GAUGE: Ball Compass Extra 300
Gauge v1.2.002 - Current Version 22nd Feb 2024

Features:

Ball compass gauge in the style of the extra 300 but works on any aircraft.

1) Compass ball

2) AP heading display set with [Left Dial]

3) Current Heading (Gyro, Magnetic, True & Whiskey)

4) Gyro offset display and set with [Right Dial]

5) Adjustable tilt when banking

6) Direction of ball toggle

6) Optional glass reflection

7) Optional colour displays

8) Optional side buttons

9) Mini menu

10) Panel lighting

11) Brightness Control (Physical FIP)

Aircraft Compatibility:
Simulator: Fully Compatible
3rd Party: Fully Compatible
Please report any 3rd Party incompatibility via our discord channel

Buttons & Dials Summary:

[S1] Mini Menu:

[S3] Ball Direction:

[S4] Select Gyro/Magnetic/True/Compass:

[S6] NAV - GPS toggle:

[L Dial] AP Heading Bug Inc/Dec:

[R Dial] Gyro Drift Inc/Dec:

About Ball Compass Extra 300:

The ball compass is just that, it's a ball with a compass printed on it that rotates to indicate heading. I have also coded an adjustable tilt in the mini menu so the ball tilts when banking. The left dial has been coded to change the autopilot heading. The right dial is used to adjust the amount of gyro drift (in gyro mode and if the aircraft supports gyro drift) You can also select if you want the gauge to use Gyro, Magnetic or True variables.

The Main Gauge:

Show the compass ball and dials for changing autopilot heading [L Dial] and gyro drift offset [R Dial]

The Sidebar:

Shows the menu function button[S1]. The centre of the sidebar displays the autopilot heading, current heading and gyro drift offset. At the bottom there is a button and status for whether NAV or GPS is driving navigation, [S6] to toggle.

If the blanking plate is used instead of the sidebar, then colour of the plate can now be changed by editing variable [FG_GLOBAL_BLANKING_COLOUR] in SPAD.neXt data monitor.

Buttons & Dials Details:

[S1] Mini Menu: As both dials are used in this gauge the Mini Menu is activated by pressing S1 [S2] PMDG 737 Compatibility: Press S2 to toggle PMDG 737 compatibility mode on and off. [S3] Ball Direction: Pressing S3 toggles the direction the ball spins from Left to right and Right to Left. [S4] Select Gyro, Magnetic and True: Pressing S4 skips through the compass variables used to should directional output. This can be set to either use Gyro, Macnetic or True 0 = Gyro 1 = Magnetic 2 = True [S6] NAV - GPS toggle: Used to toggle between GPS drives navigation and NAV drives navigation. [L Dial] Menu value down/up & AP Heading Bug Inc/Dec: Turn counter clockwise to decrease autopilot heading and clockwise to increase. When Mini Menu is open use to change the value of the selected menu option. [R Dial] Menu Function Previous/Next & Gyro Drift Inc/Dec: Turn counter clockwise to decrease gyro drift offset and clockwise to increase. When the Mini Menu is open turn right dial to scroll between the various menu options.

The Mini Menu:

(Activate and deactivate with [S1])

Version & Info: Turn left dial clockwise to turn on and counter clockwise to turn off current version number and other useful links page.

Side Buttons: Turn left dial clockwise to turn on and counter clockwise to turn off side buttons.

Tilt Sensitivity: Turn the left dial counter clockwise to lower the tilt sensitivity and clockwise to increase. 0-100

Ball Direction: Toggles/inverts the left to right direction movement of the compass ribbon.

Function: Toggles compass mode from Gyro, Magnetic and True values.

Glass Reflection: Turn left dial clockwise to turn on and counter clockwise to turn off optional glass reflections. This is a global setting so all gauges that have this function will turn on and off in sync.

Background Colour: Left dial will change colour styles to the following

0 = Grey

1 = Black Dial Face

2 = Darker Gauge & Dial Face

3 = Black & No Gauge GFX

4 = Grey - Original Design

5 = Black Dial Face - Original Design

6 = Darker Gauge & Dial Face - Original Design

Brightness: Turn left Dial clockwise to increase gauge brightness and counter clockwise to decrease gauge brightness. This will adjust the brightness of all gauges at the same time.

Variables:

FG_BALLCOMPASS_EXTRA_MENU (Session)

Menu Item Index (0 to 11)

0 = Menu Off

1 = Version & Info

2 = Side Buttons

3 = Tilt Sensitivity

4 = Ball Direction

5 = Compass Data Used (Gyro, Magnetic and True)

6 = NAV / GPS

7 = Glass Reflection

8 = Background Colour

9 = LCD - LED - Custom Colours

10 = Brightness Control

11 = Panel Light Control

FG_BALLCOMPASS_EXTRA_MENU_ACTIVE (Session)

If Menu Preview Mode is Active (Off = 0, On = 1)

FG_BALLCOMPASS_EXTRA_BUTTONS (Profile)

Side Buttons (Off = 0, On = 1)

FG_BALLCOMPASS_EXTRA_LABELS (Profile)

Side Button Labels (Off = 0, On = 1)

FG_BALLCOMPASS_EXTRA_INSTRUCTIONS (Session)

Instructions Page (Off = 0, On = 1)

FG_BALLCOMPASS_EXTRA_DIR (Profile)

Direction of compass (Direction 1 = 0, Direction 2 = 1)

FG_PROFILE_LED_COLOUR_FORE_ON (Profile)

Foreground colour of fonts while power is on (default = "#dd0000")

FG_PROFILE_LED_COLOUR_BACK_ON (Profile)

Background colour of fonts while power is on (default = "#000000")

FG_PROFILE_LED_COLOUR_FORE_OFF (Profile)

Foreground colour of fonts while power is off (default = "#000000")

FG_PROFILE_LED_COLOUR_BACK_OFF (Profile)

Background colour of fonts while power is off (default = "#000000")

FG_PROFILE_LED_COLOUR_FORE_ON_CUSTOM (Profile)

Foreground colour of fonts while power is on (default = "#00DD00")

FG_PROFILE_LED_COLOUR_BACK_ON_CUSTOM (Profile)

Background colour of fonts while power is on (default = "TRANSPARENT")

FG_PROFILE_LED_COLOUR_FORE_OFF_CUSTOM (Profile)

Foreground colour of fonts while power is off (default = "#001100")

FG_PROFILE_LED_COLOUR_BACK_OFF_CUSTOM (Profile)

Background colour of fonts while power is off (default = "TRANSPARENT")

FG_VARIABLES_LEDCOLOUR (Profile)

Side panel LED Style Index (1 - 3)

1 = LED Style

2 = LCD Style (Default)

3 = Custom

[S1] SCRIPTED CUSTOM VARIABLE MAPPINGS:

FG_BALLCOMPASS_EXTRA_AP_HDG_VAR (Session)

SIMCONNECT Vars Used:

(Plane heading degrees gyro,degrees)

(Delta heading rate,rpm)

(Plane heading degrees magnetic,degrees)

(Plane heading degrees true,degrees)

(MAGNETIC COMPASS,degrees)

(Autopilot heading lock dir,degrees)

(Autopilot heading lock dir,radians)

(GPS DRIVES NAV1,Bool)

fipgauges.com GLOBAL VARIABLES:

(not all vars used in every gauge)

FG_GLOBAL_DIAL_SPEED (Session)

Variable used for dial acceleration (Off = 0, On = 1)

FG_GLOBAL_GAUGE_BRIGHTNESS (Profile)

Brightness value of physical FIP's. Affects all physical gauges (20-250)

FG_GLOBAL_GAUGE_BRIGHTNESS_MODE (Profile)

Variable used when editing Global or individual Brightness (0-1)

0 - Global Brightness

1 - Individual Brightness

FG_GLOBAL_BLANKING_COLOUR (Profile)

Text Variable used to set blanking plate colour

FG_GLOBAL_GLASS (Profile)

Glass Reflection (Off = 0, On = 1)

FG_GLOBAL_HIDE_MENU_LED (Profile)

Toggle visibility of Mini Menu LED (0 = On, 1 = Off)

FG_GLOBAL_JET_COLOUR (Profile)

Background Colour (0 to 3)

1 = Grey panel with grey gauge face

2 = Blue grey panel with grey gauge face

3 = Dark grey panel with black gauge face

4 = Dark blue panel with black gauge face.

FG_GLOBAL_JET_BACKGROUND_COLOUR (Profile)

Background Colour (Black = 0, Blue = 1 )

FG_GLOBAL_MIN_VOLTAGE (Profile)

Minimum voltage before gauge electronics turns off (-1 to 150)

-1 = Disabled

0 - 150 = Off Voltage Level

FG_GLOBAL_MIN_VOLTAGE_CACHE (Profile)

Internal Variable - Used to store off voltage value - do not edit

FG_GLOBAL_PANEL_LIGHTS (Profile)

Night Lit Mode (Off = 0, On = 1)

FG_GLOBAL_PRESSURE (Profile)

Shared variable for switching inHg and MB (0 to 1)

0 = inHg

1 = Millbars

FG_GLOBAL_STYLE (Profile)

Background Colour (0 to 6)

0 = Grey

1 = Black Dial Face

2 = Darker Gauge & Dial Face

3 = Black & No Gauge GFX

4 = Grey - Original Design

5 = Black Dial Face - Original Design

6 = Darker Gauge & Dial Face - Original Design

FG_GLOBAL_VOLTAGE (Session)

Internal variable used to read current voltage

Release Notes:

1.2.002 - Fixed menu bug where Panel Light Heading was displayed as Brightness

1.2.001 -Using New Sidebar Button and Labels Code (4 display options now also) - blank sidebar custom colour

1.2.000

- 1) SPAD.neXt 0.9.15 Compatibility (Convert "PRESS" to "PRESSSHORT") Fixes short and long press both firing on long press.

- 2) New gauge brightness code using SPAD brightness variables.

- 3) Can control global or individual gauge brightness in gauge (Profile saved settings)

- 4) Better use of button lights

1.1.001 - SPAD.neXt 0.9.13 Compatibility (Author ID)

1.1.000 - New Menu System

1.0.004 - New Custom Virtual Power supports ALL aircraft volt variables - See https://fipgauges.com/customfeatures.php

1.0.003 - Added sidebar blanking plate option

1.0.002 - Virtual Power Warning added to Menu

1.0.001 - Added Wiskey Compass variable to function selection

1.0.000 - Public Release

0.0.002 - Beta Version

Please report any bugs or feature requests via our discord channel

Document Published 22/02/2024