MobiFlight Community Support

Hello, did any of you buy the Loungepilot circuit board and then work successfully with it? I would be interested to know how you operate it with Mobiflight.
Especially when it comes to controlling the displays, I have my difficulties.
Would be great if someone could help.

Hi

Best way here is Discord !
Cause you have no specific question.... You need guidance. And here a Voice seasson or a privat Chat is better like this forum comunication with many delay time.

By the way.... Also the creator of LoungePilot is on our Discord. So you/we can ask him if there are problematic points !

Hi Steffen,

which board did you purchased exactly?

I got one 4-digit module in red (https://www.loungepilot.com/products/max7219-4-digit-display?variant=41778806980776), connected it to my Mega and made the config.
Everything was working at once without any problems (beside the fact that i wanted some tricky things, but they were fixed with some fancy config stuff in MF).

So, is your problem with the module?

Kai

Ja ich denke schon Ich hatte Kontakt zu Kevin von Loungepilot und er meinte das es wahrscheinlich die Software auf dem Board ist da ja mobiflight ein neues Realis raus gebracht hat. Also soll ich nach seiner Meinung eine neue Firmware auf die beiden Boarde spielen und sehen was passiert. Ich habe nur drei von den dreier Displays ( erst mal) gekauft um zu sehen wie das geht. Aber ich würde mich freuen wenn wir diesbezüglich in Verbindung bleiben.

Holyl Crap !
Was für eine Aussage.

Der Kollege baut Boards und verkauft sie als MF Kompatibel..... Und dann sagt er "Probiert mal die neue Firmware"

Ich kenne die Boards nicht selbst.... Und ich hoffe bei dem Preis wird er euch/mir eine Shematic geben.
Grundsätzlich wenn er sauber gearbeitet hat sollte ein Update von MF da keinerlei Probleme machen.
Unsere Neue Versionen sind IMMER Abärtskompatibel.

Gerne biete ich euch an.... Einfach auf Discord bei mir melden ( MI und DO Abend ist immer gut)
Dann schauen wir mal wo es bei euch hackt.... Und lösen das zusammen !

Also ich habe heute MF und die Boards aktualisiert und bei mir funktioniert alles nach wie vor einwandfrei.

Demzufolge bezweifele ich, dass die Probleme mit MF und oder dem Modul von LP an sich zu tun haben.

Es könnte vielleicht die Länge der Verbindung zwischen Mega und dem Modul sein.

Danke erst mal für die schnelle Antwort ich werde es die nächsten Tage noch mal probieren und berichten im Moment bin ich beruflich etwas eingespannt also wird es nächste Woche erst was werde. Ich werde euch berichten.

Hi Pizman,

We fully support our customers and provide 100% service. We have customers around the world using our board and we have only ever experienced one hardware issue. We shipped a brand new board, including Mega's completely free of charge at no cost and that customer is now very happy with their purchase.

A little dissappointed in how you have commented.

Thank you,
Kev.

@LoungePilot

I´m sorry for this comment.
I´m not informed about the whole situation.
I just was verry confused about the statement ( the user quoted to us) that you say "Try to flash firmware, and see what happen"

If you commercial sell those boards to other users ( in my opinion) its your job to be the first user who testout a new version of MF ( Maybe get in contact to Sebastian so you get access to new versiones like the MF Supporter team a little prior it get availabnel for all others)

So ....I think if a new version is out, you need to take care about the behaviour.... E.g. if the system still work with the old Firmware or if you like to recommend to your users to work with the new one.
If there is a Problem ( hypothetical if MF would permit to use Pins 1-9 for Buttons) then its Your work to test this and to think about a solution for your customers.

In my opinion.... If something is freeware, i not need to help someone or need to do something....
But at the moment when i ask for money ( for a product or a service e.g.) i need to take care about it.

***************
Please accept my apollogy for my comment if this was not your fault ( and user did something wrong)..... For me it jsut sounds, like you sell your boards, but not make the support and simple say "Install new firmware or request for help on MF Forums if something is wrong"
Pretty sure just a missunderstanding or bad communications !

Last note:
If you like get in contact to me ( or the MF team) on Discord...
If we would know your system ( e.g. a datasheet or a shematic) then we can pretty easy also do suport to users who use your panels.
A.t.m its difficult to help somebody without know e.g. what pisn you use, or if LED are Common Cathode or Common Andoe for example
I not like to copy your idea and earn money with it.... I just looking forward to understand it so i can help other people who struggle !

Hi Pizman,

Apology accepted, thank you. I will give a little background for you, we upload firmware and test every board prior to shipping. Shortly after shipping this order and prior to the customer receiving it there was a new firmware release. The customer received the board and advised us that when connected the Mega's were not recognised. We did advise the customer to try uploading the firmware again, using eeprom clear first. Now, we recently had another customer who had an issue with the boards being recognised and then not recognised! After working with that customer we decided that maybe there is a defect on the board or the Mega's so we prepared a new shipment of board and Mega's. This customer had also asked us to design a special .28 display specifically for him and we had done that. We shipped the new board, Mega's and his displays completely free of charge. We since learned that the serial ports get blocked by Cura and this is most likely the cause of this customers issue as he did a lot of 3D printing. When this customer received his new board everything was perfect, but when he ran the log he could see a value on one analog input even though there was nothing connected to the pin. Same situation, firmware loaded prior to shipping and then a new firmware was released. This customer used eeprom clear, uploaded the new firmware release and run logging again, the value on the analog input was gone and everything normal which we found very strange. We didn't charge this customer anything for the replacements or his custom displays which is a reflection on the level of service we provide to our customers. Sorry long story but we wanted to show you our level of commitment to our customers. Back to Steffen's issue, after we asked for the firmware to be uploaded again we realised this is most likely due to USB CH340 drivers not being installed and sent a "how to" link to follow. We think the issue is now with displays and have asked for more information. We suspect that 5v external supply is missing and is required for the displays and have advised accordingly. We are awaiting more info. I hope you can see now that we don't just ship and forget, we test every component prior to shipping, even our displays are individually tested, we take care of all our customers giving 110% we are proud of our products and want our customers to be confident in the products they buy and the level of aftersales service we give.

Thank you, Kev.

With this point of view now i will apollogy once again! I not know about this fantastic policy and service ! Impressive

I recommend to make a short "Hod to Do" Manual to the user so he is guided to download the newest Mobiflight via our Homepage.
Without change anything this new VErsion should have AutoUpload enabled...
(maybe also make a note to check in settings tab if AutoUpdate is ON)
THEN it should be no problem and MF would check in first Run the Firmware and will offer a Update.
(Also inform the user about this situation so he is not scarred about that popup and allow the Update !)

And as you say.... Also include in your Quickguide a Link to the CH340 Drivers ( If you use those Megas)
EDIT: And finally a short tutorial to make a EEPROM Clear is always a good idea !

About Power usage:
I not know the used LCD Display and not know what additional stuff is on your Boards ( or what is possible to use on the boards in users choice.
Already some Chained Max7219 can be critical.... Also 30LED ( 20mA each) already overdrive the 500mA Limit of USB.
I not know if you still have a 5V Input for a external Supply ( You maybe also include in your products already).
So sure.... For bigger PCB Designs with a lot of devices.... Its good to think about a External Power System already on the PCB !


Thanks again for your reply. Looking forward to talk in the future on Discord !

Hello, i am the customer who got a brand new board from Kevin. Wonderfull service and always available. I had some issues ( with the old bord) with recognizing the boards in MF . The new board works very good. Also the displays are very good. It seems there was maybe an issue with Cura interfeering with the USB. Actually as a precaution i now do not load both at the same time into the memory of the computer. Possibly also the old board will work fine with this restriction.

To be fair, the issues with connected 3D-printers are not new and maybe worth to mention on the starting page of MF?

In the most customer 3D printers is a Mega as controller and could block the auto discover of MF.
This is not a bug of MF but of the printers firmware.

I advise everybody, either run your 3D printer "offline" via SD-Card ( ) or get a cheap Raspberry and install OctoPrint on it. Then you can connect to your printer with a nice Gui almost from everywhere on the world ( ).

Kai

Its a unexpected Situation that we get trouble with those 3D Printers.
Bot in my opinion this is a special case.

1. In the final building most of the users have a own Computer for the FlightSim. Designed in a perfect way ( e.g. multi GPU).
So regulary after the testing and building process there is no need to run something else on this computer except the Sim and the Homecockpit.
So no longer a need to handle the 3D Printer on it.

2. 3D Printing is a sensible process. Same like burn a CD in the past.
So why not simply disconnect the USB from the Printer when its not in use.... And otherwise simply not run any other application when 3D Print is in progress.
Or much more easy.... 3D Printer Computer side not need to be "strong" . Simply buy a 20$ old Computer on Ebay and use it as a own 3D Print Station.


I know... Its not a good solution to remain a issue and just avoid it instead of solve it.
But in that case its pretty easy to not get in conflict if you just use once at a time.... 3DPrint OR Mobiflight !

I only brought this up, as i could remember that there were 2 or 3 posts here were the "solution" was: unplug the Printer.

Therefore i made my Print "autarc" by spending it a dedicated small Rasp and no old Notebook or so.

If anyone wants to have more information about this, although it has nothing to do with MF, just give me a wink and we will connect "outside".