Leo Bodnar Shift Lights and controllers

[Brian Clancy]

This is the place for all things 'Leo Bodnar'

 

[Ramon Alonso]

I've ordered my Slim-Pro and it's on its way. Awesome!! I was searching around and found a page where it shows all the feature or buttons you can assign to different games, I didn't bookmark the page and now I can't find it. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

[Ramon Alonso]

I've ordered my Slim-Pro and it's on its way. Awesome!! I was searching around and found a page where it shows all the feature or buttons you can assign to different games, I didn't bookmark the page and now I can't find it. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Well, I've got my Sli-Pro, and some buttons, rotary switches and encoders. I've read around that rotary switches are pretty much useless in games. So, I'm thinking that I use only two rotary switches, one for speed display, the other for time display. Overall I can use 8 buttons, 5 rotary encoders, and 2 rotary switches(speed and time), and 2 buttons(OSP, QI), plus 5 LEDs. This is not set in stone, I'm trying to decide what will be the best for playing. Should I get rid of the OSP and QI buttons, do I have too many encoders?
Any feedback would be awesome!

 

[Lars Bargmann]

Overall I can use 8 buttons, 5 rotary encoders, and 2 rotary switches(speed and time), and 2 buttons(OSP, QI), plus 5 LEDs.

I think the SLI-PRO only takes 16 buttons, IIRC?

8 buttons + 5 encoders + 2 more buttons = 20 button-inputs

Edit : Apparantly, the slipro can take 20 buttons, if only 2 rotary switches are connected, so you should be fine...

 

[Chris Knight]

does anyone know the numberings of the sli-m I want to change them in the plugins so I know what they are flashing for..

 

[Mr Pibb]

I have a whole bunch of questions pertaining to the SLI-M. I'm building a new wheel, and am only in the design phase, but can not design the thing until I know the limitaions of the SLI-M and the software that drives it. These are genuine questions, this is not just a dream of mine. I've built an F1 wheel before so am serious this. You can see my current wheel here.

OK, the questions:

Without seeing a screen shot of the software configuration, this is impossible to know.

1). I intend to remote mount the LEDs. Can I use only 9 of these LEDs, and rely on the software for configuration?

2). Can I remote mount the digital readout? It looks like 10 wires will be required. Can I desolder it and attach wires?

3). How thick is the digital readout?

4). I assume each rotary encoder uses up 2 "buttons" (one for each direction of travel). Is this correct?

5). Can I use "latching" (on-off) buttons. Is the software capable of handling this by giving a pulse when switching on and another pulse when switching off.

6). Can I configure the software to emulate a keyboard stroke for buttons? For example, configure a button to press the escape key, and configure another button to emulate pressing say the down arrow key?

7). How is brightness controlled?

8). Is there a template file of the SLI-M layout. I have tracked one down already, in PDF format. It does not appear to be highly accurate, perhaps +/- 0.5mm. Even that is probably generous. I require something much more accurate than this for precise laser cutting.

Thanks for reading, and I hope someone out there can answer my questions.


Regards,

Mr Pibb

 

[Brian Clancy]

Hi

I will answer what I can quickly, after that may need a little time to measure up!


1). I intend to remote mount the LEDs. Can I use only 9 of these LEDs, and rely on the software for configuration?

Yes, I have done this before, but the config is pre-set, sou will have to move the correct LED's in the right order

2). Can I remote mount the digital readout? It looks like 10 wires will be required. Can I desolder it and attach wires?

Yes, I have done this before also, but not on SLI-M. Will be fiddley as surface mount, but should be fine

3). How thick is the digital readout?

Dont have an SLI-M to hand atm, sorry

4). I assume each rotary encoder uses up 2 "buttons" (one for each direction of travel). Is this correct?

Correct!

5). Can I use "latching" (on-off) buttons. Is the software capable of handling this by giving a pulse when switching on and another pulse when switching off.

Yes and No! You can use a latching switch IF you use diodes on ALL connections to stop earth problems, but it wont recognise a pulse as you turn off. Not worth it imo. Use momentary toggles, a more reliable solution tbh

6). Can I configure the software to emulate a keyboard stroke for buttons? For example, configure a button to press the escape key, and configure another button to emulate pressing say the down arrow key?

Never tried, but MAY be possible.... Something in my head say no tho ... lol

7). How is brightness controlled?

Brightness can be controlled via the software in numerous ways or you can assign a Rotary Encoder to do it in game from the device also

8). Is there a template file of the SLI-M layout. I have tracked one down already, in PDF format. It does not appear to be highly accurate, perhaps +/- 0.5mm. Even that is probably generous. I require something much more accurate than this for precise laser cutting.

You wont need super accuracy as the component fit is excellent, but still has normal 'tolerances' and as such means you will need to leave a little room

Hope this helps

 

[Chris Knight]

6). Can I configure the software to emulate a keyboard stroke for buttons? For example, configure a button to press the escape key, and configure another button to emulate pressing say the down arrow key?

Never tried, but MAY be possible.... Something in my head say no tho ... lol

Chris says yes you can. use a program called joytokey its old but it works. I use it for motec so I press a button on wheel to start the logging wich would usualy be ctrl +m can be used to mimic any keyboard button

 

[Roy Visser]

Hi, i have an SliM laying around here if you need certain measurements, i also made my own Google Sketchup version of the Sli-M if you need the correct measurements (doesnt get much more precise then mine)

It may look rough, but that is google sketchup. If you want i can send you the file provided that you dont share it

 

[Mr Pibb]

Gentlemen,

Thank you so much for your replies. I am now confident that the SLI-M will do the job nicely.

I've done a rough design which is essentially just my old wheel with the 20x40 LCD replaced by a rather large rotary controller. All in all this design utilises all 16 available buttons (8 x momentary, 2 x rotary and 1 x 4-way mini toggle) and 4 warning lights.

The "NAV" button is the 4-way mini toggle, and the "NUL" button isn't hooked up. It's just for show and to fill in the space.

Brian, you're right about not using the latching buttons. My previous wheel had latching buttons and they were useless really. Unless I remembered to set them to the default settings every time I went out on track, they often ended up out of sync with the sim.

Chris, I'd forgotten about Joy2Key. I've been spoilt with Beta Innovations software which allows up to 16 key strokes (complete with timings) per button. Macros are SO customizable with that software. Joy2Key will do nicely.

Roy, thanks for the offer for the sketch. I'm going to go ahead and order an SLI-M and will take measurements directly from it myself. I need to know the thickness of the digital readout and see how I'm going to remote mount that. That's the only part that worries me. But don't be surprised if I send you a PM requesting it if I get impatient...

Thanks again guys.

Mr Pibb.

 

[Brian Clancy]

Looks great, really nice project

Please keep us up to date with it and if you need anything else ask, we are luck to have some great members in this little forum and they enjoy helping each other out!

Thanks Guys, you make running this forum a joy

 

[Mr Pibb]

When remote mounting the RPM LEDs, do I have to run a separate earth for each and every LED or can I use a common earth? Same question goes for the 2 groups of 3 warning LEDs.

My current wheel uses beta innovations gear, and for that I had to run two wires for each and every LED. I'm hoping that's not the case here.

Can someone confirm please?

Thanks.

 

[Jim Cole]

When you are dealing with electronics with similar properties like the LED's or diodes or the like, the common is shared regardless if you connect them before they get to the board or once they are there where the board traces will connect them all. The choice is yours, but usually the wiring is easier to deal with when all of the commons are connected together.

 

[Brian Clancy]

I cant say for certain on the SLI-M, but for the buttons / rotarys yes you can and also for LED's on symprojects Shift Pro board you can run a 'common ground' also, so I would think its not an issue. Best bet is to look at the PCB once you have de-soldered the LED's and check the circuit The 'extra' LED's on the SLI-M share a common ground I think too

 

[Tom Moloney]

I'm really not a fan of the new SLIMAX manager stuff... and tbh it's not working very well on my setup...

Does anyone still have the old rFactor plugin hanging around that they could upload?

 

[Miguel Gonzalez]

I have the old ones on an old hard drive install left over from an unused pc, Shoot me a PM and ill e-mail you the old files no garuntee they'll work.

On a side note my shift lights stopped working completely in F1 2011 after installing some csr elite pedals. All the buttons/controls work but the LEDs dont light up right, i have no display. Any ideas? I've tried reinstalling the pluggin with no luck.

 

[Trevor Carter]

Question gents,

If mounting a SLI-m to your wheel i.e. a g27. How would you go about installing the usb cable for the SLI when the wheel has a rotation of 900 degrees.

Bit of noob when it comes to building stuff for my wheel. Just got a bracket for a SLI-M which has buttons on already.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[RichardHessels]

Get a curled/spiral USB "telephone" cable.
Attach it to the underside of where the steering wheel is attached.
Leave a bit of space for the cable to hang.
But you wont need much.. as the curled wire can stretch more than enough to go around the axis of the wheel.

Myself i could nog get hold of the curled USB cable, as fast as i wanted..
So i bought a meter of curled telephone cable, at a electronics shop..
Attached one side directly to the SLI, so not the problem of a huge USB plug attached to my wheel.
The other side i welded the 4 wires to an spare USB plug.

This cable has been working fine for many years already..
Even after heavy abuse by my toddler son (seeing how far he could stretch the cable).

I have a look for some photo of the setup later in the day, to make it more clear.

 

[Rami Kaukola]

I had this problem too! hard to find long enough curly usb cabel becouse 2or3 meter curly cabel means its 2or3 meter when its max stretch so not enough. one option is to but the wire inside logitech g27 base so there is no hanging wires here is vid how to do it.
Here is my picture you can see that gray usb cabel.

 

[RichardHessels]

Only the part that goes from the base to the wheel needs to be curly wire..
The rest can be a normal usb extension cable.

 

[Rami Kaukola]

Only the part that goes from the base to the wheel needs to be curly wire..
The rest can be a normal usb extension cable.

Yep thats true and easy choice