Assigning flaps lever to "Flaps axis" on Honeycomb Bravo
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Hi there,
As it is impossible to confirm flaps position without looking down to the flaps lever in the Arrow, I have decided to use the sixth axis of my Honeycomb Bravo as flaps selector with the same handle as for the commercial controls.
There is a problem however as there seems to be no clear separation in the position for the intermediate flaps settings (1 & 2), which means that the handle and the flaps are always shaking when setting the flaps in one of those two positions, with the accompanying noise of flaps extension / retraction continuously sounding. It of course also triggers the aural warning of gear not down when retracting the gear after take-off in flaps 1 because the flaps lever is shaking between position 1 and 2.
Would it be possible to solve this somehow ? It would be very useful.
That said, I flew 50 hours of flight on a real Arrow in the early 80's, and you really nailed it perfectly ! You really fly me back in time, thanks ;-) -
I have exactly the same problem too. I'm using a VIRPIL throttle and have the flaps mapped to a variable (pot-based) control lever. I get the same problem with the flap lever constantly moving (unless it is 0% or full 40% flap setting.
Interestingly I have the same Arrow for X-Plane and the same mapping. No problems there.
Simon.
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I'm using FSUIPC for all my mappings and when I got the Arrow and started mapping my buttons and axis I noticed an issue with the flaps.
When mapping an axis to flaps, FSUIPC detects the number of flap stages in the loaded aircraft and let you set the intervals for each detent. However, with the Arrow it detects too many. Going from 0 to the first detent on the axis, the flap lever in the cockpit comes up but immediately returns to 0 again. If I move the axis to the second detent I get flaps 1.
It sounds like you have a similar problem but I have no idea what's causing it. My guess is that there is a discrepancy between the number of flap stages in the 3D model and the flight model.
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Maybe the reason is that they wanted to simulate the Piper flaps system too realistically ?
Let me explain : in real life, this system is a purely mechanical one that works like the old car's parking brakes. If you move the lever a little tiny bit, the flaps will move that tiny bit as well. Only, there are three lock position to keep the flaps in those positions. It is a very nice system, that I much preferred from electrical flaps because, with your hand, you have full control of the speed at wich the flaps move, which comes very handy for example when moving flaps from 2 to 1 at low speed after a clearing obstacles take-off...
Now, IF they tried to model that with the flaps axis, but including the lock gates so that it is possible to move flaps with the increase/decrease flaps command, that MAY be the reason for the problem.
Someone at JustFlight to comment ? -
It feels as though the calculation used for setting both the flap position and the lever position is trying to constantly adjust between values. This can be seen as a fluttering of both the lever and the flap control surface when looking outside (so it's not just the lever animation). Almost looks as if the algorithm is taking the 'value' from the joystick too literally (most pots and hall sensors seem to have a tiny fluctuating value due to inaccuracy/dirt/current spikes etc).
I've tested this by assigning buttons to specific positions ie 0, 10, 25 and 40% and it works perfectly. I think this is just an issue when bound to a constantly variable axis - ie trying to mimick a 'lever' on the SIM controls, just as it would work in real life. Hope that makes sense.
Simon.
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There are two types of AXIS command assignments to choose from in the CONTROLS screen, one is FLAPS AXIS (-100 to 100%) and the other one is FLAPS AXIS (0 to 100%). Based on the command descriptions, the last one should "set the flap handle to the closest increment" instead continuously moving it.
