The night I realised I need a kill switch

I'm still very new to motion, and was foolishly impatient. Just finished building my rig, fired up DCS using FlyPT's amazing software, and airstarted in the L39. Decided to try out ALT-S to test output start/stop hotkey. All I did was shutdown engine in flight.

Okay, opportunity to try out a deadstick landing....not on a runway....without ever tuning the software. This thing was throwing me around, making a racket, my wife opened the door to see what was going on. I asked her to turn of power to servos. 10 seconds seemed like 2 minutes. Wife asked me to give her a heads up next time I want to do that - I advised between gasps that if I knew this was going to happen, I wouldn't have let it happen.

The keyboard stayed on the tray because I was unsuccessfully punching ALT-S,
which was doing nothing (it just knows....) but there were keyboard keys lying all over the floor.

My warthog throttle jumped of its tray (now zip tied down as an interim) and crashed onto the floor, its own weight shearing its USB cable.

I have ordered parts for a kill switch and will get that happening this week. I was successful in resoldering wires to Warthog PCB, and have tested that it is working again as advertised.

This was a bit of a scare for me, I'm still a bit gun shy, and won't test more until I get the e-stop connected but looking forward to learning more as I continue.

Cheers, John

Yeah, e-stop switch is necessary to be sure that the servos won't move at times, if simtools is still connected. But you could use of a force offline switch as well, that prevents motion without shutting down the servos. Not sure what controller you are using but for the AMC-AASD15A, this is available:

https://www.tindie.com/products/bajer/emergency-stop-switch-with-led-indicators/

Thanks
Thanos

Always, always and always test outside of the rig before going in.
Even outside I got my scary moments, if not in risk of physical damage, it's the money damage.
In my rig I have two emergency buttons:
One in the rig and one outside on the electronics. We never know!
And using keyboard or mouse in those situations is near impossible, please assign a joystick button for that, you can do it in Mover.

Hi Thanos,
I'm using your controller, and have ordered parts to do just that, your instructions in your manual are really good, thanks.
Bed time now. I flew the L39 again using Simtools and haven't scared myself, there is a bit to get my head around.

If you hit the kill switch on your wheel will that accomplish the same thing?

Hopefully everything is ok... it could have been worse

Hi Caddy, yep, it could have been much worse. All is back to normal in the world (this little sim space at least) and I'm a bit wiser.

[QUOTE = "Zippo246, post: 204312, member: 27933"] I am still very new to the movement and was foolishly impatient. I just finished building my rig, powered up DCS using FlyPT's amazing software, and booted up on the L39. Decided to try ALT-S to test the exit start / stop hotkey. All I did was turn off the engine in flight.

Okay, chance to test a landing in neutral ... not on a runway ... without even adjusting the software. This thing was spinning me around, making a fuss, my wife opened the door to see what was going on. I asked him to change the power to the servos. 10 seconds seemed like 2 minutes. My wife asked me to let her know the next time she wanted to do that; I warned her between gasps that if she had known this was going to happen, she would not have let him.

The keyboard stayed on the tray because I couldn't press ALT-S,
he wasn't doing anything (he just knows ...) but there were keyboard keys all over the floor.

My boar throttle jumped out of its tray (now zipped up like an interim) and crashed to the ground, its own weight severing the USB cable.

I have ordered parts for a kill switch and will get it this week. I had success re-soldering wires to the Warthog PCB, and have tested that it works again as advertised.

This was a bit scary for me, I'm still a bit shy and won't try any more until I hit the emergency stop, but I hope to learn more as I continue.

Cheers John
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I’m sorry this happed and I will definitely add a kill switch to mine. But I gotta tell you, I have not laughed this hard in a while. Please be safe

yah always have a kill switch or other safety options otherwise its very dangerous and as others said try to test it while u outside the rig

Glad you're ok, these things are powerful, I very nearly lost a finger to mine... Now I will ALWAYS recommend a kill switch as a priority!

Hmmm, I often recall that evening with a wry smile....

Hello, this post is relevant for me, because I assembled a layout and when the game starts, it makes a sharp jump on all axes and then everything works perfectly, but if there is nothing to turn it off in case of an accident, it may end badly