Hi all!!I am having a few problems with rotory encoders, I do not know if what I am tring to do should work or if I am making a big mistake, please forgive me I am not an electronics engineer! smile.I have got some Panasonic rotories, 5v in and two outputs, left turn, right turn, these work as they should and they are the type with detents.I would like these to work Via a keyboard encoder to simulate a key press EG. heading change, I have built three different types of decoder boards two that were sent to me kindly by e-mail and one other that I found whilst browsing, each different board I have made uses different cmos chips, but all use the 4066 cmos as the switching output.My problem with all of these is before I put power to the boards I get no contact (switch output) from the 4066, after switching on the power I have no output from the rotory but the 4066 makes contact and gives me a switch output, turning the rotory I get a output and then lose the switch output from the 4066, this is the opposite to what I want, after making three different types of board and several of each I beleive there is no mistake in my wiring all do the same, but may be what I am tring to do is not possible?My power supply comes from a old pc power unit and is giving me a 5.11v output and feeds everything, I have taken +5v and grnd to each cmos.If I am just stupid and trying to get the impossible to work then please forgive me, however if anyone has some ideas, ( not to technical just in plain English! smile) then I would be most grateful, or if anyone has a suitable design for my requirements then I will be grateful if you would send it to meRegards [email protected]

Hi Steve, >I would like these to work Via a keyboard encoder to simulate>a key press EG. heading change, I have built three different...>different board I have made uses different cmos chips, but all>use the 4066 cmos as the switching output.Can you tell us which keyboard encoder you use (or plan on using). Secondly, some links or schematics of the decoder boards in question would also help in determining how to connect them to the keyboard encoder and your rotary.-Leo

Hi LeoThanks for the replyAt present I am using LPT switch and a self emulated keyboard, IE. I have taken two sets of wires out of the keyboard made a matrix out of this and connect switches to this these are momentary push switches, but with LPT I use toggle switches, everything works without problem.As for the future I would like to go down the 'FSbus or simalar' route but for now my electrical knowledge is minimal and I am trying to make the best of what I can do, I am sure I am not the only person who has minimal knowledge.What did I want an encoder to do? in simple make a key press! you cannot imagine my joy of wanting to do a 180 turn whilst flying and having to push a switch 180 times! smileMay be I have taken the use of an encoder wrongly, I can only appologise for my mistake, we all have to learn somewere.Encoder boards I have built from two files that were sent to me and one I found, I will attatch at the end, one is REDEC and one is a very simalar design to this, the third appears to be totaly different but is made using simalar ICs.I do understand that cmos is old compared to the likes of PIC chips and whatever follow them, but it seems I am struggling with the easy stuff, so for now I cannot even think of the more demanding! smileHope this throughs a bit more light on the subject.Kind regardsSteve.Ps it seems I have a problem with the upload of the REDEC file, if you need this I will e-mail to you, but I think you will be familier with ithttp://indofs.com/buat/encoder.gif

Steve,I'm not exactly sure what circuits you have been trying, but I think my experience with similar problems will help. I tried the same thing by trying to design a circuit to decode the rotary and it did work, but was too slow to really be effective. I then tried the REDEC 09 design for use with FSBUS and it is a great design, but to make it work with a keyboard encoder, you have to invert the final outputs with another chip or else it will always be in an 'on' state (just like a stuck key). As you mentioned earlier, none of these solutiions will work without +5 volts on them.Another problem with using the keyboard encoder with these is latency. It always seemed to miss too many key inputs when going through the circuit. The final drawback is cost and time to make a decoding circuit for each rotary.Finally, I decided to go with the "shift+" idea mentioned in other posts. Try this link for more info:http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=searchIt works and it's cheap.Good Luck,

Steve,Couple of things to look out for. Make sure you connect the 5V to the common pin of the rotary encoder. The middle pin is typically the common pin, but there are instances where it

Hi, Dave, Leo!Thanks for your return posts,The link you gave Dave made interesting reading, this gives me something different to try, I understand about the final output having to invert the signal, this is what I thought the 4066 did!Leo, again all information is helpful for me I am on a big learning curve! smile, but primeraly I have the common 5v on the middle pin when I turn the rotary either way I get a 5v output on either/or output, I have checked the output of the 4066 with an ohmmeter, but I get the output(switch made) before turning the rotary, after turning the rotary then I get the momentary open circuit( switch not made) this is the part I cannot understand, what I have made works, but it is the opposite to what I want it to do, as for the diodes on LPT, they are there!Dave wrote that he had problems with the final output acting like a stuck key, the same as I have, do I need to have another chip to rectify this, or is the 4066 the final part and I have just made a big mistake somewhere, and yes this is a little time consuming to make these boards but I have made 9 so surely I cannot have made a mistake on each.Thanks again for the responceSteve

Ok, now I see that I misunderstood your original post. There may be 2 simple ways to invert the outputs, but the schematic you posted is no longer showing up so I'm only speculating at this point.The first option is to do a little bit of rewiring and using a GND instead of the 5V to the common pin of the rotary. A second option is to use a transistors instead of the 4066 on the output. The transistor would have the added advantage of not requiring the external diode such as the one used on LPT Switch.Without that schematic, I cannot advise you which method would be the easiest to implement at this stage. Try posting it again.-Leo

Hi LeoSorry about the attachments, it seems I have found something harder than making a encoder board 'uploading files to AVSIM'! smile.I cannot post the redec file as AVSIM has a limit on file sizes, this is 290k and I can only upload 125k or so I am told, attached is another file, this I think you will still have to download/open to view, if you want to see redec I will e-mail to you if it is okay by you, but all of the 3 units I have made have a simalar make up, they all use 4066 as the final chip, just the other chips before this vary, but how I read they all work the same Also tried a copy of redec in word format dont know about clarity of this fileRegardsSteve