Elecrtical questions

[budsbud]

On a recent WR 2010 rally flight we had icing conditions which I had not encountered in flight sim before. I lost my IAS and turned on the pitot heat. I looked at the ammeter and saw no change in the current draw. Had no idea whether it was working or not. A few minutes later the indicated air speed stated working again so the heater must have worked. This caused me then to check out the rest of the electrical items.
I found that the only thing that increased the bus current draw was the Nav lights. They increased the current by about 5 amps. None of the other electrical switches showed any rise in the current load. The landing lights I had thought would use the most current but turning them on / off caused no change in the meter reading at all.
All the lights and other electrical items work as they should but why they do not draw any measurable current is the question. I have hunted for a connection between these switches and the current they should be drawing but no luck. I have checked the aircraft.cfg, panel.cfg, and the *.air files. I have searched the FSUIPC SDK files also but no joy.
Could anyone enlighten me on this. I know it is of minor importance but now that I’m into it I would like to find an answer.

Bud
BGAN063

[louross]

Could be wrong, but I think there are four ways of programming the amp/volt gauges: 1) not programmed at all, 2) set to a default value, 3) set to a default value if a particular item is turned ON, and 4) programmed to opereate depending on the loads selected.
For example in the DC-3C by Chas. Henson (I think that's his name???) the amp and volt gauges are programmed to work and show usage based on the various electrical loads that you use. It would appear that his programing also agrees with the DC3 manual. And if you overload, you wll get failures. The calclassics DC7's and DC6's also show the various loads, but the Hensen DC3C is more accurately and fully programmed. I have noticed that there are a/c that show nothing. The twin otters I've seen in FS show a load but they are not correct and are not programmed correctly. Same with the various "King Air" series.
lr.

[louross]

Oh, by the way, the above mentioned DC-3C will also pick up prop ice which you have to deal with or pefrormace defintely suffers.
lr.

[Tom Goodrick]

This electrical bus info, along with the light info can be included in the aircraft.cfg file or it may be ommitted. I think it is discussed in the Aircraft Container SDK.

This section below is from the Beech King Air B350:

[electrical]
;BusType, MaxAmpLoad, MinVoltage BusTypes:0=MainBus,1=AvionicsBus,2=BatteryBus,3=HotBatteryBus,4-7=Generator/AlternatorBus(1-4)
flap_motor = 0, 5 , 17.0
gear_motor = 0, 5 , 17.0
autopilot = 0, 5 , 17.0
avionics_bus = 0, 5 , 17.0
avionics = 1, 5 , 17.0
pitot_heat = 0, 2 , 17.0
additional_system = 0, 2 , 17.0
marker_beacon = 1, 2 , 17.0
gear_warning = 0, 2 , 17.0
fuel_pump = 0, 5 , 17.0
starter1 = 0, 20, 17.0
light_nav = 0, 5 , 17.0
light_beacon = 0, 5 , 17.0
light_landing = 0, 5 , 17.0
light_taxi = 0, 5 , 17.0
light_strobe = 0, 5 , 17.0
light_panel = 0, 5 , 17.0

This, however, is all that is included with the default DC-3:

[electrical]
max_battery_voltage = 24
generator_alternator_voltage = 25
max_generator_alternator_amps = 100

I don't know where it gets the info for the components if it is not mentioned here.

But here is another, perhaps related oddity. When building an aircraft model, various types of plane-building software let you install lights as you build the plane. Then in other cases, or in addition to the built-in lights, you can create your own lighting with a section like the following in the aircraft.cfg file (which works with the default DC-3)

[LIGHTS]
//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing
light.0 = 3, -27.20, -46.3, 0.65, fx_navredm ,
light.1 = 3, -27.20, 46.3, 0.65, fx_navgrem ,
light.2 = 3, -64.00, 0.00, 2.72, fx_navwhi ,
light.3 = 1, -36.80, 0.00, 6.25, fx_beaconh ,
light.4 = 4, -6.00, 0.00, 1.80, fx_vclight,
light.5 = 4, -15.00, 0.00, 4.20, fx_vclighth,
light.6 = 4, -21.00, 0.00, 4.20, fx_vclighth,
light.7 = 4, -27.00, 0.00, 4.20, fx_vclighth,
light.8 = 4, -33.00, 0.00, 4.20, fx_vclighth,

This provides lights through the cabin.

The stuff you are looking for is probably in the .air file but not in the part we normally have access to with our editors. (None of our editors are "Official.")

I happen to have an ice gauge. I'll send it to both of you. In addition to the airspeed indicator problem, icing in FS causes a growth in weight. With the big slow DC-3 that weight can become a big problem. When developing the gauge, I found the DC-3 was the toughest plane in icing conditions. Ice frequently forced me to land or to fly below the icing level until the ice dissipated.

[budsbud]

Lou/ Tom
I think you are correct in the 4 ways of programming the volt/amps. Biggest question then seems to be 2. and 3. Just where could the default values be hiding ?? Are they available through FSUIPC ?? If not available we just have to live with the way the plane was built , right.
Thanks for the info Tom. On my PBY there are none of the entries you have listed under “[electrical]” yet the stuff works and only the Nav lights show the 5 amp load. So I am assuming that none except the “nav” lights are programmed and the rest are not. As you say Tom these values are probably in the *,air file and locked away. Oh well just busy work for me.
Thanks guys
Bud

[louross]

The FSUIPC module sounds interesting. Have the registered version, but I only have it programmed for wx, so don't know about its other uses. Would be interesting to hear what you find out about it!
lr.

[Tom Goodrick]

Perhaps I should have made it clear that you can add these electrical features to any aircraft that does not come with them simply by copying these sections into the aircraft.cfg file for the aircraft. If an [electrical] section already exists, add the new lines to it. Do not make a second [electrical] section. Same with the lights.

[budsbud]

OK Tom I will insert your lists and give it a go.. I am still trying to get my P-Boat as close to the real thing as I can so I seem to be real picky.
Next is the engine CHT they only come so high and even when I have not throttled back from TO power for a while they never red line. Oh well keeps me busy and off the street.

[Tom Goodrick]

What is redline for those? That's an easy fix.

[budsbud]

I really don't know what the red line should be but I think it is about 250 *C
These are the PW-1930-92 engines but I will have to do some more research to find the right max CHT. But if it should go on up, wonder why is does not ? Easy fix ?

[Tom Goodrick]

It should be an easy fix. I tried to get fancy by adjusting both the cooling and the rate of change for the guage and got stuck in molassas. If you have AAM to edit air files, just look at your air file for line 541 which is CHT for recip engines. You can change the scale factor, the cooling, the temp limit and the rate of change. I set the scale factor from 1.0 to 2.5 and got pretty close to 250C. You might try 2.75. If you don't have AAM, I'll try again tomorrow and send you the air file.

[budsbud]

Hey Tom
Your right on the money. Fixed the CHT and the oil temp. They run up about normal now. Thanks.
There is no joy on the electrical though. No current draw on the landing lights and other stuff.
Oh well I should be happy they come on at all.
Thanks again
Bud

[Allen Peterson]

Hi Bud,
I think you need to add the following lines to your [Lights] section that Tom sent you.

light.9 =5, 4.500000, -11.000000, 0.000000, fx_landing.fx
light.10 =5, 4.500000, 11.000000, 0.000000, fx_landing.fx

The 5 after the = sign makes them landing lights. If that works you can change the 5 (amps) in the landing_light line to 10 or 20 to give a more realistic amp usage.

Change the x, y, z locations to match your landing lights.

Let me know if this helps.

[Tom Goodrick]

I doubt if that will help. The landing lights require a drawn lighted area on the ground ahead of the lights. You cannot get that simply by assigning the lights in this section. Landing lights have to be installed by the aircraft designer.

At least this has been true for me. Landing lights on a DC-3 would be really tough because in taxi mode they would point into the sky as normally installed.

If you have lines like this in your DC-3 aircraft.cfg, try removing them. I bet you still have lights installed by the designer.

[Allen Peterson]

You are right, Tom. I wasn't trying to get the landing lights to show, I was trying to get the amp meter to show a current drain when the landing lights were turned on. And I intended the fix for Bud's PBY.