[SOLVED] Motorized TQ

[masmaz]

Hi,
After 3 weeks of intensive work to motorize a TQ I finally succeeded.
It's a topic that has been covered by many people but no one has ever posted the solution, I don't know if it's because they didn't succeed or because they kept it to themselves. 
I chose to share it.
The main problem was to install the 3 servomotors for the 2 throttles and the BRK SPD inside a FlightSimPM TQ, the second and more difficult step was to connect the servomotors with an Arduino Mega board and configure it with Mobiflight + Prosim738.
It was not easy because there was the problem of blocking the servo as soon as it was connected to the MEGA, so it was necessary to add two relays that through a configuration on Mobiflight as if it was a led and on Prosim as if it was a solenoid you have the disconnection of the servomotor from the 5v or signal, being able to move the throttle lever in manual mode.
Below are the wiring and configuration diagrams.

[masmaz]

video

[masmaz]

while the configuration for spoilers the solution is to use 2 offsets on mobiflight:

 on Mobiflight: Arm 0BCC Byte 4, 4800/16383
on Prosim: FSUIPC 32 bit U 0x0BCC

on Mobiflight: Ground 0366 Byte 2, 0/16383   

this way, when the wheels touch, the spoilers rise and the lever moves, the servo remains free to be moved by hand... 

to be more precise

0BCC in arm sets to 1
0366 in arm stays at 0

when touching the ground. 0BCC goes to 0 0366 goes to 1

max

[Pete Dowson]

You'll need to explain how the servo for the speedbrake moves the lever to the correct position when only given the 0 or 1 in 0BCC. Surely it needs the actual position, the value in 0BD0 -- the same sort of thing you'd need for motorised throttle levers.

Pete

 

[masmaz]

I think that 0BCC tells prosim and the simulator that the spoiler is armed, then 0366 detects the position at ground and moves the lever ... or tried the combination 0BC0 and 0366 but the spoiler is raised but the lever does not move. ..

max

[masmaz]

Spoiler automatic

configuration with mobiflight

[Pete Dowson]

51 minutes ago, masmaz said:

I think that 0BCC tells prosim and the simulator that the spoiler is armed, then 0366 detects the position at ground and moves the lever ... or tried the combination 0BC0 and 0366 but the spoiler is raised but the lever does not move

But the offset for the lever position is 0BD0, not 0BCC or 0BC0.  The 0BCC offset is merely a flag saying whether the spoiler is armed, it doesn't give the lever position.

Pete

 

[masmaz]

19 minutes ago, Pete Dowson said:

But the offset for the lever position is 0BD0, not 0BCC or 0BC0.  The 0BCC offset is merely a flag saying whether the spoiler is armed, it doesn't give the lever position.

Pete

if you see in the video when i move the lever, it goes from 0 to 1, when the wheels touch the ground it goes back to 0... this with the 0BCC that is also set to prosim

yes, actually the lever moves at 50%, this is because it goes from 1 to 0 too fast... I need to find a way to make it last longer....

[Pete Dowson]

2 minutes ago, masmaz said:

if you see in the video when i move the lever, it goes from 0 to 1, when the wheels touch the ground it goes back to 0... this with the 0BCC that is also set to prosim

If a value of 1 sets the lever to 40% or so, then I'm just bewildered as to how your motorised TQ works, because a position value of 1 is nonsense.

I also still think assigning any of the Sim-set offsets in ProSim as an output is wrong. Both the Sim and ProSim will be writing to the same place. You should consider using a separate offset, such as those free for users (66C0 ff).

On my system 0BD0 reflects the actual lever position, even with the lever only assigned in ProSim as an input axis. The position value is 0 for down, 4800 for 'armed' and up to 16384 when fully deployed after landing. And it stays that way until manually lowered by the pilot after slowing sufficiently on the runway. You seriously need to consider this. The spoiler does not automatically retract after landing.

Pete

 

Pete

 

 

[masmaz]

57 minutes ago, Pete Dowson said:

The spoiler does not automatically retract after landing.

Pete

in reality once the lever is extended and the spoilers are raised, if you move the throttle levers forward, the spoiler lever returns to the down position, or you move it by hand ... I was also successful but if I brought back the throttle to 0 the lever would respond .. so I gave up ..

 

1 hour ago, Pete Dowson said:

If a value of 1 sets the lever to 40% or so, then I'm just bewildered as to how your motorised TQ works, because a position value of 1 is nonsense.

I also still think assigning any of the Sim-set offsets in ProSim as an output is wrong. Both the Sim and ProSim will be writing to the same place. You should consider using a separate offset, such as those free for users (66C0 ff).

On my system 0BD0 reflects the actual lever position, even with the lever only assigned in ProSim as an input axis. The position value is 0 for down, 4800 for 'armed' and up to 16384 when fully deployed after landing. And it stays that way until manually lowered by the pilot after slowing sufficiently on the runway. You seriously need to consider this. The spoiler does not automatically retract after landing.

Pete

i guess i have to agree with you.... i have removed the offset on prosim... so there is no more connection between prosim and mobiflight but only the lever potentiometer.... well it works anyway... the lever moves anyway...

max

[masmaz]

I tried with 66C0 FF ... the spoilers raised but the lever did not move ...

 

max

[Pete Dowson]

7 minutes ago, masmaz said:

I tried with 66C0 FF ... the spoilers raised but the lever did not move ...

Sorry, what do you mean "66C0 FF"? Choose just one offset. 66C0-66FF is the range of free user offsets (64 different ones, 64 bytes altogether).

And where are you using it? In the ProSim servo assignment? If not, then what would be setting it?

Pete

 

[masmaz]

sorry, my mind is frying...

You wrote it (66C0 ff).
so I set this offset to prosim 
FSUIPC bit 8U
and on mobifligt. 0x66C0 2 bytes. #FF

these are the fu mobi settings as you can see in the pictures... same thing in prosim

however as i said before if on prosim i leave only the axis setting, nothing changes the lever moves anyway

besides for now it moves only with 0BBC and with 0366. while with 0BD0, it doesn't move...
 but also with 66C0 it doesn't move...

max

[Pete Dowson]

9 minutes ago, masmaz said:

You wrote it (66C0 ff).
so I set this offset to prosim 
FSUIPC bit 8U
and on mobifligt. 0x66C0 2 bytes. #FF

ff. is the standard abbreviation for "and following"! sorry if it misled you. I've no idea what telling Mobiflight "#FF" will do, and declaring the offset in ProSim as 8U (i.e. one byte) but 2 bytes in mobiflight seems wrong as well.

It occurs to me, from the clues in your submissions, that the spoiler deployment only needs to be signalled for your servo to bring the lever full up. So I assume the simple setting of '1' does it.

By using 0BCC you have the Sim setting that to 1 for "Armed" and 0 for "not armed". When the spoiler is automatically deployed on landing, the Sim will set that to 0, for "not armed". This is why the 1 is cleared to zero almost immediately on touchdown.

If you have ProSim setting 66C0 rather than using 0BCC then you should see a 1 there for deploying the spoiler, and only changing to 0 when it is stowed again.  You shouldn't need to include the 'on ground' check at all -- it is ProSim which is doing that before operating the spoiler.

Anyway, that's all from me. I've been as clear as I can be with the flimsy understanding of how your setup works.

Pete

 

[masmaz]

 

it is true what you say however with 66C0 nothing happens, but using 0366 the lever moves, and always rhymes at 1 instead of returning to 0 but if it always remains at 1 the servo remains in tension so I would not be able to move the hand lever … Luckily adding 0BCC this doesn't happen, go back to 0 and free the spoiler….

download you have to mobiflight is free as you see it is structured, since it uses your offsets ... give you an idea of how it works .. and how it is configured you who are a programmer will understand it better than me ...
 

max