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A HUGE Thank You to everyone who participated in the forum, especially obviously to Pizman and Stephan who did an outstanding job over so many years providing an incredible service to the MobiFlight community.

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sok5
Posts: 2
Could use some help getting stepper motors set up for gauges in msf 2020. I have everything setup with mobiflight, mega 2560 board, and have everything connected correctly. I built the gauges and am kind of mocking things up and am having troubles(headaches) getting them calibrated with what is showing on in the flight sim itself. My plane of choice is the Barron g58, and working with the rpm gauges to start to learn what to do. I have searched the forum for someone that would have same questions, but cannot find a similar topic. I am not new to the flight sim, just want to make a panel like alot of others have done. I`ve tried Youtube and found some info generally, but not specific to my issue. Appreciate any help to help get over this bump. Thanks.
2022-02-08 00:24
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pizman82
Moderator
From: ETSI, Germany
Posts: 6010
Supporter
Hi...

At first.... Define if your Gauge is a Multi rotation system (e.g. Altimeter) or a Fixed Range (like a Temperature Gauge from 0-100°C )

For Multiroation we need not to define a area... Cause we use the whole 360° (multiple times)

For Fixed Range we mostly need to "reduce" the Range .... E.g. if a Gauge only work from 0 (12 o Clock) till 270 (9 o Clock)
Here we need to reduce e.g. Range to 270° ..... Mostly done by reducing the "Stepper" Value.

How we handle this....

1. Define your Stepper.
Use in "Stepper" Field the Value 2048 ...... Use in SIM Field the Value 1000 ( stock state normaly)
Then Use in TEST field the value "1000" ..... And Press TEST

If the Stepper turn exactly 360° .... then you know you have a standard 2048 Stepper.
If Not.... You need to rework the "Stepper" Value..... E.g. if your Gauge only turn 180° then you pretty sure have a 4096 Stepper!
Maybe the Value is fully different.... In case of the used Gear in the Motor.....
So Important is YOU must find out what stepper you got!.

2. Define Range.... Lets say you have a 2048 Stepper..... But your Gauge only have a range of 180° ( e.g. from 9 -3 o clcok while 9 is Zero)
In that case .... 180° is the half of 360 ..... So 2048/2=1024
If you use in the stepper field "1024" now then your Gauge will only turn 180° instead of 360!

3. Define Sim Range ..... If Offset/Variable show a value of 0-990 ( and 0 means gauge in Zero..... 990 means Gauge in most Right Position)
then set in the SIM Field "990" .
So we tell ste motor : " A Increase of Sim Value 990 should occure in a run of 1024 Steps on the motor! "

4. Adjust Value if Gauge is NOT Linear.... E.g. The Flaps Gauge in a B737 .
HEre the Interpolation System is used..... And for better usage we mostly work here with a SIM Value of 3600 in the Motor Setting.
3600 cause a Circle got 360° ( or 3600 1/10 Degrees) .
Means we can pretty easy say e.g. "Flaps 0 = 0° ..... Flaps 5 is 12° ..... Flaps 15 = 18° ...... Flaps 30 = 50° and so on"
So we can define a own scale!

I hope this was the first input you need.
Ask if you have more specific Questions !
Good Luck !
2022-02-08 02:44
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sok5
Posts: 2
It turns out I have the standard 2048 stepper. My problems were in the interpolation area, but after a lot of plugging in numbers and seeing the effect I think I have it figured out. When I tested my rpm gauges and compared them to what was on the screen in the simulator they were pretty darn close, might do a little more tweaking. Now I can work on the next set of gauges and hopefully will be a little less stressful, sometimes my patience gets the best of me. Thank You very much for the fast response to my question/issue.
2022-02-08 23:00
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pizman82
Moderator
From: ETSI, Germany
Posts: 6010
Supporter
Nice it workes and you going forward...

I just wonderung why you talk about Interpolation within the RPM Gauge.
All RPM Gauges i know until now are LINEAR.... So Interpolation is not needed !

For example:



The Distance of 5-10 is the same like 20-25 .... So it´s "linear" .
Means we can use the Raw Value directly.

Interpolation is only need for Non- Linear Gauges like this....


Here for example the distance of 1-2 is much bigger like from 30-40 ..... So motor must turn more distance by increase +1 from 1-2 as increase from 30-40 (+10)
Thats non linear and interpolation is needed !
Good Luck !
2022-02-08 23:57
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