Hi,
I made a custom FMC with the potentiometer brightness control. I use it for the PMDG 737 which has the 2 button control for the same thing. There are 2 variables for it which is decrease and increase the value but for buttons. Is there any way to use them with the pot. So when the pot is rotated, the values will change according to this rotation?
#FMC Pot for brightness
haughty escarp
solar bridge
@unreal swan I was thinking, if we could read the current brightness value, could we create a loop statement in RPN that repeats the "increase" or "decrease" event depending on whether the current value is larger or smaller, until the brightness value reaches the potentiometer value?
I am wondering if the current brightness value can be read, though.
unreal swan
<@793885079034265640> I was thinking, if we could read the current brightness va...
In most aircraft I think yes. But I also think most brightness variables can be set by a pot RPN code so there is no need to recursively execute a check and increase or decrease. Besides, I think RPN, except on PMDG, is not recursive. In other words, you cannot repetitively check and call an event inside a block of code. You have to exit the code for the sim to act. It won't act while executing the code.
unreal swan
PMDG is the big exception, because they do everything throught their own ROTOR_BRAKE.
solar bridge
was just wondering if the fmc screen brightness can even be read out
unreal swan
Which allows to set and call events and do loops.
solar bridge
what I do with my fmc screen, is I just adjust the screen gamma with autohotkey
some hdmi display boards might also be able to adjust brightness programmatically so that is another one to check
but gamma generally works at the display driver level and should work with any screen, and that effectively results in brightness adjustment as the background is always dark
unreal swan
FMC I am not sure, I have seen PDF and MFD brightness being set from knobs
solar bridge
yeah
unreal swan
but if you can do it in the sim, there should be code to do it.
haughty escarp
You can set it in the sim, and it affects the popout screen too. Can't modify the real brightness of my screen since it has its own menu to do it.
unreal swan
for this particular case, I would suggest an encoder or three position switch. A pot will be more difficult. I can't find the FMC brightness Lvar anywhere on the B777.
solar bridge
encoder maybe is the easiest yeah
haughty escarp
Maybe then a next iteration will use button for that. Thank you for your time. 🙂
solar bridge
I mean you can use a pot if you can get the current brightness out of the sim
it is probably possible to do with mobiflight logic too but can possibly be a bit complicated
can you swap in an encoder in place of the pot? it would work better with pmdg events though
unreal swan
Maybe then a next iteration will use button for that. Thank you for your time. �...
I didn't understand that comment. You can use two buttons right now. no?
solar bridge
I assumed the panel has a pot already
unreal swan
if we are talking about pmdg 737 and 777, the FMC has a self centering three position switch that can go left for dec and right for inc.
solar bridge
yeah ok
unreal swan
so the action can be used in an encoder without any changes
or a three position switch
or two separate buttons
solar bridge
yeah
unreal swan
well, what I said was not quite correct. I have been looking at the B777 more closely. It appears the BRT key on all three CDUs has a press hold and release function.
and it also appears the hold does not work from outside. The function does not repeat by itself as it does in the virtual cockpit.
So if a release event is required, then an encoder can't be used as is.
haughty escarp
I didn't understand that comment. You can use two buttons right now. no?
I have a PCB for my FMC, so any changes needs a new iteration.
unreal swan
I have a PCB for my FMC, so any changes needs a new iteration.
I am still not clear what is it you have in this PCB to control the FMC screen brightness.
haughty escarp
So, there is a potentiometer on my PCB. Originally it was a dummy, since the sim it will be implemented is not the most recent one (using Sioc on a lot of part). And addition that for example the FBW A320 is not supporting the brightness change, from where this PCB was originated. So it was never a requirement to work, but wired it up anyway for other uses. Then I saw that the PMDG 737 actually able to "reduce" the brightness in the software so I was curious that is it possible to make it work.
haughty escarp
And this is why I wrote that on the next PCB iteration, there will be buttons.
solar bridge
if it is a rk09 style pot that has same footprint as encoder, you could solder an encoder on its place, cut the traces and jumper wire the pins as an encoder
haughty escarp
It is RK09. I will check if there are possibilities for this change.
solar bridge
rk09 has the same footprint as most encoders, so you could cut the traces with a xacto knife and solder to the pins directly and use some spare pins in the Arduino if you have any, or add a pro micro or nano with three wires separately if your Arduino on the main PCB is full
haughty escarp
Currently I use a breakout board for easier assembly, but I can solder the cables there on the pins.
solar bridge
yeah