GAUGE: VAC and Amps Gauge
Gauge v2.5.001 - Current Version 14th Feb 2024

Features:

1) VAC Needle 3-7 In Hg.

2) Battery AMP load Needle +/- Readings.

3) Digital Displays for AMPs, Volts and Load.

4) Optional LED Bar graphics - AMPs, Volts and Load.

5) Main Dial Warning LED - battery is discharging

6) Charging State LED

Red = discharging

No LED = neither charging/discharging

Green LED = charging

7) Set minimum voltage required to power electronics.

9) Optional glass reflections

10) 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] Toggle Battery Master Switch On/Off:

[S2] Next Menu Item Selection:

[S6] Toggle Alternator Switch On/Off / LongPress Toggle Reverse Amps:

[L Dial] Function Value Decrease/Increase:

[R Dial] Menu Function Previous/Next:

About VAC and Amps Gauge:

You can program the electrical system of this gauge and other compatible gauges to turn off when the voltage drops below a defined minimum. On this gauge you can set the minimum voltage in the gauge menu.

I use a local variable "FG_GLOBAL_MIN_VOLTAGE" to define the minimum voltage point where the gauge electricals turn off. This is defaulted to "0" so when you turn off the battery and generators the electrics on the gauge will turn off. I set this to around 20v myself.

You can set the variable using the gauge menu or by setting "FG_GLOBAL_MIN_VOLTAGE" anywhere in SPAD.neXt.

The Sidebar:

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.

Variables:

FG_VACAMPS_MENU (Session)

Menu Item Index (0 to 9)

0 = Menu Closed

1 = Version & Info

2 = Side Buttons

3 = LED Bars On/Off

4 = Voltage <=

5 = Glass Reflections

6 = Background Colour

7 = LCD - LED - Custom Colours

8 = Brightness Control

9 = Panel Lights Control

FG_VACAMPS_BUTTONS (Profile)

Side Buttons (Off = 0, On = 1)

FG_VACAMPS_LABELS (Profile)

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

FG_VACAMPS_INSTRUCTIONS (Session)

Instructions Page (Off = 0, On = 1)

FG_PROFILE_LED_COLOUR_BACK_OFF (Profile)

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

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_FORE_ON (Profile)

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

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_VACAMPS_MAPPED_ AMPS (Session)

FG_VACAMPS_MAPPED_ LOAD (Session)

SIMCONNECT Vars Used:

ELECTRICAL MAIN BUS VOLTAGE,Volts

ELECTRICAL BATTERY LOAD,Amperes

ELECTRICAL TOTAL LOAD AMPS,Amperes

SUCTION PRESSURE,inHg

ELECTRICAL MASTER BATTERY,Bool

GENERAL ENG MASTER ALTERNATOR:1,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 - Inedividual 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:

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

2.5.000

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

- 2) Menu system upgraded

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

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

- 5) Better use of button lights

2.4.004 - Added Blanking Plate to Left Sidebar options

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

2.4.002 - Reverse Amps output for MSFS compatibility.

2.4.001 - Virtual Power Warning added to Menu

2.4.000 - Added New Gauge Design and Panel Lighting control in Mini Menu

2.3.002 - Support for NEW 4 colour hue panel lights.

2.3.001 - Tweaked voltage monitoring to better support MSFS2020. Added Monitoring for Battery Bus

2.3.000 - SPAD.neXt 0.9.7.x Custom LED Foreground and Background Colours. Replaced ribbon fonts with True Type

2.2.004 - Updated Menu GFX

2.2.003 - Gauge brightness control added to menu

2.2.002 - Fixed voltage spiking on A2A aircraft

2.2.001 - A2A Compatibility - Alternator & Switch

2.2.000 - Panel Lights now controlled by local variable (FG_GLOBAL_PANEL_LIGHTS) 0=Off 1=On

2.1.000 - Resized Text to become compliant with SPAD.neXt scaling changes

2.0.000 - New colour schemes available in mini menu.

1.1.000 - Improved graphics with shadows and transparency, Optional glass reflections.

1.0.001 - Slight tweak on rounding voltage values.

1.0.000 - Beta and 1st Public release.

Please report any bugs or feature requests via our discord channel

Document Published 14/02/2024