Power Question

[Guest BMarcoux]

I know this will sound like a stupid question to many but I'm just starting this project. I've figured out the switches and the EPIC card thing but what I'm confused about is What powers all the switches. Do I nood a power supply for each panel? Does the EPIC card handle this thru the computer? Thanks for any help

[LawnDart]

Nothing really powers the switches, except the wiring from the EPIC card. They don;t need any external supply, unless they are illuminated switches or something...

[Guest BMarcoux]

Yes, that is what I meant. If I wanted to light up my push buttons how are people doing this. Would you run a series of lights strung to a toggle switch??

[LawnDart]

Check out the 'Light it up' section of the BG Micro cataloghttp://www.bgmicro.com/pdf/catalog.pdfI use the cold cathode tubes throughout my sim. They are essentially the same lights that provide backlighting for laptop and LCP panel displays. They are surprisingly bright...

[Guest PeterK]

PeterKOn the Government and indudtrial equipment iv worked on over theyears the light in the switch was totally seperate than the function..Say switch makes a logic swich of 1 or 0 on the ttl level the lightthat illuminated the switch was 24volts and was controlled by a seperate set of switches in the the same switch... the 5 volts from the TTL descision can trigger a NPN transistorsuch as a 2N2222A 's Base and the lightis tied high to the collectortrought 12 or 24 volts and the emitter is grounded.. Another secret with lights and LEDs is that you dont use DC voltsLeds are run of of a sine wave or square wave at 50-100 hzthe reason is that you can drop the total current flow of all the LEDS and you eye cant tell the diffence...also the lightbulbs were on 24vac off the transformer no dc conversion unless you used the transistor method of switching...Real airplanes run a 400hz 110AC voltage..So it going to be hard athome to make a real cockpit like a real jet..pete

[Guest MikePowell]

Brad, Lighting up your switches depends a lot upon what you want them to do, and just what sort of switches you have. If you are just intend on having a panel full of switches light up and stay lit, you probably will need an external power supply. Just how big depends upon the lamps or leds you are using. Some illuminated switches serve a dual purpose as annunciator light as well as switches. In this situation the light color and/or intensity is changed depending upon the status of the system it controls. If you intend this second use, then you need to know what will control the light and how much current the control circuitry is capable of supplying. If the control circuitry is not up to the task of powering the leds or lamps, you will need to supply external power and some method of connecting the control circuitry. One (of many) approaches is described here: http://www.mikesflightdeck.com/annunciator_lights_1.htm about half way down the page. This example uses several leds in series and can easily be adapted to a single led or lamp.This is probably too general to be all that useful. Do you have more detail on the types of switches you want to use and how you want them to function?Mikewww.mikesflightdeck.com

[Guest BMarcoux]

Mike,Waht I was thinking of is say the APU switch on the Airbus. I would like it to light up when pressed to tell me the APU is on. Turn off when pressed again. Same with Batteries, ect. Thanks

[Guest MikePowell]

Brad,Here's a still somewhat generic answer to your question...1) If your simulation software will accept an input for the system you wish to switch and also provides an output reflecting the status of that system then:Use something like an EPIC card to get the switch action into your simulation software, and use something like the EPIC 32 point output module to drive the light in the switch. If you use this output module you will have to provide power to it. The model switches the power to the lights under control of the EPIC driver software. Taking this approach allows the simulation software to introduce failure modes into the system, i.e. you pushed APU START but it won't spool up because the ground crew accidentally filled it with toilet cleaner.2) If your simulation software will accept input for the system you wish to switch, but does not provide a status output for that system then:Use something like an EPIC card to get the switch action into the simulation software, but use a non-momentary contact (i.e. a toggle action) switch. Use this switch to control the state of the light as well as to provide input to EPIC. In this case you will have to program EPIC to respond to both the switch closure and the switch release. You will need to provide power for the light. This approach won't support failure modes from the simulation software. The light simply reflects the state of the switch.3) If your simulation software neither accepts input for a particular system, or provides a system status output, you are basically left with just manually switching the light on and off. And of course you still get to provide a power supply.You don't have to use EPIC, of course. There may well be other I/O solutions that will work for you, and they may or may not provide lamp power.The length of this reply may give the false impression that the issue of light is a horribly complex mess. It's not. What it reflects is the many variables to be nailed down. Mikewww.mikesflightdeck.com

[Guest Salbado]

I just came across your post regarding lighting and I just realized that by using rope light (Christmas variety) is much too hot in my overhead panel for my airbus. I need to remove it! You mentioned the cold cathode flourescent lights in your sim...What color are you using and how many lights (4 inch or 12 inch) did you need for the pedestal, overhead and glaresheild?Regards.