Mod project on a recently purchased pair of prototype motion simulators

Hello! So I purchased 2 prototype motion simulators that had been mounted in an enclosed trailed and part of a startup attemp at becoming a commercial builder. It looks like they were built around late 2011 early 2012. The computers ran windows 7, and X-sim was the software.

My plan is to get both updated and working, and sell one to help cover the investment expense.

The guys over at Facebook group motionsimbuilder recognized the actuators as snc5 and recommended coming here as this is the place that has the knowledge and expertise with my setup.

I have pretty good design/fab skills, poor to total crap skills with coding and software.

I look forward to getting to know everybody

Okay so according to the scn5 tutorial, a usb to rs485 converter gets wired up to each scn5 and this will show up as individual virtual comports in simtools which will then be configured into axis which then translated into DOF.

The original builder wired all three scn5 into a single rs485 converter which is able to be read and configured by X-sim. Now according to the data sheets for some RS485 converters this makes sense, as you can wire up to 3 slave devices running 1/2 duplex.

So can you run 1/2 duplex slave wiring in simtools? If so how to turn that on so it will see all three scn5. Or do I have to run 3 individual rs485 adapters on for each scn5?

Okay so got part of the confusion sorted. On x-sim the plug in reads the hardware ID built into each scn5, and "can be" wired together but they recommend using separate rs485 and wire them individually and separate comport for each.
So I ordered rs485 to usb adapters and will separate them and see if that solves my problem.

So I identified the pedals, they are Cannon Simulation Technologies custom pedals. Oof this guy Cannon pissed off lots of peeps as his company floundered. Sounds like the pedals were the top custom pedals around for Iracing and then they couldn't meet obligations/demand and a lot of customers got burned.

It's got two potentiometers and a load cell setup, they are a hanging pedal setup. They seem pretty adjustable and sweet to actuate. The controller seems very basic though.

Question: should I replace the controller with a modern arduino setup? Thoughts ideas for updating it?

Update: I received a response on my Facebook group and the control board for my CST G1 pedals is likely a Leo-Bodnar BU0836A or that's what he has seen or used in his own similar builds. So cool I have way more info than when I started.

Okay so I received the 2 additional rs485 boards and got everything reconnected. Happy to note the 2 new comports were visible, and I used the scn plugin in x-sim to change the ID# to 0 for both. When running in x-sim and wired serial each was labeled 0,1,2 so when separating them into individual comports I had to reset 1 & 2 back to both ID'S to 0

Now when I started up simtools it properly ran each actuator through its range of motion. Yay!

Woo-hoo so ran a couple laps through Live for speed. Lots of tweaking and calibrating ahead but it worked and all the axis engaged how they were supposed to, at least the correct direction anyway.

Okay took a a break last week and now I am back to work on the rig. One issue was not knowing how to configure and calibrate the pedals. Thanks to a couple of other members I figured out the pedals are using a Leo Bodnar USB interface board BU0836-LC which still sells for $45/35GBP not sure what shipping would be.
https://www.leobodnar.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=183
The site has links to update firmware, and configuring axis. But what really impressed me is that I can add a button box to this board quite easily. My plan is to run the pins to a rj45 breakout board and then build my button box with an rj45 jack wired to the buttons. That should allow me flexibility with cable length and off the shelf convenience.
I forgot to take pics of my test board to see if everything would work and will do that later today.

The Leo Bodnar page has a link to a direct x input config app that I finally figured out how to use after a bit of trial and error. but this applies only to games that use the generic windows USB calibration. I guess Iracing has proprietary one that this does not work for. I worked wonders for Dirt Rally 2 however.

The original names for each rig are Old Yeller (yellow accents I guess) and Big Red, for convenience I will keep that for now in reference to updates and mods.

Doh! just found a detailed config manual for another set of pedals that actually has more detailed info for custom pedals. here's the link

https://heusinkveld.com/sim-pedals-ultimate-product-manual/

So just wanted to post some updates and mods to my rig.



I added rubber isolation mounts for a motorcycle gas tank on the actuators to absorb vibrations from the scn6

Also have added wind and transducers for vibe, both run through simhub.

Great work getting it back to life!
Keep it up!