Help with Rotaries Revisited

[Guest Bud]

As the first thread was getting a touch long, I thought I would continue this way. With my legendary sense of timing I gave up the search for knitter-switches some two days before a post appeared talking about a source in Hungary. Ah well, having decided to try the kdarling method as modified for the Hagstrom, I found some ordinary, cheap rotaries.As an experiment I installed one on an existing panel. The only difference I could see from what I've read is that the panel uses a Hagstrom USB decoder which has a graphic interface for allocation of keys. The installation went fine but when I tested the result in Notepad, the output was when turning both left and right - BbBbBbBbBb - not exactly what I wanted.Tried one or two different key allocations, checked the wiring, had a calming drink etc but continued to get alternate upper and lower case output.The questions are 1 - have I got the wrong rotaries; 2 - have I got the wrong Hagstrom; 3 - should I explore the attractions of, say, rugmaking as an alternative hobby. Help !!!As an aside, whilst I was grinding my teeth in front of the 'putes, I failed to maintain attention on the v. small person sitting on the floor next to me. He was chuckling and gurgling whilst happily pulling out all the wires from the back of the panel I was using for the experiment. Don't you just love babies.Bud

[Guest]

Bud, Looks to me like you have assigned the keys wrong. I think you have assigned 'b' and 'B' to the two inputs, you have to assign 'b' to one input and 'SHIFT' to the other, that's the 'SHIFT' key alone.Peter

[Guest Stephan Haas]

Bud,I recieved 1 Knitter switch yesterday and hooked it up to a Hagstrom. I used the conncetions I had previously working for a 2-way switch (left/right contact. The Knitter worked flawless! Each of the contacts however had a separate key coding, I'm not using the SHIFT / normal trick.Kind regards,Stephan Haashttp://vatsim.pilotmedia.fi/statusindicato...or=SVA1&a=a.jpg

[Guest kdarling]

What kind of rotary? Part number and manufacturer would let us look at the data sheets, possibly.Best,Kev

[Guest MikePowell]

Bud,Most of us have to pay quite a lot to get technical help. To have one in your household who also has the added benefit of v. small hands to reach into those hard to reach, tight spaces is incredibly fortunate. Clearly your v. small helper had noticed your approach was not working and was taking steps to correct it. Mikewww.mikesflightdeck.com

[Guest Bud]

Mike,You are absolutely right. To be perfectly honest, as this thread demonstrates quite clearly, in terms of electronics he probably has more idea than I have. Tomorrow we are going to sit down together and I am going to instruct him to put back all that he removed. I will watch and no doubt gain in knowledge.As to the note on the allocation of keys, I did exactly what is suggested, I allocated b to one and shift alone to t'other.As to the encoder itself, Manufacturer is Bourne, the product is blessed with the following - 3315C-1-016.Bud

[Guest Bud]

Stephen,Could you say where you got one knitter from. All my previous enquiries led me to believe that only v. large orders were accepted.Bud

[Guest RichardL]

Today, I sent emailes to two companies reguesting their help in sourcing the Knitter switches.First was Arrow.com. According to their web site, they have a division called Spoerle http://www.spoerle.com/ which does stock the MRP 1-20 rotary pulse switch. From the Spoerle, page do a search on the Knitter part number. Second email went to Newark http://www.newark.com/. From Newarks main page, I selected Services, then ProductFind. That brought me to a page with a EuroDirect Link at the bottom. When I clicked on EuroDirect, a pfd sheet displayed that showed Knitter Switch. So, where did that lead us. Probably no where, but the hunt was fun.I'll post here if I receive any answers. Richard

[Guest]

Bud,I had a look at the data sheet for the Bourns encoder you have and it appears to be the same as the Panasonic that I used. So it should work.To go back to basics, you have connected the central pin on the encoder to a ground pin on the Hagstrom and each of the outer two pins on the encoder to an input pin on the Hagstrom.As a test, try assigning a different key to the two inputs you used, say, 'a' and 'b' and see what output you get then. It might give a clue to what is happening.Peter

[Guest Bud]

Peter,Many thanks for taking the trouble to check the specs. I've more or less got my panel back together and now recognize I made an error which led to the upper/lower case fiasco of yesterday. To my shame, I omitted one important step in the programming of the Hagstrom USB. I've now done the job properly ie connection and programming. At the moment just using Shift alone on one pin and a letter on t'other with the middle to the common ground, the output now is just the lower case character when turning both right and left. The Hagstrom does not seem to recognize Shift. I did actually test using another character in place of Shift. The result was a rehash of yesterday - the alternate output of both - ie bmbmbmbmbm with an occasional burst of half a dozen or so of one character or the other turning both left and right. I even checked to see what would happen when only one character terminal was connected - a constant stream of the appropriate character resulted.The connections, wiring etc are all checked OK; if you feel that the rotary itself is OK, then that would seem to leave the Hagstrom. Was your test on the USB unit ?Bud

[Guest Stephan Haas]

Bud,It's a long story but it boils down to the fact that I have found a small Dutch firm which was willing to send me one. Now that I have seen it work I have placed a follow up order.I have a registered firm, so they were willing to do bussiness with me. They won't do bussiness with people outside of the Netherlands, and at the moment I have no intentions of setting up a Knitter bussiness for flightsimmers (too much hassle with money).Kind regards,Stephan Haashttp://vatsim.pilotmedia.fi/statusindicato...or=SVA1&a=a.jpg

[Guest Bud]

RichardI knew about the Newark firm. Their UK partner is Farnell - they don't stock knitter switches but I actually got my cheap rotaries from them - v.v. cheap too.Not heard of the other one but good luck in your continuing search.Bud

[Guest Bud]

Stephan,Money is not a hassle - it is a v. pleasant thing to have. Wish I had a little more of it. If you ever change you mind, let me know - I'll be your first customer!Bud

[Guest kdarling]

Bud,Can you hook up some test lamps / LEDs / or ohmmeter and see what you get?I looked at the spec sheet too, and it seems okay, but some of these switches will leave one of the outputs connected even sitting in a detent. You need to check to make sure that it has no through connection while in a detent, and that you see the correct phase outputs as you slowly turn the switch (this requires 2 lamps to see).Kev

[Guest]

No, Bud. I'm using the KE72 unit which plugs in between the keyboard and the PC. Might be worth emailing Hagstrom, explaining what you are doing and ask if there any differences that would let it work on one and not on the other. Their tech support has been very helpful to me in the past.Peter