Button Not Working on Home Made Knobster

Support for the SimWareKits Knobster in combination with Air Manager and Air Player

Moderators: russ, Ralph

Post Reply
Message
Author
DeckerZ
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2022 1:35 am

Button Not Working on Home Made Knobster

#1 Post by DeckerZ »

I know this has come up a number of times on the Forum. I have read through these and attempted to apply the logic before posting. For example, adding a 100k resistor to the +ve of the switch/button to no avail.
I have purchased the PropWash Dual Rotary Encoder which comes with its own PCB. Installed the Air Manager 4.1.0 Firmware to my Nano and proceeded to add panels to my X-Plane and Air Manager setup.
The dual rotary encoders are great, they do what I expected them to do however, the button does not seem to register. Now there is no fault with the button as I also soldered an external button to bypass the encoder button and still, nothing registers in Air Manager. I then replaced the external button with the probes of my continuity tester and when I press the encoder button, it registers on the tester. So I then solder it back to the rotary encoder and load up Air Manager and x-plane 11 and both rotaries work however the button still does not work. I then soldered the 100k resistor to the +ve of the button as recommended in the Forum and still it is not registering in Air Manager, though I do see the led of the Nano registering the button press.
I welcome any suggestions as I feel this is an amazing way to control my sim and would like to incorporate it into my setup. I am testing the button on my radio stack in the Cessna C172SP. I do not expect the button to work as a general button only when associated with a panel like the radio stack.
Image

User avatar
jph
Posts: 2846
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2020 12:50 pm
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow..

Re: Button Not Working on Home Made Knobster

#2 Post by jph »

As you are new it is good to say Hi or hello etc and also the odd please and thanks don't hurt. :?

The push button has two pins on that board. I cannot see a schematic and cannot see any pullup resistors.
The resistor you have used - supposedly trying to make a pull up I presume ? - is both the wrong value and appears to be in the wrong place although I cannot see due to the wiring in the image. Could you not have found larger wire ? :D

As I said, I know nothing of the propwash board and cannot find a schematic - unless you can provide one ?. Life is too short to search for one if not clearly visible on the site and I am not using his link to crap sites like faecesbook etc.

Is one side of the switch connected to the Common Gnd on the PCB ?

If it is, then you only need to connect the other side of the switch to D6. If necessary (shouldn't be needed as I thought internal weak pullups were enabled on the nano ?!) However, you can connect a pull up resistor of around 10k - value not critical - from the non grounded button connection to VCC. NOT in series as you seem to have done.
So one side of the button connects to gnd. You do not need to take the button gnd to the arduino. IF it is not connected on the propwash board then link it to gnd on the propwash board. The other side of the button, as said, goes to pin D6 directly - NOT via a resistor. - the pull up resistor part is as written above.

Do you have the schematic of the propwash board ? - if not, simply use your multimeter to check if one of the button pins on the board is grounded.

You can test the final thing by powering on the Arduino and with your multimeter on VDC put the black probe on the GND pin and the red probe on Arduino pin D6 so you are measuring the DC voltage on pin D6 With no button pressed the voltage should be more or less 5V. With the button pressed the voltage should be around 0V. If that is the case then the button is working and operating the Arduino correctly.
Joe. CISSP, MSc.

DeckerZ
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2022 1:35 am

Re: Button Not Working on Home Made Knobster

#3 Post by DeckerZ »

jph wrote: Sat Feb 12, 2022 2:57 pm As you are new it is good to say Hi or hello etc and also the odd please and thanks don't hurt. :?
Apologies - Hi everyone, I am new to using Air Display and one of the things that drew me to it was using the Knobster with a touch screen. I have indeed be simming for may years and a few years out of the hobby. Just starting to get back into it again.
The resistor you have used - supposedly trying to make a pull up I presume ? - is both the wrong value and appears to be in the wrong place although I cannot see due to the wiring in the image. Could you not have found larger wire ? :D
The reisitor is a 10K not as I previously said, that was a typo and duly noted I am not an electronics expert and am trying to follow what I have found online.
I know nothing of the propwash board and cannot find a schematic - unless you can provide one ?.
I only have the information provided on the website of the PropWash Board
Life is too short to search for one if not clearly visible on the site and I am not using his link to crap sites like faecesbook etc.
I am sorry to have bothered you. But if you didn't have the time to answer a genuine enthusiastic person's query, you should leave them for other people that may be kind enough to give some helpful advice.
Is one side of the switch connected to the Common Gnd on the PCB ?
Yes
If it is, then you only need to connect the other side of the switch to D6. If necessary (shouldn't be needed as I thought internal weak pullups were enabled on the nano ?!) However, you can connect a pull up resistor of around 10k - value not critical - from the non grounded button connection to VCC. NOT in series as you seem to have done.
My bad, I didn't know how a pullup resistor should be connected.
So one side of the button connects to gnd. You do not need to take the button gnd to the arduino. IF it is not connected on the propwash board then link it to gnd on the propwash board. The other side of the button, as said, goes to pin D6 directly - NOT via a resistor. - the pull up resistor part is as written above.
Duly noted.
Do you have the schematic of the propwash board ? - if not, simply use your multimeter to check if one of the button pins on the board is grounded.
I don't have a schematic of the PropWash Board. I have tested the button pin and it is grounded.
You can test the final thing by powering on the Arduino and with your multimeter on VDC put the black probe on the GND pin and the red probe on Arduino pin D6 so you are measuring the DC voltage on pin D6 With no button pressed the voltage should be more or less 5V. With the button pressed the voltage should be around 0V. If that is the case then the button is working and operating the Arduino correctly.
Yes, I am getting 5v when the button is open and 0 v when closed, but it is still not registering with Air Manager!

User avatar
Sling
Posts: 5237
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2017 2:37 pm
Contact:

Re: Button Not Working on Home Made Knobster

#4 Post by Sling »

Hi DeckerZ,

The button will only work if the instrument has a button co-located with a dial. What exact instruments and controls have you tried this with just so we can rule this out. The GNS overlay FMS or radio tuning dials are good examples of dials that also have the button. Regular radios generally do not.

User avatar
jph
Posts: 2846
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2020 12:50 pm
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow..

Re: Button Not Working on Home Made Knobster

#5 Post by jph »

@DeckerZ
I wrote -
Life is too short to search for one if not clearly visible on the site and I am not using his link to crap sites like faecesbook etc.
to which you replied
I am sorry to have bothered you. But if you didn't have the time to answer a genuine enthusiastic person's query, you should leave them for other people that may be kind enough to give some helpful advice.
Do you expect me to spend time searching for schematics for something that is not clearly on his site or not readily available on a simple search ?. Sorry old chap. Not a chance in hell.

even then your technical questions were fully answered.

If you do not understand what a pull up resistor is then try a site called google.com
On there, you can type 'pullup resistor' It really is a very useful tool.
for example, here is the very first result - oh, I forgot to say that the 'google' site will search on your entered text.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pull-up_r ... 0is%20open.

This may also help - https://lmgtfy.app/?q=pullup+resistor&iie=1

Another bloody 'entitled' snowflake.
Joe. CISSP, MSc.

DeckerZ
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2022 1:35 am

Re: Button Not Working on Home Made Knobster

#6 Post by DeckerZ »

Hi Sling,

I have been using the Radio Stack to switch between Nav a and standby frequency. I thought I could dial in a new frequency and press the button on the knobster (homemade) to transfer it over to the active frequency.
Image

DeckerZ
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2022 1:35 am

Re: Button Not Working on Home Made Knobster

#7 Post by DeckerZ »

Well, it turns out my button is working after all. When I tried it on the GPS unit it works fine. Lesson learnt.
Image
That's the last you will hear from me on this subject. Thanks for your answers to those who have helped.
BTW I didn't need the pull-up resistor as the Adruino already has built-in pullups.

Post Reply