KK's Pit

[henkie]

 

Love the pictures KK.  Again some more pictures to look at over and over again 

One question regarding the two switches "DRIFT C/O -- NORM -- WARN RESET"  and  "GAIN -- LVL -- AUTO".
Are they both of the type ON - OFF - ON
I always thought that one of them was (ON) - OFF - ON. (ON) representing a momentary position.
If so, which switch and position is the (ON) position?

Thanks,
- Henk.

PS. I will email 1st schematic this evening to start a discussion ...

[KK]

Thank's for the compliment Henkie. More to come.
Tonight I will have a first go with my working ICP as I
made the cabling and integration work on the week end.

The GAIN/LVL/AUTO switch is steady ON in every position.
Unfortunately there is no use of this in BMS (I can't see any).

The DRIFT C/O switch is steady ON in DRIFT C/O and NORM position,
but is *MOMENTARY* in the WARN RESET Position,
i.e. spring loaded back to NORM position when you let the switch bar go.

Hope this helps.

[henkie]

Thanks KK, that is of course a clear explanation 

Good luck wiring the ICP, and enjoy the interaction pushing real buttons (on the ICP that is  )

- henkie

[KK]

It took me an eternity and a half to make this cable. But now the work is
done and its time to pick the fruits.

The PHCC KEY_64 board pictured is just fine to handle the 7 x 9 matrix
for the S.D.I  ICP and the 3 switches in the front panel.
I will need some inputs from another KEY_64 board for the intergated
switches of the thumbwheels and 4 analog channels from the PHCC main board
to scan the pot values of the thumbwheels.



On the back side of the rack it starts to become complex (i.e. messy).
I consider to place the boards a bit wider inside the rack to have more
room for the cabling.



Call it 'low level hardwired intelligence' or whatever you want but believe me,
if the cabling is shit, everything is shit.



The front side of the rack looks pretty OK.

[Nigel]

Klaus,
I said a few times in my build thread, the wiring takes the longest, is hardest to do, is expensive and is seen the least. It is also most important to get right as you say.
Nigel

[KK]

Nigel,

that's a true word and will be experienced once you
decide to make a start. Best is to make a proper plan
at the very beginning and then stick to it.

Klaus

[KK]

I was tired of grabbing the clunky PC keyboard in-flight
all the time when a radio command asked to make a choice:
1 Inbound
2 Request landing
3 Declare an emergency (I'm in urgent need for a beer and want to come down)

So I thought it would be really cool to make those choices via ICP.
The implementation was quickly done. My ICP is generally in ICP-mode
but when I issue a radio command I switch in my interfacing program
into a numerical mode that will send a regular number from the ICP to
the simulation.

Here is the code snippet:
...
               /*===== ICP ===============================================================*/

               case ICP_COM1:    if( key_sts == 1 ) SimICPCom1;     break;
               case ICP_COM2:    if( key_sts == 1 ) SimICPCom2;     break;
               case ICP_IFF:     if( key_sts == 1 ) SimICPIFF;      break;
               case ICP_LIST:    if( key_sts == 1 ) SimICPLIST;     break;
               case ICP_AA:      if( key_sts == 1 ) SimICPAA;       break;
               case ICP_AG:      if( key_sts == 1 ) SimICPAG;       break;

               case ICP_1:       if( key_sts == 1 )
                                 {
                                    if( icp_mode )
                                    {
                                       SimICPTILS;            /* 1 T-ILS Mode */
                                    }
                                    else
                                    {
                                       send_1_key( KEY_1 );   /* Send '1'   */
                                       icp_mode = 1;          /* set flag   */
                                    }
                                 }
                                 break;

               case ICP_2:       if( key_sts == 1 )
                                 {
                                    if( icp_mode )
                                    {
                                       SimICPALOW;;           /* 2 ALOW Mode */
                                    }
                                    else
                                    {
                                       send_1_key( KEY_2 );   /* Send '2'   */
                                       icp_mode = 1;          /* Set flag   */
                                    }
                                 }
                                 break;
...
               case ICP_FLUP:    if( key_sts == 1 )
                                 {
                                    Radio_ATC_Cmd;           /* Radio ATC */
                                    icp_mode = 0;            /* Clear flag */
                                 }
                                 break;
...

As you can see in the video it works really great.
First I'm tuning to UHF (COM1) = 232,4 MHz that I can call the tower and getting a feed-back,
then I make the ATC window to pop-up by pressing the FLIR rocker up (this is my personal assignment)
and finally the choice from the menue is being answered by pressing key '2 ALOW'.
(And of course I give you a little teaser on the MFD screens to make your mouth water
how brillant these Vitrolux seven inchers really are).

This is a little just-for-fun-video.

[opasi]

Hello, Klaus!
There the water gathers really in the mouth if one sees your MFD screens in action.  :clap:The radio tool has also succeeded very much. Is there please an update for my ICP and MFDs on BMS?
Best regards,
Opasi

[KK]

No worries, Otto,
I will come back to you somewhere soon.

Klaus

[KK]

It was about time to fill the nasty gaps where AOA and VVI are supposed to be.
I covered the precious display with one of these
'I bought-a-new-iPhone-and-now-I-have-to-remove-the-plastic-protective-foil-first'.
The mounting in the CP is quite tricky and it helps to prevent the display from scratches.



I found an excellent mounting spot for the DED Bridge PCB.
It goes right on top of my display unit backside.
We finished now up with a 5-Layer BigMac.



Don't forget to protect the screws with some insulation tape just
in case they might fall off one day that they don't wreck the display controller.





The overall picture is getting better and better.



The AOA and VVI are set up to show the OFF position at power up.



Now into business ...



And a close-up.

[henkie]

hey Klaus,

again VERRRRY nice pictures 

The AOA and VVI are really looking great, but we know Martin's stuff is outstanding.
BTW, good tip for us clumsy souls to cover screws with a piece of adhesive tape.
Indeed, you know Murphy ... the screw stays in place until the stuff is powered 

greetz,
- henkie

[gancio]

  Even better. We share same choice more or less and your work for Vitrolight support it is very ispiring. Sooner i will post my solution about MFDs, but not too much different from yours. Put Pegasus on MFD plate could be interesting. I'm little scared about total weight on that part?
Congratulation, very good, clean job.
Giorgio

[KK]

I want to fire some INC / DEC sequences to my HSI. (Now to the one in BMS,
later to my real physical one). For this reason I wired the INSTR panel.
I used a Greyhill 12-position rotary with integrated push-down-switch in
the CAL +/- spot.







The MODE switch has been taken from an old CHAFF/FLARE panel.
This baby has done some real flight hours.





While I was wiring and soldering I had some great company.
My little princess enjoyed to build things with Daddy's wood left overs.





It definitely has a special appeal when things are worn out due to heavy use in
the real pit. As you can see on this light plate the left edge is completely shaved off
from the pilots boots when entering the pit. All photos that I have seen so far show
the same worn out pattern. 



Now comes the fun part, the programming.
These Grayhill switches are real bastards to decode.
I made a 'truth table', a programming strategy and its coming along the way I want it.



More to come ...

[Rayman]

What a great solid construction Klaus!
 

[KK]

What a great solid construction Klaus!

Thank's a lot Raymond. Yes, indeed, the construction is rock solid.
The thickness of the base plate has been made according to the
measurements of the real unit.