Can Someone Please Help Me Design A Contact Widget

[Dynon101]

If someone can please help me design a widget I would be most grateful as the manual does not discuss this particular sensor widget.

Regarding the PILOT side door it is wired so that:

When the door is SHUT the microswitch is GROUNDED
When the door is OPEN the microswitch is OPEN and the sensor pins sees no power or a path to ground.

I want the EMS screen to be black when the door is shut and then when the door is open I want the indication to appear on the screen with red text that simply states "PILOT". I may have to have a "dot" is simple text is not possible.

Can someone kindly walk me through the process to setup this sensor?

THANKS!!!

 

[GalinHdz]

Do it the same as the Pitot heat indicator.

 

[Dynon101]

GalinHdz,

Thanks for the information.

Tis part is confusing:

RANGE: 1
ENABLE: YES
NAME: ON (or name of your choice to indicate the Heated AOA/Pitot Probe is powered
on and operating normally – maximum of 7 characters)
COLOR: GREEN
TOP: 5.0V
BOTTOM: 2.1V

RANGE: 2
ENABLE: YES
NAME: OFF (or name of your choice to indicate the Heated AOA/Pitot Probe is not
receiving power or is not operating normally – maximum of 7 characters)
COLOR: RED
TOP: 2.0V
BOTTOM: 0.0V

In my setup the contact completes a path to ground when the door is closed and then when the door is open there is no ground (or power for that matter) on that wire to the pin then why am I setting up a 2.1 to 5.0 V sensor to indicate that the path to ground is complete?

When the pin IS connected to ground then the voltage on that wire is zero and then the switch moves to the opposite state meaning that there is NOT a path to ground then the wire still measures zero volts.

There has to be some kind of magic in the EMS pins so that they send out some kind of electrical signal. Can someone please explain so that I can understand the system architecture?

THANKS for all of yoour help!!!

 

[dynonsupport]

The pin is pulled up internally to 5V. This means it's 5V when nothing is connected and some path to ground is needed to reduce the voltage below 5V. So you get 5V when nothing is connected and 0V when the pitot connects the wire to ground.

This isn't "magic," it's just a 10K resistor to 5V.

 

[Dynon101]

Appears to be magic by just looking at the black box... cleaver design.

THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION

 

[GalinHdz]

FWIW; with your setup I would make these minor changes:

RANGE: 1
ENABLE: YES
NAME: DOOR
COLOR: RED
TOP: 5.0V
BOTTOM: 2.1V

RANGE: 2
ENABLE: YES
NAME: DOOR
COLOR: GREEN
TOP: 2.0V
BOTTOM: 0.0V

This way if the door is open you get a RED dot and if the door is closed you get a GREEN dot. You are going to have lots of other indicators on the screen and this way you don't have to memorize what any of them mean.

 

[Dynon101]

Goo info GalinHdz.I appreciate the suggestion

 

[GalinHdz]

This same method can be used to monitor many different things, some examples:

P-Mag status:
GREEN dots mean they are receiving external 12v power. If they turn RED, then they have lost the 12v external power.

CO2 Detector (CO2 Guardian) Status:
A BLACK dot means no CO2 alarm but if the CO2 detector gives an alarm, the dot turns RED.

Fuel Pump Status:
A BLUE dot means my fuel pump is ON while a BLACK dot means the pump is OFF. This has saved me several time when I have forgotten to turn the pump either ON or OFF.

Your imagination is the limit.

 

[mmarien]

Just a suggestion, but the contact name could be DOOR and range one name=OPEN, range 2 name=CLOSED. That would make it easier to understand on the display.

      c37_p9={
            valid=1
            name=DOOR
            id=CONTACT
            alarm_type=OFF
            range={
                  max_display=5
                  min_display=0
                  range1_valid=1
                  range1_top=5
                  range1_bot=2.5
                  range1_name=OPEN
                  range1_color=RED
                  range2_valid=1
                  range2_top=2.5
                  range2_bot=0
                  range2_name=CLOSED
                  range2_color=BLACK

 

[GalinHdz]

I had not thought of doing it that way. That is a GREAT idea! 

 

[Dynon101]

Is there a way to design a "dark cockpit"?

What I would really like to do is have the screen black unless something is not in the safe condition meaning I would like to have the word "DOOR" appear (no dot or box just the letters in red font) only when the door is unlocked and then when it is locked the screen would be blank?

If just having text (and no dot) is not possible then the next preferred choice would be to have a red dot appear when the door is unlocked and then no dot or text when it is locked.

If so how do I construct the widget?

Thanks

 

[mmarien]

You can maybe trick SV into doing what you want. A few of things you can try.

• I hid a contact behind the RPM gauge. The RPM number pretty much blocks out the dot. Look for the ECU contact on the screen shot below.
  
• Contacts have two states. If you leave the name of one state blank, then no text will show up when it's in that state. ie: door closed
  
• If you leave the name of the contact blank it won't display a name.

Those three things will give you a contact that doesn't show up unless it's in one state. The text won't be red unfortunately.

Just an observation, but if you spend as much time researching and experimenting with the settings as you do posting here you could probably come up with a nice unique screen layout.

 

[Dynon101]

>Just an observation, but if you spend as much time researching and experimenting with the settings as you do posting here you could probably come up with a nice unique screen layout.

I have already spent a number of hours experimenting with the widgets and screen layouts

I travel for a living (on a week long trip right now) so while away from home I study and research and plan my build so that when I get home my time is maximised with the actual work of building the plane and not spent in research mode.

Still...some of this stuff is not intuitive and guys with experience who know the tips and tricks can walk a Newbie through the process very quickly and that can help that guy make a 10 minute job out of a 2.5 hour job.

There are other forums where I have expertise and experience to share and on those forums I try to "pay it forward" and provide advice and mentoring to the newcomers to the art. Mostly they are grateful for the help...

I am very grateful for the help and experience sharing.

 

[mmarien]

walk a Newbie through the process very quickly and that can help that guy make a 10 minute job out of a 2.5 hour job

True. But sometimes there is more satisfaction in the 2.5 hours then the 10 minute part. Think of it as a journey rather than a destination.

PS: How is the build going? Got any pictures you can share?

 

[GalinHdz]

Is there a way to design a "dark cockpit"?

What  I would really like to do is have the screen  black unless something is not in the safe condition meaning I would like to have the word "DOOR" appear (no dot or box just the letters in red font) only when the door is unlocked and then when it is locked the screen would be blank?

If just having text (and no dot) is not possible then the next preferred  choice would be to have a red dot appear when the door is unlocked and then no dot or text when it is locked.

If so how do I construct the widget? 

Thanks

Since the PFD page has the "MESSAGE" alert indicator that activates if some monitored item is out of parameter, if you don't display the EMS page it effectively becomes a "black" page. If correctly connected, an external indicator will activate as well as provide an audio alarm. This way the EMS page becomes the details page of the MESSAGE indicator.

FWIW I prefer to have the status of important items displayed somewhere at all times and not a "black" page. YMMV

 

[Dynon101]

>if you don't display the EMS page it effectively becomes a "black" page

Sorry... I was not clear in my question.

I do intend to have the EMS page displayed at all times.

At the very top of the EMS page I want the door open annunciations to show at the top left just the text "PILOT" (no dots or colors) and the top right to show "COPILOT" and then when the doors are closed I want the top of the page to simply be black screen (no text or colors). Same thing for the pitot heat fail annunciator meaning that if it is off/failed the message will appear at the top of the EMS screen however when everything is set /operating correctly it is not displayed and that is the the "dark cockpit" concept. This way the screen will be de-cluttered when all is as it should be. That is the annuniciator logic of the airplane I fly for my job and it makes sense.

The build is going good however I have about 30 projects running in parallel while I am waiting on parts to be delivered by my constantly present friend the UPS guy.

I'm getting very close and the whole intent of buying this airplane was to fly it back and forth to work so I don't have to drive 5 hours each way so in my circumstance this is a build for necessity not for fun so when I am home I hit it hard so I can Get-er-done... and then spend more time with the family.

 

[mmarien]

At the very top of the EMS page I want the door open annunciations to show at the top left just the text "PILOT" (no dots or colors)  and the top right to show "COPILOT" and then when the doors are closed I want the top of the page to simply be black screen (no text or colors). .... That is the annuniciator  logic of the airplane I fly for my job and it makes sense.

You can want all you want, but wanting won't make it happen. I'm not sure why you bought a Skyview when really you wanted something else. :-? :-?
The SV has an excellent motif. You should try and make that work for you. Or rip it out and put in that thing you have in the plane you fly for work.

Did I say that out loud? My bad.

 

[Dynon101]

>You can want all you want, but wanting won't make it happen. I'm not sure why you bought a Skyview when really you wanted something else. The SV has an excellent motif. You should try and make that work for you. Or rip it out and put in that thing you have in the plane you fly for work

Wow...snark and negativity is just sad.

Look...I am simply asking the forum if it is possible to design an EMS panel in the manner that I wanted it to look like.  If it cannot do what I want it to do then I will settle on another approach.

The Dynon folks really did a good job writing the manuals however these systems are so complex with so many options that it is impossible for an installation manual to address every possible design.

That is why Dynon provided us with a user forum where the Newbies (like me) can ask the Experts questions and the experts volunteer their time (like people do with charity work) and help other out and "pay it forward" ...then the Newbies become more knowledgeable and help the next generation and then everyone learns and the whole community benefits.

OR...the experts can be snarky and condescending and nobody will post and nobody will answer and nobody benefits.

If someone out there who is not snarky and nasty can please answer my question and/or guide me to an alternate solution I would be most grateful.

THANKS!!!

 

[preid]

One thing mmarien isn't is snarky. He is an expert and handled your questions very nicely. He was simply stating that Dynon offers a great setup as is, he spent numerous hours fine tuning, as have I and others. This forum is for guidance not how to design a new EMS. There certainly are snarky people on this forum and those are the folks who will tell you they know better and you don't need something you are asking. Mmarien was sort of joking, as shown with the emoji and his last comment, but if anything he stepped up to try and help.
This is a good forum and there are loads of great people with great help, I too have been shut down by a few but I learned that anything they comment on is garbage and a opinion, helping no one and ignore.
My final thought is we are all newbies when we bought the skyview and we all stepped up and worked on it. Call dynon support and ask them if there is a way to do what you want-not how but if it can be accomplished, if it can play around with it, if you fail, reinstall the firmware back and try again. Have fun learning and enjoy the results, believe mmarien did just that many times and kindly shared his discovery. He's a good expert and you simply misunderstood him.

 

[Dynon101]

reidvaitor,

Thank you for your thoughts on this subject.

mmarien, I apologize to you for interpreting your cyber joke the wrong way. Please accept my apology. In my posts I have tried to convey my sincere appreciation for the time you spend in answering my questions.

Cheers!!!