Topic: How to build my own controller? (Read 57909 times)

pigdog · « **Reply #25 on:** February 23, 2008, 11:56:19 »

Hi Carl,

I've never done anything like this before and I have no idea about electronics etc but as I said in my post Leo Bodnar and I'm sure others would be more than willing to offer advice on the subject.

Last night I found an old playstation 1 steering wheel and foot pedals that I had from years ago, so today I will be stripping that down for potentiometers, wire and buttons to use for the steering and bow/stern thrusters, so it doesn't have to be expensive, I'm sure alot of people may have old joysticks and steering wheels at home they don't use anymore so they can dismantle them to use the parts.
The hard part is finding real ship controls they can be expensive but if you live anywhere near a main river or yachting area then you will be able to find someone who sells boat and yacht equipment second hand, most marinas and yacht chandlery's will have a bargin basement of old parts for sale.

Just remember it's the control levers you want, so they look right you can buy potentiometers at any electrical store and then you can adapt the controller to work your potentiometer.

Once I've got all the electronics working I will mount them on a nice piece of wood so I have all the controls in one console, I'll post more pics of my progress and pass on any problems I encounter.

Give it a go!

Mad_Fred · « **Reply #26 on:** February 23, 2008, 12:02:45 »

Nice unit there pigdog!

I've just started making my own controller too.. details will follow when I finish it. I'm also using the BU0836. A really nice product. I've almost finished the console and I have hooked up my pots allready and tested that. Works like a charm.. Kudos to Leo Bodnar indeed.

I'm gonna put on 6 pots and 12 buttons. It'll have 2 throttle levers, 2 rudders and 2 thrusters.
Unfortunatly I don't have easy acces to some second hand real controls, but with a bit of creative thinking, anything's possible.

I'm curious to see how yours will turn out!!
Enjoy building it.... and using it afterwards of course!!

Regards,
Fred

carl · « **Reply #27 on:** February 23, 2008, 12:13:36 »

Thank for your explanation Pigdog. I wil try to find some real ship controls

pigdog · « **Reply #28 on:** February 23, 2008, 12:17:36 »

Hi Mad_Fred,

Hopefully I will have two throttles, two rudders and bow/stern thrusters, there are a load of buttons on this playstation controller that I would like to use including a hat switch but I'm not sure how to rig up switches yet, I read somewhere you would need diodes (never seen one and wouldn't have a clue how they work) if you know anything about connecting buttons and hat switches I'd be most interested.

The thing that has struck me is how enjoyable it is to get these things to work (apart from soldering my fingers of course) I'm like a bull in a china shop if it stays still long enough I'm taking it apart to rob bits from it.

I've got a washing machine and a dishwasher in the kitchen hhhhmmmm?

cheers

Pigdog

Mad_Fred · « **Reply #29 on:** February 23, 2008, 12:29:31 »

cannibalising other controllers is usually pretty effective to get nice components. As long as you (for the pots) have the right ones, it'll work.

I'm no expert either, but I too enjoy the soldering and making it all tick very enjoyable. My fingers are still intact though. But I use one of those "third hand" type things. (don't know what to call them.. one of those little stands with the crocodile clamps on it to hold it for you)

I know that you can hook up 8 pots and 12 buttons without any diodes. The BU0386 website has 2 pictures as to how it can be hooked up.

You can have 32 buttons plus a hat switch when you use diodes, and it then has to be wired up way more complex.

But if 12 buttons suffice, then it's easy. You just hook up one wire to each of the pins from the row of 6 and column of 6 on the BU0836 to one of the pins of each button.

Then hook one wire up to one of the ground pins from one of the analog inputs (on the BU00836).

And run that wire to one of the free pins of one of the buttons.

Then from that same pin, go to the next button and attach it to that free pin. And the same with all the buttons untill you complete the circuit.

I can't explain the diode thing, that schedule is too complex.. but it's here:
http://leobodnar.com/products/BU0836/

You'll see the one I mentioned too..

I hope all that makes sense..

Regards,
Fred

PS: Special thanks to Sandokan for explaining this to me when I wondered how to wire it up!

Kaj1 · « **Reply #30 on:** February 24, 2008, 14:41:05 »

Quote from: Mad_Fred on February 23, 2008, 12:29:31

cannibalising other controllers is usually pretty effective to get nice components. As long as you (for the pots) have the right ones, it'll work.

I'm no expert either, but I too enjoy the soldering and making it all tick very enjoyable. My fingers are still intact though. But I use one of those "third hand" type things. (don't know what to call them.. one of those little stands with the crocodile clamps on it to hold it for you)

I know that you can hook up 8 pots and 12 buttons without any diodes. The BU0386 website has 2 pictures as to how it can be hooked up.

You can have 32 buttons plus a hat switch when you use diodes, and it then has to be wired up way more complex.

But if 12 buttons suffice, then it's easy. You just hook up one wire to each of the pins from the row of 6 and column of 6 on the BU0836 to one of the pins of each button.

Then hook one wire up to one of the ground pins from one of the analog inputs (on the BU00836).

And run that wire to one of the free pins of one of the buttons.

Then from that same pin, go to the next button and attach it to that free pin. And the same with all the buttons untill you complete the circuit.

I can't explain the diode thing, that schedule is too complex.. but it's here:
http://leobodnar.com/products/BU0836/

You'll see the one I mentioned too..

I hope all that makes sense..

Regards,
Fred

PS: Special thanks to Sandokan for explaining this to me when I wondered how to wire it up!

You could hook up more then 12 buttons without diodes as well, but that only works if you have < 3 buttons activated at the same time (which should be more than enough in SS).

It really isn't hard to do the buttons , which is why I did not cover it in the tutorial. All it is is connecting the dots, like I did as a 5 year old with a crayon

Only know I do it with wire and a soldering kit

. Just follow the schema and you'll be allright.

@pigdog, glad to see you got it working all right. I didn't realise what volvo penta controls where when you PM'ed me, but they sure look nice

shipmate2008 · « **Reply #31 on:** February 24, 2008, 15:02:47 »

Wow i might start building these and selling them on ebay

for now i will stick to my G25..... but im ordering one of these babys to build myself another project i have in mind!

Mad_Fred · « **Reply #32 on:** February 24, 2008, 15:12:39 »

The G25 is nice, but apart from the steering wheel it doesn't really offer anything helpfull for most of the ships..

I tried it, but I actually had more control over the ships with a 5 Euro joypad than with the G-25.

But building one from scratch to do exacltly what you want it to do or have, is a really nice experience, I msut say. And I only just begun building it..

shipmate2008 · « **Reply #33 on:** February 24, 2008, 16:50:12 »

I dunno.... the 6 shift gear stick offers alot of control, just not gradual throttle increase. im looking into purchasing some ready made pots (real ship ones). as im too lazy to build it all haha! good luck with the build

Denis · « **Reply #34 on:** February 24, 2008, 17:07:25 »

I don't see the interest in building a throttle quadrant !

the Saitek quadrant is really great, and is really not very expensive ... you can find it at about 40 ou 50 euros !

I'm sure if you buy a real ship control it's far more expensive ... !

http://www.saitekusa.com/usa/prod/quad.htm

pigdog · « **Reply #35 on:** March 13, 2008, 00:13:22 »

Hi,

Here is the second part of my build.
After testing the throttles and finding they worked I headed back to the yacht chandlery to look for thruster and steering controls.
After searching for hours I couldn't find any dedicated steering controls but did find some real thruster controls Fig.1

Feeling disheartened at not finding anything to steer my ship with and not knowing if the thruster controls would work I turned to the playstation controls that I had started to rob bits from and used a bit of creativity to construct my steering controls Fig.2

I used the face plate from the playstation as a template to cut out another one to mount the controls on, I used two sets of plastic pipe joint from toilet plumbing I had lying in my toolbox to make a collar for the controls to sit in, then I realised that I needed some steering handles or wheels, so I used two speaker mounting brackets that were also lying at the bottom of the toolbox as well as a load of washers and nuts to get the correct amount of resistance for the steering Fig.3

I then marked out and mounted the controls to a piece of wood and then began the mammoth task of getting all the wires in the right place and the right length (measure twice cut once, I should have listened to my own advice)

After another email to Leo Bodnar to check on the suitability of the switches for the thrusters they could be mounted too this gave me engines, two steering controls and two thruster controls all working and mounted on my piece of wood. Fig.4

I was planning on using the rest of the wood to make a box to house it all in but I am no carpenter, it was at this point I looked at my toolbox and thought why don't I use that, eureka! a ready made box, so out came the tools all over the floor and after a little rethink I moved the thruster controls so they were side by side, cut the end off the wood and she fitted perfectly into the old toobox (the lid even closes) yes I even suprised myself with my genius or lazyness whichever way you look at it Fig.5

I then mounted the BU0836 inside the box cut a hole in the back so I can attatch the usb lead plugged it all in and hey presto! it all worked fine.

All thats left to do now is tidy it up a bit and I need to rethink the brackets for the left steering control, somehow it worked loose and keeps turning without moving the pot so a little more work to do on it and maybe a coat of paint and some rudder angle indicators just to finish it off but I'm really pleased with it.

The one downside is you have to have precision steering disabled when your in multiplayer to enable the controls to work correctly and this in turn means whenever you text talk to another player your engines and steering shut down whilst you type as soon as you click out of the text box it springs to life again, I don't suppose anyone knows away around this do they?
I've tried Teamspeak but not that many people seem to use it.

I will post some more pics when it's all complete but I've really enjoyed doing this little project and now I can enjoy it in the sim.

Pigdog

carl · « **Reply #36 on:** March 13, 2008, 16:24:02 »

Looks very nice

like the steering to

Captain Spencer · « **Reply #37 on:** March 13, 2008, 16:26:05 »

Wow that's fantastic. I'm actually quite jealous

Can have some serious fun with that

pigdog · « **Reply #38 on:** March 13, 2008, 16:47:43 »

Thanks guys,

There's still a little work to do as I said but it's pretty much there really, you notice the difference when you control Red Jet 4 (once you've figured out which steering goes with which engine) she does exactly what you want her to do even sideways movement because you've got more control for some reason.

The thruster controls are good but they are self centering so it's 0% - 100% port or starboard nothing in between as they are switches as opposed to pots but you can always use the onscreen controls to set the thrust for longer periods.

I have to admit I am most pleased with the steering, just a couple of bits of plastic plumbing and the speaker wall mountings work a treat.

It's just a shame you can't use them from the bridge wing in walkthrough mode, you have to switch to one of the outside views and when you text talk in MP you loose all your engines when you type but it's still good fun.

Cheers

Captain Spencer · « **Reply #39 on:** March 13, 2008, 16:55:02 »

Quote from: pigdog on March 13, 2008, 16:47:43

Thanks guys,

There's still a little work to do as I said but it's pretty much there really, you notice the difference when you control Red Jet 4 (once you've figured out which steering goes with which engine) she does exactly what you want her to do even sideways movement because you've got more control for some reason.

The thruster controls are good but they are self centering so it's 0% - 100% port or starboard nothing in between as they are switches as opposed to pots but you can always use the onscreen controls to set the thrust for longer periods.

I have to admit I am most pleased with the steering, just a couple of bits of plastic plumbing and the speaker wall mountings work a treat.

It's just a shame you can't use them from the bridge wing in walkthrough mode, you have to switch to one of the outside views and when you text talk in MP you loose all your engines when you type but it's still good fun.

Cheers

Yeah it does look great

I also think that when typing in MP you should still be able to control your ship. You don't have a cursor in the text boxes so why can't we use the arrow keys??

Anyway, have fun with that, looks like a decent controller. We also have that type of bow thruster on our 42ft boat. Self centering ones

thegodon · « **Reply #40 on:** March 22, 2008, 20:15:14 »

Hi there,

Since I read this thread I am thinking of building my own controller just like you guys (they look really awesome!

). However I looked on the internet for the gas throttle and saw that there are all different sorts of gas throttles (electrical, hydraulical etc.). I thought to read in Pigdogs post that you can adapt any controller to work with potentiometers. If I understood well the type of gas throttle doesn't matter as long as you convert it to work with a potentiometer. Is that right and how hard to do is it?

Regards,
thegodon

pigdog · « **Reply #41 on:** March 23, 2008, 12:10:11 »

Hi thegodon,

You could use any throttle controls but you would have to make sure that you can connect potentiometers to them by means of gears or small wheels I think it would be vey difficult to do it though and you would have to look at how to mount the potentiometers to the unit without them moving around.

Inside the throttle unit in my pictures it has a series of small plastic gears that reduce the turning action of the throttle controller to the potentiometer (this would be the hard part to recreate) if you had to alter a hydraulic or cable operated throttle unit.

I would say keep an eye out for throttle controls with potentiometer (electrical type, as they will be connected to an engine management system on a real boat) it will make life a lot easier and look more tidy, try ebay as well thats where I found the tech sheet for my controller.

http://www.marinepartseurope.com/en/volvo-penta-explodedview-7740680-27-7461.aspx

Keep looking and good luck with your build.

Pigdog

thegodon · « **Reply #42 on:** March 23, 2008, 13:11:31 »

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, it's a great help to me. I've looked a bit on ebay and found this control box: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-SUZUKI-DELUXE-DUAL-ENGINE-BINNACLE-CONTROL-BOX_W0QQitemZ130206749499QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item130206749499 I think this is an electrical one, however I'm not sure because it's hard to find info about these thing on the internet i guess. But it looks as an electrical one to me $:-\$ . Could you maybe help me to determine this is an electrical control box or not?

Thanks alot!

pigdog · « **Reply #43 on:** March 23, 2008, 16:00:15 »

I would e-mail the seller and ask them to check to see if it has potentiometers before buying and maybe ask them to send you some extra photos of the workings inside, that would give you more of a clue.

If they send you some photos of the inside of the controls, if your still not sure post them on here and I'm sure one of us that have built controls may be able to help you.

pigdog

LucAtC · « **Reply #44 on:** March 31, 2008, 14:07:27 »

Hello,
There is an interesting offer on eBay in the USA:
Glendinnings Twin Engine Throttle Controls
Probably adequate... and hmm preferably not too many bids, to keep them at a reasonable level.
Regards,
Luc

CaptainMike1 · « **Reply #45 on:** March 31, 2008, 15:22:42 »

Luc.

Shipping is within USA only!

kAAmAA · « **Reply #46 on:** May 24, 2008, 06:47:40 »

Finding a used control, buying a new one, building one.... none of these options seem to be working out for me.

The electronic portion of the setup looks like it would be easy as cake, but finding/building the controls seems to be impossible to me.

(I'm too much of a computer nerd to know any carpentry skills $:-\$ )

veslegutt · « **Reply #47 on:** July 16, 2008, 10:04:20 »

hello I wounder if I can by somting like this, dou you now sombody hwo seles somting like this?t
bekaus if I douse make this it wil not bea good hehe

Denis · « **Reply #48 on:** July 16, 2008, 10:34:54 »

Quote from: veslegutt on July 16, 2008, 10:04:20

hello I wounder if I can by somting like this, dou you now sombody hwo seles somting like this?t
bekaus if I douse make this it wil not bea good hehe

RailDriver is about to release such a controller, which has been discussed here for example :

http://www.shipsim.com/ShipSimForum/index.php/topic,8942.0.html

veslegutt · « **Reply #49 on:** July 18, 2008, 07:45:38 »

hehe due you now abote a private pesson hwo seles this things?

Author Topic: How to build my own controller? (Read 57909 times)