Water Ballast Gauge for FSX

[rlink 0]

Does anyone have a water ballast gauge that will work with FSX? I am looking for a gauge that will indicate the status of the ballast tanks, like a fuel tank gauge in a regular airplane. I have tried using Max Roodvelt's ballast gauge for FS9 that comes with the FS9 version of his Astir CS, but it does not seem to work. I cannot get this gauge to register full tanks, nor can I get it to fill the tanks as it does in FS9. I am hoping that someone knows of a ballast tank gauge that will work with Wolfgang Piper's LS-7 W in FSX. Thanks in advance.

Randy L.

[RobdeVries 2]

Perhpas this can help you somehow?

Deane Baunton. Look for his Fletcher series

[rlink 0]

Perhpas this can help you somehow?

Deane Baunton. Look for his Fletcher series

Hi Rob,

I checked out your link, and it is not quite what I had in mind. I was hoping to find something like the Max Roodvelt ballast gauge that comes with his FS9 Grob CS, but that would work in FSX. Thank you for your reply though. Take care.

Randy L.

[B21 19]

see if the ballast % gauge on the LS8 is what you want...

http://carrier.csi.cam.ac.uk/forsterlewis/soaring/sim/fsx/simobjects/ls8-18_b21/

[rlink 0]

Hi b21,

I did download and install Ian Forster-Lewis's Schleicher ASH25 with the b21 panel. What a sweet glider that is! The water ballast gauge works great in the ASH25 so I imported that gauge to Wolfgang Piper's Rollade-Schneider LS-7 panel. The gauge works if I click on the gauge to display the aircraft weight. But for some reason the gauge does not display the percent of water in the tanks like it does in the ASH25. It simply reads "0" when it is in the LS-7 panel. Is there a way to configure this gauge so that it displays full ballast tanks "100%" at the beginning of the flight? As I said, it does work correctly in the LS-7 panel as long as it is displaying the aircraft weight, but I would love to have this gauge also display the percent full indication of the ballast tanks too, just like in the ASH25. Thank you for your help.

Randy L.

rlink@cableone.net

[B21 19]

You need the ballast indicator to know the FULL and EMPTY weights of the LS7. It is made easy for you to find out those weights by simply putting the ballast indicator into "weight" mode as you discovered. Start with the glider on the ground, note the FULL reading, open the ballast valves and see what the reading gets to when all the ballast is gone (i.e. EMPTY). These weights are in Kg.

Then you have two ways to fix up the gauge in the LS7, both involve editting files:

(1) Add the "b21_polar_v2" gauge from the ASH25 into the LS7 as in the ASH25 (see panel.cfg) - it has a size of 1x1 so you don't see it. Open "b21_polar_v2\b21_polar.xml" in Notepad and edit the following two lines with the correct EMPTY/FULL weights for the LS7:

626  (>L:B21_polar_weight_empty, kilograms)

                        	746  (>L:B21_polar_weight_full, kilograms)

or the hackyhacky option number 2, just hardcode the FULL/EMPTY Kg figures into the ballast indicator gauge: (2) In the "b21_ballast" gauge you've already installed in the LS7, use Notepad to edit the file "b21_ballast\ballast_indicator.xml". There's an element section that looks like the following:

	<Element id="ballast proportion">

        	<FloatPosition>6,2</FloatPosition>

        	<Visibility>(L:B21_ballast_weight_visibility, number) 0 ==</Visibility>

        	<GaugeText id="B21_mc">

            	<Size>30,20</Size>

            	<FontFace>Quartz</FontFace>

            	<FontColor>#ffffff</FontColor>

            	<FontHeight>20</FontHeight>

            	<Length>1</Length>

            	<Transparent>True</Transparent>

            	<VerticalAlign>CENTER</VerticalAlign>

            	<HorizontalAlign>RIGHT</HorizontalAlign>

            	<GaugeString>%( (A:TOTAL WEIGHT, kilograms) (L:B21_polar_weight_empty, kilograms) -

                            	(L:B21_polar_weight_full, kilograms) (L:B21_polar_weight_empty, kilograms) - 100 /

                            	/ int )%!3.0f!</GaugeString>

        	</GaugeText>

   

(a) Replace "(L:B21_polar_weight_empty, kilograms)" with the EMPTY WEIGHT AS A NUMBER, e.g. 666. Note that it appears TWICE in the code. ( Replace "(L:B21_polar_weight_full, kilograms)" with the FULL WEIGHT AS A NUMBER, e.g. 777. So you should end up with a ballast_proportion element something like:

	<Element id="ballast proportion">

        	<FloatPosition>6,2</FloatPosition>

        	<Visibility>(L:B21_ballast_weight_visibility, number) 0 ==</Visibility>

        	<GaugeText id="B21_mc">

            	<Size>30,20</Size>

            	<FontFace>Quartz</FontFace>

            	<FontColor>#ffffff</FontColor>

            	<FontHeight>20</FontHeight>

            	<Length>1</Length>

            	<Transparent>True</Transparent>

            	<VerticalAlign>CENTER</VerticalAlign>

            	<HorizontalAlign>RIGHT</HorizontalAlign>

            	<GaugeString>%( (A:TOTAL WEIGHT, kilograms) 666 -

                            	777 666 - 100 /

                            	/ int )%!3.0f!</GaugeString>

        	</GaugeText>

   

OK?

B21 / Ian Forster-Lewis

[rlink 0]

You need the ballast indicator to know the FULL and EMPTY weights of the LS7. It is made easy for you to find out those weights by simply putting the ballast indicator into "weight" mode as you discovered. Start with the glider on the ground, note the FULL reading, open the ballast valves and see what the reading gets to when all the ballast is gone (i.e. EMPTY). These weights are in Kg.

Then you have two ways to fix up the gauge in the LS7, both involve editting files:

(1) Add the "b21_polar_v2" gauge from the ASH25 into the LS7 as in the ASH25 (see panel.cfg) - it has a size of 1x1 so you don't see it. Open "b21_polar_v2\b21_polar.xml" in Notepad and edit the following two lines with the correct EMPTY/FULL weights for the LS7:

626  (>L:B21_polar_weight_empty, kilograms)

                        	746  (>L:B21_polar_weight_full, kilograms)

or the hackyhacky option number 2, just hardcode the FULL/EMPTY Kg figures into the ballast indicator gauge: (2) In the "b21_ballast" gauge you've already installed in the LS7, use Notepad to edit the file "b21_ballast\ballast_indicator.xml". There's an element section that looks like the following:

	<Element id="ballast proportion">

        	<FloatPosition>6,2</FloatPosition>

        	<Visibility>(L:B21_ballast_weight_visibility, number) 0 ==</Visibility>

        	<GaugeText id="B21_mc">

            	<Size>30,20</Size>

            	<FontFace>Quartz</FontFace>

            	<FontColor>#ffffff</FontColor>

            	<FontHeight>20</FontHeight>

            	<Length>1</Length>

            	<Transparent>True</Transparent>

            	<VerticalAlign>CENTER</VerticalAlign>

            	<HorizontalAlign>RIGHT</HorizontalAlign>

            	<GaugeString>%( (A:TOTAL WEIGHT, kilograms) (L:B21_polar_weight_empty, kilograms) -

                            	(L:B21_polar_weight_full, kilograms) (L:B21_polar_weight_empty, kilograms) - 100 /

                            	/ int )%!3.0f!</GaugeString>

        	</GaugeText>

   

(a) Replace "(L:B21_polar_weight_empty, kilograms)" with the EMPTY WEIGHT AS A NUMBER, e.g. 666. Note that it appears TWICE in the code. ( Replace "(L:B21_polar_weight_full, kilograms)" with the FULL WEIGHT AS A NUMBER, e.g. 777. So you should end up with a ballast_proportion element something like:

	<Element id="ballast proportion">

        	<FloatPosition>6,2</FloatPosition>

        	<Visibility>(L:B21_ballast_weight_visibility, number) 0 ==</Visibility>

        	<GaugeText id="B21_mc">

            	<Size>30,20</Size>

            	<FontFace>Quartz</FontFace>

            	<FontColor>#ffffff</FontColor>

            	<FontHeight>20</FontHeight>

            	<Length>1</Length>

            	<Transparent>True</Transparent>

            	<VerticalAlign>CENTER</VerticalAlign>

            	<HorizontalAlign>RIGHT</HorizontalAlign>

            	<GaugeString>%( (A:TOTAL WEIGHT, kilograms) 666 -

                            	777 666 - 100 /

                            	/ int )%!3.0f!</GaugeString>

        	</GaugeText>

   

OK?

B21 / Ian Forster-Lewis

Thanks Ian!! I will give that a try. I appreciate your help, and I love flying your ASH25. Take care.

Randy L.

[rlink 0]

Thanks Ian!! I will give that a try. I appreciate your help, and I love flying your ASH25. Take care.

Randy L.

Hi Ian,

I edited the XML file as you suggested, and the gauge works perfectly now. Both weight and percent are now displayed. I appreciate your suggestion and your help. Thanks again.

Randy L.

[B21 19]

ahh - I love a happy result.

B21