How to Make an Altimeter for a Flight Simulator with MobiFlight | Captain Bob

[@CaptainBobSim]

Hello Everyone! I did not make this very clear, but I did not design these files. The author is here: www.thingiverse.com/alvaroalea/designs Have a great day!

[@SatTracker]

Late find, but glad I did. Awesome work young man !! Keep it up !!

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@SpinStar1956]

Nice work Captain Bob! Appreciate you sharing how you made everything. I did see where another make actually printed a transparency with the same as the paper and laminated the two to get a glossy finish on the dial. I really am impressed by how you came up with the gear-ratios and clockwork! Subscribed!

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thanks! I didn't design this, but I thought a construction video would be helpful, here is the designer's thingiverse: www.thingiverse.com/alvaroalea/designs Have a great day!

[@SpinStar1956]

@@CaptainBobSim Well, you still did great and I enjoy your videos. Thanks for the links and you also "Have a Great Day!"

[@harryradfordphoto]

Thanks Trevor for the stepper motor info.. I'll order the controller boards as well :)

[@CaptainBobSim]

Excellent! I hope you have a blast building it! As a heads up the old Attitude indicator instead uses 9g servos and this altimeter only uses one motor (I gave specs for the new versions)

[@sbieramark1633]

You're Briliant !!! The most usefull tutorial on KZbin. You've just got +1 Subscriber

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thank you so much! That means a lot :)

[@renatinhoalb2002]

Thanks my friend you are the best, you inspired me to improve my home sim, I was using monitor with bezel through Air Manager, but with your videos I am moving next level, thanks again!!

[@CaptainBobSim]

That is very cool, GarageSim! :D

[@kcpstudio]

I must say... I was truly intrigued by your video. Well done my friend.

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thanks! I'm glad it found you.

[@branimirfilovski8388]

I have just started building my Cessna C172 home cockpit and I almost finished the radio panel. Great tutorial. Subscribed!

[@CaptainBobSim]

Awesome, Good luck with your simulator!

[@deadwillytv6528]

Once again it’s me in quarantine watching ur intro on 100% volume in a giant speaker on loop for 9 hours a day

[@CaptainBobSim]

That's so awesome, enjoy the rest of your quarantine!

[@deadwillytv6528]

Captain Bob - Flight Simulation Made Simple hey bro idk I guess I’m not the smartest but is there and easier way to do this?😂

[@CaptainBobSim]

@@deadwillytv6528 Hmm, I guess you could use a Saitek instrument for the altimeter.

[@marvinbrooks2601]

Once again excellent work Capt.

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thank you!

[@lpr_01]

Fantastic, congratulations. I am from Brazil and I am setting up a Cessna 172 Simulator totally following your videos.

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thanks, That's so awesome, good luck with your simulator and have a nice day!

[@tubetubepotato6455]

I just loved your intro

[@CaptainBobSim]

I’m so glad you liked it!

[@randomchannel252]

great job with those indicators! i REALLY need live instruments in my cockpit!!

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thank you! Yes, live instrumets are very fun to have!

[@kiancabarle123]

U should promote your channel. Its really helpful and extremely underrated.e

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thank you so much. That means a lot. I'll take your advice :)

[@emmaolsen9482]

Very Nice! I used this video to make my own altimeter for my flight simulator! Very Helpful!!

[@CaptainBobSim]

Glad it helped! I'd love to see a picture 😁

[@franckcrhiss8246]

Favoloso. Bravo!

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thank you Franck!

[@GuyInGermany]

Just saw that MobiFlight is a German company. Why not connecting with him? You have great tutorials. It's a bt help for so many guys.

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thanks. I am in contact with Sebastian from MobiFlight.

[@ianmessenger7895]

Hi Trevor. I made this some time ago and have just converted it to use the X27 steppers. The problem is I cant seam to program the stepper to show correctly. Using MSFS2020 and mobieflight 'Plane ALT above ground" as the sim variable. If this is the wrong place to post this then so sorry

[@ianmessenger7895]

This should read the ZGA12 stepper that I got from aliiexpress. 1;63 ratio and it says 1260 pulse per 360deg

[@CaptainBobSim]

Use "Indicated Altitude" instead

[@ianmessenger7895]

@@CaptainBobSim Thank you. Sort of got it going now

[@t-cox6587]

Hallo, the Arduino Mega is expansiv. if a soluion awaileble for arduino nano or AT Tyni with digispark?

[@CaptainBobSim]

Mobiflight supports the Arduino Mega, Arduino Mega Pro Mini, Arduino Pro Micro no others are fully compatible as of now

[@SimPilot-dl8zy]

Very impressive. Great work. I would like to use steppers in my designs. Do you know how to program them in Mobi for xplane? That would be of great help to me for the zibo. Thanks and keep up the great work.

[@CaptainBobSim]

Just use the X-Plane feature instead of an FSUIPC offset. If Altitude is different from Zibo you'll need to change one of the filters from laminar to zibo

[@SimPilot-dl8zy]

@@CaptainBobSim Thanks bud. I would show you my gauges but I have no way of posting here.

[@CaptainBobSim]

You should email me a picture! [e-mail] :)

[@CessSim]

nice work buddy. Agree with Dank below your videos are very informative. Keep it up ! Out of interest, how do you communicate the multiple instruments off the single mega arduino with limited ground and 5V ports?

[@CaptainBobSim]

You can either, Twist the wires together, Solder the ends together or use a breadboard's positive and negative rails.

[@sim782]

Beautiful realization. But how do you reset the altimeter between two simulations? When it was stopped at any altitude.

[@CaptainBobSim]

Between sessions, it should return to zero (which is a little bit painful when my home airport is thousands of feet AGL) unless MobiFlight crashes. If MobiFlight does crash you will have to recalibrate it manually, or cheat by unplugging it when it reaches roughly the right altitude, and closing MobiFlight. It might also be helpful to have another row for testing the stepper motor (no FSUIPC Value) and use the test function to recalibrate.

[@LachambredeNico]

I had this exact wallpaper for years ah ah

[@centaurixon]

Wouldn't it be easier and more precise to have a separate motor for each needle? But probably that's not supported by the software right?

[@CaptainBobSim]

SimVim does it this way, and I'm sure you could write an expression to have it this way but I didn't want to design it for myself so I used Alvaro Alea's :)

[@jetraid]

Excelent as ever, you can tweak 2 or 3 steps to archeve exact 10000ft .

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thank you! I will have to tweak this some more :)

[@aerotecamiguelcreus307]

Hello, good afternoon What is the name or model of the controller for the motor? Thank you Angel

[@CaptainBobSim]

ULN2003 👍

[@NetoTrabanino]

Inspired by these videos (thanks) I begun to build an oil pressure/temperature gauge (Two needles). I'm using Mobiflight + Arduino Mega + L293D Shield to connect two X27-589 steppers. The steppers are connected to the shield and I do not know which pins are used. How can I do to set Mobiflight right when it asks for the pins? Thank for your help.

[@CaptainBobSim]

Good Afternoon NetoTrabanino, I haven't worked much with the x27 stepper motors or the L293D Shield yet, so I don't think I could be of much help. I think you might find more help on the MobiFlight Forum at www.mobiflight.com/ You could also refer to my Stepper Motor video if it's a question about the MobiFlight process. Hopefully this helps!

[@NetoTrabanino]

@@CaptainBobSim . Thanks Captain Bob for your answer. I found out it doesn't work with Mobiflight, instead, I switched to Step Motor 28BYJ-48 and it works perfectly. It's finish and now I'm working on the Altimeter. But here I had to make some adaptations to fit my needs. (Resizing to match my others gauges, a front transparent glass, extra holes to attach to the panel, axes sizes, extra base to fit the Stepper Driver board, etc). Thanks

[@jay-rus4437]

How difficult would it be to convert a real altitude indicator to simulator?

[@CaptainBobSim]

It would mostly be a mechanical project, difficulty would depend on the model of the altimeter. I've worked with one before, it took a lot of experimentation but was doable

[@CaptHog]

Do you happen to have the images in better detail to print?

[@CaptainBobSim]

I do not, I'm sorry. I'd go into GIMP, Inkscape or Canva to make better ones.

[@emmanuelsheshi1553]

Wow... Nice work

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@TheTribeitaly]

hi nice video thanks to your tutorials i learned to program mega boards, i want to know if it is possible to connect two mega board to mobiflight

[@CaptainBobSim]

Hello! It is possible to connect multiple arduinos to MobiFlight. Good luck with your sim!

[@geologist_luna]

Now that you have a new design, are you going to show how its put together? I've got about 90% of it figured out, but I feel like I am missing something.

[@CaptainBobSim]

I saw your GitHub message :) I'm still prototyping it - the video will come after the VSI Video. It takes a lot of work to take it from meh to 👍, especially with school so I can't promise a date. What's the last 10% you need? Is there anything you think needs improvement?

[@GuyWithAPC]

made this in my electronics class. Nice tutorial, but it sure was a pain to find that diameter of tubing lol.

[@NetoTrabanino]

Captain Bob, This is Neto Trabanino again. I switched to MSFS2020. Could you give me a hand to code an Altimeter ( one stepper) in MSFS2020 in my Mobiflight version 9.6.0. From Extras menu, I already downloaded WASAM module and downloaded the latest HUBHOB Events. I run the Firmware again and I have been trying diferents codes without success. In the section 'Sim Variables' I selected SimConnect(MSF2020) 🤥

[@mariogayoso]

Good job!! Where did you learn all of these stuff??

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thank you Mario! I learned this from exploring YouTubing on how electronics work, reading forums, experimenting and a lot of failing :)

[@mariogayoso]

@@CaptainBobSim Awesome man! I added you on insta @emecreativelab.check my setup and let me know your thoughts

[@JohnSmith-yo8dd]

Good​ job​. Thanks​.

[@CaptainBobSim]

You are welcome :)

[@garymcleanuk]

Awesome

[@CaptainBobSim]

Thanks :)

[@MauroReza]

I hate 3d printed parts, because where I am, it is very difficult and expensive. But i love all the other stuffs on the channel

[@CaptainBobSim]

Yes, they are very expensive some places. Have a great day!

[@yorgle]

No big deal, but the tubing is brass, but the description says copper. ;)

[@CaptainBobSim]

Whoops! Not a problem with my new design though 😂 I fixed this in the description

[@stralegaming2597]

Hi i had luck with buyng cheap chinese usb fans so now my both 2 usb ports ar dead wich means that i cant connect anything to my front usb ports

[@CaptainBobSim]

If you still have back ports, you could run a USB hub from them. I wouldn't know how to fix this. Hopefully these videos might help: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pHynXqdrr7Kbhsk kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJq8hYR9fbakeck

[@stralegaming2597]

@@CaptainBobSim thanks i hope they can help

[@marcinkosela400]

Good idea but hot glue?!?! Seriously? For 2 weeks?

[@CaptainBobSim]

Right?!

[@OMAR-fq4qi]

Arduino code