Shift Light Indicator Controller SLI-Pro

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-Pro is the number one display to do just that in the world of simulation.

With some simple plugins and software utilities you can configure the SLI-Pro to show your optimal rev shift point 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 wheel. The SLI-Pro 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 very 13 bright LEDs for the revs (4 green, 5 red and 4 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.

6 more bright LEDs at the bottom of the display are used as warning lights which can be assigned with the configuration software. This is particularly useful for displaying such things as different flags, critical engine temperatures or other warnings from the car. 5 extra LEDS of your choice can also easily be wired into the device which you can use for further warning or shift lights.

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.

With the use of our PCB dxf file template available in the downloads tab you can also make your own enclosure or cut out for your steering wheel or dash board.
A few other third party mounting solutions are also available for the SLI-Pro.

LED Displays
- 13 bright RPM LEDs across the top (4 green, 5 red and 4 blue)
- Central gear indicator
- Two 6-digit displays on each side
- 6 bright warning LEDs across the bottom (left blue, yellow, red - right orange, green, blue)
- 5 additional warning LEDS of your choice can also be connected.

Inputs
- 16 button / 8 rotary encoder inputs
- 6 rotary switch inputs
- 2 analog inputs with 10-bit (1024 steps) resolution each - ideal for potentiometer or hall sensor clutch paddles

Dimensions
Length - 4" / 102mm
Width - 1.2" / 30mm
Height - 0.57" / 14.5mm

Recommended Wire Size
24AWG to 20AWG

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

Connection to PC
The PCB has a standard USB mini connector for connection to PC.

Aluminium Enclosure Features
- CNC precision machined aluminium enclosure
- Mounting holes to fit to a steering wheel or box or can sit on the desk as a stand alone unit
- Small side opening for USB socket
- Red Filter lens for LED digits and smoked filter lenses for coloured rev and warning LEDs
- Rear cover plate supplied. Can be removed for mounting to a flat surface. Screws and washers supplied

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 mini 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

Four low profile connectors with ribbon cable 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.

Support for up to 8 rotary encoders - A pair of digital inputs can be connected to a rotary encoder. All main types supported (1, 2 and 4 pulses per detent. Check the datasheet of your encoder to find out which type you have). Once connected, download our encoder software in the product downloads tab and set the pair of inputs to the encoder mode you require. Always use odd number for the first input, ie. 1-2, 3-4 etc. Please refer to the user guide in the product download page for more information.

2 analog inputs with 10-bit resolution and independent wiring - 1024 steps of resolution. Ideal for connecting potentiometers or hall sensors to be used in clutch paddles.

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.

SLI-Pro User Manual

SLI-Pro Encoder Configuration Software

SLI-Pro Sample Code

PCB Template in .dxf format

Firmware Downloads

Standard SLI-Pro firmware - 0.24

Rosso Wheels specific firmware - Discontinued

Software Plugins

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