undercarriage status light

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chook77
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Joined: 12 Mar 2016, 17:04

undercarriage status light

Post by chook77 »

Hi all
I have the latest update for the spitfire with accusim and have noticed my landing gear light inside the cocpit does not completely work.
At the beginning of the flight I crack the throttle to engage the light and the green down is displayed. In the MK1a when raising after take off it does indicate the gear is up, however in the MK11 the light does not illuminate. Also in all aircraft when lowering the gear it does not indicate that gear is down and locked.

Before the update this worked fine and I would love some help to find a fix to this problem as it's a bit sketchy declaring an emergancy every landing wondering if this is going to be a belly landing or not.

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Piper_EEWL
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Re: undercarriage status light

Post by Piper_EEWL »

Hi,

and welcome to the community.

I just checked my installation (Spitfire + Accusim in FSX with the latest Accusim update) for the issue you reported. And I cannot reproduce it. In my installation the light comes on when I advance the throttle after entering the cockpit. After takeoff when I retract the gear the light goes to "up" in both the MkI and MkII. And it also indicates "down" in both Mk's after the gear is lowered for landing. It takes a while for the light to come on "down" in the MkII when lowering the gear since the gear seems to take longer to lower than to retract. In the MkI you obviously need to pump long enough for the gear to lock. But I take it from your post that you don't really have a problem with the gear unlocked. You only experience a wrong indication?

Are you flicking the landing gear indication switch to off in flight by any chance?

But I seems I ran into a small issue with the landing gear indicator in both Mk's after all :? . If you flick the landing light indicator switch to the off position in flight and the gear is retracted the "up" indication will stay on. If the gear is down and you flick the switch to the off position the "down" indication will turn off. I don't think it is supposed to be like that!? It's really a minor issue and I only ran into it because I was trying to replicate chook77's issue.

Happy flying
B377&COTS, J3 Cub, B-17G, Spitfire, P-40, P-51D, C172, C182, Pa28, Pa24, T-6 Texan, L-049&COTS, Bonanza V35B

chook77
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Joined: 12 Mar 2016, 17:04

Re: undercarriage status light

Post by chook77 »

Thanks for the reply.
I haven't had a chance to try flicking it on and off whilst on the ground, but I have tried when in the air to get the light's to work to no avail.
I should try a reinstall but just don't want to start at zero hour's as I like the concept of engine hour's versus air frame hour's.
I enjoy testing the aircraft like a test pilot would do. Starting off with simple maneuvers like low speed stalls and trimming then move onto altitude based testing low level maneuvers too reaching and maintaing operational ceilings then high speed stalls and departures to find the best recoveries.
So as you can see coming in for a landing after pushing the airframe to the limit with no indication the gear is down and locked I immediately go for the co2 and still get no indication which leads me to wonder if this is going to a bit of work in the hanger.
Other then that, the spit is a pleasure to fly and touch wood haven't crashed it yet unlike the P51 (failed attempt at a departure recovery at 15, 000ft).

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CodyValkyrie
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Re: undercarriage status light

Post by CodyValkyrie »

There's always the wing indicators.
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Piper_EEWL
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Re: undercarriage status light

Post by Piper_EEWL »

CodyValkyrie wrote:There's always the wing indicators.
Correct. But it would be nice to know why the light isn't working in this particular case!?
B377&COTS, J3 Cub, B-17G, Spitfire, P-40, P-51D, C172, C182, Pa28, Pa24, T-6 Texan, L-049&COTS, Bonanza V35B

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CodyValkyrie
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Re: undercarriage status light

Post by CodyValkyrie »

I've never experienced this issue. I can try to replicate it, but it may be a while. Maybe one of the more experienced team members can discuss it and see if this is correct or not?
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Killratio
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Re: undercarriage status light

Post by Killratio »

Will test and report results to the guys.

Operation should be:

Switch off : {EDIT} Down lights off. UP lights still on if locked up.

Switch turned on OR Throttle moved past switch (physical connection to throttle off to on... but not on to off):
1) Undercarriage both down and locked = DOWN light.
2) Either one, other, or both U/C not locked up or down = NO lights.
3) Both gear up and locked = UP light.
4) If (due to low hydraulic pressure) gear "floating" when low or negative G = lights will go out!! (a great effect that shows how Accusim works systems, not canned effects. Without ever mentioning this during development I pumped the Mk I gear JUST enough to lock it and turned upside down..expecting to then ask Scott to add this effect.....BUT both lights dutifully went out!!!)



Darryl
Last edited by Killratio on 19 Jun 2016, 11:49, edited 1 time in total.
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Piper_EEWL
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Re: undercarriage status light

Post by Piper_EEWL »

Thanks Darryl. The only thing that struck me as odd is that if the switch is flicked to off with the gear retracted and locked the "up" indication stays on. If the gear is down and locked and you flick the switch there's no indication.

Happy flying
B377&COTS, J3 Cub, B-17G, Spitfire, P-40, P-51D, C172, C182, Pa28, Pa24, T-6 Texan, L-049&COTS, Bonanza V35B

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Killratio
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Re: undercarriage status light

Post by Killratio »

EDIT... OUT....If that is how it is, yes, there is a fault.The U/C Indicator Switch cuts power to that system.
I'll bump it up the food chain :)


{edit} Checked, all working correctly. See my post above.
Last edited by Killratio on 19 Jun 2016, 12:02, edited 2 times in total.
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Piper_EEWL
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Re: undercarriage status light

Post by Piper_EEWL »

Thank you. It is really a minor issue though and I only came a cross it trying to figure out chook77's issue. So it's really not a big deal.

Happy flying
B377&COTS, J3 Cub, B-17G, Spitfire, P-40, P-51D, C172, C182, Pa28, Pa24, T-6 Texan, L-049&COTS, Bonanza V35B

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Killratio
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Re: undercarriage status light

Post by Killratio »

Just getting back to this....

I can confirm that the electrics as modelled are correct. Electrical drawings are not my strong point, so I sought independent confirmation.

My post above has been edited but the crux is that YES the UP light circuit is separate to the u/C indicator switch circuit.

The logic is this...if the aircraft is on the ground without the gear locked the lights are off (not a good way to be) but if the gear is locked, the light needs to be able to be turned off. Now if the UP light is off, the gear aren't locked and if you're on the ground that is bad..but at least you are not using power ;)

If you are on the ground with gear locked up then yes, the light will drain the accumulator..but you have bigger problems!

Darryl
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Piper_EEWL
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Re: undercarriage status light

Post by Piper_EEWL »

Understood! Thanks for checking back up on this and for the explanation of the system. Just one more thing that we wouldn't even have wondered about in a non Accusim plane!

Happy flying
B377&COTS, J3 Cub, B-17G, Spitfire, P-40, P-51D, C172, C182, Pa28, Pa24, T-6 Texan, L-049&COTS, Bonanza V35B

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Killratio
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Re: undercarriage status light

Post by Killratio »

No problems,

You wouldn't believe how many man hours went into researching these systems. Some of it though, pre P9374, was "best guess", given the original drawings etc are not always clear/complete and given that it was only during development that it became known that the Spitfire I Pilot's Notes had been discovered at the National Archives.

It is hugely satisfying that we pegged every single "best guess" as it turned out. It is hugely annoying that I can't always remember some of the specifics.

The early Spitfire I is SO different to all other marques in some systems, that there was a significant risk that Andy's book would come out and prove all of those educated guesses to be wrong!

Things like confirming that the U/C pump took more pumps for down than up, (and the pilot's notes use different descriptions for up and for down and could be ambiguous)......when no-one apparently had seen a unit for many, many years. (And then finding that a guy I knew had one stuck away in his garage!!)

Or that the flaps retract at different rates, or that the trim wheel turns four complete turns, or that aircraft we wanted to model COULD have the flap gauge in it at the date we wanted, or that it COULD have a slow running cut-out etc, etc, etc.....It took a lot of time to get things to a stage where if someone said "that shouldn't be there" we had evidence that it could.

All good fun!!

Darryl
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silaim
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Re: undercarriage status light

Post by silaim »

chook77 wrote:Hi all
I have the latest update for the spitfire with accusim and have noticed my landing gear light inside the cocpit does not completely work.
At the beginning of the flight I crack the throttle to engage the light and the green down is displayed. In the MK1a when raising after take off it does indicate the gear is up, however in the MK11 the light does not illuminate. Also in all aircraft when lowering the gear it does not indicate that gear is down and locked.

Before the update this worked fine and I would love some help to find a fix to this problem as it's a bit sketchy declaring an emergancy every landing wondering if this is going to be a belly landing or not.
Hi all, I have the same problem with my undercarriage after downloading the lastest update,especially with instant replay the gear is either not out or in correctly.Happy flying all,bye silaim

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Piper_EEWL
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Re: undercarriage status light

Post by Piper_EEWL »

silaim wrote: Hi all, I have the same problem with my undercarriage after downloading the lastest update,especially with instant replay the gear is either not out or in correctly.Happy flying all,bye silaim
Hi silam,

And welcome to the community. The problem described above is only refering to the indication for gear in the cockpit. But it seems like you have an issue with the gear not being locked? Are you pumping the gear till you get the "up" indication in the cockpit? Are you only having that issue in instant replay?

Happy flying
B377&COTS, J3 Cub, B-17G, Spitfire, P-40, P-51D, C172, C182, Pa28, Pa24, T-6 Texan, L-049&COTS, Bonanza V35B

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