Simulated Wind using MonsterMoto and ArduinoUno

Has anyone been able to get their wind sim to work with the flight sim DCS? I have been using my wind sim now for the last couple of years with AC, pCars2, rfactor 2, Dirt Rally and recently xPlane11.

But so far I can't get it to work with DCS. I'm thinking there may be an in-game setting of some sort I need to enable? I do have motion in DCS working fine using Sim Tools 2.0.

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.

Hi, Firstly awesome thread. Just been though 29 pages.

I was wondering if you use the Monster Moto Shield with 2 x standard 12v PC cooling fans do you still need to use the inductors ?

Thanks

I've been using my wind sim perfectly with a single Attwood Turbo 4000 (model # 1749-4) Water Resistant Blower fan for over 3 years with fantastic results. I recently purchased a second one, and wired it up to my Monster Moto Shield and it is able to push both fans at full speed in a short "test" but I have fears of using 2 of these being too much for a single Monster Moto Shield, and am seeking some expert advice.

My genuine, from Sparkfun, shield is cooled by an 80MM case fan at full duty, powered by way of the Power Supply (NEWSTYLE 12v 30a Dc Universal Regulated Switching 360W Power Supply) for the Arduino/Monster Moto and have 14mm aluminum heat sinks pasted to the VNH2SP30 chips with a bit of Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut thermal compound for extra cooling.

According to the specs, the blowers pull 2.5 Amps at 12V.

I fully admit my ignorance with electrical matters like this, so I hope I can find some solid advice from the experts here!

Am I safe to use a pair of these on this single Moto Shield or will this be a ticking time bomb?

For whatever it is worth, noise, coil whine, etc. are of no concern to me as I do not hear the fans when driving.

Thanks all!

I have been using mine with a single moto for a long time now. No issues at all. I use a similar power supply that you are using and two Seaflow blowers rated for 6amps each. I am using a cheap clone Moto with no heat sink so if the Sparkfun moto is indeed higher quality I do not see why you would have any troubles at all.

But then; I am no expert and you were asking for expert advice.

Real world experience is just as good as expert advice! I know I deviated from most by not using the Seaflo blowers, but the size of the Attwood's just worked better for me. Thanks for the feedback!

I certainly welcome any other advice or safeguards I should put in place!

I'm trying to understand the values in the Dash Command Editor.

Math * 5 is how fast the fans reach full speed. The lower the number the slower the fans will reach full speed. Correct?

What does Round 0 do? And how can I adjust it. Example please of possible changes so I can understand the impact.

What does PAD 3 0 do? And how can I adjust it. Example please of possible changes so I can understand the impact.

Thanks very much for your responses.

Thank you sir!

I was refitting my sim a little and made a mod to the wind system that came out looking pretty good if anyone is interested. I used 4" SeaFlo fans mounted vertically with 4" dust elbows from Amazon (POWERTEC-70105-4-Inch-Elbow-Connector B005VRJ6OI) to route the air up to flow straighteners that came with the original wind setup.

I've included the .stl file but it's just a 1" long flow straightener that friction fits into the ends of the dust elbows. The OD is 3.75" and a good friction fit in the nominal 3.75" ID of the fan tube. No glue needed at least on my elbows.

You can see the old way (all black) with the straighteners Avenga supplied that I taped onto the end of the elbows. With the straighteners pushed into the elbow ends, it's now more compact and less fiddly.

interesting. but its really necessary? maybe for your rig?
my wind have a adjustable suport, and direct airflow. Maybe more clear and
dont take huge area for install... whatever.. great job !

My rig is a full frame (looks like yours is too) with the pivot under the seat so the steering wheel, pedals, and stick are cantilevered out and are all mass the motion motors have to move. Fans are mass that would be mounted far from the pivot point so would have lots of leverage against the motion motors. That’s why I mounted my fan motors on the motion rig base. Maybe that was confusing? The fans, power supply, and controller are on a plate that is attached to strut that is affixed to the non-moving platform base. That lets me use bigger fans for more wind, lower noise, etc, without affecting what the motion motors have to deal with.

I could have attached them to the wheel stand like you did, and I looked at doing that originally when I was building the rig, but with my fans it was looking clunky, forcing larger dimensions, and I was trying to keep the "unsprung weight" down.

Since they needed to mount to the base, mounting with the flow axes vertical gave the least added length to the entire system. The 90 degree elbows do a great job of turning the wind with low restriction and with the inserted flow straighteners, the exhaust is now no longer than it has to be without cutting the elbows. Plus, I keep looking for bigger, more windy fans, and I can just swap those if I find something appropriate.

Im sure there are ways to shrink it a bit more but for my system it’s probably close to as compact as it’s going to get. The first photo where you can see both fans and tubes was also how it used to be. The flow straighteners Avenga supplied added a few inches to the exhaust side. It worked well but I finally have time to do some changes and updates and the photo with the yellow straightener hopefully shows a more compact and sleeker setup because it is.

But for a full frame, I decided to keep the fans off the moving part of the platform. They don’t weigh a lot, but this way was really easy to do and the results are fine. Plus you don’t have gyroscopic loads on the fan bearings from the motion. I already wore out one set of fans as it is. Plus, the power supply, chokes, and Arduino still would have had to go right where they are now anyway. I’m out of room under the seat and need to keep the area under my legs on the base clear to allow for clearance for the moving frame.

I’m not saying it’s the only way to do it. Just for my rig and the way it’s arranged, it seemed to work the best for me. For a 6 dof, I think I’ll need to put the fans on the moving frame since they can yaw significantly, but on a lowly 2 I can get away with them base mounted instead of frame.

Cheers!

i see. great job

im a lil late to this game. im trying to follow this thread right now...

given my experience with monster moto shield..
can i use an alternative driver like JRK without a need to tweak @SilentChill's code?
or at least, what is a dependable monster moto supplier, in which i dont have to play a guessing game..

i just ordered some seaflos, 12v30a P/S and another arduino...

any suggestions, much appreciate!
thank you @noorbeast for putting me on this road, and everyone for posting info and pics!

Hi ,
If you want more air flow ( more wind ) you can use a Fans 120 volt and control this with Kemo electronic ( M150 /M012 )
I have parts with me but missing time again ! next project

FYI.. I'm running (4) Seaflo's simultaneously on one official monster moto shield and a 13v / 30A PSU.
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B125aDWbrCEciH

im taking a gamble on a 10$ monster moto, if it doesnt work i will drop $$ for the official one from sparkfun

hello

do you still have 3d print files available to download?

thanks for any reply!

PM'ed... hope you are still around!

Friends can anyone help me?
I made a wind simulator and the rfactor2 is working perfectly.
But when I use the game Nolimits2, the arduino goes crazy and the led of MM is flashing quickly.
So it must be a wrong setting or something.