survey - home cockpits

Interested in building your own home grown cockpit?

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Sam66
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survey - home cockpits

Post by Sam66 » Thu Jan 09, 2020 4:20 pm

Hi all,

I am in the process of using Condors (v2) UDP data to make a basic home cockpit,

I have succesfully collected the UDP output via a simple C# program and converted that data to a serial output on which an arduino card is connected.
That arduino can steer instruments. For now that is altimeter, vario and speed.
For input I just use a joystick and throttle. Next on my list is to connect XCSOAr as the glider computer.

I was curious if and how others have made theire homecockpits.
- Do you use real instruments? Or do you use a monitor on which you project the Condor instruments? Did you perhaps make your own sets?
- Is a VR-setup more useful than investing in the hardware and effort ?
- Do you have links to other examples?
- I am also curious if clubs use simulators for training?

please let me know what your thoughts are.
Greetings,
Sam

sisu1a
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Re: survey - home cockpits

Post by sisu1a » Thu Jan 09, 2020 4:56 pm

Have a cockpit that replicates the seating and kinematics of a typical modern sailplane and hot rodded my msffii to have a full length stick and glider grip and runs at 200% the stock torque. I use VR, so as long as the reaches and ranges of motion are good then it's extremely immersing. Chased triple screens etc until the tech was ripe but VR blows traditional screen/instrument approaches out of the water imo... it's basically the holy grail for sim flying

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wickid
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Re: survey - home cockpits

Post by wickid » Thu Jan 09, 2020 5:54 pm

Sam66 wrote:
Thu Jan 09, 2020 4:20 pm

- Do you use real instruments? Or do you use a monitor on which you project the Condor instruments? Did you perhaps make your own sets?
I use a 13 and a 14 inch screen for my instruments running FCIS.
- Is a VR-setup more useful than investing in the hardware and effort ?
It is certainly cheaper. But a real cockpit has some advantages. Our cockpit has the exact layout of the real ASK21 so we can pretty much do complete lessons in it. We use 3 beamers to get a 210 degree visual (basically wingtip to wingtip).
- I am also curious if clubs use simulators for training?
Yes we do. 3 evening courses for new students ahead of the season start to train:

- Checklists
- Straight and level flight and trimming
- Demonstrating the effect and side effects of the controls
- Basic turns

After that they can pretty much already fly the real plane which saves a lot of lessons at the start of the season when the weather isn't that great for longer flights to train the basics. They pretty much get straight into training starts and landings.

We also use it to introduce more advanced students to the aerotow procedures and if somebody has trouble with specific areas of flying we can do extra training in the sim. It is also used for fun by member kids who are too young to fly in real life. We also use it for promotions and guest experiences in combination with a real flight.

Some pics:

Image

Image
PH-1504, KOE

Sam66
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Re: survey - home cockpits

Post by Sam66 » Fri Jan 10, 2020 8:22 pm

Thanks for info. Nice setup Wiek! Good to hear you actually use a flightsim in training. And yes, I will think about the VR.

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dePeel
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Location: Kevelaer, Germany (But Dutch)

Re: survey - home cockpits

Post by dePeel » Wed Jan 15, 2020 8:49 am

Hi Sam (all),

I had exactly the same idea and started a few days ago with what you maybe already finished?

I need to use Condor v2 with Simkits instruments because they are already there. Since the support from Simkits as well as from Condor on this matter "leaves some space", to say at the least (nothing, not even an answer), I came to the same conclusion and want to exchange the electronics of the Simkits with Arduino.
But you are way ahead of me, as it seems. I only just now finished the C# part and cannot wait for the Arduino's to be delivered.
Maybe you are willing to share your efforts? I am very interested in the details, specially how you converted to serial data.

To answer at least your last question:
Yes, it is a sim for a gliding club that I am working on and we want to use this sim for (initial) club training.

Cheers!
Piet

Sam66
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Re: survey - home cockpits

Post by Sam66 » Wed Jan 15, 2020 8:34 pm

Hoi Piet,

Sure I can share my efforts!
please send me a pm and we can set something up.

Greetings,
"Sam"

MrHerisson
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Re: survey - home cockpits

Post by MrHerisson » Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:27 am

Wow, this looks great...just need a motion platform now.....

Btw: Regarding the pics.....if you press CTRL + F1 in Condor, you can get a view without the instruments....since you already have them in front of you...makes it even more realistic.
Image

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wickid
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Re: survey - home cockpits

Post by wickid » Thu Jan 16, 2020 10:51 am

MrHerisson wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 9:27 am
Wow, this looks great...just need a motion platform now.....

Btw: Regarding the pics.....if you press CTRL + F1 in Condor, you can get a view without the instruments....since you already have them in front of you...makes it even more realistic.
I know, but it also takes away the wingtips which is useful for teaching and aerobatics practice.

You can also switch the cockpit off by default. There is an ini file in one of the folders to set the default cockpit view on startup (cockpit, yawstring only or nothing at all)
PH-1504, KOE

Sam66
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Re: survey - home cockpits

Post by Sam66 » Thu Jan 16, 2020 11:56 am

Hey Wiek,
I tried the Free Condor Instruments as that seems the most easy way to make a panel.
unfortnunatly it will not run on my pc (exception error) and I can not find a solution. It wont run on my laptop either.

Anyone had this problem and solved it? I would be happy to know how.

@Piet: As for my Arduino route.. It is a steep learning curve with a lot of questions still not figured out. i will gladly share my efforts, but it is all still very much in prototyping mode. Still lots of unsolved error's.

Greetings!
"Sam"

vnks
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Re: survey - home cockpits

Post by vnks » Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:38 pm

sisu1a wrote:
Thu Jan 09, 2020 4:56 pm
Have a cockpit that replicates the seating and kinematics of a typical modern sailplane and hot rodded my msffii to have a full length stick and glider grip and runs at 200% the stock torque. I use VR, so as long as the reaches and ranges of motion are good then it's extremely immersing. Chased triple screens etc until the tech was ripe but VR blows traditional screen/instrument approaches out of the water imo... it's basically the holy grail for sim flying
Hi,

Can you share a bit more details about the cockpit, especially the "kinematics" part? I'm somewhat interested in getting a more realistic setup with VR, but I could never understand how the various leaning rigs help with immersion. When a real aircraft is in a coordinated turn, the "gravity" vector is still aligned with the vertical axis of your body. In a simulated cockpit which banks during turns, the gravity vector is going to keep pointing to the ground, which is not going to feel right. What is it about your setup that helps with immersion?

echofive
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Re: survey - home cockpits

Post by echofive » Wed Feb 05, 2020 6:55 am

I can give you my opinion about VR vs monitors/projectors.
For an experienced pilot using it for fun the VR is impressive for sure.
But for an instructor to be explaining stuff to a student the VR is useless.
It has also been suggested that with the monitors it is unhelpful to have tandem seating for the instructor. Side-by-side is better because the instructor is then more able to point to things of interest in the view.

benkog
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Re: survey - home cockpits

Post by benkog » Sun Feb 09, 2020 2:29 pm

Dear All,

after some attempts, this year's project is building a new cockpit for Condor v2. My problem is the gauges, I have Saitek Instrument panels from my previous rig, but unfortunately won't works with Condor, Free Instruments too. There's another solution, simplugin's Panel Builder, but i would like gauges with needles. Beacuse I haven't any opportunity to build gauges with Arduino and stepping motors, I looking for ready-to-use solution.
Somebody have any idea or advice? Thanks in advance.

BenkoG (HA-BEN)
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pckormic
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Re: survey - home cockpits

Post by pckormic » Mon Feb 10, 2020 8:39 pm

VR goolges, like Rift or Rift S.

You only need the Rift with an Pc with a gtx 1060 nvidia graphic card(if you use a laptop you don´t need a monitor), joystick, throttle and a rudder pedals. A cero gravity beach chair would suit more or less the glider position...
Image

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