737 throttle quadrant

[Guest njboeingfan]

Hi all. Newbie here. Does anyone know how to wire up 737 throttles? Thanks.

[Guest Robid]

Huh? More information please.

[Guest njboeingfan]

I have a 737-200 throttle quadrant and I would like to wire it using the EPIC card, yet I have no idea how to do it. Any ideas?

[Guest High Octane]

Maybe you want to be more specific how you re planning to wire your throttle with EPIC. for instance:Potentiometer-- Are you using linear or taper?switches-- Are you going to use it for flap, spoiler or soAre you familar with electronics?Be more precise so I can help.

[Guest njboeingfan]

Arthur,Thanks for the reply. I going to use the flaps, spoiler, NAV & COM with the trust levers. As for the potentiometer, I have no idea if it is taper or linear. I am slightly familiar with electronics, but I have no experience with EPIC yet. I hope this helps and thank you again.

[Guest High Octane]

Not a problem... Let me clarify about potentiometer. Linear is like a sliding potentiometer. It slides vertically or horizonal depending the point of view you're looking at. It'd be good to use for thurst leveler by attaching some type of thin rod to the shaft of the sliding pot. Taper potentiometer is like a rotary pot, this is the most popular type of pot which can also use on thrust leveler by attaching driven gears on shaft. And I am not sure about the flaps or spoilers.I have attached a picture so you can get idea on mechanical structure between two types of pot.I recommend you to get 100k ohm potentiometer which work well with EPIC, a 50k could work too but would not make a best result. And there are several options you wish to connect your pots with epic, you could wire it to pot directly to 15 pin connector and to the port A and B of the expansion module just like standard joysticks Or you can connect to analog ribbons. What I did was connect directly to analog ribbon and there are a listing of pin datasheet that is found in EPIC manual if you have.About NAV & COM there are also several options you can get it worked, Such as microswitches , rotary switches, or Rotary encoder.Microswitches-- It depends how simple you want to build your cockpit. You can just create spring underneath the knob and the surface along with shaft. Add some kind of small block on shaft between two microswitches which sits toward to eachother underneath knobs. one of the microswitch will represent '+' increasement, and the other microswitch will represent '-' decreasement. All you have to do is twist it again and again if you wish to increase number from 0-7. I have attached drawing so you can get the concept of one methods.Rotary encoder--- It can be used, all of illustrated of connection is found in EPIC manual... The draw back is it send and rec'd data via FS to EPIC slower than you expect. For example, you switch one, toggle data it will not display through FS less than 1 second. If it doesn't really both you you may do so....Rotary Encoder-- I believe most of hardcore cockpit builder that uses EPIC has Rotary encoder. It's lotta better than two other methods. It sends data probablly 5 time faster than those two. You would need to have Rotary encoder modules to get this worked it will not work directly to EPIC without any modules. The drawback is, you would have to buy another expensive card from Flight link, or you can ask Mr Robinson the EPIC manufacter to send you a circuit diagram to build a rotary encoder like I do. and it Require electronics knowledge and skills. My recommend for you at very first begining start off getting familar with components and epic first before you go any further. Because based on my experiences... I get really confused when I went ahead further when I first got EPIC in 1998. About flaps, I am still trying to figure out what type of components would be good to use. You may want to ask Ralph which type of component will be good to use for flapsAbout spoiler, I hear some builders uses Potentiometer, but ONLY if you have FSUIPC. FSUIPC can just adjust raw data to determine when spoiler can be retracted or extracted.Hope that helps

[Guest High Octane]

I apologize I forgot to attach some pictures This is for Nav and Com http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/95637.jpgThis is mechanical structure of rotary pothttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/95638.jpgThis is mechanical structure of sliding pothttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/95639.jpg

[rickalty 0]

The difference between a linear and taper potentiometer is nothing to do with the physical layout of it being a slider or rotary pot. A linear pot (More accurately a "linear taper" pot) is one in which the output voltage is in direct proportion to the position of the wiper. A taper pot (More accurately an "audio taper", or "logarithmic taper" pot) is one in which the realtionship between position and output varies. These are designed for use in audio systems, and increase the voltage much more slowly at the beginning of the travel than at the end, to counter the increased sensitivity of the ear at low levels.Both types of pot can be found in both slider and rotary style, but for simulator use you only want linear ones.Richard