MobiFlight Community Support

Ok report back.


I have soldered all cables to the 7 Segment LCDS (all 4 of them). I have also taken the Arduino mega and loaded the arduino shield on. Now i have tried the example in the arduino library for testing 7 segment display. Again it displays gibberish. I have also tried a code on the internet to get Hello to display on it. I starts to display the HE ........and then all lights flashing.

In Mobiflight, when I run a test to the display sometimes it will not light anything and sometime it will light up the three segments I have chosen or at times it will light up all 8 even if I have selected 3.

I have no experience with these but I am assuming they are bad.

Please watch the videos of their behaviour here:

First Video:
The 7 segment displays the speed properly and even changes with the encoder briefly......then it goes wrong!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnMZcRHXe58


Second video
It displays the correct speed upon startup but as soo as i change the speed it goes wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpDLOjf89vs


The display goes wrong regardless if I use the encoder or if I use the mouse.


any ideas? Could I be so unlucky to have 4 display units all fail? or all bad from factory?


Regards

Kaborex

My friend... You wanna kidding me ???

I ask you ....

This mean to me that also the SIM internal virtual Display swap by 10 ... isn´t it ??

You say....

With regards to your question above
" is the 10 instead of 1 sorted?". Yes it is

NOW you say....

All I can see is Alt Var Inc and Alt Var dec. This causes the Altidude to change by 1000 feet on every click of the encoder.

About this problem.... Please Confirm this also occure in the Virtual Display..... If Yes then simply your Display setting Left Padding is wrong.
If not there is realy a problem but i never see this before.
Question: Does the FSX Standard Boeing got a switch near AP Altitude to swap between 100/1000 steps like the Airbus ??

**************
About Displays.
Thanks for the Videos.

It looks like broke MaxChips.... But its strange you got all 4 broke.
Do you solder the Pins youreself ? Mostly in those situations the Pinbridges ( 5 left 5 right) are not correctly solder. If you use the iron to long or to hot the internal PCB lines can get broke..... Mostly a point of tin that run into a other can occure in a short circuit, too.
NOTE: 3 of 5 Presolder Digits from China are also buggy and we need to resolder by ourself !

To solve....
You can resolder the pins directly or you try other solutions first.

Maby the Firmware is not correctly installed on the current board. You can try to EEPROM Clear it and flash firmware again. Maby also a Pin where you set Display is broke.... So you can try another pin.
Most easy is to use a other Mega simply for testing the Displays..... Flash Firmware. Create a device for Max7219 NUM1 for example on Pin 5.6.7 and test your Displays there.

Just a note for the Future: Its high recommend to have a "testing Mega" ..... Most users simply test every device on it before they mount it in the panel and connect it to the real Cockpit Megas. If you still know the LED/Display/Motor etc is working fine then its more easy to find the issue if it not work on the Cockpit Mega !

************

Summary: i think 99% there is a solder issue on the Left side. But sure if you simply got a short circuit cause your connector Pins on mega touch eachother then this is the same symptom.
So get sure all is correct connected and clean before you startup the solder action !

My friend... You wanna kidding me ???
I ask you ....
iconpizman82:
This mean to me that also the SIM internal virtual Display swap by 10 ... isn´t it ??
You say....
iconkaborex:
With regards to your question above
" is the 10 instead of 1 sorted?". Yes it is
NOW you say....
iconkaborex:
All I can see is Alt Var Inc and Alt Var dec. This causes the Altidude to change by 1000 feet on every click of the encoder.


Ok. Let me try and explain. Forget anything I said before. Let's start fresh:

Problem 1)
I have tried to use FSUIPC for controlling the altitude on the MCP and that did not work. I am now using EVENT ID. In event ID, with everything set to the default settings (I have not changed anything), the altitude goes up by 1000 feet with every click. Now this will cause a problem if I fly online and asked to climb to 2500 feet because i can only climb to either 2000 or 3000 feet.

Problem 2)
ON the Mach/IAS speed setting, I have got it working perfectlly (increments of +1) on the encoder but I have noticed that if I use the mouse instead, then the speed does not change by +1. Instead it changes by +10 (for me that is not really an inssue I am worried about). Just a strange fact.

Problem 3)
The displays seem to be bad from the factory. I did not solder anything apart from the outer pins that the cables physically connect to.

About this problem.... Please Confirm this also occure in the Virtual Display..... If Yes then simply your Display setting Left Padding is wrong.
If not there is realy a problem but i never see this before.
Question: Does the FSX Standard Boeing got a switch near AP Altitude to swap between 100/1000 steps like the Airbus ??

Yes the problem was on the virtual display. As far as i know the standard boeing 737 does not have such a button. If I use FSUIPC I can get it to go up in 100/500 using the $ function but after a while the FSUIPC setting seems to go a bit mad hence I reverted back to EVENT ID.


Maby the Firmware is not correctly installed on the current board. You can try to EEPROM Clear it and flash firmware again. Maby also a Pin where you set Display is broke.... So you can try another pin.
Most easy is to use a other Mega simply for testing the Displays..... Flash Firmware. Create a device for Max7219 NUM1 for example on Pin 5.6.7 and test your Displays there.

I only have one mega at the moment. I have tried the screens on an arduino Leonardo and same negative results. I am not sure how to upgrade the firmware but will have a look at youtube and try.

regards

Kaborex

Here are a couple of videos to clarify:

Video 1 Speed difference with encoder vs mouse clicks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FwMJSU8Ru0

Video2 Altitude by + 1000 on encoder and mouse using Event ID

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRWG2fUECgw

Hope this helps

regards

Kaborex

Good Morning Kaborex

A first let me say "Sorry Sir"... You not kidding me
Also thank you for the Videos.... Most users just give rare informations to us.... Those Videos are much more profitable to understand a problem directly.

Note: If you like you can join our DISCORD Server. There you not need to upload Videos to youtube. We can talk there over Headset VOIP for free and you can share your screen to me or your webcam if you like to show me your hardware. Think about it...... Link : https://discord.gg/99vHbK7

*************

About your Displays.
Mostly the Displays are not broke itself.... Badly in this chineese products the solderwork is verry poor for the 5x1 Pinheaders on the sides. In case we use them ourself and have many reports here i will say 30-50% maybe are not working when you unpack it after recive them from vendor..... BUT in 99% of cases we be able to repair this part by less then 5 minutes..... So it´s still recommend to use those cheap chineese MaxTubes. The only thing is you need some skills and the correct tools. Use the Solderiron with the thinnest tip you got.... You need a verry small drop of tin just from backside in the holes where the Pinheader is mounted. AND you must get sure your tindrops and also the existing solderwork from manifactur is not touch eachother.... so there is no short circuit. ( And get sure you not overheat th PCB..... Then the whole Maxtube is trash)

Do this for the LEFT side of Displays is enough if you use only 1 Display in a row..... If you plan with a "Daisy Chain" you also need to check the right Pins.

For Testing we figure out a good procedure: NOTE for all testings: If you change Hardware ( swap Displays) you must restart MEGA and Mobiflight! The Displays must always initialised by the Mega at Systemstart !

Use only one Display in a row and make a testing ground.... As i said best is a new arduiono with only one Device active ( But you can do also with your Mega)..... Use the TEST Button in Mobiflight Display Config tab and say TEST...STOP...TEST...STOP for maby 3-4 Times. If all work then show for example COM1 and turn the Virtual Button for some seconds also. ( You can touch the Display here.... Lift up lay down..... Just to confirm all wires are 100% fixed an perfect!
Make this test for ALL Displays you like to use.... So you confirm the LEFT Input Pins are fine!

If you plan for "Chain" then you also must test the RIGHT Pins.
Now Testinground is change..... Rework the Device setting in settings/Mobiflight Boards to NUM2 and Upload it ( restart of Mega and MF recommend)
Now wire 2 Displays to the Board.... TubeA direct on the Mega like before.... TubeB behind Tube A.
In Config you choose now the second Display in the Dropdown..... And you make the Testings from above again.
If it work then you know on TubeA also the Right side is perfect.
If it NOT work then TubeA Right Side is broke..... Cause you still know TubeB Leftside is fine from Testing above.... So Problem MUST be on Right side of Tube A
Finaly you also test all your other Boards.....
Important is.... The Board you like to test is always BoardA in the row.... And the BoardB must be still tested like in Step 1 so you know 100% thats Left Side is working fine already.

Summary: After that you can confirm ALL of your Boards have working In and Output Pins and Chips that working correct.

Last Note here:
We normaly use here "Green Tubes" .... Means Tubes with a green PCB cause those have the benefit to premount the Displays also instead of the "blue" PCB sort you use in the Video. There the Displays are solder.
Here is a example: https://www.amazon.de/OKY4087-1-display-3-3%C3%B75VDC-No-char8-OKYSTAR/dp/B07SN3VPL1/ref=sr_1_48?dchild=1&keywords=MAX7219&qid=1588221441&sr=8-48&swrs=6B80CF7D963B778CA185FB3801F89F2E
NOT order it there.... much to expensive..... This was just a exampel for you how the green sort looks like.


********************

About Input problem:
Here this is verry strange.
Badly we can not test this for you cause i swap to P3D some time ago and also Stephan no longer use FSX.
But we can try to do recommend workflows.

1. Please confirm you run Sim in Admin Mode

2. Please check if ALL of Your programms are UpToDate.
Sim itself ( latest Servicepack)
FSUIPC ( Newest Version for FSX)
Driver of your Mouse if you use a Advanced mouse and not only a 2 Button "oldschool" mouse from 1985.
Maybe also check if your Mouse in Windows Settings use a system like "Mouswheel moves 10 lines by one detent"

3. Confirm the Mouse Problem is only on SPD..... Maybe try Click instead Mousewheel there. And also check other Virtual Encoders like Radios.

4. Interesting factor.... Disconnect your Hardware Mega and NOT use Mobiflight..... Then Start Sim and turn the Virtual SPD Selector. Same Problem ??

*****************
Summary: If you like to solve this you must do the testing work here ( cause i can not). Hopefully we find the problem then.

Hello,

I must say I have given up on those screens. I tested as you said above and also tested them separately on an arduino leonardo i have. I used a basic test script to check if they work properly but unfortunately the same happens. It starts displaying well then all of a sudden this go mad.

I have resoldered every single pin on the board including the pins to the chip itself. No luck. I have ordered new screens from a different supplier.

1. Please confirm you run Sim in Admin Mode
I am logged on as the Administartor and that is the only account on that PC at the moment

2. Please check if ALL of Your programms are UpToDate.
Sim itself ( latest Servicepack)
FSUIPC ( Newest Version for FSX)
Driver of your Mouse if you use a Advanced mouse and not only a 2 Button "oldschool" mouse from 1985.
Maybe also check if your Mouse in Windows Settings use a system like "Mouswheel moves 10 lines by one detent"

Also all programs are up to date and running the latest version of windows 10 pro

3. Confirm the Mouse Problem is only on SPD..... Maybe try Click instead Mousewheel there. And also check other Virtual Encoders like Radios.

I actually used the mouse wheel to move the values. I might have said one mouse click but meant 1 turn of the mouse wheel .

4. Interesting factor.... Disconnect your Hardware Mega and NOT use Mobiflight..... Then Start Sim and turn the Virtual SPD Selector. Same Problem ??

With the arduino disconnected, There is no problems at all. 1 mouse wheel turn = 1 degree change on the sim.

Regards


Kaborex

OK

About Leonardo.... I hope you did your testing with a own written sketch or something else..... But NOT with Mobiflight. Cause MF not run on a leonardo stable.....
Only possible board for Mobiflight is a MEGA !

So... I not see your Displays. I can not tell you if they are broke or if you maybe broke them while your solder actions.
I personaly not have those problems..... Must resolder some Pins but after that all Displays work fine for me.

*******

About Encoders.

With the arduino disconnected, There is no problems at all. 1 mouse wheel turn = 1 degree change on the sim.

I can not understand this.....
Something is realy going wrong there.

Please confirm.... Do you have just a easy testing configuration with maby only one Input for the Encoder OR is this a complex file ?
If possible open a new file and just create 1 Config for that encoder.... Result the same ??


Basicly there should be no difference in SIM if you use Mousewheel..... Whatever Mobiflight is active or not.... Whatever Mega is connected or not.
That confusing me!

Hi all,

I have found the problem wit regards to the LED's. .... Basically there is nothing wrong with them. The problem all along was the usb power from my PC. I have swapped from the front to the rear usb supply and all the LEDs work. Even the one I experimented on, basically de-soldered everything to see if there were issues on the inside is working. I have soldered it back together.

I will now attempt to put one encoder at a time and see if they cause an issue with the power. Also this will tell us whether the encoders are the problem with regards to the values on the sim being different when using the mouse. I will report back. I have ammended my amazon rating for the seller of the LEDs.


Regards

Kaborex

I can confirm that as soon as the five pin encoders are brought into the system it all goes wrong. So I guess the lesson here is use the simplest encoder. I will be ordering new non powered ones and that should hopefully solve all my issues.


At the time I saw on this forum about buying the simple encoders it was too late I had already ordered the ky-40 ones.


Appologies if I sent you all on a wild goose chase but I get the thread will be helpful for a beginner in the future. I am sure I will have more questions soon.

Thanks everyone for helping out. Heli Mech also sent me in the right directions as he commented on my youtube video about power. that got me experimenting and sure enough it is a power issue.


regards

Kaborex

Hmmmm So we basicly can close this thematic.

In the past we still get roports about Power problems..... Mostly while use of bad USB Cables.
But in your case i not think about that.
Whatever..... The final fact that your mouse do something strange when board is selected is confusing already and in theory not possible !

About the Ky40 ..... We not recommend them normaly cause they are to much difficult and need 4 instead of 2 wires..... But basicly they should also work same way.

Finaly i got a last idea..... Can you tell me WHAT is the Element behind your Panel..... Looks like a PCB with a Aluminium Cooler and 2x2 wire connectors on each side.
If i see correct one side is wired to Arduino 5v and Grd. in video it was between MEGA and Testing Display maybe on half way.

Hello,

That is a basic power regulator. I use it because it supplies regulated power and no surges. It also has four to five pins for ground and 5volts out. The arduino only has 2. I noticed when using breadboard to test the connections were loose so decided to use this. So arduino supplies 5v and ground to it. I also tried feeding the power regulator with a 12v supply as it can take 7-12 volts and then supply 5v.

So it becomes like a distributor for grd and 5v

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B071VS43R5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also KNOW the KY-40 should work as it does on Karl's build as shown here at the 2 minute mark in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=132&v=rGHov5q-jpw&feature=emb_title

https://www.737diysim.com/videos

Perhaps the issue is the standard USB out on the computer is still not powerful enough to power everything. Karl did suggest to me that I should use a powered USB hub to powereverything. I will get one and try at some point.

The thing with the encoders is that last night, as soon as I connected them in the circuit the screens start the odd behaviour. This tells me that they are pulling power regardless if they are being turned or not. Maybe there is one that is shorted out. I might try one encoder at a time and see if they all do it.

Any suggestions as to a good basic rotary encoder as opposed to the ky-40?

How many pins do the basic ones have?

Regards

Kaborex

That element looks verry strange to me....
Maby Stephan can have a look on it..... For me it looks completly Wrong.

Whatever i not understand the Power Problem..... The USB Port allow you 500mA..... You need multiple Motors to reach this..... The 7 Seg not need much power.... also a standard LED workes with 10-20 mA.... In your Testing system (MCP) i will say its not possible to get a power problem in case it include just 3-5 SegTubes and maby 10-20 LED.
Also Your Encoders not need a high ammount of power.

Summary: I already will think its crazy that your hardware can create the issue with the 1/10 Problem on the SPD Virtual Encoder by Mouse . Thats mysterious. But i think the power regulator is a problem maby for your whole system..... I must do some research there.

Strangely the test last night was without the power regulator. I do not know if I can but will try and upload a picture below of how the power was arranged. I used a terminal block for common ground and Live as bread boards were a bit loose. I wanted stable connections.



Lets see if the picture works.

regards

Kaborex

Very happy to announce that since I swapped the USB source from the front of the PC to the back, I have now managed to get everything working including the KY-40 encoders. All this is getting power from one single USB port on the back of the PC. I have also ditched the power regulator and brought back the bread board and all is ok.

regards

Kaborex