You make the call?!

[IronDog]

I had problems with a CH products Fighterstick going into a slowish left turn and dive for no apparent reason.I would calibrate the stick,and sure enough it would do it again shortly.I called CH products,and their Tech guy said it sounds like the stick is hosed.I packed up the joystick and sent it to CH products.I had previously spoke with Skuzzy,and he advised me that running a powered usb hub might solve my problem.I fully realize that disagreeing with his Skuzziness isn't an option,so I didn't mention the fact that I had never previously needed to use a powered hub to fly AH,so I remained silent!Through the years I have kept a couple of backup joysticks for just such an occaision.I cleaned up my retired fighterstick,and blew out the view switch ,which was giving me problems....that was why it got retired!I plugged it in,and sure enough everything was fine,including the view switch not sticking.Today I got a call from Michael at CH products,informing me that he couldn't find anything wrong with the joystick,and what did he want me to do with it.I seriously thought of telling him to stick it up his arse,but I knew that wouldn't solve anything.I am now down to one well worn Fighterstick that at least works fine,with no backup because I gave my backups backup,a CH products Combatstick to my friend JimmyC,who needed a joystick,as his joystick had thrown snakeyes.If you ever have to ship something to England,get ready,because it cost me more to ship it,than I paid for the stick,a few years back.JimmyC is a true gentleman,and I like helping friends.Now,I'm literally sure the offending joystick will again fail to work right,so what should I do?My thirty days money back thingy is long past because I used my time up waiting for CH products to check the stick out.One last item,I had installed the joystick onto Windows Vista,and now I'm running Windows 7,via a free update from Aleinware,who built my puter,...I usually build my own,but I wanted water cooling,and I wasn't real comfortable with working with it without seeing how it hooks up.It looks rather easy,kindda like a cars radiator.If the flippin joystick don't work right I guess I'm just out,and I will probably give it away to a needy person,hoping they can get it working.Well thats my story,it's sad but true,and if anyone can lend a hand,thought or idea,I'm willing to listen.
ID

[Chalenge]

There is nothing wrong with the joystick. Follow Skuzzys advice and everything will work fine.

[SPKmes]

I'm not sure if you have done this or not....over the last couple of tours sometimes (for me) the main calibration does not work... what I have found is that I need to calibrate each axis in the advanced settings.

[Skuzzy]

Let me try an explain why an external powered USB hub is almost a necessity when using CH products stuff.

Regardless of how many USB ports your computer has attached to it, there are usually only 1 or 2 USB hubs inside for all those ports.  The USB chip(s) has to supply the power for the connected USB devices.  Those chips can only sink so much current before they crowbar.

In lamens terms:

Think of it as pulling water through a straw.  When you get to the point where you are trying to pull more water than the straw can carry, the straw collapses on itself and the flow of water stops.  After it stops, it opens again and the flow starts back up....until the draw is too high again.  So on and so forth.  This is what happens to the USB bus when it gets overloaded.

CH stuff pulls quite a bit power power from the USB bus.  Your USB bus may seem to be ok, for any given period of time, but as the USB bus chip ages its ability to carry enough power for everything is reduced.  It is a natural progression for analog parts.  The more often the USB chip is asked to deliver more than it can, the more decay/damage occurs to the part.

It is never a good idea to run CH stuff without an external powered USB hub.  Those powered hubs are cheap.  If they get damaged, they can be easily replaced.  If the USB chip in your computer gets damaged, you are buying a new motherboard (at least).

[The Fugitive]

What Skuzzy is trying to tell you is it's time to get rid of that "limp noodle" and get yourself a nice stiff straw !

I have a Belkin, and have used it for years with out my CH gear ever needing calibration. Mines so old Belkin doesn't even make it any more, but THIS ONE is pretty much the same thing. Only thing you want to make sure about is that it is a POWERED hub, not just a hub.

Hope to cya up soon ID  <S>

[Skuzzy]

What Skuzzy is trying to tell you is it's time to get rid of that "limp noodle" and get yourself a nice stiff straw !
<snip>

ROFL!!   

And no, that is not what I was trying to say.  LOL!  Good catch though.  <S>

[guncrasher]

here's from new egg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=+Hi-Speed+USB+2.0+4-Port+Lighted+Hub&x=16&y=33

semp

[TheZombi]

My Sim setup uses some very long USB cables to allow the Hurricane cooled case of my computer ( enough fans to make it hover ) to be in another room, I discovered with the first CH stick I had it was impossible to use on a 25Ft UBS Extension cable but worked fine plugged straight into the Box.  Powered USB hub cured this and also got rid of some power issues I was having with my current Saitek x45, pedals and instrument cluster setup.  DC voltage tends to drop over long lengths of cable as thin wire will have resistance, this drop in voltage leads to an increase in Current draw ( Ohms Law ) and Scuzzy is absolutely correct in saying this will have cumulative consequences for your USB Controller Chip.  The powered hub makes the power drain local to the hub and can decrease the working load at the computer end of things down as low as 20% of it's rated delivery, this means you can load up a motherboard with only 2 usb ports with hundreds of USB devices and they will all work.  Currently I have 12 interface cards for my cockpit all plugged in with everything else with no issues, except for the fact that they can not be made to work with AH so I really only get to use them in XPlane 9.

[maddafinga]

I had problems with a CH products Fighterstick going into a slowish left turn and dive for no apparent reason.I would calibrate the stick,and sure enough it would do it again shortly.I called CH products,and their Tech guy said it sounds like the stick is hosed.I packed up the joystick and sent it to CH products.I had previously spoke with Skuzzy,and he advised me that running a powered usb hub might solve my problem.I fully realize that disagreeing with his Skuzziness isn't an option,so I didn't mention the fact that I had never previously needed to use a powered hub to fly AH,so I remained silent!Through the years I have kept a couple of backup joysticks for just such an occaision.I cleaned up my retired fighterstick,and blew out the view switch ,which was giving me problems....that was why it got retired!I plugged it in,and sure enough everything was fine,including the view switch not sticking.Today I got a call from Michael at CH products,informing me that he couldn't find anything wrong with the joystick,and what did he want me to do with it.I seriously thought of telling him to stick it up his arse,but I knew that wouldn't solve anything.I am now down to one well worn Fighterstick that at least works fine,with no backup because I gave my backups backup,a CH products Combatstick to my friend JimmyC,who needed a joystick,as his joystick had thrown snakeyes.If you ever have to ship something to England,get ready,because it cost me more to ship it,than I paid for the stick,a few years back.JimmyC is a true gentleman,and I like helping friends.Now,I'm literally sure the offending joystick will again fail to work right,so what should I do?My thirty days money back thingy is long past because I used my time up waiting for CH products to check the stick out.One last item,I had installed the joystick onto Windows Vista,and now I'm running Windows 7,via a free update from Aleinware,who built my puter,...I usually build my own,but I wanted water cooling,and I wasn't real comfortable with working with it without seeing how it hooks up.It looks rather easy,kindda like a cars radiator.If the flippin joystick don't work right I guess I'm just out,and I will probably give it away to a needy person,hoping they can get it working.Well thats my story,it's sad but true,and if anyone can lend a hand,thought or idea,I'm willing to listen.
ID

I'm sure you already checked, but is there any way that the "trim" wheel got pushed slightly over to one side and off of the center notch? Maybe it happened and you didn't even really notice?  Mine behaves exactly that way whenever the girlfriend's daughter has been messing with the stick and moves that wheel.  When that happens I just recenter the wheel and recalibrate the stick and all is well.  One of these days I'll glue the wheel in place.