MobiFlight Community Support

Hello,
i've made a lot of tests with mobiflight and it's an amazing tool

I'm stuck with a project i have : i bought this kind of light sign from a real plane : https://www.ebay.fr/itm/Original-Airbus-A320-No-Smoking-Fasten-Seatbelt-Sign-NS-FSB-LED-12V-mit-Netzteil/192565296020?_trkparms=aid%3D444000%26algo%3DSOI.DEFAULT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20170221122447%26meid%3D54970a2ae5ad49268b08a0d6201475b0%26pid%3D100752%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D192318957044%26itm%3D192565296020&_trksid=p2047675.c100752.m1982

i'd like to make them work with my sim : when i push no smoking switch on, light illuminate and the same with seat belt sign but i Don't see a way to do that with mobiflight because i can emulate the switch but not the result of the puching switch on

do you think it's possible?

Thanks!

Hi.

Nice Idea.... Never see a "No Smoking" Sign in a Sim Homecockpit till now.

About your Problem.

1.
I not see the internal diagramm of this Element. Pretty sure it have 2 LED. There is written 12V So this is the first Problem.
Arduino work with 5V . So you need a relais to controll a 12v circuit.... But Maby the LED inside is already Low Voltage.... So there is a big resistor inside.
Here STEPHAN can maby help you better like mine.... Maby you can resolder the Resistor and use a "smaller" one to run the LED with just 5V.

2.
They wrote in text ... " Es werden No Smoking und Fasten seatbelt gleichzeitig beleuchtet" That means both LED are illuminated same time.... In Picture just Seatbelt is lighted.... But I see also there are just TWO wires.... So a indipendend showing of the two functions is not possible i think.....
Here again.... We must see the internal system (wires, PCB logic ) to understand it. Maby you can rework it to wire both LED indipendend.

3.
Software: Here you just need a Offset. Do your AddOn Aircraft support it ? Or maby your Aircraft use the Standard Offsets for that (341C , 341D )

****
Summary..... Check your Element.... If Possible open it and understand the circuit. ... Check Voltage status of the LEDs .... Then you can think about a controll system.

It seems like pizman has already described it. Operated with 12V and converted to LED.

The easiest way would be to open the unit and look at the circuit. At 12V there should be a series resistor of 470 to 1000 ohms installed. That's enough for 5V to see that the LEDs work. The series resistor can then be reduced to approx. 330 ohms. The common lighting can be changed by disconnecting the lines and controlled individually. You should then use high brightness LED (consume less power). Remember to use a separate resistor for each LED in case of separation. With high brightness LED, the current can be reduced to 10 mA (also lower, if desired).
After adaptation to 5V, this unit should be operable without any problems with a home cockpit. Whether you do this with an offset or directly, is up to you.

Hi, thank you very much for your help

I've tried to disassemble the unit to see Inside, but impossible! the only thing i can see is the LED
But i've tried to wire directly to the Arduino and it works so i think there's no problem to let Arduino control the light

The unit is controled by 3 pole :
- left id the + of the smoking sign
- center is the ground
- right is the + of seat belt sign

i'll use 2 digital output to control it


The software i use is Jeehell A320, it works with fsuipc

I fact the real problem is i don't know how to configure a new offset (341C , 341D in my case), i Don't know what to write in offset, valuetype and mask value to be reconized by arduino
if i try with a preset (for exemple beacon light) light illuninates when i push on beacon light switch

Can you help me?

to complete my reply,

jeehell use different preset from fsuipc
in the PDF, offset is 78EE, lengh byte = 1 and seatbelt sign is 33
How integrate this in mobiflight?

Thanks

Hi....
Thats a bit tricky.

Jeehell got this Offset you said... But thats the INPUT Offset to controll the Switch (function) in the sim.
There is NO Offset you can readout the current situation of Smoking Light. or Seatbelt light
Maby there is a possible way to read it via SIOC Scripts (and transfer it to a offset) but thats a bit difficult and uncomfortable.... Whatever if you need the SIOC Bridge already for other things (Like VHF3 Radio) then you can simply include it cause you need to build it already !

Alternate Solutions:

1. You can read and check the 2 Offsets i told you in last posting. Maby Jeehell will controll the FSX Internal System via this offsets. If yes you can read them in Mobiflight for your LED.... Simply Read the Offsets and toggle the virtual switches.... Check if Offset is swapping between 0 and 1

2. Improvisional solution.
Do you know how this switches in Airbus workes ???
Pretty sure OFF means NO Light.... ON Means Light is ON.... But what means "AUTO" ?? Does for example AUTO menas that signs are ON always when Flaps are not Up ? Or means AUTO that lights are always On aslong Engine is running ? or maby if Flightlevel is below xxx feat ??

If you can define this AUTO Situation we can simply build a selfmade Config that will "simmulate" the situation 1:1 (without reading a real offset)

3. External Solution. Without SIm Controll
You can finaly controll the Lights directly with a switch (External of Mobiflight) In that case the Simulated Jeehell Signs are never controlled....
You simply say here... If Switch is in AUTO or ON Position then LED is powerd.... If its Off then its not Powerd.
Problem here.... The function is not controlled in Sim.... If its needed (for example for a automatic Checklist in EICAS) then it is problematic.

4. Combine External/Internal Solution,
In that Case you work with a 2 Pole Switch.... One Pole will directly controll your LED.... The Other Pole will Controll the Input to Jeehell.
Now Jeehell Internal Signs are 100% Correct controlled... And Also your LED is working.
In Point 3 and 4 the only problem is that AUTO is not simmulated and is working same like ON .

Think about that... If you need help finaly request here pls.

Hi great answer thank you!
I had a feeling that it's more tricky than put the offset because i tried all possibilities and it doesn't work!
but as i said, i tried with the beacon light switch preset, and when i push beacon light to on, my LED illuninates so i think i can be possible to do this for the seat belt and no smiking signs switches?

As i have not the overhead (for the moment…! ), so i can not choose the external solution. So i think the best solution for me is the number 1.
I'd like to read the offset off the switch position and adapt the light

I saw in the FCOM that the AUTO position of the no smoking light switch is to illuninates the Exit signs depending on the gear position. but no smoking light is ON whatever the switch is in AUTO or ON position so it simplifies the game!

so when :
seat belt switch is OFF -> LED OFF
seat belt switch is ON -> LED ON

no smoking switch is OFF -> LED OFF
no smoking switch is AUTO -> LED ON
no smoking switch is ON -> LED ON

You think a preset can be done for that?

Ok...
Then solution is nr 1 ( If Sioc give you the data) or nr 2 if not.

As i said it is not possible to readout the jeehell Switch Position directly.
So... Check the SIOC technic... And then use the switch position for your led confgs.

If not pssible you need 2 Custom Offsets !

In that case you duplicate your Input Configs..... So Every switch got TWO Input Configs.
The first config controll the Jeehell function like you do already at the moment,
The second Config behind will write a custom offset ( For example 66C0 1 Byte) to a number. ... for Example OFF Position write 0... AUTO and ON write to 1
Then you use THIS Custom Offset in Your LED Config....
If you now turn the switch for example to On then the fist config execute the command to Jeehell.... The second config write the CustomOffset to 1 and illuminate your LED.

Last Note: On Systemstart these custom Offsets are "0" Always.... So it will be synchrone only if you use it first time after Start of simulator.
To get a good feeling the Signs should be in OFF Position before you startup your Flightsim.

Thank you for your reply

I Don't know SIOC, but if i want to go this way i'll need a specific card (like opencockpit cards) or i'll be able to use my Arduino card with mobiflight?

The custom offset could be a good solution, but i've not the overhead panel so i Don't have a physical switch to config an input on mobiflight...
for the moment i use the overhead panel with a tactile screen
so i think this solution is not possible!

I thought this will be a simple project, but maybe i'll use this stuff as a decoration!

Hello Pizman!

i tried today the custom offset solution with a switch and it works perfectly!
now i know what to do when i'll mount my overhead!
thanks a lot!

Shortly about SIOC.

In our situation Jeehell FMGS got a plugIn for FSUIPC (We use with MF) but this not include all things.... This is verry poor, badly.
And it also have a PlugIn for SIOC.... Here i think 100% of functions are available.
This is, cause FSUIPC give Jeehell just a verry short range of Offsets.... For SIOC no offsets are needed so Jeehell can support much more (all) stuff instead of FSUIPC.

About your Question:
Your right. Basicly SIOC is the alternate to Mobiflight and work with IO Cards from Open Cockpit (Not with Arduino)
BUT
SIOC is basicly a script language....So you can do lots of things there.

And one thing is you can Read for example data from Sim ( Like Status of Seatbelt Switch) .... But now you not controll a Device on a OpenCockpit Card.... You say you like to write this information to a FSUIPC Offset of your Choice.
Reverse you can Read a FSUIPC Offset via SIOC and you then can make a Input command direct to jeehell.... For Functions that have no FSUIPC offset for example.

In that case SIOC is basicly just a "compiler" .... Jeehell --> SIOC ---> FSUIPC ----> Mobiflight ..... And Backwards for Inputs !