FSUIPC and Toggle switches

[cjordan]

Can I use a regular toggle switch (SPST), to toggle lights on and off?

eg: Use FSUIPC to switch landing lights on and leave the switch in the up position and then us the KEY release part of FSUIPC to turn the lights off. If I had 5 or more switches in the up position would it damage the computer? It would be like holding a KEY down. (It doesn't seem to act as a stuck key.)

Thank you, Cal

[Pete Dowson]

Can I use a regular toggle switch (SPST), to toggle lights on and off?

Yes. That would be the best way -- on in one position, off in the other.

For the Strobes, Landing and Panel lights there are even separate ON and OFF controls you can use -- assign one to press and the other to release, according to how you've wired the switch.

In the cases of Beacon, Cabin, Logo, Nav, Recognition and Taxi lights there's only a "toggle" control, however, so you'd need to get your light switches synchronised for those and use the "toggle" control for both "press" and "release". Synchronise them using keyboard/mouse initially and they should then stay synchronised -- at least till you reload a flight or aircraft, anyway.

If I had 5 or more switches in the up position would it damage the computer? It would be like holding a KEY down.

Well, the FS key programming can be set not to hold the key in any case -- FS doesn't want keys held down except for repetitive things like changing bug positions and so on.

But don't use the key press programming part for this, when there are perfectly good FS controls you can assign! You should even be able to find them in FS's own assignments, but if using FSUIPC for this, use the right-hand part of the Buttons programming page and assign the appropriate FS controls.

The ON/OFF ones are named "Strobes ...", "Landing ..." and "Panel .." but I think all the others start with "Toggle ...". Check the FS2004 controls list (from http://www.schiratti.com/dowson).

Having a button fixed "on" isn't like a Key on the keyboard -- each button/switch is a separate detectable input. They can be left on or off.

Regards,

Pete

[cjordan]

Okay thanks I see what you mean now. I'm using a Keyboard encoder. thatts why the questions about Keys and not buttons. I should have been clearer on that. Oh well maybe the Hagstrom encoder is the way to go.for switches and rotary switches.

[Pete Dowson]

I'm using a Keyboard encoder. thatts why the questions about Keys and not buttons. I should have been clearer on that. Oh well maybe the Hagstrom encoder is the way to go.for switches and rotary switches.

Yes. I don't know how you'd handle a toggle switch via a keyboard encoder -- you certainly shouldn't keep a key pressed all the time I don't think. With a normal keyboard this can stop other keys from working correctly, as they are matrixed. I don't know if that is a problem with keyboard encoders, but another problem could be that, if it looks like a keyboard to the BIOS it is likely to generate repeats, which you don't want for light switches!

Regards,

Pete

[artburke]

Okay thanks I see what you mean now. I'm using a Keyboard encoder. thatts why the questions about Keys and not buttons. I should have been clearer on that. Oh well maybe the Hagstrom encoder is the way to go.for switches and rotary switches.

I am also using a Hagstrom Encoder (KE-72) and built an external switch panel - 34 switches so far. I got everything started without using FSUIPC initially, but it didn't take too long to figure out the FS world gets vastly expanded with the keystroke programming available in FSUIPC.

The only keys I'm currently "holding" with the encoder are the ones I use for engine starts. I use the "repeat" capability in the configuration file to accomplish this. If you would like to discuss this further (since it's technically nothing to do with FSUIPC and might bore others here) feel free to contact me at aburkefl at comcast dot net and we can discuss it offline.

Art