Does this kind of rotary exist?

[Elaphe]

A rotary in which you can move as many positions to the right or to the left as you want (step by step, not continuous movement), but not performing a different function depending on the selected position but: you move one position to the right and button1 is pressed, you move one position to the left and button2 is pressed, no matter what position you are in.

 

[Neilski]

move one position to the right and button1 is pressed, you move one position to the left and button2 is pressed, no matter what position you are in.

I don't own any rotary controls but I thought that was how they all worked...

 

[metalnwood]

I don't own any rotary controls but I thought that was how they all worked...

Yes, that how they come in most wheels and button boxes, with the odd ones being absolute ones that have a single 'button' per position but they usually in the firmware for your bb or wheel can be used as incremental like @Elaphe asks.

As most people think of them working like @Elaphe asks I wonder if he means something else?
If you are doing something diy yourself they wont work how you may think at the pin level, the same pin will not pulse on on on etc for turning in one direction and the other pin on on on etc for the other direction.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Yep, that's how all standard encoders work.
The one that can have different button for each position is rotary switch, like the two on the front of Ascher F64-v3.

 

[Elaphe]

Most of the rotaries I've found are momentary switches (it goes back to the center when you release it). So, the result is: left (button1), center (open circuit), right (button2). What I meant was one that you can rotate to any position but works as button1 or button2 depending if you rotate left or right.

 

[metalnwood]

Most of the rotaries I've found are momentary switches (it goes back to the center when you release it). So, the result is: left (button1), center (open circuit), right (button2). What I meant was one that you can rotate to any position but works as button1 or button2 depending if you rotate left or right.

Hmm, I honestly can't off the top of my head think of a switch like you are talking about that is a rotary.
I have momentary switches that are not rotary of course, like momentary on/off/on and rotaries that work exactly how you want, which is the most common in sim racing gear as far as i have seen.

I have seen like you are talking about spring loaded switches that you may turn 30 degrees and they come back but I have never seen one in a sim racing product.

Are you trying to wire a switch on to something and it is not working? for example this rotary from Leo is very popular, it is a commonly used one you can get from many places.

https://www.leobodnar.com/shop/inde...id=192&zenid=2f63bc4157364f30a1cbb3a940c0b8f0

You will see this or a model like it in many things like asher rims, cube controls, etc as well as almost any button box you could buy that has what looks like a rotary.

 

[metalnwood]

I searched for you to see some of your equipment and I think that you are trying to wire up a rotary yourself to a button box and it is not working as you expected.

These encoders have 3 pins, one you give + to and the two others you read from to get the state. I think that you are expecting one pin to possibly pulse each time it is turned in one direction and the other pin to do the same when it turns in the other.

These encoders don't work like that. If you are using something like a bodnar board they have config software and you need to tell it that you have an encoder connected to the pins. If you are using an arduino, that will also have libraries to read the pins and decode what is happening so you can tell if it moved and in which direction.

If you have a more dumb board that just has inputs for buttons then you will find that it wont work and you will just get seeminly random presses for each no matter which direction you turn the encoder.

 

[trichens]

I've used these in the past.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WayinTop-Encoder-Potentiometer-Electronics-Projects/dp/B08728PS6N

There is a single push button, and a left / right rotary option.
Turn clockwise it ALWAYS "pushes" on button; anti-clockwise it "pushes" a second button.
It's continuous so it turns a full 360 and only ever "pushes" the button for that dirction.
I use it with an Arduino and can be, for example, brake bias front/rear or scrolling through a menu.

 

[Elaphe]

I've used these in the past.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WayinTop-Encoder-Potentiometer-Electronics-Projects/dp/B08728PS6N

There is a single push button, and a left / right rotary option.
Turn clockwise it ALWAYS "pushes" on button; anti-clockwise it "pushes" a second button.
It's continuous so it turns a full 360 and only ever "pushes" the button for that dirction.
I use it with an Arduino and can be, for example, brake bias front/rear or scrolling through a menu.

That's what I was after. Thank you very much. Do they move with a tactile step by step? I suppose I can use my own PCB encoder (2 wires for the first function and other 2 for the second). I'm currently using a small 2-way momentary lever. I use it for force feedback, shakers volume, time of the day and different fans speeds (the desired funcion is toggled with a pushbutton).

 

[trichens]

"Do they move with a tactile step by step?"
If you mean "click" then yes they do.
There's a definite notch you can feel as it rotates.

 

[metalnwood]

I've used these in the past.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WayinTop-Encoder-Potentiometer-Electronics-Projects/dp/B08728PS6N

There is a single push button, and a left / right rotary option.
Turn clockwise it ALWAYS "pushes" on button; anti-clockwise it "pushes" a second button.
It's continuous so it turns a full 360 and only ever "pushes" the button for that dirction.
I use it with an Arduino and can be, for example, brake bias front/rear or scrolling through a menu.

This is not what the description in the reviews say, they say it is in ancremental or quadrature encoder of the type is was explaining.

 

[trichens]

All I can say is that I'm using these encoder devices in both steering wheels and button boxes with each clockwise turn giving one "button press" and an anti-clockwise turn giving a different "button press".
Turning multiple times in either direction causes multiple "presses" of the "button" assigned to that direction.
This is being done using an Arduino as the USB interface to handle how the switches get recognised by the sims.

 

[metalnwood]

Are you using a library to access it? Usually people would use a library set up with the pins for the encoder and then see if it has moved and in which direction.

Or are you just reading the pins directly from the io port? Do the pulse for a small period of time going high then low ?

 

[Elaphe]

This review says that they will not work in my case:

"These are advertised as being three output.1/ The push switch - Works 'OK'.2/ Clockwise - This does not output alone, it also outputs through the anti-clockwise connection.3/ Anti-clockwise - This is connected to the Clockwise output.In summary. Both clockwise and anti-clockwise have separate connections, but both are the same output.Absolutely no use for button boxes or similar where you need clockwise to be one output, and anti-clockwise to be another separate output when using a joystick encoder board.The outputs as reported in windows (joy.cpl) show that both legs (A+B) are connected, and are also very finicky and highly inaccurate.When turned very, very slowly you can see that one leg will output before the other, and is opposite depending on which way you turn it. Possibly of use when using Arduino etc, but still...very, very hit and miss."

 

[metalnwood]

@Elaphe the person you quoted also doesnt have a good understanding of how these encoders work. The output a and b can both change for a turn of any direction. They make a pattern and when you turn one way or another the pin output always follow that pattern so that you know which direction it has turned.

When used with controllers, the controllers are programmed to understand this pattern. If you are using an arduino there are simple encoder libraries that do that for you can you can ask if it turned left or right. I am not sure that you will find, at least for a reasonable price a switch that will do this at the mechanical level.

 

[Elaphe]

@Elaphe the person you quoted also doesnt have a good understanding of how these encoders work. The output a and b can both change for a turn of any direction. They make a pattern and when you turn one way or another the pin output always follow that pattern so that you know which direction it has turned.

When used with controllers, the controllers are programmed to understand this pattern. If you are using an arduino there are simple encoder libraries that do that for you can you can ask if it turned left or right. I am not sure that you will find, at least for a reasonable price a switch that will do this at the mechanical level.

The problem is that I will not use Arduino but a joystick encoder.

 

[metalnwood]

The problem is that I will not use Arduino but a joystick encoder.

Yes, that is what I was thinking after my first post. I think the easiest way is to look to use another controller that supports standard rotary encoders. A couple examples are

BBI-32 Button Box Interface - With Connectors : Leo Bodnar Electronics

Leo Bodnar Electronics BBI-32 Button Box Interface - With Connectors - A USB joystick interface board with simple push in wire connectors to connect buttons, rotary encoders and switches to a PC or Mac. Build your own gaming device, whether it be a flight panel, button box, joystick, robot...

www.leobodnar.com

http://**********************/32-button-no-matrix-controller.html

i dont know why the site hides this url, try https://***********/4kc9cuc7

ok, just go to derek spears designs for this.
you can get them more expensive/cheaper, more connections, less, Dereks one is a bit more than $30 usd but has worldwide free shipping.

I think rewiring and using a standard encoder is your best chance if you have to have one.

 

[stigs2cousin]

BU0836A 12-bit joystick interface : Leo Bodnar Electronics

Leo Bodnar Electronics BU0836A 12-bit joystick interface - A small USB joystick interface board with pin header connectors to connect buttons, potentiometers, sensors, rotary encoders and switches to a PC or Mac. Build your own gaming device, whether it be a flight panel, button box, pedals...

www.leobodnar.com

This I s how I use these encoders with a LeoBodnar USB board.

It´s been a while and I´ll have to look at it again as I´m in the process of building a new cockpit.

 

[Michael Krone]

I have a few rotary knobs connected to a joystick encoder.

I have two different kinds. One kind is just the two button (left/right) that can increase or decrease traction control or things like that.

Another kind is an 8 position knob that I use for windshield wipers in Assetto.

Position "0" is wipers off, position "1" is wiper slow speed, position "2" is medium wiper, position "3" is wipers high speed. This type of knob holds the input its designated for.

Not sure if any of this can help you but if so, let me know.

 

[Viper_Polo]

Depending on what Joystick Encoder, it's likely not possible, short of some circuitry to 'decode' the signal (which will probably involve some transistors, or maybe caps if you use a rotary vs an encoder), the board won't be setup to receive the signal.