Cowl Flaps???

Does anyone know of a gauge specific to open and close cowl flaps on a light twin? So far this is the only gauge I've been unable to find. I know Mooney has one for a single, but I need a twin. The Baron has one, but it is integrated with the throttle and I do not want (or need) the Baron throttle assembly. So far, I've not found a specific gauge, and for some reason, [control]+[shift]+[C] works to close the cowl flaps, but [control]+[shift]+[V] fails to open them. Any body got any suggestions? Thanks.

 

PS...

You can see the reason for this question on the FS9 forum page under 2D panel...

Thanks again.

That's going to be a tough find, Klee! I only found 1 instance of twin cowl flap operating handles that were not attached to the throttle assy. This was the MAAM-SIM R4D payware.

A gauge for 2 engines' cowl flaps? Why yes, yes there is! There isn't a separate gauge, but there IS one included in THIS PANELny the amazing Mr. Norm Hancock. Yes, it's for a D-3 BUT there IS a gauge included in the whole shebang that controls the cowl flaps for the two engines, one for each engine. Take a look in the lower left-hand area, about 3/4 of the way across the bottom of the panel. There a pair of dial type switches with several settings available for the cowl flaps.

I don't know if those will do what you want or not, but they ARE there. There are versions for both FSX and FS9. They are freeware. I don't recall if you need to register on the DCA site to get them or not, but I don't think (usually I don't think!) that you do.

Does that help any?

Pat☺

Can I use fsps to move , copy or place to any applicable twin aircraft?

As far as I know, yes.

I don't use FSPS to play with panels, I just use NotePad to edit the panel.cfg. If I need to, I'll open the .BMP file it uses and check for the correct placement before I make a change or addition. Is there room at this point? Next to this gauge? What gauge is beside the one I want to add, and how big is it, etc etc.

I would make sure to place the proper .CAB file, or whatever that gauge uses, into the main FS Gauges folder, so it's available to any panel I want to use it on. There is one for the cowl flaps. Cowl_flaps_night.cab is included in Mr. Hancock's panel download, and an example of the correct utilization of the cab file to call the gauge is in the panel.cfg file. In this case: Cowl_flaps_night!cowl_flaps_db, 166,665,116,99

Obviously the placement is entirely up to the user, but I would keep the ratio of width to height constant. The numbers can be changed, but it's a good idea to maintain the ratio. That way it looks correct in a panel. In this case the ratio would be 166/665, or 0.2496. So you want to reduce the vertical size, let us say, pick a number you like, let us say 500. Multiply by the ratio, and you get 124.8. Round it up to 125 and there you go. The same works for the Horizontal size, just use the ratio again.

Naturally, this works for using any gauge in a different panel. Just make sure you keep the size ration the same so the gauge show correctly in the new panel.

I have to stop being so darn verbose...

Does that answer you question?

Pat☺

Yup...

Thanks, Pat, they work perfectly. Had to take the BMP file back to the paint shop for a minor modification, then adjust some gauge placement, but that's OK. Problem is I'm running out of space (we'll post another shot once all the adjustments are done).

Glad I could help out a little bit, guys!

Looking forward to seeing the final result, KCD!

Pat☺

I have a question.

I'm trying to make a cowl flap gauge.

I used the default cowl flap handle -gauge as example.

THis contains no code that actually sets the cowl flap percentage opened.

 

I checked using the Beech Baron 56 -- In FSX.

 

It is very simple.

-Read the cowl flap open/closedd status

-Shows image of the cowl handle according to the opening size.

-Offers a clickspot to change the cowl opening. Just a simple Increase/Decrease.

 

The coding used is:

The value read is:

(A:Recip eng1 cowl flap position, percent)

This is then rounded up, with a formula, and results in a number.

According to the number an image of the handle is shown.

THere are 14 settings for the cowls. (14 options for amount open/closed)

But there are only 7 images. Each image is shown at two different settings, because of the rounding up.

(showing the images is not the problem, I understand it, and can work with it.)

 

Another bit of code, for the clickspot, is:

 

And, with that the tooltip is:

 

----------------------------

So, the clickspot lets you increase/decrease the cowl flap opening.

the tooltip show the value, when hovering the mouse over the clickspot.

 

And the image shown is the result of the value that is set.

-------------------------

 

My question:

"What is it that determines what different settings are available?"

 

I see 14 differnt values appear. But nowhere in this gauge are these 14 values produced.

(for a listing of the 14 settings, see below)

 

I don't see them in another gauge either. I tested by disabling beechbaron.cab I only left the default cowl-handle gauge in (throttle quadrant), and still the same 14 values appear.

Does this mean that the cowl flap positions are built into the model?

Or is it something that is simply part of fsx.exe, and is therefore the same for all aircraft??

 

I tested by installing the cowl-handle gauge in the cessna172, and again I get the same values for % cowl flap opened.

--------------------

 

I then discovered something, while looking at the Default cowl flap handle on the throttle panel.

When loading a flight, the cowls are 0% open.

when I move the handle, the cowls open in fixed steps. Let's say I open them to 23 % and then back again, they have the same positions when going back down.

 

But then, if I move the handle all the way up to 100% open, when moving the handles back, THEY MOVE THROUGH DIFFERENT POSITIONS.

 

In the beech baron I got the following numbers when opening the cowls:

Open%--> 0, 8, 16, 23, 31, 39, 47, 55, 62, 70, 78, 86, 94, 100.

(that's 14 different values.)

 

But, when going back from 100 you get:

Open%--> 100, 92, 84, 77, 69, 61, 53, 45,38, 30, 22, 14, 6, 0

(different from when going up)

 

COuld someone give an explanation for this??

 

It makes me think a gauge must be at play, and somewhere something is rounded down or up somewhere.

 

I was thinking about making a light turn on when the cowls are set to the same value, but this is complicating things.

 

Thanks in advance,

il

Hi,

 

The steps are fixed into the FSX program, nothing you can do to change that.

 

There are 13 steps, so each step is 100/13 or 7.69 per step. This is rounded up to 8 for display. When the actual number falls below X.5, you have a step of only 7 instead.

 

The difference between stepping up and down is probably due to number rounding errors. When stepping up you end up with 94 at the top, meaning that it will step up only 6 on the last step (to 100). When stepping down it resets the top value to 100 and drops down by 8 again (7.69 rounded up) to 92.

 

BTW, you can set your own values if you like by using:

 

(>K:COWLFLAP1_SET)

 

with a number in front of this command to set the value desired. The values run between 0 and 16383, so you would have to multiply your 0 to 100 values by 163.83.

 

16383 (>K:COWLFLAP1_SET) will give full open cowl flaps for engine 1.

Wow! I never thougth someon would know the answer to something this inoccuous! And so fast too! Thanks!

 

On the other hand, I don't understand half of what you said yet.:)

It needs to have some time to sink in. I'll re-read it a few more times and see what I can do with this.

 

I did already find K:Cowl_Flaps_Set

But i didn't look like what I wanted.

I will look at it all more closely.

 

I guess something I might be able to do is set cowls to 6% when going up at the first click,

first K: COWL_FLAP1_SET - 6%

then use K: INC_COWL_FLAP1

to increase:

0-6-14-22-

And on the way down, use simple K: DECR_COWL_FLAP1

resulting in: 100-92- - -22-14-6-0

 

I learned programming way back in school we used IF statements:

"IF cowl flaps are at 0%, AND ICR_COWL_FLAP1 is clicked, THEN set cowl_FLAP1 to 6%.

 

So that's how my brain approaches these things. I find IF statements hard to do in xml, but I'll have a go.

 

Thanks a bundle for your info!!

 

If I may, another quick question. "Are these numbers the same in FS2004??"

And another:

"You said 13 values. I clearly see 14, ranging from 0 to 100 (as listed). Do you call that 13, because you don't count 0% as a number? Or am I missing something? I found the values by switching on -Tooltips-"

 

Thanks again, I was completely stuck. Now I have a new route to explore.

I am no expert on this stuff as well you know, but I believe, and may ell be wrong, that there were 13 STEPS, not values. I think he means the first STEP is X% of the total and so on, not that the first VALUE is /X/ (absolute value, iirc the symbology. probably wrong, though). Thus, while 0 may be a value, it's not a step.

 

All that may well be wrong, however, so take it with a HUGE salt crystal... :p

Pat☺

Thanks for lending your keen eye Pat! ;)

Sounds very likely. I overlooked that "step" in my excitement. lol.

il.

Hehehe!

I only have one eye left, but it still works pretty good :D

 

Glad I could help you STEP up and get the gauge you wanted ;p

Pat☺