SymProjects Forum
General Category => General Discussions => Topic started by: Mortos on April 15, 2011, 03:38:30 pm
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Christiano,
Congratulations on the new Pro Shift board! It's a lovely little board, exactly what I needed.
Some questions I had when reading the product description:
Can the LED's be connected common cathode to save on wires?
What will the switches control once they are enabled? Will they be usable as inputs for the sim, can they toggle functions on the SimScreen or are they limited to the Pro Shift?
On the product pictures, the "prog" holes are empty. Will a firmware upgrade require connecting these?
Will a firmware upgrade be required to use the switches?
Also, SimDash has buttons to disable all plugins, except for the SimScreen. Why?
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Hello.
The LEDs share the same positive connection, which is the row of pins near the edge of the board.
So you can connect the LEDs cathodes together. The negative leads instead must be kept separated and connected to the row of pins toward the center of the board.
I haven't decided what to do with the switches yet. Suggestions are welcome.
The PROG connector is used to upgrade the firmware. The two holes must be connected together with some wire to start the update process.
I haven't added these details yet because there is nothing to upgrade with at the moment.
Cheers
Cristiano
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Hi Christiano,
Congratulations on the ProShift - it's an outstanding addition to your other excellent products. I'd suggest to use the switch connections for push button switches if your board will function as a standard game controller.
Regards,
Derek
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I really want to purchase the Pro Shift.
First off, iRacing is the only sim I use. Accorrding to your link
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuUfvT6L0AhNdHBnODZuWkRIdWhWQjRtUHBYMHN6dmc&hl=en#gid=0
iRacing doesn't work for alot of things like fuel, oil, water etc.
I asked on the iRacing forums and the response was this,
http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/1466000.page
"I believe that oil water and fuel are in the current SDK already. You may want to poke the person in charge of rev burner to update his driver. Of course there is a whole new telemetry toolkit coming out this season so maybe wait a few weeks before bugging them.
By the way, that looks really great, I look forward to seeing the whole dash when you are finished." - David Tucker''
So I guess my main question is, since iRacing out puts this data, will the Pro Shift work for fuel, water, etc. in iRacing?
You've got some great products Cristiano. I will probably buy the Pro Shift this week anyhow, just to have when everything is supported!
And I'm still patiently waiting for a board to drive the other gauges! ;)
Thanks for the awesome new board!
Richard.
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This seems to be a very interesting "thing".
Cristiano, can I use this Pro shift thing with the Mondeo dashboard cluster I bought from you? I mean, is it possible to connect the dashboard's turn indicator lights, high beam, battery light and oil/ gasoline light to the Pro shift board?
Seems that I have to save up some money and get this one as well.
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i dont think it would be a problem...just simply remove the bulbs from the dshboard and replace with the leds?
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Would it be possible to find a wiring diagram for this great little board? I'd like to know just how many LEDs I can connect to it.
Derek
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http://www.symprojects.com/shop/pro-shift/
First sentence, "The Pro Shift is a compact and easy to use board which allows you to drive up up 16 LEDs."
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I should have been clearer. I would like to know, with precision, how to wire the led's to which connections on the board. Thanks in advance for anything constructive and guiding.
Derek
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Same link:
http://www.symprojects.com/shop/pro-shift/
It's really pretty simple. Check out the pics on that link(2nd pic is the best). They hook right into the positive and negative leads on the board. Zone1, Zone2, Zone3, Shift, & Aux. Each "Zone" contains a set of 4 pins, then "Shift" has 2 sets, & "Aux" has 2 for a total of 16 sets of pins for 16 LEDs to connect to.
Then as stated earlier there is a Switch section on the board, that is currently unused.
You can buy the header cables right off the site.
http://www.symprojects.com/shop/2-pin-dual-female-jumper-wire-200mm/
http://www.symprojects.com/shop/20-pin-dual-female-splittable-jumper-wire-300mm/
Not really sure how much more precise you need it to be.
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You can also use an IDE cable:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ata_20070127_002.jpg
plug one connector to the Pro Shift.
To connect the LEDs on the other side, you have to remove the other connector and solder the wires to the LEDs leads.
Cheers
Cristiano
I should have been clearer. I would like to know, with precision, how to wire the led's to which connections on the board. Thanks in advance for anything constructive and guiding.
Derek
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Quick question. I am planning on using the ProShift basically to create an array for RPMs that resembles that of Formula 1. Basically all green LEDs will lit simultaneously, as the red and blue LEDs. Because they will do the same function, can they be wired and plug into a common plug (positive and negative) or the best alternative will be the one described by Cristiano on the first reply? Also, any update for the switch part? I think it would be a good idea for it to connect some buttons onto it.
I'm waiting for this to arrive along with other stuff I ordered from here. The display panel is cut and waiting for theses lovely parts to be mounted.
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I haven't tested whether connecting more LEDs to the same plug works.
You can try to connect 2 or more LEDs in parallel. Definitely they will be less bright. Also I suspect one LED will be brighter than the others connected to the sane plug.
You can try to connect 2 LEDs in series, and see if it works. More than two won't work for sure.
I am sure I will use the 4 switches to connect some joystick buttons, as suggested. I have been working on that.
Thanks
Cristiano
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Cristiano,
While joystick buttons can come in handy, especially when the board is mounted on or used with a wheel. However, some games don't support multiple DirectX input devices properly.
If it is at all possible, can you make the joystick feature optional and toggleable via software?
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Yes I will do.
Cheers
Cristiano
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I was wondering if given that the SPI-D and the GI Pro and Max can detect the RPM and blink or show the shift light, could it be possible to implement an option to turn lights as a percentage of the RPMs from the cars ( turn on at 85, 90 & 95 percent of the RPM's of a given vehicle, for example) at an later update?
This would be very helpful for those that are planning to use the Pro Shift to make an RPM array as its kinda tedious to change the RPMs from car to car.
Thanks.
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Hello.
Thank you for your suggestion.
The only problem with this feature is that the max RPM value of the car is not available with every simulator.
If you check
http://www.symprojects.com/go/simdata
you will see that the "MaxRPM" value is present for only 50% of the supported simulators.
Anyway I will investigate your idea and I think can it can be implemented.
Another solution I was think about is to add a mechanism to SimDash to change the settings of every plugin with a simgle click.
It should work like this: you first create a set of configurations for every plugin (Rev Burner, GI Max, SPI-D etc...), and then clicking a menu in SimDash every plugin loads a specific configuration. So you can switch the settings based on the car being driven.
Cheers
Cristiano
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Thanks Cristiano. The second alternative sounds nice also. I was thinking that the software already had the option of saving many profiles for that case, but is good to know that you are looking into that.
Thanks.
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Heya
I was wondering if it is possible to monitor Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010 and light LED's depending on whether NOS, Spikestrip, Turbo, etc etc is available.
I know some people online don't consider NFS games as racing sims, but they are ALOT of fun and being able to light a dash display for knowing when I can fire that EMP or Spike-strip again would be wicked!
Thanks
Rammy. ;D
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Hi.
NfS Hot Pursuit is not supported at the moment but I will investigate it.
The games in the NfS series don't offer a proper mechanism to extract data, so what can be done is quite limited. Being able to read RPM , speed and gear is already a good result.
But I will try to read the NOS and turbo too.
Thanks
Cristiano
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Hey
I've been looking into this too, and there are a few memory offset values I've found with other programs which indicate the value of NOS and turbo's etc... CheatEngine is a pretty good program for reading memory locations in game. I know some people use it for making trainers, but the interesting part is, it's pretty good at finding memory to read and display information.
I believe RacerS uses something like this for making his FOV and headtracking applications.
I'm building some custom LED buttons into my setup and lighting up the buttons when a weapon, power up, or simple NOS is ready to go would be a fantastic use of the spare LED pins I have available.
Thanks
Ramjet
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Hi.
I use CheathEngine too to find memory locations of games that don't offer other ways for extracting data.
If you know some useful locations and want to share them I will be happy to include them in SimDash.
Have you got a link to RacerS' applications?
Thanks
Cristiano
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Hello
Am I reading this right? Will you soon be able to plug switches/buttons into the pro shift and basically use it as another controller? Ie have a series of dash switches connected to it? If so I should have ordered two lol.
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Hello
Am I reading this right? Will you soon be able to plug switches/buttons into the pro shift and basically use it as another controller? Ie have a series of dash switches connected to it? If so I should have ordered two lol.
There are 4 unused switches on the Pro Shift.
I have been working on a firmware upgrade that will make use of those switches. The Pro Shift will be seen by Windows as a game controller, with 4 buttons available.
Cheers
Cristiano
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Hello Cristiano,
I'm from Argentina. I want to buy the Pro Shift but I'd like to know if there are problems with the shippment to my country.
Questions:
- Can I change the function of each set of pins?
- The leds have 2 wires (+ and -) Wich is the correct connection in the board?
- If I have to buy more leds, what is correct specification (voltage, size, etc)
Sorry, my english is too bad.
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Hello Cristiano,
I'm from Argentina. I want to buy the Pro Shift but I'd like to know if there are problems with the shippment to my country.
Questions:
- Can I change the function of each set of pins?
- The leds have 2 wires (+ and -) Wich is the correct connection in the board?
- If I have to buy more leds, what is correct specification (voltage, size, etc)
Sorry, my english is too bad.
Hello.
I have shipped to Argentina many times I never had a problem.
You can change the function of each set of pin. You use SimDash to configure when each led turns on and off.
Each LED uses two pin. The pin near the edge of the board is the positive, the one toward the center of the board is the negative. one of the pictures in this page illustrates better:
http://www.symprojects.com/shop/pro-shift/
The Pro Shift comes with 16 LEDs, which is the maximum number of LEDs you can connect. In general connecting more LEDs in series or in parallel won't work.
Anyway they are standard 5mm LEDs, but you can use 3mm ones if you want. the Pro Shift sends 15mA of current to each LED, when the brightness is set to 100%.
Cheers
Cristiano
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Hello Cristiano,
I'm from Argentina. I want to buy the Pro Shift but I'd like to know if there are problems with the shippment to my country.
Questions:
- Can I change the function of each set of pins?
- The leds have 2 wires (+ and -) Wich is the correct connection in the board?
- If I have to buy more leds, what is correct specification (voltage, size, etc)
Sorry, my english is too bad.
Hello.
I have shipped to Argentina many times I never had a problem.
You can change the function of each set of pin. You use SimDash to configure when each led turns on and off.
Each LED uses two pin. The pin near the edge of the board is the positive, the one toward the center of the board is the negative. one of the pictures in this page illustrates better:
http://www.symprojects.com/shop/pro-shift/
The Pro Shift comes with 16 LEDs, which is the maximum number of LEDs you can connect. In general connecting more LEDs in series or in parallel won't work.
Anyway they are standard 5mm LEDs, but you can use 3mm ones if you want. the Pro Shift sends 15mA of current to each LED, when the brightness is set to 100%.
Cheers
Cristiano
Thanks a lot for your answers, I will buy today this board.
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Hi Christiano
Firstly I'm loving my new toys, just waiting for my new Tacho to turn up (the Type R was rubbish).
But anyway, I noticed on the spreadsheet for the Pro Shift game compatibility there is a option for Ignition that is supported by rfactor but in Simdash there is no option to select it from the drop down box. Has this been removed or not added yet? If it is added I'm assuming it will show ignition on/off.
Thanks again
Ricky
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Hi Christiano
Firstly I'm loving my new toys, just waiting for my new Tacho to turn up (the Type R was rubbish).
But anyway, I noticed on the spreadsheet for the Pro Shift game compatibility there is a option for Ignition that is supported by rfactor but in Simdash there is no option to select it from the drop down box. Has this been removed or not added yet? If it is added I'm assuming it will show ignition on/off.
Thanks again
Ricky
You are right. it is not present.
I will add it.
Thanks
Cristiano
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Does the Pro Shift also work with SMD leds? Or will it only work with 5 and 3 millimeter leds?
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Does the Pro Shift also work with SMD leds? Or will it only work with 5 and 3 millimeter leds?
it should work with SMD LEDs as well.
The parameter to check is the typical current for the LED. The Pro Shift sends from 1mA to 15mA, it depends on the brightness settings.
Cheers
Cristiano