Connecting rotary switches to FSBUS - Help

[Guest jpcxcf]

Hi to all, I need help connecting 12 pins rotaries to FSBUs.I've made a search and couldn't find any good info about it.Here's what I got:I have one rotary that has 12 positions and 2 pins in the center and also another with 4 pins in the center.Now, how do I connect them to fsbus??I know that for each switch theres 2 wires available.Can someone explain me howq to connect those 2 kind of rotaries???Best regards, Pedro

[Guest duquep]

Hello, You must use a simple 12-stage rotary switches Every fourth contact is connected to one wire. You need to bridge S1,S5,S9, S2,S6,S10, S3,S7,S11 and S4,S8,S12. Decoding of left or right turn is done by the software.Hope to help you.....OO-PDU

[Guest jpcxcf]

Hi thanks for replying.With this you're sayng that I only need 4 wires coming from the FSKEY to connect to the rotary??What about the those contacts that are in the middle???Regards,Pedro

[tigert 0]

What FSBUS cares about is this:G...............1234............The above is the FSKEY connector stripe with 2 rows. Plug the 4 wires to the "front" row (closer to the diodes) and just solder the middle ones together, pull one wire from the middle to the "back" row (each 12-step rotary shares the back row, those are actually connected in the board anyway)The idea how it works is this: You rotate the thing clockwise -> FSBUS needs to see signals going like this: 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4... and for counter-clockwise, it does 4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1... - by the order of the signals it is possible to determine the turn direction.Now, it doesnt matter *what* you have on the other end of the wires, as long as you get this output - there are at least two ways to get it from the 12-step switches (and by the way, as you might have guessed, they could just as well be any switches where the number of steps is dividable by 4: 4, 8, 12, 16... step rotaries. 12 step ones are just most commonly available and cheap. You need to possibly open them to remove the "notch" that makes them not rotate freely thouhg. This leads us to the other thing:When you open one of those, you notice there are small metal "tongues" inside that do the connecting between the center and the side. There are switches that have a different number of them - basically there are as many "tongues" as there are contacts in the center of the switch. If you happen to have 3 contacts in the middle, you have 3 tongues, and then you have an easy job - just connect the center pins together and solder 4 wires on the outside of the switch in the first 4 pins in the correct order. Since the 3 tongues will do the work for you inside. You think about this a bit and you get the idea. Remember the 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4...If you have just one slider (or anything else but 3) you need to remove the extra ones so you have just one, then assemble the switch (remember to find the small spring and the two ball bearings ;)) - and you need to do the sequence thing outside. So connect the wires together like this: 1-5-9, 2-6-10, 3-7-11 and 4-8-12. This again gives you the 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 contact sequence when you rotate the switch. You understand why you had to remove the extra tongue contacts? Those would now mess this up and you could get something else, depending on how many you had.I hope this helps..//Tuomas

[npbosch 0]

Thanks, I was just experimenting with this also.If I understand you well, the best rotary switches are the 3 x 4 ones?Because these require less intervention for FSBUS then the 1 x 12 ones.RegardsNorbert

[Guest duquep]

hello, the best is 1*12 contact.Regards

[tigert 0]

Best is 3x4 indeed, since then you just wire center 3 pins together, and solder any 4 consecutive pins from the side.Since 3x4 has 3 metal "tongues" inside, it works the right way without modification. The important thing is the number of tongues, not the number of pins (those are the same number in the switches of course, but if you open some and take out tongues from some, you can make others be 3-tongue switches and save some sweat in soldering)The next best is the 1x12 since you dont need to open that either - you just need to wire "jumpers" on the outside connecting every 3th pin together like I explained above.//Tuomas

[npbosch 0]

Ok, Glad I understand it right (my electronic knowledge increases day by day ;-)).No that we are talking about rotary switches some other remarks and a question.I use the rotary switches that are shown in the fsbus router picture under a. The black abd white things which are closed. With spring and 2 balls. The description above is exact like the ones I have.But they turn only 360 degrees. If you want to use them for radios, you have to dremel that little plastic pin away (together with the adjustable stop ring), so you can rotate them endlessly.Now about another function. My rotary selector for the efis ND range selector.This uses 7 steps. 10-20-40-80-160-320-640How should I set this up?As far as I understand know the best would be a 1 x 12 in this case and allow only 7 steps. The outer 7 pins get connected with 7 pins on fskey (closest to the diode) and the center pin to one on the other side. Is this correct?But now for the router setup, should I setup 7 momentary switches?With "on" action define the wanted range and with "off" nothing should happen.Thanks for any helpnorbert bosch

[tigert 0]

>Ok, Glad I understand it right (my electronic knowledge>increases day by day ;-)).Welcome to the club :))>No that we are talking about rotary switches some other>remarks and a question.>I use the rotary switches that are shown in the fsbus router>picture under a. The black abd white things which are closed.>With spring and 2 balls. The description above is exact like>the ones I have.Yep. >But they turn only 360 degrees. If you want to use them for>radios, you have to dremel that little plastic pin away>(together with the adjustable stop ring), so you can rotate>them endlessly.Exactly. Our local shop had "defect" ones for 0.2 EUR a piece that had a *fault* that the switch did rotate endlessly - the plastic pin was too short :-cool Talk about luck..>Now about another function. My rotary selector for the efis ND>range selector.>This uses 7 steps. 10-20-40-80-160-320-640>How should I set this up?>>As far as I understand know the best would be a 1 x 12 in this>case and allow only 7 steps. The outer 7 pins get connected>with 7 pins on fskey (closest to the diode) and the center pin>to one on the other side. Is this correct?I think so.>But now for the router setup, should I setup 7 momentary>switches?>With "on" action define the wanted range and with "off">nothing should happen.Yea, you want just "up event" I think. Similar to what we did for our magneto switch. Since the "OFF"s dont matter, since something else will always be turned "ON".//Tuomas

[npbosch 0]

After experimenting with my multimeter and removing the plastic pin. I came to another simplification.Tuomas wrote that for the 3 x 4 type , you have to solder the 3 inner pins to each other.In my opinion this is not necessary.I put one lead of my multimeter on the A (inner pin) and then I measured the 1-4 pin (these would be connected to FSKEY).I could endlessly turn my switch now and get 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 or the other way around. (When the switch comes to position 5 the second tongue shorts pin A with pin 1 etc)I did not connect this to FSKEY yet, but I am quiet sure that soldering pin A, 1, 2, 3 and 4 will be enough.So these 3 x 4 are much less work then the 1 x 12 type (if used for radios, course, heading, altitude etc ofcourse).PS there are some nice tutorials to further adjust these rotaries, to build a built in push button or to make dual rotaries.http://forum.simcockpit.nl/forum/cms_artic...cb7265b203db19fscroll down and look forHoe maak je zelf een goedkope dubbele rotary encoder...DIY Rotary met push button....Dutch site but tutorials in englishnorbert

[Guest jpcxcf]

Great info, thanks for this i'll try out and post the results.Thanks,Pedro

[tigert 0]

>After experimenting with my multimeter and removing the>plastic pin. I came to another simplification.>>Tuomas wrote that for the 3 x 4 type , you have to solder the>3 inner pins to each other.>>In my opinion this is not necessary.>I put one lead of my multimeter on the A (inner pin) and then>I measured the 1-4 pin (these would be connected to FSKEY).>I could endlessly turn my switch now and get 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4>or the other way around. (When the switch comes to position 5>the second tongue shorts pin A with pin 1 etc)Oh right, you are absolutely correct. It's indeed the sequence that matters - you can connect whatever you want there, as long as it generates the pulses correctly, it will work. So yeah, 3x4 is ideal, and indeed it is enough to connect just one center pin - though you need to make sure *which one* - the center plate is divided into 3 parts, each taking 120 degrees of the circle. Now, you need to make sure you pick the pins from the side so that they do not span two center plate sections - otherwise it wont work as far as my brain tells me this early in the morning :) Connecting them all works around this, but yes, it is not necessary.>PS there are some nice tutorials to further adjust these>rotaries, to build a built in push button or to make dual>rotaries.>>http://forum.simcockpit.nl/forum/cms_artic...cb7265b203db19f>>scroll down and look for>Hoe maak je zelf een goedkope dubbele rotary encoder...>DIY Rotary met push button....>>Dutch site but tutorials in englishAlso here: http://www.opencockpits.com/modules.php?na...=showpage&pid=9http://www.opencockpits.com/modules.php?na...showpage&pid=10I have also such dual rotaries - they work great. I think it was a simultaneous invention by several people since these tutorials all appeared pretty much at the same time just when I was testing my dual rotaries with a friend.. :)Isn't it great that two $1.5 (or less) switches, some creativity and hacking gives you something equivalent to a $40 aircraft part - sure, the quality is not as high, but still it works just fabulously well in a simulator environment :) This stuff is what I enjoy most in this hobby - finding a clever solution to create something cool with little money.. And most importantly, they feel sturdy and "real" - that is a problem with a lot of the home cockpit stuff. Like, the simkits gauges are nice, but some of the knobs and such are just too light of construction.. Someone already turned over the artificial horizon adjustment knob at our sim.. Wasnt it Rory who said that he always ends up fixing and recovering his simulator for two weeks after he invites his pilot friends to a flying session in his cockpit.. :-hah//Tuomas