I have just discovered a problem with my FSX. I have tried this with the Flight1 CT182T, Baytower RV-7, Carenado Baron B58, and the default C172. I'm assuming it will happen with the other planes too. I have the plane completely powered down but if I switch on the landing lights or panel lights they will turn on. The nav and beacon lights on some of the planes will also turn on too. I really am at a loss on where to start looking to track this down. I don't know if this is related but sometimes I will also hear ATC even though the airplane I'm flying is completely powered down. I have a lot of addons from planes to sceneries and the RealityXP Garmins but none are common to all the planes having this issue. Has anyone heard of this before? Any ideas on how to fix this?

There really isn't anything you as a simmer can do, as these "faults" are the result of not including correct coding in the gauge system, and/or incorrect embedded XML control scripts in the compiled model itself.

Admittedly your explanation went a little over my head. I originally discovered this with the Flight1 CT182T and reported it as a problem on their forum. The support person responded that he is not seeing the same behavior, which prompted me to try other planes, so it seems this problem is specific to something I have going on on my computer.

Whenever I program gauge systems for any aircraft, I have to include checks for the "master battery" variable into such things as the landing lights electrical circuit, because by default such things as the landing and taxi lights are not internally connected to the "master battery" switch.

 

The same logic applies if I create any custom annunciator lights that do not use any of the default flightsim variables.

 

Does this happen to all of your aircraft, including the defaults, or is it only happening with specific aircraft?

 

I will also add that for some reason known only to MS/ACES, the avionics power bus is not connected to the master battery bus. In other words, shutting of the master battery switch will not necessarily remove power from the avionics bus.

I did more testing with default FSX airplanes only. I used the 172, 208, B58, Beaver, Goose, Maule and Mooney all with the battery and avionics turned off. In every plane the landing lights would come on. In the Goose and Maule the nav lights would come on. In the 172 and Mooney only the white tail nav light would come on. On only the Maule the strobes would come on. In every plane the instruments lights would come on but only in the VC. To make it more weird they would come on with a very white light to them. When I would turn the battery on the light turned more yellowish more like an incandescent bulb. I don't know if this information helps or just confuses the issue more.

I decided to try an experiment. I have a ton of extra computer junk laying around so I put a separate clean hard drive in the computer, installed a separate copy of Windows 7 and a separate copy of FSX. The only thing the two installations have in common is the hardware. With only Windows and FSX installed on a different hard drive I am seeing the same thing with the lights. This has me baffled because it seems other users are not seeing this behavior.

Not sure if this is the right plac to ask this question, but, with the Carenado baron, I have the shockwave light fix midification, but still the panel guages are very hard to see, (for me anyway), and just wondering if you know how to get the light to fill each guage so totally visable at night??...........and the landing, taxi lights, could be much brighter......any help for this??    B42L8

Whenever I program gauge systems for any aircraft, I have to include checks for the "master battery" variable into such things as the landing lights electrical circuit, because by default such things as the landing and taxi lights are not internally connected to the "master battery" switch.

 

The same logic applies if I create any custom annunciator lights that do not use any of the default flightsim variables.

 

Does this happen to all of your aircraft, including the defaults, or is it only happening with specific aircraft?

 

I will also add that for some reason known only to MS/ACES, the avionics power bus is not connected to the master battery bus. In other words, shutting of the master battery switch will not necessarily remove power from the avionics bus.