GA Throttle Quadrent

[Tim.Huston]

Good Day Simmers. Am new to Air Manager and simply love it ! Cant believe I waited this long to get it !

I fly the BeechCraft Baron 58 so I downloaded the default 58 community panel. I noticed there is no Throttle quadrant in Air Manager and in a Search only the Boeing 737NG, a generic Throttle position exists unless im missing something and neither show what im looking for.

I use the Saitech X52 for now so I use 2 of the 3 switches on the front of the Throttle base for my Prop and mixture. Neither one shows what position they are in as I run a Triple monitor in XP12 with no 3d panel for my main view and 1 27" for Air Manager.

So im wondering if anyone has made a GA Throttle Quadrant ? and how much money is it ? or am i to start making my own ?

Thanks for any help and info

[Sling]

Hi Tim and welcome,

The reason there are not many engine controls around is probably because most users have a hardware solution for that and therefore have no need for an Air Manager instrument. I’d highly recommend a dedicated quadrant although the Market options are somewhat lacking IMHO there still some choices.

[jph]

The Saitek simple 3 lever quadrant can be bought (you will need two) they clip together to make a full 6 lever quadrant.
A nice unit and does the job perfectly and very reasonably priced.
You can get loads of different add on 'lever tops / handles such as these (you need the base units as well)
https://prodesksim.com/products/saitek- ... k-logitech

https://www.saitek.com/uk/prod-bak/quad.html

or this neat honeycomb one with autopilot etc -
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SK43CJ6/re ... r=8-3&th=1

Not expensive at all really.
Joe

[Tim.Huston]

Thanks for the suggestions and links Captains !

Buying something is not in the cards unless it was a quick $10 Air Manager instrument.

I will most likely try and speed up my panel build starting with the GA throttle quadrant using a arduino pro micro board, 10k Linear potentiometers and needed hardware unless i stumble on a better idea. I just dont have the extra time but if its needed I will build more and slow down flying as I should have been doing.

Thanks again for the help ! Much appreciated !

[Ralph]

I cannot guarantee that the pro Micro works. The normal Micro does.

[jph]

Hi,
If you are going to make a throttle quadrant then it is better IMHO to use the pro micro to flash as a HID joystick from the Arduino IDE. It is simple and is seen as a standard joystick / game controller in Windows.

And as @Ralph mentions the 'pro micro' is not directly compatible with AM unless using messageport. That is presuming it is the cheap (but excellent) Pro Micro with the 32U4 processor.

You can then set all axis from within the sim and is far easier for this example.
Joe

[Ralph]

I agree with Joe, using it as a joystick / HID is more convenient. It also gives you more configuration options within the simulator itself.

[jph]

I agree with Joe, using it as a joystick / HID is more convenient. It also gives you more configuration options within the simulator itself.

Hey ?? ain't you on baby duty

Congrats by the way.
Joe

[jph]

example Arduino IDE code for pro micro 6 axis hid joystick presuming you have the pro micro board def installed then in the most basic form
EDIT !!! - don't forget to add the board def to the IDE, it is simple - see - https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/pr ... ng-windows
Also - the joystick lib is the https://github.com/MHeironimus/ArduinoJoystickLibrary
It really is easy you can churn out joysticks and game controllers all day for a couple of dollars each.

Code: Select all

#include <Joystick.h>

Joystick_ Joystick(JOYSTICK_DEFAULT_REPORT_ID, 
                  JOYSTICK_TYPE_JOYSTICK, 
                  0,  // No buttons 
                  6,  // 6 axes: X, Y, Z, Rx, Ry, and Rz
                  true, true, true, true, true, true,  // Include the 6 axes
                  false, false, false, false, false);

void setup() {
  // Initialize all the axes to their center position (assuming a range of 0-1023)
  Joystick.setXAxis(512);  // X-axis
  Joystick.setYAxis(512);  // Y-axis
  Joystick.setZAxis(512);  // Z-axis
  Joystick.setRxAxis(512); // Rx axis
  Joystick.setRyAxis(512); // Ry axis
  Joystick.setRzAxis(512); // Rz axis
}

void loop() {
  // Read the analog values from A0 through A5 and set the corresponding axis
  Joystick.setXAxis(analogRead(A0));
  Joystick.setYAxis(analogRead(A1));
  Joystick.setZAxis(analogRead(A2));
  Joystick.setRxAxis(analogRead(A3));
  Joystick.setRyAxis(analogRead(A4));
  Joystick.setRzAxis(analogRead(A5));

  delay(10);  // Small delay for stability
}

that's it. complete 6 axis HID joystick for windows giving you full functionality

Joe

[Ralph]

Hey ?? ain't you on baby duty

Congrats by the way.
Joe

Thanks! I'm back to work Although from home for the first few days.