Cockpit Building

[Steve]

Hi, I have future plans to build an A320 cockpit as and when finances allow. The basic construction ie panels, surround etc do not present to much problem as I am a mechanical engineer by trade. My problem is the electrical and network functions.

Could someone please tell me if there is a web site or book that would teach me requirements for systems ie epic card set ups or whatever is current now. I have a basic avionic knowledge but the actual circuits required is beyond my scope.

Similar question for computer networking. I wish to run systems of different computers, leaving me the man computer just running the scenery in FS. Again any info regarding this would be most grateful.

Regards
Steve

[Pantycelyn]

HI there,

I suggest you visit the following two websites:

www.a320project.com (This will be the best resource for you)
www.projectmagenta.com
http://a.bethke.bei.t-online.de/ (the website is in English and German)
www.flightdecksolutions.com
www.podsystems.ch
www.flypfc.com
www.avsim.com

All the best of luck. Make sure you have everything planned out on paper before you commence building the sim. If you have any further questions just ask.

Regards,

Johannes

[tigert]

Also check out www.fsbus.de - if you can solder, it is a pretty nice way of interfacing the switches and stuff via the serial port to FS2002. Epic is another solution, while very flexible (you have a programming logic language to do complex stuff) it is for example beyond my budget, so fsbus is cheaper and does a whole lot too.

Also www.wideview.it for linking many PC's together, as well as "WideFS" (search google for that, I dont remember the url right now, but it should show up in search.

If you are an engineer you probably can do your yokes and pedals and stuff yourself, FSBus can interface the potentiometers for those into the computer, or you can just hook them up via the gameport interface. Making the actual controls and doing the centering / resistance feeling to them with springs or whatever is the harder part of it anyway. Of course there are fine ready-made products available on that area too, but some things are plain interesting to construct by hand as well..

Tuomas

[Pantycelyn]

Sorry, I forgot the ultimate site for aquiring all the hardware. It's much cheaper than for instance flightdecksolutions.com

http://home.att.net/~sfinger/a320.htm
(This is Advance Graphics Technology)

Bye

Johannes

[deltaflight]

LOL,

Steve I understood your question quite well. Your not looking for hardware, just info on Epic and circuits. Try this link here as it shows examples of circuits and programming for Epic.

http://www.avsim.com/bluesideup/

[Pantycelyn]

Deltaflight, I don't quite understand your exitement. The websites I recommended (avsim, Project Magenta, a320.com etc.) all have plenty of info on EPIC and network. Using the links on the homepages, other A320 home-cockpit owners will advise you on how to tackle EPIC. Since they have first-hand experience in programming and connecting hardware they are the best people to ask.
Is it so bad mentioning AGT and flightdecksolutions.com? Not everyone knows about them. Steve writes that it doesn't pose much of a problem for him constructing the sim, but that doesn't mean that he knows about the above websites.

Anyway, happy flying to all of you.

Kind regards,

Pantycelyn

[deltaflight]

:)

Other than Avsim, none of those websites you mentioned tackle Epic topics. Although some may refer to Epic, they really dont address the in and out topics. And It was quite obvious he was looking for help with Epic, not where to buy panels. No biggie.

[Steve]

Many thanks to all, I will check out all suggested links.