It’s alive! A real A320 Brake panel interfaced with Air Manager and FFA320

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JackZ
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It’s alive! A real A320 Brake panel interfaced with Air Manager and FFA320

#1 Post by JackZ »

My YouTube Chanel on the A320 (Real SOPs by an Airline Pilot IRL):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 0Q6SBASRqJ

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Ralph
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Re: It’s alive! A real A320 Brake panel interfaced with Air Manager and FFA320

#2 Post by Ralph »

That's with real Korry's? Pricy! Did you find that thing on Ebay or such?

JackZ
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Re: It’s alive! A real A320 Brake panel interfaced with Air Manager and FFA320

#3 Post by JackZ »

I found it in a specialised website for such retired parts.
The whole panel is genuine, I even retraced the registration of the aircraft it was installed in.
Nearly the same price as Homecockpits panels such as Skalarki, but the quality is no match indeed
Last edited by JackZ on Sun Aug 29, 2021 5:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
My YouTube Chanel on the A320 (Real SOPs by an Airline Pilot IRL):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 0Q6SBASRqJ

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Ralph
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Re: It’s alive! A real A320 Brake panel interfaced with Air Manager and FFA320

#4 Post by Ralph »

May I know where you got it from? We're looking to improve panel backlighting, maybe we can learn from the 'real thing(s)'.

JackZ
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Re: It’s alive! A real A320 Brake panel interfaced with Air Manager and FFA320

#5 Post by JackZ »

Sure. They are in the Netherlands! :D
https://www.avoemparts.com/
My YouTube Chanel on the A320 (Real SOPs by an Airline Pilot IRL):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 0Q6SBASRqJ

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jph
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Re: It’s alive! A real A320 Brake panel interfaced with Air Manager and FFA320

#6 Post by jph »

Nice one ! The sound of the button press on the real panel is so satisfying. ;)
Out of interest Jacques, have you taken one of the push buttons apart ? I presume the symbol is etched into the button and the illumination is multiple LEDs ?.
On the real aircraft do you have some form of notification of an illumination failure ?
Joe
Joe. CISSP, MSc.

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Ralph
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Re: It’s alive! A real A320 Brake panel interfaced with Air Manager and FFA320

#7 Post by Ralph »

Thanks. I see that it is a Dutch company. I might go and visit them to source a good example part.

JackZ
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Re: It’s alive! A real A320 Brake panel interfaced with Air Manager and FFA320

#8 Post by JackZ »

jph wrote: Sat Aug 28, 2021 5:29 pm Nice one ! The sound of the button press on the real panel is so satisfying. ;)
Out of interest Jacques, have you taken one of the push buttons apart ? I presume the symbol is etched into the button and the illumination is multiple LEDs ?.
On the real aircraft do you have some form of notification of an illumination failure ?
Joe
Yes, I have opened one, cause there was some false contacts (that can be seen in the video). The button is mechanically linked to the push button body itself, so you can essentially change the leds/bulbs without loosing the whole thing.
I think the engravings are laser etched on the inner part of the acrylic, and there are 2 leds per markings, hence 4 leds per bulbs.
AFAIK each led eats up to 65mA. Which is a problem, as I noticed a big drop in luminance when all the leds are on at the same time.

As per your question, no notification are given, but the dual bulb redundancy for each marking, the ECAM messages for most of the functions tied to a push button (Engine Anti Ice for example), and of course all the warning/caution ECAM messages probably account for this. If ever a bulb goes out, guess that the wiring of the second one allows for the button to be somewhat illuminated.

And we have the test switch on the OVH that fires up all the lights for visual check at once, that is part of the cockpit preparation checklist at least for the first flight of the day.

Jacques
My YouTube Chanel on the A320 (Real SOPs by an Airline Pilot IRL):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 0Q6SBASRqJ

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jph
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Re: It’s alive! A real A320 Brake panel interfaced with Air Manager and FFA320

#9 Post by jph »

Thanks for the info Jacques.
Just a point regarding the LEDs and driving them -
You could use a constant voltage driver set to the required LED forward voltage.
These would do the job fine -
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001 ... be6d8bf3-8
.
cc.jpg
.
they are a rather nice little buck regulator with two 10 turn potentiometers. One for setting output voltage and one for setting output current. If you know the led forward voltage, then you can wind up the current up to the maximum that all your connected leds would ever take and set the voltage potentiometer to give a constant voltage output equal to the forward voltage requirement of a single led. Then no matter how many led's you add (up to the safe limit of the regulator - realistically about 2 to 3A) then the output voltage remains the same so you can chain the LED's in parallel. It doesn't matter then if you have 1 LED on or 30 at the same time as each led will still only receive the correct voltage .
You could probably drive up to 32 leds per board - simultaneously - or in any number in between 0 and 32 with no added cooling at all. Note that the input and output VDD (gnds / DC-) cannot be commoned but this should cause no issues at all for this use.
There is also another small common buck regulator based on the LM2596 that may be better for this and cheaper ! - as we dont really need the CC part at all.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3301489 ... de961f4-15 (and is suitable for a 5V input supply ! - see next bit re PSUst)

There are also loads of small switch mode PSUs available - something around 5V would be good. Available in many sizes. It would be desirable to check the actual minimum input voltage required to the board - they say 6V.... the 5V switch mode PSUs do have a small adjustment pot but would need to check compatibility. you can usually tweak the switch mode unit up a notch with a resistor tweak if needed, or, get a 7V or 12V supply.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3267050 ... 51eb8bee-3
It should be possible to arrange a dimming circuit with a bit of work. - possibly with an I2C digital variable resistor as part of the CV feedback on the board.. ?
Might be worth looking at ?
Joe
Last edited by jph on Sun Aug 29, 2021 11:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
Joe. CISSP, MSc.

JackZ
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Re: It’s alive! A real A320 Brake panel interfaced with Air Manager and FFA320

#10 Post by JackZ »

I currently use a 500W PC power supply, connected through a bunch of uln2803A driver chips to drive the led indicators.
The 2 chips get very hot when all the leds are set to ON, and some leds go Dim, with the White ON going very dim. I don’t really know why, maybe the +5V and GND wiring?

My YouTube Chanel on the A320 (Real SOPs by an Airline Pilot IRL):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 0Q6SBASRqJ

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