GoFlight SECM Module

[DanMorera]

Hi, I recently bought the GoFlight Single Engine Control Module SECM, I tried to assigned a few functions using FSUIPC, but when I go to the Buttons + Switches menu and I move the switch I want (or any other switch on that module) FSUIPC doesn't do anything. It like it does not detect that module.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

Dan

[Pete Dowson]

Hi, I recently bought the GoFlight Single Engine Control Module SECM, I tried to assigned a few functions using FSUIPC, but when I go to the Buttons + Switches menu and I move the switch I want (or any other switch on that module) FSUIPC doesn't do anything. It like it does not detect that module.

Sorry, but I've no information on that new (?) module. The way GoFlight provide support is different for each device. I can possibly add support if interfacing information has been published by GoFlight. Is there an update to their SDK? ...

[LATER]

I just checked their website and the SDK version there is still dated 2002! Maybe you should inquire at GoFlight, as a user? (I don't actually use any GoFlight equipment these days). I also checked through their inventory whilst I was there. It appears that these new items have been added since the last SDK I saw:

- GF RC Rudder Controls

- GF-TPM Throttle/Pitch/Mixture Module

- GF-SECM Single Engine Control Module

So none of those will be supported unless they are using the same interface protocol as some of the earlier ones (e.g. MCP Pro like the MCP).

Regards

Pete

[Pete Dowson]

I recently bought the GoFlight Single Engine Control Module SECM, I tried to assigned a few functions using FSUIPC, but when I go to the Buttons + Switches menu and I move the switch I want (or any other switch on that module) FSUIPC doesn't do anything. It like it does not detect that module.

Sorry for the delay on this, but I only just received the updates on this from GoFlight. I've added support for the GF-SECM unit to the latest FSUIPC updates (see the Updates announcement above), but I've no way of testing the change here. If you are still interested, please try the update and let me know.

Regards

Pete

[DanMorera]

Thank you for the update Mr Dowson. I can report that FSUIPC now recognizes the SECM as joystick 202. And I was able to program both positions of the gear up/down switch. Also was able to program the engine start features on the module.

Now the "problems" :

It won't pick up or recognize the cowl flap switch (no number shows up when flipped), same with the light switches but these are no big deal since they work with all planes just fine as lights, if I was to program something else then it doesn't work.

Same with the switches on the upper side, Master, Avionics, Fuel Pump, Pitot Heat etc.

I could only get 3 responses from FSUIPC with 3 those switches (lights, the ones on top) the button numbers were 16,18,19.

Thank you for helping us with this , I really appreciate it, the gear up and down was a great help, if you could fix the cowl flaps I think it would be great!

Thanks Again

Dan

[Pete Dowson]

Thank you for the update Mr Dowson. I can report that FSUIPC now recognizes the SECM as joystick 202. And I was able to program both positions of the gear up/down switch. Also was able to program the engine start features on the module.

Now the "problems" :

It won't pick up or recognize the cowl flap switch (no number shows up when flipped), same with the light switches but these are no big deal since they work with all planes just fine as lights, if I was to program something else then it doesn't work.

Same with the switches on the upper side, Master, Avionics, Fuel Pump, Pitot Heat etc.

I could only get 3 responses from FSUIPC with 3 those switches (lights, the ones on top) the button numbers were 16,18,19.

Strange. Maybe the info I've got from Goflight isn't quite right. The code I've put in isn't selective -- especially with the switches, which are just "plonked in".

GF are sending me a SECM to test with, but I'd thought I'd be "more than ready"! ;-)

You say "3 those switches (lights, the ones on top)", but in the pictures of the SECM on the GoFlight website there are no lights on top, the row of light switches are grouped bottom right. Could yours be a different model? Are there more than one type?

Could you do me a favour, please, and actually list the results (button numbers) for each action (give switch label) -- both on and off (and on again) if different, and each position I can then try to match that information against the data I've got. (I've actually found some conflicting information here too, but neither explains what you are seeing!).

Regards

Pete

[DanMorera]

Here they are Mr Dowson (see attached) I think there is something wrong, I get multiple buttons with the same number, some of them give me 3 different numbers if I test them multiple times. This confuses FS9.

Let me see how this looks:

Light Swithches

Name On Off

Landing none none

Taxi none none

Strobe none none

NAV none none

Beacon 19 none

Panel none none

Open Close

Cowl Flap none none

Up Down

Flaps 31 30

Gear 30 28

BAT none none

ALT 18 none

Avionics none none

Fuel Pump none none

Carb heat none none

Pitot Heat none 16

Off none none

L 22 none

R none none

Both 22 30 none

Start 22 26 30 none

Thanks again

Dan

[Pete Dowson]

Here they are Mr Dowson (see attached) I think there is something wrong, I get multiple buttons with the same number, some of them give me 3 different numbers if I test them multiple times. This confuses FS9.

Okay. I think I see what they've done. The header file defines something different to what their GFDev.DLL actually provides. It looks like the DLL is providing a direct copy of the un-decoded bits from the hardware.

I've made another build, 3.866, for you to try. Please download it with this link:

http://fsuipc.simflight.com/beta/FSUIPC3866.zip

If you could make your list again, the same way, even if it appears to work, it will be very useful, please.

Regards

Pete

[DanMorera]

here is goes, it looks a lot better, still some nones and the gear down shows 1 and 23.

Light Swithches

Name On Off

Landing 9 none

Taxi 11 none

Strobe 13 none

NAV 15 none

Beacon none 17

Panel none 19

Open Close

Cowl Flap none 7

Up Down

Flaps 0 22

Gear 1,23 none

BAT 18 none

ALT 16 none

Avionics none 14

Fuel Pump none 12

Carb heat none 10

Pitot Heat none 8

Off 6

L 5

R 4

Both 3

Start 2

[Pete Dowson]

here is goes, it looks a lot better, still some nones and the gear down shows 1 and 23

Which switch has no reaction at all? They all seem to operate at least one FSUIPC button number. Only switches like the magneto/starter, and the flaps up/centre/down need more than one button number.

What you've got matches almost exactly a list I've got which is effectively crossed out in favour of the arrangement I was using in the previous FSUIPC update.

Just in case GoFlight have actually changed the driver, could you please download the latest GFdev DLL, which I posted in the Updates announcement earlier too. See if you get different results with that.

If not I'll try to deal with these issues (differences from even the crossed out list i have), if you'll please just re-verify them so I'm really sure:

Pitot Heat	none	8
Carb heat	 none	10
Fuel Pump	 none	12
Avionics	  none	14
Beacon	    none	17
Panel	     none	19

All those seem to be reversed -- the button number should appear when you switch from "off" to "on".

Gear is supposed to be 1 for Gear Up and 23 for Gear Down, according to the list. I'll eliminate the "up" button number, just leaving gear down -- there's no centre off position, is there?

The only other discrepancy is that the list shown 20 as Cowl flap up (closed), whereas you have it on 7, which the list shows as "not connected". I'll have to reverse that too, to give 7 when Opened.

Tomorrow (Monday) nowI'm off to bed!

Regards

Pete

[DanMorera]

Installed this driver and we are now back to square 1 - GFdev.dll for GoFlight users (FS2004 or FSX) http://fsuipc.simflight.com/beta/GFdevDLL.zip

Things looked better with the previous driver.

This is what I got now:

Light Swithches

Name On Off

Landing none none

Taxi none none

Strobe none none

NAV none none

Beacon none none

Panel none none

Open Close

Cowl Flap none 24

Up Down

Flaps 17 16

Gear 8 none

BAT none

ALT none

Avionics none

Fuel Pump none

Carb heat none

Pitot Heat none

Off 0

L 1

R 0

Both 2

Start 0

[DanMorera]

Update.

Went back to this version:

FSUIPC version 3.865 http://fsuipc.simflight.com/beta/FSUIPC3865.zip

With this driver:

GFdev.dll for GoFlight users (FS2004 or FSX) http://fsuipc.simflight.com/beta/GFdevDLL.zip

Results:

Light Swithches

Name On Off

Landing 11 none

Taxi 10 none

Strobe 9 none

NAV 8 none

Beacon 7 none

Panel 6 none

Open Close

Cowl Flap none 17

Up Down

Flaps 19 18

Gear 16 none

BAT 0 none

ALT 1 none

Avionics 2 none

Fuel Pump 3 none

Carb heat 4 none

Pitot Heat 5 none

Off 21

L 22

R 23

Both 24

Start 25

Would it be possible to add a number for Cowl Flaps Open and for gear down? Those would be very very useful. As it will allow for multi engine planes to be set up with the SECM.

[DanMorera]

Yes definitely can't control the cowl flaps on both engines at the same time.

And can't control gear up down on multi engine planes.

[Pete Dowson]

Went back to this version:

FSUIPC version 3.865 http://fsuipc.simflight.com/beta/FSUIPC3865.zip

With this driver:

GFdev.dll for GoFlight users (FS2004 or FSX) http://fsuipc.simflight.com/beta/GFdevDLL.zip

Results:

Aha! That's how it should have been. so my code was correct in the first place! The problem was an out-of-date GFDev.dll on your system. I'll need to mention that on the release notes.

Would it be possible to add a number for Cowl Flaps Open and for gear down? Those would be very very useful. As it will allow for multi engine planes to be set up with the SECM.

What's the difference between having a button which is going from off to on or on to off, and having two buttons, one for each transition? I don't see the point. I never use more than one button number for a value which is either TRUE or FALSE. After all you can program for release or for press or for both.

How does anything of this make any difference whatsoever for multi-engined planes?

Please scrap 3.866. I will revert to my original code.

Regards

Pete

[DanMorera]

The problem with the cowl flaps is that with twin engine planes, the open and close switch only does it for the left engine.

And with the gear switch on multi engine planes the gear down position does not work, only the gear up one.

[Pete Dowson]

The problem with the cowl flaps is that with twin engine planes, the open and close switch only does it for the left engine.

Having a separate button number for Open and Close doesn't automatically solve that.

All you need to do is assign the same button two both controls, not the one. You can do that by simply adding another line in the FSUIPC INI file, or creating a macro with both assignments in, calling it "Both cowls" or something, and assigning to that. Either way works as well as the other.

Regards

Pete

[DanMorera]

Do you mean like this? (sorry I'm still learning)

10=R202,17,C66244,5

11=R202,17,C66244,5

12=R202,17,C66244,5

13=U202,17,C66243,5

14=U202,17,C66243,5

15=U202,17,C66243,5

16=U202,17,C66243,5

What about the problem with the gear down on multi engine planes?

[Pete Dowson]

Do you mean like this? (sorry I'm still learning)

10=R202,17,C66244,5

11=R202,17,C66244,5

12=R202,17,C66244,5

13=U202,17,C66243,5

14=U202,17,C66243,5

15=U202,17,C66243,5

16=U202,17,C66243,5

No. Why have you got 3 repeating "press" controls for "DEC COWL FLAPS", and 4 same "INC COWL FLAPS" for the "release"? What has that got to do with multi-engined aircraft? What controls drive the other cowl flaps? You are confusing me no end here.

I thought you meant you needed two buttons to assign two controls, one for Engine 1 and the other for Engine2. With a toggle switch you'd need to use the COWFLAPSn SET controls with a parameter or 0 or 16383 (n = engine number). I thought your problem was that there is no "generic" COWLFLAPS SET control operating them all together. (The generic INC and DEC controls should certainly operate all of them).

Didn't I ask this before: is the cowl flaps switch a sprung centre-off control, or a straight latching toggle switch? If the latter, as I assumed, then you only need one button number. If the former, then you need two. [No, I see I asked this question about the Gear up/down switch, but you didn't answer anyway].

What about the problem with the gear down on multi engine planes?

What has the number of Engines got to do with the gear? You most certainly do not operate left, nose and right gear separately, nor do you have retractable gear for each engine!

Gear is either up or down, or travelling. FS only recognises up and down. That's one button number.

Pete

[DanMorera]

I'm very sorry about the confusion.

I need to assign to a single straight latching toggle switch (on/off), the cowl flaps for Engine 1 and the Engine2.

I cleaned it up, so now it looks like this:

[buttons.Douglas A26]

0=P1,0,C65907,0

2=P202,26,C66079,0

4=P1,1,K120,8

5=P202,1,C66079,0

6=H202,2,K69,10

7=P202,7,C66336,0

8=P202,25,K69,10

What should the INI look like in order to control both cowls with the single switch? (both open and close)

And thank you so much for your help and patience,

Dan

[Pete Dowson]

I need to assign to a single straight latching toggle switch (on/off), the cowl flaps for Engine 1 and the Engine2.

Okay. So no centre off. and the cowl flaps are either full open or full closed? Nothing in between?

I cleaned it up, so now it looks like this:

[buttons.Douglas A26]

2=P202,26,C66079,0 ; Button 26 (doesn't exist?) Gear Up ???????????

5=P202,1,C66079,0 ; Button 1 (Alternator) assigned to Gear Up also ????????????

6=H202,2,K69,10 ; Button 2 (Avionics) held on and assigned to CTRL+E (why?)

7=P202,7,C66336,0 ; Button 7 (Beacon) assigned to "Dec cowlflaps4" (why?)

8=P202,25,K69,10 ; Button 25 (Starter position on mags switch) also assigned to Ctrl+E (why)

I've deleted the lines which aren't relevant, and commented the others so I can see what's what. But nothing makes sense. Check those button numbers against the ones you last reported. What are you actually doing here?

What should the INI look like in order to control both cowls with the single switch? (both open and close)

I'm not understanding at present how you are SEPARATING the two cowl flaps, as the controls you were using (none of the rubbish above) operate all cowl flaps. Only the ones with engine numbers on them are selective -- unless you've previously selected an engine by E + 1, 2, 3 or 4.

Maybe you should go back to basics firsr. Go into FSUIPC options, Logging tab. Enable Event logging,. Then operate the controls you want to assign, using the mouse, on the panel. Look in the FSUIPC Log file and see what controls each one uses. Those are the controls you need to be assigning!

I'd also start by deleting all those lines above. I don't know how you arrived at them -- are they remaining from when we were trying to work out what button numbers related to what switches? Didn't you delete them before we changed them all?

Regards

Pete

[DanMorera]

This is what I want to achieve with that switch, please notice that cowl 1 and 2 are showed as separate lines, I don't know how to assign 2 commands to a single key:

INC_COWL_FLAPS1 (NoAccel)

462469 *** EVENT: Cntrl= 66329 (0x00010319), Param= 0 (0x00000000) INC_COWL_FLAPS1

462578 *** EVENT: Cntrl= 66329 (0x00010319), Param= 0 (0x00000000) INC_COWL_FLAPS1

463656 *** EVENT: Cntrl= 66331 (0x0001031b), Param= 0 (0x00000000) INC_COWL_FLAPS2 (NoAccel)

463750 *** EVENT: Cntrl= 66331 (0x0001031b), Param= 0 (0x00000000) INC_COWL_FLAPS2

464063 *** EVENT: Cntrl= 66331 (0x0001031b), Param= 0 (0x00000000) INC_COWL_FLAPS2

465719 *** EVENT: Cntrl= 66330 (0x0001031a), Param= 0 (0x00000000) DEC_COWL_FLAPS1 (NoAccel)

465953 *** EVENT: Cntrl= 66330 (0x0001031a), Param= 0 (0x00000000) DEC_COWL_FLAPS1

466188 *** EVENT: Cntrl= 66330 (0x0001031a), Param= 0 (0x00000000) DEC_COWL_FLAPS1

467594 *** EVENT: Cntrl= 66332 (0x0001031c), Param= 0 (0x00000000) DEC_COWL_FLAPS2 (NoAccel)

467672 *** EVENT: Cntrl= 66332 (0x0001031c), Param= 0 (0x00000000) DEC_COWL_FLAPS2

467906 *** EVENT: Cntrl= 66332 (0x0001031c), Param= 0 (0x00000000) DEC_COWL_FLAPS2

468547 *** EVENT: Cntrl= 66416 (0x00010370), Param= 180 (0x000000b4)

This is what happens if I use the switch as it is now, meaning this is what happens when it opens and closes just the left cowl flap

1090813 JoystickValues joynum=0, dwCount=1, data[2]={000000ca 020003cf}

1091328 JoystickValues joynum=0, dwCount=1, data[2]={000000ca 020203cf}

1093453 KEYDOWN: VK=18, Waiting=0, Repeat=N, Shifts=4

1093453 .. Key not programmed -- passed on to FS

1093610 KEYUP: VK=18, Waiting=0

1098922 HotKey entry at 3210, VK=255, Shifts=255, Flags=0, Result=0

1127766 WRITE0 3210, 2 bytes: FF FF

[Pete Dowson]

This is what I want to achieve with that switch, please notice that cowl 1 and 2 are showed as separate lines, I don't know how to assign 2 commands to a single key

You list the log entries, but fail to say how you achieved them, so it isn't really very helpful. The log shows the panel switch sending multiple INCs or DECs. but is it the one switch operating both flaps, or only one? Are you holding the mouse button down to get the repetition? The switch on the panel apparently cannot be a latching toggle switch, can it? It must have a centre off position -- else how do you stop all the repeats? Can you explain anything about the cowl switch operation at all?

When you operate the cowl switch on your GF-SECM, are you really hoping to emulate a different sort of switch altogether? Because I don't think it is possible! Your latching switch is going to be either stuck in one position or the other, so you can't let it send repeats forever.

If all you want to do is open the cowl flaps fully, or close them fully, by toggling the GF-SECM switch one way or the other, then that is certainly achievable. But you cannot do that with the INC and DEC controls. You'd need to use the axis controls, as I already suggested. In other words, COWLFLAPS1 SET and COWLFLAPS2 SET, with a parameter of either 0 or -16383 for one state, and 16383 for the other. I'm sorry I can't be specific on the values for your aircraft -- you'd need to experiment with the assignment.

Get the switch working for COWLFLAPS1, and then, and only then, show me the INI file entries for that. Then it is only a matter of duplicating the lines and changing the COWLFLAPS1 number to the COWLFLAPS2 one. I can help if you show me (but tomorrow now. I'm off to bed).

If you really want properly adjustable cowl flaps, like the normal flaps, and the GF-SECM only supplies a latching toggle, as it looks, then I'm afraid you are out of luck. (Though you could program that switch to toggle the function of the spring-loaded centre-off Flaps switch between operating wing flaps and cowl flaps. But that's another story, involving conditional expressions in the INI file).

This is what happens if I use the switch as it is now, meaning this is what happens when it opens and closes just the left cowl flap

1090813 JoystickValues joynum=0, dwCount=1, data[2]={000000ca 020003cf}

1091328 JoystickValues joynum=0, dwCount=1, data[2]={000000ca 020203cf}

1093453 KEYDOWN: VK=18, Waiting=0, Repeat=N, Shifts=4

1093453 .. Key not programmed -- passed on to FS

1093610 KEYUP: VK=18, Waiting=0

1098922 HotKey entry at 3210, VK=255, Shifts=255, Flags=0, Result=0

1127766 WRITE0 3210, 2 bytes: FF FF

Er, what is this all about? And why on Earth are you logging Keys and Buttons and IPC Writes? I asked you to log Events! That's just one check mark in the Logging tab!!!

I've no idea what you are doing with that button, but there most certainly is nothing showing useful in the extract you published, and certainly no cowl flap action. I've no idea why you showed it nor what it is about. Please, if you want me to help, please do as I ask.

Regards

Pete