MobiFlight Community Support

Hello
Can someone show me how to connect 5 rotary encoders to the Arduino mega to use with MobiFlight? I would like to use them to set CRS, IAS, HDG, ALT and VS
I can not find schematic anywhere
Best regards from Poland

Hi marmar,

welcome to MobiFlight.
To answer your question we have to know which simulator you use, which type of aircraft (standard or i.e. PMDG or P3D...).
The answer is depending on your konfiguration.
Till now we can only determine that you want to built a MCP.

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

Hi MarMar
Welcome to Mobiflight.... Hello to Poland !

Setting of 5 Rotary Encoders is no Problem.


Mobiflight supports this as a OWN device.
Your Rotary got 3 Pins. ( A,B and Ground). Connect GRD of all 5 Encoders to ONE Arduino Mega. Connect each A and B Cable to each 2 Pins in the Mega.

Example shematic:
Encoder 1 : A Cable to PIN 10 B Cable to Pin 11
Encoder 2: A Cable to Pin 12 B Cable to Pin 13
Encoder 3 A Cable to Pin 14 B Cable to Pin 15
and so on.

In Device Settings Tab of Mobiflight create " New Device" Use Typ "Encoder" and Input for the Both Lines witch Pins you use.
Do the same for the other 4 Encoders and SAVE this Config to the Board ( PLEASE Look the Tutorial for Parking Brake..... I Know there was used a Button not a encoder...... but there you see the basic workflow)


AFTER THAT:
Now you need to make Configs for youre Encoders...... As Stephan told, Here you need to know what Aircraft you use. AddOns like PMDG use other System like Standard Cessna for example.
Please try out. If you got problems still request for further help here !

Thank you very much for your answer.
I use unfortunately 737 default FSX and 737 PMDG
Also I ve got 2 kinds of encoders. Which will be better ??


KY-040 https://circuitdigest.com/sites/default/files/inlineimages/Rotary-Encoder.jpg
OR
EC11 https://photos05.redcart.pl/templates/images/thumb/995/800/800/pl/0/templates/images/products/995/eedd7b5d8a00a802c3fae022fc43a0ac.jpg

Best regards

LOOK UP !

For PMDG you need a different Logic !...... Hardware is the same but Configs are different. PMDG work with EventID instead of Offsets !
So not be supprised youre config that work in Stock B73 will NOT WORK in youre PMDG !

To Encoders....

Both should work fine in Mobiflight.
The First need a additional 5v cable to run ( Old Arduino technics). We talk about this lots of times here in forum (use search engine)

Myself i use the Alps https://www.reichelt.de/Drehimpulsgeber/STEC12E07/3/index.html?ACTION=3&LA=2&ARTICLE=73922&GROUPID=3714&artnr=STEC12E07&SEARCH=%252A

Arguments :
-Metal Encoders are mostly hard to hack! If you need a hole through the shaft for mounting a double layer plastic ones are better.
-The KY040 always is set on the PCB. Maby a problem if you got less space in your element.
-At Last Look for the Impulse/Detent System..... Mobiflight workes better if this is 1:1 (Like 24 Detents 24 Signals) For Example a 15/30 Encoder occures in a situation that only every 2nd Detent will be send to Mobiflight and you have tu turn always double time to get a input !

hello...If the leads you are showing belong to the encoder, I would guess that the red and black leads are +5V and ground, respectively, while green and white could be the A and B output lines or pulse and index mark.
If you got it for free and can't find any info, the only way to know is to power it up and see what signals appear on the green and white wires when you spin the shaft. You might need 10K pullup resistors to +5V on the green and white wires to see a signal. An oscilloscope would be very helpful.

pcb manufacturing assembly

Hi AndyFrew,

welcome to Mobiflight!

With Mobiflight you didn't need any pullup resistors because the Mobiflight firmware uses the built-in function of the MEGA to use any input with a (built-in) pullup resistor.

Instead of a oscilloscope you also can use normal LEDs to see how an encoder works (spin slowly!)