Flight Replicas Heron released...

[DaveB]

By wrong colour.. do you mean this one by any chance?


I'd tend to agree.. even with my glasses off

ATB
DaveB

[Vc Ten]

Been flying her about a bit and am generally satisfied Dave's mini review says it all really
However when flying for the VA, a problem with the landing lights has become evident. When switching them on, the client reports the lights as being off, and vise versa. Flight Replicas Support says alls well their end, so it must be a bug in my FSX ( not using default cessna etc). Suppose this is quite possible, but I dont get the issue with any other a/c (except the argosy ) Checked out the default start up and the landing lights are off ( cold and dark)
Below is a screen dump showing the Heron outside view with the lights on but the client showing false. An inside view of the cockpit showing the switch position and a fsuipc log showing the switch toggle I know i can get round it by either leaving the lights off (this reports to the client as on) or just use ctrl shift L. Hate things beating me though
Dave, Any chance of a quick VA flight to see how your client reponds ??
ATB
Dale

[DaveB]

Hello Mate

I flew it the night I bought it and again quickly the next day. I'll take a look at the landing lights asap. Problem with the Argosy was the switches on the mini ohp as I remember having 3 positions. There shouldn't be the same issue with the Heron but ya never know
ATB
Dave

[DaveB]

Dale..

I've just had a look at the Heron's landing lights and by default.. the switch is DOWN which equals ON. However.. the lights are not showing on unless they've been lowered (though I didn't 'Y' the model to have a look underneath). To my way of thinking.. the landing light should be default to the OFF position, not the ON position.. irrespective of if the lamps have been lowered or not.
While typing this, I've just been back and checked to see if there's any light off the landing light 'without' the lamps being extended and there isn't. Strictly speaking.. this is incorrect. You should be able to have the landing lights (the elements) either on or off regardless of the lamp being extended or retracted (in the same way that you can have the elements on or off with the lamp extended) but you can't. In effect.. all you have to do with the model to get the landing lights on is to extend the lamps. The element 'on/off' switch defaults to ON.
Flight Replica's have got that wrong. If it's all working fine at their end.. they either don't know how it should work or they've uploaded a duff version

I don't have a current rating for the Heron (or anything else for that matter) but I can grab one and check it online with FSA if you wish

EDIT: what the above means is that they have animated the lamp extending and retracting but not the light effect.. if this makes sense. The element is only showing 'visible' on and off if the lamp is extended.
ATB
Dave

[DaveG]

I know they had issues with the nose taxi light on the retractable gear models. The effect would stay where it was when the gear retracted leaving the effect hanging in space. This was on a pre-release version I was testing for P3d compatibility, but I believe that was fixed on the final version. Regarding the landing light itself, I think that's the way FSX handles retractable landing lights by default. The same happens on my Hunters. That's not to say it can't be got round though, just needs a bit of extra coding.

[DaveB]

Yes.. I can see where the nose light could be a problem. I still think the landing light could have been done differently though. Many users will use the L key (not that they should as this will activate all lights if coded as such) and depending on the element switch position.. it can put the landing light on/off out of sequence.. eg: with the landing light extended and the element off, hitting the L key can bring all lights on except the landing light. Hit the L key again and the landing light will come on and all others go off. Perhaps coded as yours are on the Mossie would have been better.. lights are off and lamp up with the switch to off.. switch to on and the lamps extend and the effect moves nicely with it. Rob's Shack is like this as are many others I'm sure.

For normal use, it doesn't really matter one jot but the VA software will check to see that landing lights are on below 1000ft and off above 10,000ft and there is room here for it to be confused (as well as the pilot) As Dale mentioned.. we had(have) a similar problem with the Argosy on the VA where you can be 100% sure the lights are on when in fact they're off. I always went outside to make sure they were where I wanted them initially then added a separate gauge to the panel which would glow when they were actually on (regardless of if they were up or down) and not glow when they were off.

Dale.. have you got a set procedure sorted now?

ATB
DaveB

[Vc Ten]

Cheers for that mate
Looks like you have the same results as me When entering the sim it looks as if the lights are already on but they arent. Toggleing the switch puts them on but this throws the switch now off instead of on which i think the client is seeing
Ive checked both versions of the a/c to see if its just the fixed u/c version or not and they both appear to behave the same.
I can fly with them off (on) to satifiy the client (doubt i'l go over 10000ft ) but it means not having the use of the lights when flying at night, well until landed.
Another problem is the fuel gauges shutting down when the ground/flight switch is set to flight all other electrical systems stay working provided the generators are on This also could give implications to the client of strange fuel usage
Dave it could be useful if you made a va flight or 2 if its not too much trouble. If its seen its not just my system, it may push flight repilca into action. As you say it doesnt matter a jot if just flying about on your own it only matters when flying for the va. Hope its not a case of well we've got your money

Edit --- another short flight : Started the client on the splash screen correct aircraft selected, fueled etc Client showing Landing lights : false. Parking brake : true. Start sim and once loaded, extend landing lights but not touch element switch. Switch on ground supply, pop outside, lights are illuminated, but client is still showing false. Flick element switch, Lights go out, Client says : True. Seems the landing lights default to being on at startup but the client isnt seeing this. It only detects the lights being toggled, which in the aircraft turns them back off.
With the generators running and charging lights out switching the ground/flight causes nose light to go off and several switches change state (one fuel pump and smoking/seating )as well as the fuel guages going to zero The radio stack and the nav lights are unaffected.

[DaveB]

Dale..

When you open the aircraft.. switch the elements to the off position.. extend the landing lights then hit the elements switch to on. They should remain 'in sync' if you use this procedure. When you want to turn them off.. switch the elements off first then retract the lamp. Set yourself up like this before opening the client and it should.. as far as I can tell.. see the lights correctly.

I'll have to take a look at the fuel gauges. What you describe certainly isn't right. GROUND/FLIGHT is basically the battery ON/OFF. Making the switch to GROUND should electrically isolate the aircraft leaving it cold and dark.

EDIT: I've just had a look at GROUND/FLIGHT.. making sure I set the aircraft up cold and dark first by selecting the default Cessna and knocking everything off then selecting the FR Heron. It opened cold and dark as expected. As soon as I switched over the GROUND/FLIGHT to FLIGHT.. the fuel tank instruments came to life and stayed there while I started the engines. Maybe.. like the lights.. the Heron needs to be opened up under the right circumstances in order for the switches to operate correctly. It does seem possible to confuse things if its not.

ATB
DaveB

[Vc Ten]

OK mate will try that procedure and report back Strange that some models you have to faf with and some will run fine straight from startup screen Need to get back from Palma first
Edit again
Just thought what I can do, is to start with the heron on the ground and switch the elements off before starting the client This should keep them in sync Is this what you meant Dave?

[DaveB]

Hello Mate

Yes indeed. Get the model where you want it before you let rip with the client.

Re what you saw with the fuel gauge..
I've just sat flicking switches and trying stuff. If you want to play cold and dark.. you can without going to another aircraft first.. just switch everything off and it will come back fine (remembering to switch the landing light element switch off too). I'm not sure how it would work with a cold and dark saved flight.. that's one thing I've not tried but so far, everything does seem to work as prescribed.
Now.. to the fuel gauge. It IS possible to switch from FLIGHT to GROUND with the engines running and stuff will continue to work with the exception of the fuel gauge which is obviously powered by the battery rather than the generators. TBH though.. I can't think of an instance where you'd do this.. the very last thing you'd be doing before leaving the flightdeck would be to ensure the GROUND/FLIGHT was at GROUND. I have wiring diags for it so I could see exactly which services are run from what but you really wouldn't be switching to GROUND before you'd switched everything else off. To be extra cautious.. you could trip CB's too though I don't think this is possible on the model.. far too anal
There is actually another use of GROUND/FLIGHT. If you have a 24v GPU.. you can wind the aircraft from cold to live running off the GPU. When everything is running, you'd disconnect the GPU and make the GROUND/FLIGHT to FLIGHT. I've yet to find a GPU hidden away though I did find a ladder, some stairs and the wash basin this afternoon

ATB
DaveB