hugopeeters

Hi Nicole,Tinytronics is a local website I used to get my parts. There are different websites offering these parts in the USA. A quick google results in this overview: https://www.build-electronic-circuits.com/buy-elec...AliExpress also has a lot of these parts, but shipping will take much more time. You can also copy/paste the name of the component into Google and find online shops. Good luck!Hugo

Wow! You made it and improved it I see! Great job and I also hope KSP2 comes soon. Fly safe and enjoy!

I didn't. Mine also dims when you turn the joystick too far. I expect it will be solvable by putting a 100 Ohm resistor in series with the joystick, so on one of the two leads that control that axis. Makes no difference which side. Your min/max/mid values for that axis will become different, so adjust the Arduino code accordingly.

Yes, the resistance is becoming too low, so all the current flows through this path instead of other paths. Adding a resistor in serial might solve this.

I wish you a lot of joy and perseverance. If you need help, let me know.

The faceplate should be 300mm by 200mm. The file for the box contains a 10mm by 10mm red square for resizing.

Wow, that’s looking slick! Fantastic job TabbHonmin!

monopropellant

Looks really cool!

For your LCD, check the manual for that type of LCD and update the LCD.ino file accordingly.For the LED bar graphs: it looks sensible at first glance, but you can easily check it by setting some fixed values in the code and seeing which LEDs light up.

That is awesome! Great finish on the top panel. Thanks so much for sharing your build.

I’d guess the majority of the resistors are 380’s. I don’t expect a great lifespan from cheap Chinese parts. Not sure how the current affects it. Thanks for letting me know about your build. I love hearing about people building it.

Yep, that’s it. I guess you need to multiply the value by two and subtract one.

Sure, just comment out (or remove) the line that says:send_control_packet();Then you are only receiving data and not interfering with any controlling you do from a different arduino, joystick or keyboard/mouse.

Are you on Windows 10? I forked KSPSerialIO from PHardy and at that time he didn't support Win10 yet. You might have better luck using Zitron's version, which is Windows-only.

Did you change the config file of the KSPSerialIO plugin to list the right port where the arduino is connected?

The code should work on Win10 and Macos.To troubleshoot, start simple. Do the LED's turn on when you connect one end to 5V and the other end to ground via a resistor (for example 380 Ohm)?

Very cool, thanks!

That looks correct! Great job deciphering that :DI'd check the connections and troubleshoot the physical components if you have some spares.

Very good.

To troubleshoot, you can try sending a simple pattern of bits from your Arduino code. For example, start by setting inputBytes[0] to 1 and the rest to 0, then increment by multiplying by 2, spilling over into inputBytes[1] when you reach 256, etc. Then you should see 1 LED on, others off, walking up the BARs.Next, try setting powOX, powEL, etc to 1 and incrementing slowly each loop. Then you should see all BARs slowly rise.

I did not have to add resistors. You should check the raw value you get at each extreme of the slider and adjust the code to match 0 and 100 percent to those values.

Yes, I did. I just started on a breadboard with all 380 Ohm resistors. Some LEDs appeared much brighter than the rest, so I gave them higher value resistors until they seemed to match. Then I soldered everything onto some protoboard.

Just start with a breadboard and some Arduino tutorials and you’ll do fine. The risk of frying one is very low in my experience.

Oeh, exciting! I would go with the Mega, for the number of analog inputs. I think you'd come up one short with the Uno. 2 x 3-axis + throtthle slider = 7 analog inputs required.I tried to explain the wiring per component in steps 6 and beyond. I don't have an overview of all the wiring. You can adjust the Arduino code if you attach components on different pins than I did.

At least we are making some progress! Do you have a way to debug? Like sending text to a second serial interface? Then you can add some serial.print() statements and figure out which part of the if-statement you end up in. It might be a timing issue. Maybe the arduino takes longer to run the loop once than your button press? Does it matter how long you keep the button down?

Another update. After some back and forth with zitron on GitHub, and some thought experiments, I have modified the plugin and uploaded it again here https://github.com/hugopeeters/KSPserialIO-fixForT...No need to check for previous state (rel in your code), you can simply send the button state each loop. The plugin handles the looking for changes. Just send the button state like this:MainControls(RCS, !digitalRead(RCSPIN));

I have time tomorrow to do some testing. It's become a matter of personal pride to get this working.

I got something compiled.... Try this: https://github.com/hugopeeters/KSPserialIO-fixForT...Unpack the zip file in your GameData folder and keep your fingers crossed...

LOL. Because now the plugin always follows the arduino, you can control everything in your arduino code. So I think you can fix this by keeping track of the previous value returned from the plugin as well as keeping track of the previous value of the button. On every cycle of the arduino, you send either a HIGH or LOW to the RCS setting. Assuming you never click the mouse and push the button at exactly the same time, you can first check to see if the setting received from the game has changed and then check to see if the button was pressed.

AH, you are correct. Now that I reread your code, I see it is the same. Weird.You should try to debug to see what is returned by ControlStatus(AGRCS) once you have clicked it with the mouse.

Changed settings. Please try again.

Just tell the manufacturer that the width is 300 mm (please double-check my number or use another known dimension). They can scale the rest accordingly.

Sorry for the late reply. I understand that is the hardest part. I messed up the wiring in a few places and adjusted for that in my code. You will have to adjust the code a bit to your own cabling. Let me know what exactly you need help with and I'll try to explain better.

Really?! Great find, thank you for sharing! Fly safe.

Every joystick will have slightly different resistance values and deadspace. You need to tweak the numbers in the define_controlpacket.ino file. For example:if(analogRead(pRX) >= 530){CPacket.Yaw = constrain(map(analogRead(pRX),1023,530,-1000,0),-1000,0);} else if(analogRead(pRX) <= 470){CPacket.Yaw = constrain(map(analogRead(pRX),470,0,0,1000),0,1000);} else {CPacket.Yaw = 0;}This indicates my values on this axis center around 500 and I added 30 plus and minus as dead space, because it jitters between 470 and 530.

That's cool! Step 6 has info on wiring individual buttons and switches. When wiring multiple, you can daisy-chain all the ground connections together to limit the cable mess.

Hi Carl, thanks for the compliments! If you are unsure of the wiring of a button or switch, I woudl recommend you start with a simple new Arduino sketch like this: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-arduino-lesson... If you follow this example, the final part talks about using the Serial Monitor.Since the final controller also uses software serial to talk to the KSP plugin, it becomes more difficult to use the serial monitor for debugging.

The vector drawing includes a 10x10mm square you can use for scaling. The width of the base should be 300mm if I recall correctly.

I don't. Are the instructions per button in steps 6 and 7 clear enough for you? You can use a breadboard and jumper wires at first to test each button and output individually before you solder things permanently. If you have a specific question about connecting one of the components, let me know and I'll try to clarify.

The faceplate containing all the buttons should be 300 mm wide by 200 mm tall.For the rest of the box, the drawing contains a red square for scaling that should be 10x10 mm.

Yes. When you twist them too far clockwise, the resistance drops too far. You should be able to solve that by putting a resistor in series with that axis.

Wow, it's really cool to hear you actually built it!Thanks for the tips. I'll see if I can add those details in.Can you share some pics of your build as well? I'd love to see how yours looks.

I did not implement a dedicated button for map screen, but that would be easy to add (or re-assign one button). Fuel transfer requires you to click on the menu's with your mouse. I don't know of a way to bind that to your keyboard.

If you find somebody - and that's a big if - they should charge their time by the hour. And that would add up very quickly. It would likely run you up over 1000 dollars/euros.However, you can find the parts cheap online if you order from China. There a guy in the comments here that offers to build the enclosure at material cost and all you have to do is solder. You could get that done for as little as 150 euros if you really want to go cheap.Assembly, customization and learning new things while building your own is much of the fun IMHO.

That IO expander should work. Not sure if the pro mini is slower than a mega, but you always reduce the refresh rate of the calculations. I bet it'll work fine.

Any Arduino would work. The only restriction is the number of input/outputs.

@phead, those debug messages look like they are from another mod.Did you take the zip-file from my github and unpack it into the GameData folder?Below GameData, it should be a folder called KSPSerialIO with the following content (see pic).

Try opening the debug toolbar (https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Debug_Toolbar) and check for the status messages of the mod in the debug tab.

I don;t have a wiring diagram of the hole thing. Every button is wired in the same way. You can find which button uses which Arduino pin in the Arduino code I also linked.I am using only one Arduino Mega.

The file for the top where all the buttons go is linked in step 5, the file with all the panels to make the rest of the box is linked in step 9. It has the bottom, front, back and both sides. Note that the lines have a stroke width that is minimal in order for the laser cut to be precise. If you select all shapes and adjust the width temporarily, you can see them better. Check the photo's in step 9 as they also show all the parts in the cut board.

I agree! This is going on my ToDo list for sure.

I can help you with that. It also helps to think it through and write the code in such a way that you can verify every step. Test which value is coming in from the game, test which value you are sending out on the Arduino pins, and test the working of the leds and dials with artificial values. Test, test, test.

Start with a simple example from https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/60281-hardware-plugin-arduino-based-physical-display-serial-port-io-tutorial-10-06-17/

Those are great! Although I did use different values for different colour LEDs in the bar to balance out the brightness.

Thank you. I recommend you start with an Arduino starter kit to learn the basics.

Yes, certainly! What do you have in mind? Servo-driven analogue gauges? A model rocket that maintains the same inclination as in game?

Yes, go ahead. Please link back to this instructable or my github page. And send me some pictures!

wow, that's next level!

I know, right? There's more great builds in progress on the KSP forums. Mine is only special because it is done :D

Sure, please link back to the instructable or my github. And send me some pics!

Thanks milkywayman (great user name)!That is a brilliant idea! I know multiplexing from working with 7-segment displays. Combining multiplexing with using registers is a great idea. It reduces wires on both sides of the registers...If I ever build a 2.0, this will definitely be the way to go.

Haha awesome, thanks! Please do share your progress on the ksp forums or the /r/KerbalControllers subreddit. We are there to help.

Thanks! I which people did that to me in real life :)

*wish

Thanks a lot! What do you mean with the X series?