Author Topic: CH rudders...use the warranty or DIY? (Read 480 times)

Simaril · « **on:** October 09, 2006, 03:22:29 PM »

I have 15 month old CH rudder pedals, and have been thoroughly pleased with them...but it seems that a Potentiometer is going. (Naturally, its not the toe brake one...its the main one for the Z axis, the rudder movement.) I worked with CH tech support, and after running through their easy solution tree they approved for warranty return and gave me an RMA number.

Trouble is that it will cost $25-30 shipping for me to get the free assessment and repair under warranty.

So here's the question: is it better to spend that, in case it isnt the obvious potentiometer problem; or, would it be smarter to buy the pot for $10 plus shipping, do the job mnyself, and in the process void the warranty by breaking the seal?

I'm leaning towards doing it myself, but I'd like to hear you guys' thoughts.

HomeBoy · « **Reply #1 on:** October 09, 2006, 04:07:07 PM »

Simaril,
It's not that difficult to do this yourself. If you want pictures of what the pedals look like on the inside, you can check out the photos in this project . Note that this is actually a GamePort version of the PP but they are identical to the USB version except for the electronics. The most important thing to realize is there are two large springs that can slip off very easily while opening up the case and will sling parts everywhere if that happens. I suggest you place your pedals upside down over a trash can so that you don't accidentally apply any pressure to the pedals while removing the cover as that will cause the springs to slip off.

You have not specified the nature of the problem you are having so I will go over the problems I've seen with these things. I have repaired several of these as well as done major mods to them (like the above mentioned project). Here are some things you should check before buying the 100K pot from CH:

1. If you're seeing drift to one side in particular, your problem could actually be mechanical. You will know when you open the thing up and move the pedals.

2. The wires in the pedals are very thin and break very easily. It could be that a wire has broken. I had a problem with that once and replaced all my wires with heavier ones. Check for broken wires.

3. All three pots are exactly the same in the PP. If you really do think you have a bad pot, Try moving one of your toe brake pots to the rudder and see if that fixes the problem. These pots are top quality and you rarely see a pot go bad. I'm not saying it can't happen but I suspect other things first.

4. One of the more subtle things that happens is the internal screws behind the pedal plates get a little loose and it causes the pedals to not move smoothly. Fifteen months is plenty of time for these screws to get loose. Remove the screws that hold the foot plate in place and then tighten the eight or so screws that hold the pedel pivot in place. Be careful to not overtighten, just snug them. This will help more than you might realize.

5. A good cleaning is probably in order. These things sitting on the floor all the time will gather bunches of "toe jam" and that will effect their smooth operation. A good cleaning and lubrication will do wonders.

Hope this helps you some. Good luck
-hb

Simaril · « **Reply #2 on:** October 10, 2006, 07:01:39 AM »

Thanks for the reply.

The problems have been these:

1) significant, persistant drift. The center for the pot may stay near 32000 (on AHs 64000 scale) for a period, but when I check back inside the same gaming session it may have drifted down to 25000. Other times I'll be tooling along and realize the problems cropped up again when I cant stay in auto cruise.

For a while, I couldnt stay in calibration for more than an hour. Then I had a pretty clear run, after I got the RMA, that made me think the problem may have gone away. Lately its cropped back up again. I have noticed that if the drift has gotten bad, if I give the pedals a thorough push through the range of motion (without slamming anything!) it seems to help.

When calibration is necessary, I've noticed the first and sometimes second run through the range of motion will top out at 49000 - 52000.

Also, when resting feet on the pedals in neutral position, I'll see 29K-30K at times...and get back to 32K by sliding the pedals a bit through the spring dead zone, where theres no resistance to movement.

2) Lots of spiking. When viewing the numerical output, I see kicks of a couple hundred pretty routinely....like 32272 ---> 34000 and back again, fast enough that its almost like a flickering light. If I give a little touch, it can settle for a while, but other times it doesnt help.

Anyway, it sounded like a Pot to me...and apparently to the tech support guy. He did say other things were possible, maybe thinking of the wires etc you were talking about....

HomeBoy · « **Reply #3 on:** October 10, 2006, 08:16:23 AM »

Here is something easy for you to try that will not void your warranty. Remove the two pedal plates to expose the pivot hinges where the toe pots are located. Tighten all the screws inside there and then replace the pedal plates. If those pivots get loose, that can impede the movement of your pedals. I'd be surprised if those are not are not loose after fifteen months.

If that does not fix the problem, you can open up the box and do a good cleaning of everything inside.

I use a little Vasoline on the control arm that turns the rudder pot and then some WD40 lightly sprayed on the pedal wheels and tracks. About the springs; when you begin to open the case after removing the million screws on the bottom, the two springs attach to posts right at the back of the pedals (see the photos). If you lift that side up first you can see them. Just be careful not to let them slip off as you lift the bottom half up. Once it is completly open, I squirt some hot glue around the posts where the springs are attached to prevent the springs from slipping off and then you won't have to worry about them any more. Get you a can of electronic contact cleaner and spray it into the rudder pot and turn it a bunch of times. While you have it apart like that, I suggest you connect the pedals to your computer and bring up the Windows Game Controller utility and monitor the pot movement and test that way. If you're getting pot spiking, the contact cleaner should help that. A little spiking is normal for all pots anyway.

If that still doesn't fix it, then you may truly have a bad pot. As I said before, you can verify by swapping it for one of your toe brake pots. They're easy to remove as the wires are attached with slip on connectors and you can simply pull those off. No soldering is involved. If the rudder pot is bad but not too bad, you might decide you can live with it as one of your toe brakes.

Please keep us informed on your progress here. Good luck
-hb

Simaril · « **Reply #4 on:** October 13, 2006, 11:19:06 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by HomeBoy
Simaril,
It's not that difficult to do this yourself. If you want pictures of what the pedals look like on the inside, you can check out the photos in this project . Note that this is actually a GamePort version of the PP but they are identical to the USB version except for the electronics. The most important thing to realize is there are two large springs that can slip off very easily while opening up the case and will sling parts everywhere if that happens. I suggest you place your pedals upside down over a trash can so that you don't accidentally apply any pressure to the pedals while removing the cover as that will cause the springs to slip off. ...

HB:

Are the links broken for those pictures? All I'm seeingare X's....

HomeBoy · « **Reply #5 on:** October 13, 2006, 02:13:58 PM »

Interesting. All my photos are hosted at photobucket.com and are publically shared. I tried going to a machine I have never used before and could access them fine. I wonder what is going on here.

Is it possible that the site you are viewing from is blocking photobucket.com? All I can think of is this is a firewall issue or something like that.

Here is one of the links. Can you see this?

Simaril · « **Reply #6 on:** October 13, 2006, 03:24:07 PM »

You nailed it. One guardian software was blocking photobucket without telling me it was being blocked. All is OK now!

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #7 on:** October 15, 2006, 09:31:50 AM »

Mine went out about 3 years ago, it seems the repair was easy, but you need like 6 hands to get that thing back together, if i remember correctly.

Auger · « **Reply #8 on:** October 15, 2006, 02:19:39 PM »

It's not that bad. But you do need something to rest the pedals on so that they are level when upside down. I think I used a couple of boxes or some encyclopedia volumes. Balancing them in your lap doesn't cut it.

Simaril · « **Reply #9 on:** October 15, 2006, 08:06:25 PM »

Well, mission accomplished.

While taking it apart was much easier than getting it back together, the job wasnt too bad.

It did turn out to be a potentiometer problem, and I was able to fix it at no cost. By switching a pedal pot for the internal rudder pot, the messed up center zone in the bad one became irrelevant -- since the pedals are neutral at 0%, and the rudders are neutral at 50%, the bad zone is not a problem at all.

Thanks for the help!

Benny Moore · « **Reply #10 on:** October 16, 2006, 06:52:20 PM »

I have used CH for many years. I love their precision but their durability is lamentable. They're easily the most failure-prone controllers I've ever seen. Every year, like clockwork, one of my controllers' axis starts malfunctioning.