wiring my panels. The way he uses rs485 to connect multiple nanos is incredible. I just don't know what i'm doing with that part yet.
Just needs Clickity Click of a few relays :) @1:36
Do you sell these?
Looks like fritzing for scematic of your Arduino array
What's an adrino?
arduino
1 arduino 1 motor? i understand 1 arduino 1 panel concept,but why use all those arduinos in one panel :)
aga bu nedir
this is so inefficient 😭you could just do this with one microcontroller and one cable
Are - Doo - Eeh - No
Can you like...make it more compact? 😂😂😂
just get a vr headset lol