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Control Boards for MTUv5

I'm confused as to what kind and how many control boards I need for this project. I have one OpenCockpits stepper motor controller that will control 3 stepper motors. I would like to use it if possible but what else do I need for the steppers and Hall Effect Sensors. For the switches I will be using the OpenCockpits Master Card. Most of my cockpit uses these cards. I also have OpenCockpits EFIS, MCP, COM. NAV, ADF, XPNDR p&p radios.

Jerry

7 comments

7 Comments

Albert McFadden

May 07

Jerry, I use OC in my sim for everything. 3 usb expansions, 6 masters,1 relays, 2efis, 1 MCP, 2 CDU, 2 servo, and 2 stepper. Using the OC steppers card I could not drive a NEMA 17 without melting down even with a heat sink. If you try you will probably be disappointed. Printing and construction took about 3 months printed on my CR10 mini. I followed the guide by Bjarne using 1 Mega, 5 Nanos and 5 TB6600 stepper drivers. I configured the MTU with mobiflight as suggested with some modifications. I use Sim avionics for my avionics suite and P3dv5 for flight so I substituted Bjarnes offsets for offsets in P3Dv5 and Sim Avionics. I chose to use 10k pots instead of hall sensors to save money. I didn't want to run another software interface in my sim but Mobiflight acts like sioc but uses a GUI for programming. It autostarts and runs in the background once configured. These photos were taken during construction so not all the wires and drivers are terminated but at least you can see what I did. The throttle is currently in testing but working well.

Thank you Karl for this wonderful fully motorized Throttle Quadrant. I could never afford one if not for you.

Regards, Albert AA321

Albert McFadden

May 07

Replying to

Shipping is more than the card I think. I burned up 1 of the OC stepper cards during testing. I really wanted SIOC to work out since I'm so familiar with them. I now see great promise using arduino and Mobiflight in the future. Price is nice. Karl uses a lot of them. I think I tried to use wire wounds in my throttle originally but I felt like I couldn't get enough resolution out of the wire wounds since they had 10 turns on them so I switched them out to 270 degree 10k pots before assembly that I'm using now. You will need a wire wound in your speedbrake because 270 degrees was not enough movement in the mechanism. You can sync your throttles in the software, there is a provision for that. They will also be mirrored unless you reverse the wiring but this is also easily corrected in the Mobiflight software. The hall sensors would be more durable since they are not mechanical and do not wear. I think that is why they were suggested but quite pricey here in the states. Amazon refers to the mounting board as a Zulkit Junction Box Mounting Plates. My biggest challenge was finding all the fasteners. That and I bent the aluminium arm in the speedbrake about 5 times before I got it right. I'm in Charlotte, NC

edit: I just noticed your using prosim. I believe Karl and others also use this for avionics. There is also a build guide and wiring diagram for prosim using only one mega. This might be a better option for you.

Jerry McCarroll

May 07

Replying to

I ordered 4 10k wire wound pots this morning for $26.76, too late to cancel.😪 Now that I think about, I had to gear the ones in my current throttle way down to get them to work. I chose the wire wound because I've had to replace the regular pots several times because they would become erratic. I checked on Amazon and the Zulkit Junction Box Mounting Plates only came with the boxes. I couldn't find the build guide and wiring diagram for prosim.

Albert McFadden

May 07

Replying to

Scroll to the bottom of this page:

plates only available here:

https://www.amazon.com/Zulkit-Junction-Box-Mounting-Plates/dp/B09KTCZ6QC

Karl Clarke

May 05

HI Jerry, Thank you for reaching out regarding Open Cockpits cards. While I personally haven't used them in some time, I believe they should still work fine if you have a good understanding of their coding. I used Prosim, which controlled the motors as servos via Mobiflight. However, I know that people have developed their own software for Teensy and Nanos to get the MTU to work with PMDG. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to assist you.

Jerry McCarroll

May 05

Replying to

Do I need the Hall Effect Sensors in addition to the 6 stepper motors to make the throttle fully motorized. I'm not familiar with Mobiflight. Is it a complete cockpit controlling software similar to Prosim? I only have one stepper motor card and I would need more. I live in Dallas, Texas and shipping from Europe is quite pricey. I was just wondering if switching to a card I can get locally would be a better option for me but I'm not sure what I need. Is there one card that will control all motors and sensors?

Jerry

Control Boards for MTUv5

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