SLI-F1 - Shift Light Indicator

A USB shift light indicator combined with joystick interface board - for simulator use only. 

The majority of modern real race cars have some form of LED and/or LCD shift light display on the dash board to provide the driver with the optimal shift points and also to give them some vital information about their car. The SLI-F1 allows you to do just that in the world of simulation.

With some simple free to use plugins and software utilities you can configure the SLI-F1 to show your optimal rev shift points and extract all kinds of car information to display on the device including RPM, gear, speed, engine temperature, tyre pressures, lap time, lap delta...plus many, many more. You can also connect buttons, rotary encoders and rotary switches to the device to scroll through different information on the LED displays so you don't even have to take your hands off the steering wheel. The SLI-F1 is also a USB joystick interface so you can use buttons and switches for other functions within your simulator software, such as pit limiter or adjusting the brake bias without even installing any extra drivers. Just connect them up, plug the device into the PC and it will detect the buttons right away.

With a horizontal bar of 15 high-intensity rev indicator LEDs at the top in blocks of five from left to right [Green - Red - Blue] you are given plenty of warning of when to shift either by illuminating one after the other, in blocks of colour or converging from each side. You can set the optimal shifting points, too.

Two clusters of three LEDs at each side featuring red, yellow, blue LED indicators can be used for displaying such things as flags, critical temperatures or other such warnings. You can also connect a further external LEDS into the device should you require them.

The device can be provided as the PCB on its own or with our precision CNC machined aluminium enclosure for the ultra in protection and good looks. This can easily be mounted on a steering wheel, dash board or button box.

Features

Central Numeric Display area
A single digit, seven segment red display in the centre indicating the gear number.
Size: H 14.22mm x W 8mm

Left and Right Alphanumeric Display areas
14 Segment alphanumeric ‘starburst’ red LED displays
Size: H10.16mm x W 6mm

Warning/Marshalling LEDs
LED clusters at each side featuring red, yellow, blue LED indicators. 5 additional warning LEDS of your choice can also be connected.

Shift LEDs
A horizontal bar of 15 high-intensity LEDs at the top - In blocks of five from left to right - Green - Red - Blue

Adjustable Brightness
Brightness can be adjusted in control software by our SLI rotary switches or potentiometers

Aluminium Case
High quality aluminium case with manufactured by HRS Australia..

Inputs

The SLI-F1 differs slightly to the SLI-Pro in that button inputs cannot be assigned to encoder mode via software. We currently have four firmware versions available that should meet the requirements of most users however more will be added in time. You can review the input types below and make your selection from the drop down menu above the Add to Cart button. We will then apply the firmware version to the device prior to dispatch. You can also apply the other firmware versions to the device through USB connection by downloading the software from the Downloads tab.

Firmware V1.12
- 20 button inputs
- 0 rotary encoder inputs
- 8 rotary switch inputs - 1 switch activates 12 button inputs. All other switches are linked to stepped analogue inputs which is set up for us by Fanaleds software 
-1 analog input with 10-bit (1024 steps) resolution - ideal for potentiometer or hall sensor clutch paddles.

Firmware V1.13
- 14 button inputs
- 3 rotary encoder inputs (for 1:2 ratio encoders - e.g. ELMA)
- 8 rotary switch inputs - 1 switch activates 12 button inputs. All other switches are linked to stepped analogue inputs which is set up for us by Fanaleds software 
-1 analog input with 10-bit (1024 steps) resolution - ideal for potentiometer or hall sensor clutch paddles.

Firmware V1.15
- 14 button inputs 
- 3 rotary encoder inputs (1:1 ratio encoders - e.g. CTS)
- 8 rotary switch inputs - 1 switch activates 12 button inputs. All other switches are linked to stepped analogue inputs which is set up for us by Fanaleds software 
-1 analog input with 10-bit (1024 steps) resolution - ideal for potentiometer or hall sensor clutch paddles.

Recommended Wire Size
24AWG to 20AWG

Mounting Screw Hole Size
M2.5 or #3-56 - DO NOT ENLARGE THE MOUNTING HOLES

Communication
Connection via USB to PC only. USB-B connector on the back of the device (optional) or alternative USB socket and flat cable to cater for custom connectors.
Uses same flat cables as SLI-Pro plus one extra 14 pin flat cable.

 

Fully self-contained interface

Natively supported as a standard USB joystick interface by Windows 10/ 8/ 7/Vista/XP/2000 32/64 bit and Mac OS X - Forget drivers - just plug it in and it's ready to go. Shift light function currently only works in Windows due to software. Mac support is in progress. Will NOT work on Playstation or Xbox.

Unique serial number helps Windows remember each device - Ever unplugged a joystick and had Windows lose calibration settings? This controller retains settings even if plugged in a different USB port or if you use two and swap them over. Also allows you to connect and use more than one at a time.

Powered by USB bus (+5V - 500mA) so no external power supply is needed

Full-speed 12Mb USB connection.

Compatible with over 30 games including:
Assetto Corsa - DiRT - DiRT2 - DiRT3 - DiRT Showdown - Euro Truck Simulator 2 - F1 2010 - F1 2011 - F1 2012 - F1 2013 - Formula Truck - Game Stock Car - GRID 2 - GT Legends - GTR - GTR 2 - GTR Evolution - iRacing - Kart Racing | PRO - Live for Speed - netKar PRO - OMSI (Omnibus Simulator - Project C.A.R.S. - Race 07 - Race Driver GRID - Race Injection - Race Room 2 - Race Room Racing Experience - rFactor - rFactor2 - Richard Burns Rally - Rigs of Rods - Simraceway - STCC 2 - X-motor Racing

Proudly designed and made in the UK.

LED Light Function Only
If using the device only for the LED light function you can simply connect the device to the PC via the USB connector on the rear, install the software available from the links in product downloads tab and follow the instructions provided by the software developers. Some simulator software will work straight away after installing the device, while others may require a plugin to be copy and pasted into a specific folder.

Connecting Buttons, Switches, Rotary Encoders and Potentiometers
Five low profile connectors with ribbon cables available to connect buttons, alternative USB cable and external LEDs are situated on the rear of the device. The pin out showing where to connect these components is shown in the user manual available in the product downloads tab. Please choose the optional free ribbon cable set when ordering. Further cable sets can also be ordered from the cable product page.

Using the alternative USB Connector
If you wish to use your own USB connector you can use the 6 way ribbon cable provided in the cable pack to connect to the alternative USB connector on the rear of the device.

Rotary encoders
If you are using a firmware version with rotary encoder inputs, these are connected to two inputs and one ground.

1 analog input with 10-bit resolution - 1024 steps
Ideal for connecting potentiometers or hall sensors to be used in clutch paddles. Link two pots or hall sensors together with inline diodes for dual clutch support into one axis.

Can I be turned into keyboard or other device? - Mapping button presses or potentiometers to other functions such as mouse/keyboard or hat switch controls can be done emulated using third party software such as Joy2Key. Look in the downloads tab for alternative software solutions.

Once you have connected everything you need - Connect to a PC using a standard mini USB cable and the device will be recognised as a generic game device named - SLI-Pro. No drivers are required. You can then either calibrate or assign your controls using your chosen game or software as you would with any other game controller. That's it!

Construction tips

How to share GND and +5V wires between components
As there are only two GND and +5V wires available these must be shared between all components. The easiest method for this is to daisy chain wires. This means that you should connect two wires to each GND pin on the buttons and switches and for +5V pin on the potentiometers and rotary switches - one to connect and one to carry on to the next. To extend wires from the ribbon cable that are not long enough you can connect and solder additional lengths. We recommend covering the soldered connection with heat shrink.

How to connect to the red USB connector on the rear
To connect to the alternate USB connector you can use one of the 6 pin cables from the ribbon cable pack (check the SLI-Pro user guide in the product downloads tab for the pin out). Then you can either connect the ribbon cable to a USB cable either directly or via an intermediate connector. Almost any 4 or 5 pin connector can be used. There should be no pulling force on the ribbon cable so we highly recommend that if connecting directly to a USB cable you should use a clamping product such as a cable gland through a fixed panel.

What to do with unused inputs?
Unconnected buttons will appear as not pressed - just ignore them
Unused analog inputs are automatically disabled. They will appear as soon pots are connected and SLI-Pro is powered up. In other words, if they are not connected - you will not see them.

Which pots are the best?
Any value from 1kOhm to 100kOhm will work fine. If you don't know where to start, get 10kOhm ones
Use linear pots (taper B.) Avoid non-linear, log pots with tapers A, D or Y used in audio level controls
Any pot would work but the best ones are industrial quality Spectrol (Vishay) and Bourns.
Good wiring helps. For ultimately clean signal use shielded wires and ground the pot's case if it's metal
Try to use as much of pot travel range as possible.

FIRMWARE V1.12 (With wiring manual)

FIRMWARE V1.13 (With wiring manual)

FIRMWARE V1.15 (With wiring manual)

Case dimensions

Software Plugins

This device is compatible with Fanaleds and EKSIMRacing.com's SLIMax Manager

Fanaleds

EKSimRacing

Recommended Third Party Software

DIView.exe - For Accurate Calibration

Recommended Third Party Software

Keyboard and Mouse Emulation / Scripting Software

SVMapper

Joy2Key

AutoHotKey

GlovePie