HOW TO Implement the Magnetic Held Switches in the PSCockpit System

Some of the switches of our cockpit may have electric coils to hold the contact of the switch at a certain position. When the coil is deactivated the switch returns to the OFF position.

This behaviour is easily implemented with the PSCockpit System. We will need to wire the contact of the switch to a I/O Satellite Pcb and the coil to a Stp/Other Voltages Pcb as the coil will need other voltage and more current to activate. The electric schema could be the following:

 The configuration of this wiring in the PSCockpit Software is the following:

You can easily test the circuit (input and output individually) in Test mode.

In order to link the switch with its coil, go to the F16 Model and select the Solenoids page. Enter the corresponding switch and coil Id´s:

Of course, you want the switch to send the keystroke to the sim, so, go to Commands page and configure the switch:

Now, when the switch is activated, the command will be sent to the sim and the coil will be energized. Depending on the switch function, the coil will be deactivated by the PSCockpit Software when in Run mode.

Edited on April, 10th, 2016
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For homemade magnetic switches -the ones which needs only momentary energy to set back the switch to the original position- you have to set the coil output in the field called "Momentary coil":

The momentary coil output works as follows:
- Switch is activated ---> momentary coil remains de-energized
- Condition to return switch to original position is met ---> momentary coil is energized
- Switch returns to original position by means of the coil ---> momentary coil is de-energized

Of course, is you return the switch to the original position manually, the momentary coil is never energized.
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Regards,
Shep

HOW TO Assign Key Strokes to Different Programs in PSCockpit Software (Launcher)

When you are assigning your key strokes of each of your pushbuttons and switches connected to the PSCockpit expanders, you can select in which window of the system you want that keystroke to be sent to. This is made by selecting in the “Window” dropdown list the correct window name:

If your list of windows is empty, you can configure it in then Launcher page of the PSCockpit Software.

The Launcher is a configuration page where you can add any program to be run when you are going to play your favourite sim. In this way, you don’t have to run manually all the required programs for your cockpit, the Launcher will take care of them!

To fill the Launcher page you can manually fill the text fields or you can place the cursor on the desire field and click on the “Search” button to select the desire program. The program will automatically select the program and the path. You have to fill manually the command options and the window name:

You can even select the proper profile of the Hotas Cougar. The launcher will check if the Hotas Cougar is loaded with that profile, and if it is not, it will load it for you.

In the Launcher page you will find the following tags:
- Application: The name of the program to be launched.
- Command options: The command options to be included in the launched program
- Path: The path from where the program have to be run
- Sleep time: The time in ms you want to wait for the next program to be run. Put INFINITE if you want the Laucher to wait until the program has successfully run.
- After Sim: Check this box if you want this program to be launcher after the sim.
- Window name: The name of the window once the program has started. To know the window name of a program, minimize the program, go to the Windows Task Bar and look for the window name of the program. If you don’t see the complete window name, place the mouse on the program window of the Task Bar and wait for the Tip Text to appear.
- Enbl: Check this box if you want the program to be launched. Unchecking this box the launcher will skip this program.

As the applications can be launched before or after the sim, they have to be placed in the correct sequence. This is an example of how has to be done:

Usual Windows Names are:
- BMS: Falcon BMS
- OpenFalcon: F4 3D Output
- Falcon AF: BFOps Falcon 4.0 Allied Force 3D Output
- Red Viper: F4 3D Output
- MSFSX: Microsoft Flight Simulator X

Once you have filled the Launcher page you can go back to the Commands page and you will see the windows names in the Windows dropdown list:

Now, you can send any keystroke to other normal programs used when you are flying with your pushbuttons and switches: FreeTrack, Shoot, TeamSpeak, …

Finally, to run the Launcher you have to click on the “Launch Sim” icon instead of the “Run” icon from the PSCockpit Console page.


Regards,
Shep

ANALOGUE PCF8591P EXPANDER

We have another expander for our system: Analogue PCF8591P with 4 analogue inputs and 1 analogue output, 8 bits resolution.

You can connect up to 8 analogue expanders to the I2C Main Channel of the PSCockpit board. Please refer to HOW TO use analog inputs with the PS Cockpit System (PSJoystick) for configuration here.

The firmware has to be upgraded and the software will come with this feature since revision 1.0.0.

This is how the new baby looks like:

Regards,
Shep