Newbie Questions, Connecting Buttons to Pro Race

[Stewart]

Hi,

I bought a pro race a few months ago and love it, I now want to add a full range of buttons, toggles and rotary encoders to it to make myself a little dashboard, I would probably buy the button adapter to help me. As I'm new to this though I have a few simple questions.

1. The website mentions a POV 4 way hat switch. Where could I get these from and how would these connect?
2. Toggle switches, again where could I get these from and could I use 'on-off-on' toggles or just 'on-off' toggles?
3. Rotary Encoders, I've not used these before, what things do people usually use these for, for example in iRacing?
4. How would I physically connect these items to the button adapter - by soldering wires to the pins? If so what type of wires would I use?
5. In the columns and rows diagram for the button adapter what do the North South East and West pins refer to and what are they for?

I'm sorry this is a lot of questions for my first post but I like to know what I'm getting into before I buy or start my project!

Many thanks,

Rob.

[Cristiano]

Hi.

1-POV: never bought them but found these:
http://controlparts.com/klockner.moeller/m22-4-way-joysticks-selectors.htm#d4
(4-Way Thumb Grip Selector Switches=

or:
http://proto-pic.co.uk/thumb-joystick-analogue/

I will give you detailed instruction when you show me what model you have bought.

2- toggle switched: these are easy to find. just google it. for example:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/10a-toggle-switches-2360

You can use both ON-OFF or ON-OFF-ON (here do you mean a 3 position switch?)

3- with rotary encoders you can adjust seat position, breaks for example

4- as for the wires, I would suggest these:
http://www.symprojects.com/shop/20-pin-dual-female-splittable-jumper-wire-300mm/

5- the North, South, West and East pins is there you connect the POV hat.

I really suggest su use the button adapter otherwise the installation will be quite complicated because you will have to add diodes to each connection.

I am happy to give more details on how to connect each switch/rotary etc

regards
Cristiano

[Stewart]

Thanks for your detailed reply Cristiano.

I'll certainly be using the button adapter! I think I'll leave the POV switch, all the ones I've found seem to be very expensive for some reason and I don't want to complicate things.

I was talking about on-off-on toggle switches because my wheel already has two toggles on it and they have an up, a central and a down position and it springs back to the central position after each push and this type of toggle is really useful for things like brake bias and engine boost. If I could find the right type of toggle I'd quite like these, but does that mean it would take up the space of two buttons?

As for enclosing the pro race, is it ok to leave the rear of the pro race exposed, I was thinking about dust collecting on the circuitry etc? And if you do enclose the pro race does it need vents for heat dissipation?

Thanks again.

[Cristiano]

Hello.
if the ON-OFF-ON toggle switches are momentary, that is the switch goes back to the central position after you release it, it's like having 2 push buttons.

The display doesn't need to be enclosed and dust is not a problem.
but if you want to put it into a case, there is no need of vents at all.

Regards
Cristiano

[Stewart]

Ahhh, that's what momentary means! I'll probably order a button adapter and just a few buttons to start with and see how I get on, build up from there.

Thanks for all your help.