Nov. 28th 2012 (Day 1) UPS Pulls Up outside & delivers a Package from SIMWORLD in Poland.   It's Colin Batson's 737 Forward & Rear Overhead panel for building.  So you have to unpack it, check it out and make a start don't you.   My estimate to assemble, wire up and get this forward overhead panel working in Prosim is about 80 hours.  Dont rush this, mistakes creep in and it takes time to troubleshoot and correct errors.     The first component needed is the frame to which all the aluminium back plates are fixed to using the DZUS type fasteners.   By the way, the packaging was a work of art. Nov. 29th 2012 (Day 2)  All the back plates fitted to the frame, so then it's time to fit the annunciators.    SIMWORLD have changed the design of their annunciator.   Much better, it's now a one piece 'Push In' Unit that's a tight fit in the cutouts.  However I have also used a spot of Superglue on each one just in case.     With that done, the next job is to decide where the control cards will be situated.    For this particular project, I am using 1 x BU0836X card, a BBI-32 Input card and 1 x Phidgets LED64ADV output card to control the LED's.    Trying to hide the cards is not easy.   You have to be aware of not blocking out the backlight, so this is where i have situated them.   The BBI-32 will go above the Right side of the Light Switch Panel, the BU0836X will go at the top of the centre column and the LED64ADV will be situated above the meter panel.   So, that's where I put them.    So the next step is wiring and fitting the switches. Nov. 30th 2012 (Day 3) Continue to wire and fit switches.  What I do is start at the bottom and work up each column from one side to the other.  Just bear in mind that the Leo Bodnar cards use a 'common ground' matrix.  So that means you can group switches together on a single ground.   For example the 6 fuel pumps share a ground connection = 7 wires instead of 12.    I try to run the cables up between the 5 columns on the overhead and around the outer edges to avoid blocking any of the backlight cutouts wherever possible.  And of course just keep a mental note of what switches to run to what card.  Nothing worse than having 33 switches to connect when you get to the card and only 32 inputs - bugger ! Dec. 1st 2012 (Day 4)  Well things have progressed well.   The Cards are fitted, the switches are wired in and connected, so now it's time to start making the LED arrays and connecting them upto the Phidgets LED64.      This is a laborious process.   The Phidgets LED64ADV can drive two Led's per output in Prosim.   Join them in parallel.  Just look in the left column how i made the job of joining the Led's simple.  Most Led's have a forward voltage of 2.2 - 2.7v, so i'm going to leave the default settings in the Phidgets Control Panel set at 2.75v and 20mA per output. Dec. 2nd 2012 (Day 5) So with the Phidgets card in place, it's time to connect up to it.  just a tip here, what i did was colour code the wiring.  All amber annunciators have yellow an black wires, all the blue one's have blue/black wiring and the four green window heat annunciators have green/black wiring.   Then i tried to 'group' them so that for example all the fuel pumps would join the card together and the two amber and one blue for each Generator/Transfer Bus Off would be together etc. Another point is that the Molex cables which Phidgets supply with the LED64ADV for joining up are very hard.   So, i tend instead of cutting them in half, trim them off at about 60-65mm before soldering on the led wires.    I actually use two wires per Led.    OK, i know the LED64ADV has a 'common anode' matrix (i connected up that way once), but as I solder up the Led's to the wires, i want to test them so i know they are working.  I got bitten once.  Nothing worse than an Led not working when you hook upto the control board.  That's soul destroying. Dec. 3rd 2012 (Day 6) I've spent all day today soldering connections to the LED64 card.  It's so boring and time consuming joining the wires, soldering the joint and then using the heat gun on the heatshrink 128 times, it 'does my head in'.   I'm made for better things than this. Dec. 4th 2012 (Day 7)  It's taken me two days to make the Led arrays and connect them upto the Phidgets card, but at least that's done and I don't feel suicidal any more so i guess it's time to put some power on it.   It's just so satisfying when a plan comes together.    What needs to be done now is test each of the 64 outputs in the Phidgets Library and note what each one is so that you have the list when it comes to assigning the outputs in Prosim (or whatever your interface is).   If I build your overhead, i will let you have this list and the Bodnar Card Input List when you collect or I send the completed Panel to make configuration easy peasy. Dec. 5th (Day 8)  Right after testing all the Led's (and they all worked), I applied a small spot of adhesive to each Led to keep it firm in the annunciator.  The holes in the annunciator as slightly larger than the diameter of the Led, so to avoid any possibility of the Led coming out of the annunciator, I thought that was good practise. And while I had the glue in my hand, I attached the Legends to all the annunciators.   You have to be very careful doing this :o) Dec. 6th (Day 9)  Well today, I've spent 'tidying up' some loose ends, configuring the Inputs and outputs in Prosim and 'Bench Testing the panel through all the available stages and annunciator display variations.  With that done, I turned my attention to the Electric Meter Panel and the FLT & Land Alt Dummy Displays. Dec. 7th (Day 10)  Displays, Displays, you want Displays.  No problem at all.  These are not difficult to make, just needs a lot of concentration and time.   But the end result really adds to the 'Cosmetics' of the overhead panel.  If you want to know how to do it, see the document in the left column. The only issue I have is that the 5 7 segment displays for the Land and Flt Altitudes do not fit the window.  So there will be an issue with 'light leakage' when the backlighting is applied.  To overcome this, i've surrounded the digits with Black Modeler's Clay before fitting them and then trimmed it off once the adhesives were dry. Dec. 8th (Day 11)  The operation of the Overhead is now 100%. It's working in Prosim exactly how I intended, so all I have to do now is finish the cosmetics like fitting the gauges and the stickers.   I'll upload the Photo's when I have them ready. Tips & Tricks 1. All 'Common Ground' Inputs To The Bodnar Cards are Green so are easily identifiable when you come to connect. 2. Keep all The annunciator Anode wires 'colour coded'. That's yellow for amber, blue for blue and green for green. 3. Keep annunciators in their group together. e.g. 6 x Fuel Pumps, 4 x Anti Ice etc.  Allows consecutive connection to LED64ADV. 4. To Prevent Light Leakage from the back lighting, use Black Modeling Clay to fill the gaps.