Wednesday 19 September 2012

Engine management panel

I finished wiring up the engine management panel and tested it last night.

This has  L & R generators, L & R engine primers and L & R fuel pumps.

These are all simple ON-OFF toggle switches, with the exception of the fuel pumps. I modelled these on the Beech Baron's, with three settings: HI, LO and OFF, so I used a couple of ON-OFF-ON toggles I had lying around.

After testing I think the primer switches should be momentary, as you hold them for a few seconds depending on conditions to prime each engine before start.

Also I think I wired up the fuel pump switch wrong, as I was getting ON-OFF-OFF. I may just go for ON-OFF switches here anyway, as FSX doesn't seem to support the LO position, which I've only seen in the Beech Baron in any case. I'll look into this further.

Although I've yet to come across an aircraft with both alternators and generators I wanted separate switches for both even though they share the same input in FSX. I'll use the red rocker switches I ordered on aircraft with alternators, and the metal toggle switches for older types with generators. It means using up a couple of extra inputs on the BU0836X card, but should add a touch of authenticity when flying different types.

I'm now thinking about making a fuel selector panel with a cutoff switch, but I'll do the lighting panel and MIP switches first.

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