Pro Shift

[Mortos]

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?

[Cristiano]

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

[DerekSpeare]

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

[iRacer88]

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.

[kikie]

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.

[nescafe37]

i dont think it would be a problem...just simply remove the bulbs from the dshboard and replace with the leds?

[DerekSpeare]

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

[iRacer88]

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."

[DerekSpeare]

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

[iRacer88]

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.

[Cristiano]

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

[makuwaido]

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.

[Cristiano]

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

[Mortos]

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?

[Cristiano]

Yes I will do.

Cheers
Cristiano