Hi All,I have just got my LDS 767 L&R Engine Start switches working, so that they 'lock' in the GND position, but flick out to Auto after the engine starts.http://www.chrisjg.com/Sim/the_panel.jpgThe PartsI use three main components on a normal rotary.http://www.chrisjg.com/Sim/components.jpgA small solenoid, that locks a shaft inside it. The solenoid is glued to a small piece of bakelite (circuit board stuff) to prevent the heat from getting to close to the plastic. The solenoid is connected through a phidget board, and 5V power connections. It reads a FSUIPC offset, and turns on when required.http://www.chrisjg.com/Sim/solenoids.jpgA small spring loaded switch that provides the force to turn back the rotary. I have 'beefed' up the spring that came with it, with one out of an old rotary switch, and cut it down a little. It was simply a matter of getting the right position of the spring so that the right amount of force was applied at the right angle.http://www.chrisjg.com/Sim/switches.jpgA Remote Control Swing arm was cut and secured to the rotary shaft. This has a small 'ball' screwed to the main arm that pushes the switch and solenoid arm back. I found a small screw in the back of the arm was the easiest way to secure it to the shaft.http://www.chrisjg.com/Sim/swing_arm.jpgHow it Works:Nico's fantastic FSCONV detects when the switch has been 'turned' onto GND, and the Solenoid activates. This means the spring is held back, and the rotary has no force on it. When the system moves out of GND, then the solenoid will disengage, and the spring will push the rotary back one position into AUTO - with a great sounding click too :)Here you can see the assembly, with the solenoid - locked, and the spring arm held back.http://www.chrisjg.com/Sim/assembled-locked.jpgNow, the solenoid has disengaged, and the spring has pushed the arm, and rotary switch back one position.http://www.chrisjg.com/Sim/assembled-flipped.jpgThe thing I really liked abou this was that it is low profile - that way it fits nicely between the back plate, and the front plates still allowing for light to pass through for the backlighting.Thanks to Nico for adding in the Offset to do this, plus Ian Cameron, whose idea sent me off on my goose chase through the electronics markets of singapore looking for a solution.Now to the next Challenge !!!

Very nice design!Clever and easy to do, keep up the good work.

Great Stuff there - I've past this link onto Laurent to let him see the progress people are making with the SDK. Did you see the announcement from Laurent about the SDK being expanded further:http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...30659&mode=fullNow the real test for this technique - Autobrakes panel. The RTO setting with switch to OFF should be the same as the other ones - the harder one would be the Brakes 1, 2, 3 ,4 MAX settings returning to the Disarm position.

Hi ChrisGreat work mate!...different (and I think better) approach to what I had in mind and obviously works well.Be interested to see some pictures of your total setup, as the part shown of your overhead looks super!

Hmm. That solenoid might work pretty nicely as a "working" circuit breaker too - pop it out during a failure, and use a microswitch to check the position, so you can pop it back in etc..Of course you'd need to push them all in during sim init, but it might still be useful. If one wants to do failure training for example. It's quite unnecessary otherwise of course to build stuff that never gets used :)//Tuomas

Not sure how to link so this is for the earlier post about start switches.Gary

Right-click on the forum frame, click properties. Copy the entire URL from the properties screen and use that to post. Already done in said thread. Thanks for bumping it back to the top page.