Vintage aircraft instrument becomes an USB peripheral

Glen Akins converted a WW2-era engine cowl flaps indicator into a USB peripheral using a microcontroller and four digital potentiometers:

“This project is reminiscent of my USB analog panel meters project but the drive circuitry is significantly less complex. This post starts with a look at the engine cowl indicator, it’s theory of operation, and some ideas to control it using modern electronics. The post then covers the design of the board, the software for the microcontroller, and a Visual Studio C# .NET Windows Forms app for controlling the indicators from a PC.”

The completed and assembled board. The board features a USB 2.0 Type C connector, a PIC16F1459, four MCP41HV31 digital potentiometers, and a screw terminal strip to connect to power and the indicator.

See the video below and more here.

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