Functional 2nd screen gauges and physical dials

This is a generic layout, but very similar to Cessna 172.

Arduino board with rotary encoders and Air Manager to interface with MSFS 2020. Everything working!

Only the OAT and Time clock in the top left not working.


Now that simconnect is working, such things are possible. Let the cockpit building resume!

Over the next few days I will set up the final cockpit build.

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Dang, that’s quite the set-up! Would love to build one of my own one of these days.

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I thought I’d better make a quick video… better than static images :slight_smile:

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Hey. how did you manage to get steam gauges to show on the panel? are you using one big screen or multiple ones to show each gauge?

Yes, one screen for the gauges.
Any cheap lcd 23" or so will work. The panel is plywood and the rotary encoders feed into an Audrino Mega.

Great for my GA flights… also very useful for training

Hey, that looks great! I’b building something like this myself at the moment. Each of the encoders goes to GND, and having 6-8 of them will mean you run out of GND pins on the mega. How did you solve this? Did you solder your own plug? I’ve been trying to find a standard solution for this on ebay and Amazon, but there doesn’t seem to be any.
Thanks in advance!

Use a common ground. U don’t need each one going to a separate ground.

Yes, that’s what I plan to do, but what does a cable look like for that solution? It would have to have a lot of Y-junctions where one encoder is connected to ground and the common „bus“cable continues to the GND pin.

Just place a cable from the Arduino GND to the fist encoders GND pin. Form there put another cable to the second encoder and so on…

Correct, daisy chain the ground. That is a clean solution.

Thanks. How do people do that? Do they solder their own cable? I’ve looked for a standard solution but couldn’t find any. I’m sure I just don’t know what exactly to look for.

Yes, I can’t think of doing the panel without soldering the connection to the dials. Anything else will be bulky and less secure a connection. Soldering is very simple!
Below is a great image from the web…

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what did you use for the gauges?

The gauges are from Air Manager.

I of course love Air Manager but it works best for GA where the various 6-pack instruments are available, or generic glass like G1000/G3000. Otherwise you’re reliant on volunteers like Simstrumentation (and thanks for being a part of that, @Crunchmeister71) to create type-specific panels and bezels.

I would like at least one or both of: true pop-out 2D versions of switch / control / glass panels in the sim (this should be entirely possible and not hard to do given how the VC panels are defined), and a VC-only 3D view that can be placed on another screen and interacted with via touch and with its own set of custom camera views. That way you could at least run a touchscreen and interact with panels that you don’t have hardware for directly without having them on your main display or (shudder) having to use a mouse.

Hello, how did you do for those frames and knobs?

frames 3d printed, knobs on amazon

thanks!!!