Showroom Logitech G25 rudder pedal the hardware way!

It all started as an idea.
i have this 2DOF simulator that i like so much (thanks to halloween2go Dave, that showed me how simple it can be to build your own moving simulator).

to tell you the truth, i have a lot and i say a LOT of hardware (only thing missing is a good fanatec wheels and belt driven motor, but that's for another day). when i met a LOT i was talking about flight sim hardware.

for flight simulator i have the Hotas Warthog flightstick (this thing is rock solid and i mean STEEL solid on the heavy side) and if you think it's heavy wait till you get the hold of the Dual Throttle system, it's heavier than the stick itself!

also have the Honeycomb alpha yoke and of course the Bravo Throttle panel. then came the problem.

i also happen to have my old Thrustmaster Pro Pedal Set. that thing has more than 20 years old, but still works fine.

explanation of the problem:

having a good motion simulator comes with it's share of problems (and solution).

Seeing how fun it is to DRIVE on a motion rig is more fun than flying slowly and smoothly on the simulator.
i was amazed on how fun it is to hit the curb, brake, acceleration, etc... you all know what i mean!

but each time i have to convert from flying to driving, i have to disconnect the yoke, throttle, rudder pedals, etc...
the biggest problem for me is getting under the sim to remove the rudders et replace them with racing pedals. I HATE THAT! i am not as young as i used to be (63 years old lad here).

that's the reason i created that piece of hardware.



it is not big at all (Arduino Leonardo, 5 wires a DB-9 female and of course the USB cable.)

Description of what it does and why!
First let's look at it from windows 10 point of view!


Looks good isn't it?

Now have a look at the Axes


as you can see, there is 3 axes (X rotation, Y rotation, Z rotation). and you guessed it, you have 3 pedals, DUH...

Just to be sure, sometime i forget things..


Yep, i was right, 3 pedals, hehehehe...j/k

now that i posted some pictures, they will be useful to understand what this contraption does and the reason why i made it.

First of all:
the arduino takes 2 axes, the clutch and accelerator.
Clutch is the left rudder and accelerator is the right rudder.
when you don't touch any pedals in the properties on the G25 rudder (windows 10)
the X Rotation is in the middle of it's range (128), as all good rudders should be.

if i press the Left Rudder (Clutch) all the way, the red axe goes left to zero value.

and if i release the left rudder (clutch), the red axe goes back to the middle (see picture)

Now we assume that if i press the right rudder (accelerator), the red axe will go all the way to the right,
with a value of 255. you're right just like the red axe!


Quiz time:
What happens if i press both the clutch and accelerator at the same time?

"Come on don't be shy!"
I'll give you the answer, it will go back to the center, NEAT huh?



some of you would say: "why you did this this way?"

for those who don't fly plane on a simulator, a rudder works only on one axe,
but since a 3 pedals for racing has 3 different axes and it is not just made for a set of rudder.
what i did is take half of the clutch value (like zero to 127) and half of the accelerator value (128 to 255).
By combining Both value together, i can merge those values into one single axe. X Rotation now have a scale of (zero to 255).

Get it? no? all i can say is that it is easier said than done.
For those who are not too savvy on this kind of thing!

And now the "beside plane rudders, what can i use it for?"

Let's say you have a game that use one axe for the accelerator and brake. now you get it! it can do that just fine, but one problem, the brake would be the clutch and accelerator would be just the same.

i have two solutions for that!

First solution:
YOU would open your logitech G25 and put a DPDT switch to exchange the brake and the clutch
Like on this picture.

if you're still interested in doing this project of swapping the clutch for the brake. i can show you how in another thread.

Second solution:
there's NONE, i already modified the firmware of the arduino!

with a SPDT (center OFF). SPDT center pin to ground, left to pin 2, and right to pin 3 of arduino.

when the switch is on Center (OFF) position, the pedals are working like a normal 3 pedals racing set.

then if i switch to left position(pin 2 on arduino to ground), the racing pedal set becomes a rudder set.
clutch = rudder left and accelerator = rudder right are combined together, brake pedal is a simple full axe.

now to play games, any games that needs to have accelerator and brake on same axe, just
set the switch to the right (pin 3 on arduino to ground) and, Clutch = one full axe, brake and accelerator are combined into one axe.

All that without any virtual joystick software (vjoy, etc...) just an arduino circuit that does the job!

had a lot of fun doing this project.

Oh! i almost forgot: ALWAYS RESET the arduino and recalibrate your pedal set, rudder, whatever you want to call it! every time you are changing mode, like racing pedals to rudders, accelerator and brake combined, etc...


Tell me what you think? is this concept any good?


Cheers from DragonZideutch